One of Destiny 2’s greatest strengths is how varied its content is. Whether you enjoy PvE or PvP content, there is something for everyone—especially for hardcore players. Bungie has doubled down on providing pinnacle activities for both parties.

PvP players have Trials of Osiris while PvE players have Grandmaster Nightfalls (GMs for short), a leg up from Master difficulty with even more modifiers and tougher enemies. These missions provide a challenge that surpasses what raids provide. There are methods of making these missions easier, however, ranging from gear to group composition. If you are determined to earn the Conquerer title or earn Adept gear, here are ten tips for surviving Destiny 2’s Grandmaster Nightfalls.

Updated June 22nd, 2021 by Charles Burgar: GM Nightfalls are back in Season of the Splicer, giving Guardians a means of chasing Adept gear and Masterwork materials. These missions are by no means easy, but there are ways you can make GMs go from impossible to manageable. Thanks to new mods and weapons introduced in Season of the Splicer, GM Nightfalls should be more approachable this season. We’ve updated this guide to give more relevant advice, covering newer Artifact mods and why Combat Style mods are so powerful.

10 Pay Attention To The Modifiers

Grandmaster Nightfalls have nearly a dozen modifiers that drastically impact the mission. Besides modifiers that spawn Champions or lock your lockout, GM Nightfalls have unique modifiers that make the mission significantly harder. Most of these modifiers increase a certain type of elemental damage enemies dish out. You can also expect modifiers like Locked Loadouts and Match Game in these missions, so coordinate with your team on who will be covering each elemental type.

Unlike Master Nightfalls, GM variants have Contest Mode enabled, locking your Power Level to a set number regardless of how high your level might be. In Season of the Splicer, your Power Level will be set to 1,335. That is also the level required to even attempt a Grandmaster Nightfall, so don’t attempt to grind your Power Level over this.

It should go without saying, but tune your loadout around what modifiers are present. If Overload Champions are present, bring weapons with Overload Rounds. If most enemies deal Void damage and that damage type is increased via modifiers, consider running Void Resistance mods on your chest armor.

9 Keep Your Distance

You are not an unstoppable juggernaut in Grandmaster Nightfalls. Snipers one-shot you, enemies that deal AoE damage can kill you in less than a second, and fodder enemies will have little issue leaving you at critical health.

This is not the game type to take risks. To survive, you’ll want to minimize your risk to enemy gunfire as much as possible. Cover is more important than ever before. Don’t overextend in gunfights, bring long-range weapons that can damage targets from a distance, and use your class ability to stay alive.

8 Supers Are Everything

The odds are stacked against you in GM Nightfalls. Enemies deal an immense amount of damage, and your weapons don’t hit as hard as normal. But Guardians have one trick up their sleeve to even the odds: Supers.

Despite Contest Mode, your abilities and Supers are devastating in GM Nightfalls, capable of keeping your team alive during dire situations. If you want to farm GMs, you’ll want to have a team composition that creates as many Orbs of Power as possible. The more Supers your team can throw out, the faster you can clear the Nightfall. Masterworked weapons are also useful since multikills generate Orbs.

Some good Supers include:

Hunter

  • Shadowshot:
  • This creates a surprising amount of Orbs if you tether a large group of enemies. Bottom tree Nightstalker’s variant of Shadowshot is also solid if you want to use Shadowshot as a damage Super.
  • Golden Gun:
  • Bottom tree makes 2 Orbs every time you land a headshot, giving you a total of 6 Orbs on a perfect Super.

Warlock

  • Chaos Reach (Warlock):
  • Killing enemies will create a ton of Orbs.
  • Well of Radiance (Warlock):
  • Makes 3 Orbs when cast. Pairs nicely with Banner Shield.

Titan

  • Banner Shield (Titan):
  • The best Super in Destiny 2 for generating Orbs of Power. Pair with Ursa Furiosa to fuel the Super-spamming machine that is your team.
  • Ward of Dawn (Titan):
  • Generates 3 Orbs when cast. With Crest of Alpha Lupi, you can increase that number to 4.

7 Use These Subclasses

Speaking of Supers, your subclass is a core part of your build and overall playstyle—especially in pinnacle content. Let’s go over the best Subclasses for Grandmaster Nightfalls:

  • Way of the Pathfinder:

  • Bottom tree Nightstalker is the most popular choice due to its melee ability. Smoke Bombs will cloak you and allies for six seconds, giving you some breathing room when combat gets tough. Use Gambler’s Dodge and either Omnioculus or The Sixth Coyote to have constant Smoke Bombs. Shadowshot is also a powerful debuffing tool against Champions and bosses.

  • Revenant:

  • A high-risk, high-reward spec, Revenant is more tailored to players that want to dish out damage and set up powerful AoE effects. You don’t have invisibility on this spec, so you’ll need to play conservatively. Mask of Bakris and Anarchy pair well with this setup. Revenants are also the best Subclass for activating the Focusing Lens mod, giving Light-based teammates much stronger abilities.

  • Attunement of Grace:

  • Known as “Well-bots” by some, middle tree Dawnblade is all about buffing your teammates through healing grenades and the Well of Radiance Super. This spec is particularly strong in Season of the Chosen thanks to the Focusing Lens mod, making Well of Radiance give a

  • 56% damage boost

  • against targets affected by Stasis. Run Phoenix Protocol to get your Super faster.

  • Attunement of Chaos:

  • Solo GM players and certain team compositions will use top tree Voidwalker. Overcharged grenades deal absurd damage and are always available if you’re using Contraverse Hold. This spec sacrifices defense for passive damage, making it pair well with Warmind Cells.

  • Code of the Commander:

  • Middle Tree Sentinel’s Super is arguably the strongest Supers for GM Nightfalls, blocking all incoming damage to teammates while generating copious amounts of Orbs of Power. Run Ursa Furiosa to use your Super more frequently.

  • Note:

  • Ursa Furiosa will not refund Super energy if you stand in a Well of Radiance!

  • Code of the Siegebreaker:

  • Bottom tree Sunbreaker’s abilities deal a great deal of damage, heal you, generate damaging Sunspots that can buff teammates (if you’re using Phoenix Cradle), and can generate Warmind Cells

  • if you’re using the Wrath of Rasputin mod

  • . Its lack of defensive properties makes it seldom used, however.

6 Use Combat Style Mods

Creating a good build is more than pairing a subclass and Exotic together. Armor mods and, more specifically, Combat Style mods elevate your character’s lethality and overall effectiveness by a substantial amount.

All Combat Style mods go in the fourth slot on your armor. These mods revolve around one of three mechanics: Charged with Light, Warmind Cells, and Elemental Wells. Here’s why each mechanic is so strong:

There are links above that explain how each mechanic works. If you only care about the best mods for each Combat Style mechanic, check the links below:

5 Use The Best Artifact Mods

Season of the Splicer has brought a new batch of Artifact mods, some of which rival the power of Oppressive Darkness and other notable favorites. Besides the first column of Anti-Champion perks that you’ll want to own, here are a few must-have mods from the Artifact this season that should make GMs much easier:

4 The Best Exotic Weapons

Similar to subclasses, there are a few notable Exotics that every player should have in their arsenal:

3 How To Counter Champions

Champions are a pain to deal with in GM Nightfalls. Overload enemies constantly teleport, Barrier Servitors make everything invincible through cover, and Unstoppable Champions have an absurd health pool. Fortunately, there are a few ways to counter each of these enemy types that you should keep in mind:

2 Run The Nightfall On Easier Difficulties First

Learning the layout of the current week’s Nightfall is a fantastic idea before you attempt the hardest version. Nightfalls can be completed on easier difficulties with fewer modifiers and player matchmaking.

Champions will still spawn, and the core mission objectives will stay the same, giving you ample practice for how to approach each section. If you find it too easy, crank the difficulty up to add more modifiers. Pretty soon, you’ll have the mission memorized and will have to rely on momentary decision-making instead of juggling objectives you aren’t familiar with on top of difficult enemies. Even if you know the Nightfall well, it’s still a good idea to run easier Nightfalls as a warmup.

1 Use Damage Resistance Mods

With the lethality of enemies in GM Nightfalls, you’re going to need all of the health you can get. Damage resistance mods will reduce incoming damage by a certain percentage, allowing you to take a few more hits before dying.

Protective Light and Warmind’s Protection are some of the best mods pertaining to this, each granting a 50% damage resistance buff while active. Your chest armor can also slot damage resistance mods tied to certain elements or damage types. These mods grant 25% damage resistance—40% if you’re running two of the same mod type. Damage mitigation mods are multiplicative, meaning they weaker as you stack more of them. Despite this, having two or three sources of damage mitigation will make GMs feel closer to a Master Nightfall instead of a Legendary Halo 2 mission. Seriously, don’t attempt a Grandmaster Nightfall unless you have some damage resistance mods in your chest armor.