Bungie released Destiny 2 update 9.5.0.1 on December 9, 2025, across all platforms during scheduled maintenance. Console players see this as version 3.83 on PlayStation or 1.178 on other platforms (complete version 1.178.000).
This isn't a content drop, but the patch makes significant changes to the Renegades update. The biggest addition is the new Vanguard Alerts system, which brings back Grandmaster-difficulty content after months of player requests.
Vanguard Alerts System Overview
Bungie's new Vanguard Alerts system replaces the previous Nightfall node and traditional Grandmaster strikes. The system adds a dedicated page to the Seasonal Hub with multiple activity types and better rewards than standard Portal content.
The Vanguard Alerts page includes Fireteam Ops Quickplay, Arena Ops Quickplay, Crucible Ops, Grandmaster Vanguard Alert, The Desert Perpetual Raid, and the Equilibrium Dungeon once it unlocks. Players can access all alerts from their normal Portal nodes or through the centralized Vanguard Alerts page.
The Grandmaster Alert node sits at the top of the Fireteam Ops node, right next to Quickplay.
Quickplay Challenge System
The three Quickplay Portal alerts use a three-stage challenge system. Players complete three relevant Portal activities to progress through each stage.
The first challenge stage drops a special version of the weekly weapon plus one piece of gear from the relevant loot pool. This special weapon comes with a unique origin trait called Accelerated Assault and arrives pre-Masterworked.
The second and third challenge stages each award two pieces of gear, adding four more engrams to the total haul. All drops from Vanguard Alert challenges come at higher Power levels than standard activity rewards and arrive at increased gear tiers.
This matters most for players still grinding power levels. The system accelerates tier progression for anyone currently earning tier three or four gear.
The special weekly weapon can randomly drop from any loot source in that activity's pool. The drop rate is very low, but players have reported getting these drops during regular playlist runs.
Grandmaster Alerts
Grandmaster Alerts rotate weekly weapons from the Pinnacle loot pool. Completing a Grandmaster Alert with a B grade or higher awards the weekly weapon at tier five quality.
The first weekly completion guarantees the weapon drops pre-Masterworked with the unique Accelerated Assault origin trait. After that, subsequent completions have a low chance of including the unique origin trait. Players also get two Fireteam Ops engrams based on their completion grade, plus other relevant Portal loot.
Early testing suggests Grandmaster Alerts match the difficulty of pre-nerf Grandmaster strikes from before the Portal system launched. Veterans will recognize the challenge level from the old days.
This week's Grandmaster Alert features Horror's Least. The Quickplay playlists are running Psi Eternal, the new rocket pulse weapon. Control in the Crucible node drops Mos Athanor IV.
Arena Ops got a new Quickplay node that rotates between Astral Alignment, Ketchcrash, and Nightmare Containment. These six-player activities run at similar difficulty to the strike playlist equivalent.
Loot Distribution
Vanguard Alerts divide weapons by activity type. Grandmaster alerts drop Pinnacle Ops gear. Quickplay nodes for Vanguard and Arena Ops drop Fireteam Ops and Solo Ops gear. The Crucible node sticks to PvP gear.
Players chasing specific loot pools can focus their time on the right alert type. Matchmade Grandmaster and Ultimate activities now run with No Radar enabled by default.
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Campaign Bug Fixes
Bungie fixed multiple progression-blocking issues in Renegades content. The Welcome to the Frontier mission had two problems: a blocking issue that prevented launch, and a soft lock when players moved into the Pike Crew encounter too fast.
The Imperium mission could soft lock players in the trash compactor section if they destroyed the jammers too quickly. The Glory Beyond mission had a bug that forced Normal difficulty even when players were progressing on Legendary.
This Legendary difficulty bug happened because the campaign alternates between traditional missions with Legendary difficulty and Lawless Frontier activities that use Expert difficulty instead. The non-linear design created unexpected difficulty resets.
The Info Broker also wasn't telling players which collectibles they still needed to find. That's fixed now.
Lawless Frontier Changes
Renegade Abilities
The coinflip animation for Renegade abilities can now be interrupted by the coin throw once the coin lands back in the player's hand. This lets players deploy abilities faster. Bungie also updated description strings for better accuracy.
Behemoth Balance Updates
Bungie made significant changes to Behemoth balance. Invader Behemoths now get roughly 35% damage resistance against enemy Supers. Bungie plans to add this damage resistance to non-invader Behemoths in a future update.
Stasis Freeze and Strand Suspend now deal more damage to player-controlled Behemoths to offset the buff.
Equipment and Ability Adjustments
The Vex Stun Field now deals constant damage to enemy vehicles. The Imperium Drop Pod wasn't granting the right number of bonus ammo bricks to allies at higher ability levels. That's been corrected.
Bungie made several changes to Recon Shanks. They now scan invaders every other pulse instead of every pulse. They'll correctly waypoint ambient chests now. Higher-level scans that sometimes failed to ping Invaders work properly. Tier 5 and 6 scans showed three charges instead of the actual four. The display now matches reality.
These Recon Shank changes shift invasion detection mechanics. Players recommend deploying multiple Recon Shanks to keep consistent invader tracking going.
Other Lawless Frontier Fixes
Bungie patched out a dunk object duplication exploit. Invader teleport points now consistently grab players as intended. Invaders traveling fast on vehicles at final timeout get sent back to their ready room properly.
Supply cache reward chests no longer float above the ground. Players can't see priority contracts from their other characters anymore. Anti-barrier weapons now damage jammer panels correctly.
The rapid teleport VFX bug for Invaders dying during teleport is gone. The placeholder icon when flying to Tharsis Outpost from other destinations has been replaced. Scatter Grenades work better against Ablative armor now.
Portal System Fixes
Derealize Mission Rewards
Bungie fixed a critical bug where the Portal version of the Derealize Exotic Mission wasn't giving out Barrow-Dyad or its related intrinsics and catalysts. The corrected rewards work like this:
Any difficulty completion awards the weapon, Intrinsic 1+2, and Catalyst 1 on first run. Intrinsics 3, 4, and 5 drop sequentially on later completions.
Master difficulty or higher awards Catalysts 2, 3, and 4 sequentially on activity completion.
Other Portal Changes
Lootstream objects for Reallocated Bonus Focus now stack, showing players how many are being reallocated. The Astral Alignment Arena Ops activity had a bug where the suppressor buff wasn't stunning abominations. Fixed now.
Crucible and Raid Fixes
Bungie pulled the Avant-Garde modifier from rotator playlists. This modifier restricted new gear loadouts, and it's no longer in playlist rotation.
The Desert Perpetual raid vendor had two bugs. It was checking the kinetic slot inventory instead of the energy slot when players tried to buy the epic raid version of Cusp Sempiternal.
Players who earned the epic raid version couldn't buy higher-tier versions from the raid vendor. Both issues are resolved.
Weapon Fixes
Barrow-Dyad wasn't gaining seekers when reloaded with Marksman's Dodge. Fixed. New Malpais had an Exotic catalyst that wouldn't progress from weapon kills. Also fixed.
Heavy Ammo Grenade Launchers prevented players from picking up enhanced Heavy ammo bricks while equipped. That's corrected now.
The Kinetic Rupture perk wouldn't activate while players stood in a Well of Radiance. Works properly now.
Class Abilities
Titan Changes
Praxic Vestment had two exploits. Players could rapidly throw Hammer of Sol, and the exotic allowed infinite flight. Bungie's patch notes specifically state "They can't fly now," acknowledging how broken the infinite flight bug was.
Banner Shield now reloads player weapons while they stand behind the shield. The charged shield throw also has detonation audio now.
Hunter Fix
Shatterdive sometimes wouldn't grant Frost Armor when players collided with objects during the dive animation. That's been corrected.
Artifact Mods and Stability
Bungie updated the audio for the Sword Storm artifact mod after player feedback about the sound design. The Microcosm Exotic wasn't activating Kinetic Synthesis ammo generation. Fixed.
Kinetic Synthesis wouldn't activate while standing in Warlock rifts or Wells of Radiance. That works correctly now.
Bungie fixed crashes during the final battle in the Iconoclasm mission from The Final Shape. Loadouts created before Renegades launched could cause WEASEL errors. Xbox players wouldn't crash anymore when launching Destiny 2 with Traditional Chinese as their game language.
The Eververse store had legacy emotes priced incorrectly. The Without Ceremony ornament for Ice Breaker used the wrong visuals. Certain Xûr purchases weren't counting the right amounts toward the weekly Strange Coin bonus purchase.
Zavala's Vanguard Arsenal weapons were resetting at unexpected times. Subtitle mismatches with dialogue audio in some Renegades languages have been corrected.
Player Response
Vanguard Alerts addresses player requests for Grandmaster content, though the timing creates some complications. The system was designed based on feedback from 3-4 months before implementation, when power leveling and gear tier progression mattered more to the player base than it does now.
The Quickplay variants offer easy "shoot stuff" gameplay like traditional strike playlists but with better rewards than standard Portal activities. This works for casual players who want accessible content with meaningful drops.
Grandmaster Alerts give endgame players challenging content with exclusive rewards through the Accelerated Assault origin trait. Players compare this to the Runeth Over origin trait from heresy weapons.
The higher Power and increased gear tier rewards speed up progression for anyone still working toward maximum Power and tier five gear. The system skips Portal modifier complexity, which some players find overwhelming.
Concerns about loot identity remain. The old normal/adept weapon system created clear separation. Adding a unique origin trait and pre-Masterworked status doesn't create the same psychological difference. The system is an improvement, but not a complete fix for Portal-related issues.
Early testing shows the Accelerated Assault origin trait rolls on more weapons than expected. Horror's Least carries it, suggesting broader availability across the weapon pool than initially thought.
Players are still testing whether the guaranteed special weapon drop on first completion applies per account or per character. That distinction matters for farming efficiency.
The patch dropped alongside a Special Surge modifier that doubles special weapon damage and increases special ammo drops in Portal activities. Good timing for grinding Vanguard Alerts with special weapon builds.
What's Next
Bungie's patch notes mention planned future changes. Damage resistance for non-invader Behemoths is coming in a later update. The studio will keep monitoring Vanguard Alerts reception and make adjustments as needed.
This update doesn't add new content, but it brings back endgame PvE content players have been asking for since the Portal system replaced traditional Grandmaster strikes. Whether Vanguard Alerts successfully fixes concerns about featured weekly content and loot chase remains to be seen as players continue testing the system.
