Use these Destiny 2 Gambit tips to hone your Mote collecting, Primordial melting, and Guardian killing skills. Gambit is a mode that blends PvE and PvP in a competitive race to scavenge from defeated enemies, deposit enough in a Bank, and then defeat a final boss known as Primeval. Its rules may have changed a bit since it started with the Forsaken expansion, but it’s still the same basic premise, so there are a few tips and strategies to watch out for. Whether you’re on your way to the Dredgen title or just grabbing a few weeks off, these Destiny 2 Gambit tips will help you keep your tidbits in the bank and keep the Drifter on your side.
Collecting motes and banking is the most important thing
The basic Gambit loop is pretty simple: kill the dudes, get the granules, collect the granules, repeat until your team has 100 granules to summon Primeval. Therefore, banking nibbles are an important part of this process and you will find that people confuse the most. While collecting motes and going to the big 15-mote Taken Knight Large Blocker is both attractive and rewarding, it’s also fraught with risks. The longer you spend collecting motes, the greater your risk of being killed by Invaders or normal enemies.
Don’t be afraid to hoard any amount of granules if it means you can safely unload your transport. If you went for the full 15 motes, make sure you bank as soon as possible – you really don’t want a poorly timed Invader ruining your match. Motive can also delay your team’s Invasions, so don’t hold your team back either. It’s also more efficient to evenly distribute your motes, so if you’re approaching 15 your team will let your team take a few, guaranteeing stronger blockers for each teammate.
But it’s also important to be aware that being the first to bank your chips can actually be bad. For example, if you deposit 7 moves and no one else from your team joins you, the other team only has one Minor Blocker to worry about. This gives them plenty of time to collect more granules, while your team scratches more.
If your team is particularly skilled and coordinated, it can simultaneously gather the granules needed to reach that first Invasion, dispatch an Invader, and clear out the other team. This obviously puts your opponents at a huge disadvantage and allows you to easily expand your leadership even further. However, if the other team of four banks makes 15 granules at once, they will send enough Blockers from your Bank to start draining your granules, unlocking an Invasion, potentially allowing them to destroy your teammates.
Keep Your Bank Free from Blockers
Remember, the enemy team will try to do to you the same thing you did to them. Therefore, it is imperative that you keep your Bank away from them to keep your team’s Bank open at all times and your granules flowing freely, which will send Blockers to the other team causing havoc. If you’ve just laid your dice and the Blockers are coming, don’t run away – fight the Blockers as best you can until your teammates come to collect their own dice and help you out.
Here is a quick breakdown of each Blocker type:
- Minor Blocker – Taken Goblin: Costs 5-9 granules, is weak, and can shield other enemies to make them immune to damage.
- Medium Blocker – Phalanx received: Costs 10-14 particles, is strong due to the shield that blocks damage and can knock you back with powerful bursts.
- Great Blocker – Taken Knight: A very powerful ammo sponge with a powerful weapon that costs 15 granules.
An important mechanic that can really help in swing matches is the ability to dump granules from the opposing team. Mote dumping is active when the enemy has at least two Blockers of any size in their Bank, so you should always try to split your motes with at least one other teammate. Not only will it give you a chance to pull a few extra granules from the enemy, but it will also prevent them from grabbing their speck and avoid having to deal with Blockers, allowing your team to snowball quickly with ease. Primitive call.
Watch the granule counter to learn about Bells, Blockers, and Invasions
The blue and red bars at the top of the screen show how many mots both teams have deposited, and the white part of each bar shows how many mots each team is currently holding. You’ll be able to use this to gauge whether your team and the opposing team have enough grains to open Invasions (at 40 and 80 moves) and when is the best time to invade.
Ideally, you’ll want to try and wipe the enemy team to get rid of all the granules they’re holding, so it’s important to invade the white bars when they’re pretty big – don’t invade as soon as the portal opens! Likewise, if the enemy team is holding too many granules, you will know that Blockers or even an Invader is on their way and you must be ready to protect yourself and your Bank.
First Invasion critical
Gambit matches can snowball very quickly, and the easy way to get that ball rolling is to attack 40 minutes before the enemy team, invade early and clear them for their value. Your presence as an Invader will foil their plans, and if you can only catch one kill to reject a few nibbles, you can seriously undo them while giving your team more time for the next invasion. This strategy is even more effective if your team can chain Blockers by accumulating more granules when the enemy team kills their last Blocker.
Counter Invaders with Super and Heavy weapons
Hearing the Invasion alarm can really put the Traveler’s fear inside, but you must face the Invader to have a chance to bring them down before the Invader can do any harm. It’s important to remember that the Invader is just a regular Guardian with a shield and walls. You can knock them down with a well-placed sniper shot, a load of Gjallarhorn fire, or a Super, so don’t feel like you have to back off when they’re infested. If you’re holding a lot of nibbles or don’t trust your sniping, it’s perfectly reasonable to back off. But if you only have a few nibbles, get out there and take your place. Even if you don’t kill the invader, you can at least slow them down and defend your teammate with 15 granules.
Get Heavy ammo from crates
Due to the rarity of Heavy ammo in Gambit, having any amount of it can really change matches, allowing you to quickly clear the fronts of invading enemies, melt Primordials, or turn off Invaders immediately. Fortunately, clearing the way of all their enemies rewards the entire team with a lootable Heavy ammo chest that will grant a small amount of Heavy and Special. Heed Drifter’s High Value Target alerts. Not only do they drop lots of granules after being killed, they also drop a Heavy ammo brick.
Don’t just throw everything on Primeval
Once your Primeval is over, you can be invaded repeatedly until you die, and each Invasion is an opportunity for the enemy team to heal your Primeval by killing you. So if you pour all your Supers and heavy ammo into Primeval but are destroyed by an Invader, your Primeval will regain full health and run out of juice.
The more Primal Envoys you kill – the Envoys are Taken Wizards who often appear to protect the Primal – the more damage you deal to the Primal, so it’s worth rescuing your Supers or most of your heavy ammo whenever you do. We’ve created several Primeval Slayer stacks.
At the very least, let the First Invader come while still at full health. They’ll waste their time and build up more Primeval Slayer stacks, so when you pop the cork and melt Primeval, you’ll safely inflict more damage. Waiting will also give you time to clean up the garbage mobs in the area.
Destiny 2 Class guide | Destiny 2 week reset | Destiny 2 hint | Destiny 2 Crucible tips | Destiny 2 Heroic Public Events | Best Destiny 2 Exotic | Destiny 2 Prime Engrams | Destiny 2 Adept mods
