History of Battlegrounds

Revision 20668 by archivist at 2026-10-10 08:37:20

Overview

Battlegrounds are three-player Strike-style activities in which Guardians assault a fortified Cabal position and hunt down a commander in a Cabal "Rite of Proving". They launched in Season of the Chosen and were added to the Vanguard playlist with The Witch Queen. The original four are Battleground: Behemoth, Battleground: Foothold, Battleground: Hailstone and Battleground: Oracle. The Episode: Echoes set reused the name for three Vex/Taken missions on Nessus: Battleground: Delve, Battleground: Conduit and Battleground: Core, launched as Battleground: Echoes with a harder Battleground: Echoes (Expert) version.

Original Battlegrounds

| Battleground | Destination | Final boss |

|---|---|---|

| Battleground: Behemoth | Arcadian Valley, Nessus | Commander Dracus |

| Battleground: Foothold | Cosmodrome, Earth | Val Ma'rag |

| Battleground: Hailstone | Rathmore Chaos, Europa | Basilius the Golem |

| Battleground: Oracle | Arcadian Valley, Nessus | Ixel, the Far-Reaching |

Echoes Battlegrounds

| Battleground | Boss(es) |

|---|---|

| Battleground: Delve | Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk and Hypolydron, Captive Mind |

| Battleground: Conduit | Kamarian, Radial Overseer |

| Battleground: Core | Antioptes, Hypogean Sentinel |

Structure

The original missions play like strikes with two initial objectives, then a boss phase where the boss becomes immune and moves to another section until Shield Bearers are killed. Enemy spawns ramp up through the fight. Missions have Customize and Matchmade variants; the Echoes ones also have an Expert variant.

Rewards

Completions drop seasonal and playlist loot such as the Luminopotent set, plus Umbral Engrams and Glimmer from Cabal Tribute Chests opened with charged Hammers of Proving.