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Every ritual playlist in Destiny 2—Vanguard Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit—has a unique ranking system that rewards players dedicated to a specific playlist. The more of a specific playlist you farm, the more rewards you can expect to earn.
Season of the Lost gave the Vanguard a reward system that mimics how Valor and Infamy behave. Players that farm strikes and Nightfalls can now expect Masterwork materials, unique cosmetics, and even Exotic Engrams. We'll be going over how Vanguard Ranks work, how you can increase your Vanguard Rank with Zavala, and every reward you can expect from farming strikes and Nightfalls.
Updated October 11th, 2022, by Charles Burgar: Commander Zavala has refreshed his offerings in Season of the Plunder. We've updated this guide to include Zavala's current Vanguard Rank offerings, and we've updated our weapon subsections to include this season's new Pure Poetry Hand Cannon, Mindbender's Ambition Shotgun, and Militia's Birthright Grenade Launcher.
Vanguard Ranks
Similar to the Valor and Infamy systems, the Vanguard Strike and Nightfall playlists have a unique ranking system that you can increase by playing, you guessed it, strikes and Nightfalls. Destiny 2's Vanguard activities are split into two playlists:
- Vanguard Ops: Includes standard strikes and the Battlegrounds activity.
- Nightfalls: A harder version of a strike with higher Power requirements, modifiers, and better rewards. The selected strike rotates weekly.
- There's also a Grandmaster Nightfall playlist, allowing you to play the hardest version of that week's strike.
Repeated clears of strikes, Battlegrounds, and Nightfalls will build up an Activity Streak, increasing the rate you rank up (explained later). Increasing your Vanguard Rank will unlock new rewards from Zavala in the Tower.
Progression through the Vanguard ranking system is as follows:
| Rank | Vanguard Rank Requirement | Rank-Up Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian I | 0 | 50 |
| Guardian II | 50 | 75 |
| Guardian III | 125 | 125 |
| Brave I | 250 | 250 |
| Brave II | 500 | 450 |
| Brave III | 950 | 600 |
| Heroic I | 1,550 | 375 |
| Heroic II | 1,925 | 600 |
| Heroic III | 2,525 | 825 |
| Fabled I | 3,350 | 525 |
| Fabled II | 3,875 | 775 |
| Fabled III | 4,650 | 1,050 |
| Mythic I | 5,700 | 750 |
| Mythic II | 6,450 | 1,075 |
| Mythic III | 7,525 | 1,475 |
| Legend | 9,000 | 1,000 |
Legend(Max Rank) | 10,000 | N/A; reset is available |
How To Increase Your Vanguard Rank
Both the Vanguard Ops and Nightfall playlists will increase your Vanguard Rank with Zavala. Completing either activity will grant Vanguard Rank reputation. You can further increase your reputation gains through Activity Streaks and higher-difficulty Nightfalls.
Play Strikes And Nightfalls
Each strike, Battleground, and Nightfall you complete will increase your Vanguard Rank to some extent. Nightfalls, especially higher-difficulty variants, grant additional progress. The point breakdown looks something like this:
- Vanguard Ops Playlist: 60 Vanguard Rank
- Nightfall (Adept): 120 Vanguard Rank
- Nightfall (Hero): 180 Vanguard Rank
- Nightfall (Legend): ~240 Vanguard Rank
- Nightfall (Master): ~300 Vanguard Rank
- Nightfall (Grandmaster): 300 Vanguard Rank
Legend and higher seem to give slightly more Vanguard Rank reputation than what's listed, the variance determined by your current Activity Streak. Take these numbers as rough estimates. Activity Streaks will increase these numbers even more.
Also, it's worth noting that both the strike playlist and individual strikes queued on their respective planet both grant 60 Vanguard Rank progress. This makes farming short strikes—such as the Lake of Shadows—the best for increasing your Vanguard Rank.
Vanguard Activity Streak
Whenever you complete a strike or Nightfall, you'll start an Activity Streak. This streak will increase all Vanguard Rank earnings for all subsequent strike and Nightfall completions. Playing five strikes, Battlegrounds, and/or Nightfalls will cap out the Activity Streak bonus.
Each streak grants the following bonus to your Vanguard Rank earnings:
- Streak One: +15 Vanguard Rank
- Streak Two: +30 Vanguard Rank
- Streak Three: +45 Vanguard Rank
- Streak Four: +60 Vanguard Rank
- Streak Five: +75 Vanguard Rank
Keep in mind that higher-difficulty Nightfalls (Legend+) will increase the bonus from your Vanguard Activity Streak even more. In essence, the best way of increasing your Vanguard Rank is to play as many strikes or Nightfalls as you can.
However, it's fairly easy to break this Activity Streak. The following will reduce or flat-out remove your Activity Streak:
- Visiting a destination
- Exceptions include the Tower, H.E.L.M, and returning to orbit
- Leaving mid-strike or Nightfall
- Playing another activity
- This completely removes your streak
Exiting Destiny 2 will not reset your streak.
Play During Double Vanguard Rank Weeks
Vanguard now has a double reputation week that can occur throughout a given season, similar to how Valor and Infamy receive double reputation weeks. Reputation bonus weeks can be seen in the modifiers section when launching the Vanguard Ops or Nightfall playlist. Double Vanguard Rank weeks affect the points earned from a strike/Nightfall completion and the Activity Streak bonus associated with them.
You can check the active modifiers in the Vanguard Ops or Nightfall playlists to see if double Vanguard reputation is active. A unique modifier will be active if a double reputation week is active.
Vanguard Rank Rewards
Just like Valor and Infamy, Vanguard Ranks come with their own rewards. Increasing your rank with Zavala will unlock new rewards, including Masterwork materials and this season's ritual weapon: the Cry Mutiny Grenade Launcher. Once you reach the maximum Vanguard Rank of 10,000, you can claim an Ascendant Shard from Zavala to reset your Vanguard Rank, refreshing his reward track.
Each Vanguard Rank grants the following:
| Initial Reward | Post-Reset Reward | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank-Ups | x1 Legendary Engram (subranks count) | x1 Legendary Engram (subranks count) |
| Division Rank-Ups | x1 Prime Engram | None |
| Rank 4 | x3 Enhancement Cores | x3 Enhancement Cores |
| Rank 7 | Duskbloom Shader | x3 Enhancement Cores |
| Rank 10 | x2 Enhancement Prisms | x2 Enhancement Prisms |
| Rank 13 | Heroic Projection | x2 Enhancement Prisms |
| Rank 16 | Cry Mutiny (Grenade Launcher) | Intended Authority Ornament |
| x2 Enhancement Prisms | ||
| Rank 16 Completed | x1 Ascendant Shard | x1 Exotic Engram |
Strike Rewards
Claiming Engrams from Zavala will grant certain strike weapons and armor pieces. The armor set is showcased above. All weapons you can obtain from the Vanguard Ops playlist can be found below.
| Strike Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Royal Entry |
|
| The Third Axiom |
|
| Empty Vessel |
|
| Punching Out |
|
| Fortissimo-11 |
|
| Strident Whistle |
|
| Pure Poetry |
|
Nightfall Rewards
Nightfalls can drop two of the following weapons. Higher-difficulty variants have a higher chance of dropping a Nightfall weapon, and Grandmaster Nightfall clears will drop Adept variants of the weapons listed below. Nightfall weapon drops rotate weekly and are affected by double Nightfall drops.
| Nightfall Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Mindbender's Ambition |
|
| The Militia's Birthright |
|
| Duty Bound |
|
| Silicon Neuroma |
|
| D.F.A. |
|
| Horror's Least |
|
| PLUG ONE.1 |
|
| The Hothead |
|
The Fastest Vanguard Rank Farm
If you want to increase your Vanguard Rank as fast as possible, you'll want to do one of two things:
- Farm the weekly Nightfall on Hero difficulty.
- Farm Lake of Shadows.
Hero Nightfalls have the best balance between time investment and Vanguard Rank payout. They have minimal modifiers, aren't set at a high Power Level, and still have matchmaking enabled. A good team can clear Hero-tier Nightfalls at a pace that mimics a standard strike, granting 3x as much Vanguard Rank progress per clear as a standard strike. If you can maintain an Activity Streak while doing this, you'll be able to reset your Vanguard Rank in a few play sessions.
Of course, no strike is better than Lake of Shadows for rep farming. This strike is short, doesn't have many enemies, and its final boss can be killed in a matter of seconds with a good loadout. Choosing whether you farm Lake of Shadows or the weekly Nightfall will entirely depend on which Nightfall is currently active. If a medium-length Nightfall is up, it's generally worth farming the Nightfall. But if something like The Corrupted is that week's Nightfall, you might want to farm Lake of Shadows instead.
The Best Nightfalls To Farm
If Lake of Shadows ever appears as the weekly Nightfall, farm it as much as you can. It's hands-down the best Nightfall to speed clear in Destiny 2. Beyond that, here are a few Nightfalls that are easy to farm whenever they're active in a given week:
- The Arms Dealer: It's short, doesn't feature many tough enemies, and the final boss can be one-phased with a good team.
- The Insight Terminus: This is one of Destiny 2's shorter strikes and features an easy final boss.
- Cosmodrome Strikes: This includes Fallen S.A.B.E.R, The Disgraced, and The Devils' Lair. All three of these Nightfalls are enemy dense, feature easy bosses, and can be cleared in a respectable amount of time.
Nightfalls To Avoid
Most Destiny 2 Nightfalls are solid for farming Vanguard Ranks and Nightfall rewards, but there are a few notable exceptions we'd like to briefly mention:
- The Corrupted: This Nightfall takes ages to clear on lower difficulties. On Master or GM difficulty, this Nightfall becomes exceptionally tough.
- The Lightblade: It's the hardest Nightfall in Destiny 2, no question. Don't farm this unless you absolutely have to.
- Exodus Down: One of the longest Nightfalls in Destiny 2. It takes too long to clear on Hero. On Master or GM, the abundance of snipers and frustrating final boss make Exodus Down a complete slog. Never farm this Nightfall.
