Destiny 2 has three core activities for Guardians to partake in: strikes, Crucible, and Gambit. All ritual playlists have a rank-up progression that grants increased rewards, Gambit being Infamy ranks. Should you increase your Infamy rank, you will receive additional rewards.
Resetting your Infamy rank is needed for the Dredgen title and to obtain certain curated Gambit weapons. Needless to say, Infamy ranks are a crucial aspect of Gambit's progression system that all Guardians should understand. This guide will cover everything about Infamy ranks, including their Infamy point requirements and the best ways to maximize Infamy grinding. This article is up to date as of Season of the Lost.
Updated June 2nd, 2022, by Charles Burgar: Rewards have been refreshed for Gambit in Season of the Haunted. Players can chase a new playlist weapon, cosmetics, and a new weapon. Beyond updating the reward table in this guide, we've also added a subsection that showcases every weapon you can earn from playing Gambit this season.
Gambit Infamy Ranks
Before you start farming for Infamy ranks, it's important to understand the requirements tied to each rank. Similar to Valor Crucible playlists, Infamy increases with every game of Gambit, win or loss. Wins and Activity Streaks offer additional progress. Maintain your Gambit Activity Streak for large returns.
Leveling your Infamy is still slower than leveling Valor or your Vanguard rank, but it shouldn't be as large of a slog as in previous years. At the very least, Gambit does have some additional rewards for players that can reset their Infamy multiple times—rewards not typically given by resetting your ritual playlist rank (covered later in the guide).
Here's every Infamy rank in Gambit:
| Rank | Infamy 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 Earn Infamy
Earning Gambit Infamy is rather simple: play Gambit. Every Gambit game grants Infamy, win or loss. In theory, you can earn 10,000 Infamy just by losing Gambit matches, but this will take significantly longer than winning games and maintaining an Activity Streak. With a few strategies, you can drastically speed up your Infamy gains.
Win Matches
This is easier said than done, but Gambit wins grant substantially more Infamy points than a loss. Unlike Crucible, your Gambit earnings will shift more towards winning as you increase in Infamy rank. For example, losing while you're at Guardian Infamy rank will still make notable progress towards your next division rank. If you're at Mythic Infamy rank, loses will grant almost no Infamy, highly encouraging you to win games instead. We'll give specific tips on how to increase your odds of winning later in the guide. For now, just keep this in mind.
Earn Infamy Activity Streaks
The best way of increasing your Infamy earnings is to play matches consecutively. Whenever you complete a Gambit match, win or loss, you start an Activity Streak. This streak increases the amount of Infamy you'll receive from each game. Your streak caps out at five consecutive games.
If you maintain this Gambit Activity Streak across multiple games, you will earn significantly more Infamy with every Gambit match you play—wins granting the most progress. Create a fireteam with three other Guardians before you hop into the Gambit playlist to increase your chances of winning.
One more thing: Activity Streaks are incredibly easy to break as of writing. If you do any of the following, your Activity Streak will be reduced or flat-out reset:
- Visit a destination.
- Exclusions include the Tower, H.E.L.M, and returning to orbit.
- Leave a Gambit game currently in progress.
- Play any other activity.
- This completely resets your current Activity Streak.
Exiting Destiny 2 does not reset your streak.
Play Gambit During Double Infamy Weeks
Certain weeks throughout a Destiny 2 season will grant increased Infamy from all sources, Activity Streaks included. These weeks grant double Infamy returns until the next reset, making these periods the perfect time to grind out your Infamy rank. Keep in mind that these Infamy weeks are not on any content roadmap, so you'll need to keep your eyes open for the "Next Week in Destiny" post whenever you log in. If a double Infamy week is active, you'll receive a message when you enter orbit stating that Infamy gains have been increased. A modifier will also appear when queueing up in the Gambit playlist.
Infamy Rewards
Gambit features a proper reward structure to work through. Fans of Gambit can now expect to earn Masterwork materials and even Exotics just by leveling their Infamy.
Infamy Rank-Up Rewards
Progressing through Gambit's Infamy ranks will grant the following rewards:
These rewards are account-bound.
| Initial Rank | Post-Reset Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank-Ups | x1 Gambit Engram (subranks count) | x1 Gambit Engram (subranks count) |
| Division Rank-Ups | x1 Prime Engram | None |
| Rank 4 | x3 Enhancement Cores | x3 Enhancement Cores |
| Rank 7 | Gambit Nephrite Shader | x3 Enhancement Cores |
| Rank 10 | x2 Enhancement Prisms | x2 Enhancement Prisms |
| Rank 13 | Mote Bank Projection | x2 Enhancement Prisms |
| Rank 16 | Chain of Command Machine Gun | Insubordination Ornament |
| x2 Enhancement Prisms | ||
| Rank 16 Completed | x1 Ascendant Shard | x1 Exotic Engram |
If you frequent the Crucible or Vanguard Strikes, you might have noticed that the rewards are virtually the same. That's because they are. Besides the unique Gambit cosmetics and Legendary Gear, you'll earn the same rank-up rewards as a dedicated PvE or PvP player would. However, there's one key difference: Legendary Engrams are instead Gambit Engrams.
Gambit is one of the only playlist vendors that contains a focusing system. As you level, you'll earn Gambit Engrams that can be focused into specific weapons and armor. A focused Engram is guaranteed to drop the item you focus it into, although the roll itself will still be random. Focusing an Engram costs 10,000 Glimmer, 100 Legendary Shards, and a Gambit Engram.
Once a season ends, the rewards you earn from the Drifter will reset, meaning you'll be able to obtain an Ascendant Shard and Gambit-related cosmetic gear every season.
Unique Infamy Rewards
When you reach 10,000 Infamy points in Gambit, you are given the option to reset your rank back to Guardian I. This reset occurs when you obtain the final rank-up reward from the Drifter, which will either be an Ascendant Shard or an Exotic Engram.
The Drifter will sell unique items based on your Infamy rank and Infamy resets, giving you a strong incentive to farm the Gambit playlist for rewards. Unlike rank-up rewards, these items are unlocked based on how many Infamy ranks or resets you've achieved throughout your Destiny career. These aren't reset with each season.
Achieving certain ranks and Infamy resets will unlock the following rewards from the Drifter:
- First Infamy Reset: Trust Hand Cannon (Genesis + Explosive Payload, sunset)
- Second Infamy Reset: Bad Omens Rocket Launcher (Tracking Module + Cluster Bombs)
- Third Infamy Reset: Furtive Ghost Shell and the Ludomaniacal Emblem
Trust and Bad Omens come pre-Masterworked. Since Trust is currently sunset, it's a good idea to dismantle it for seven Enhancement Cores.
Gambit Playlist Rewards
Beyond an armor set (shown above), Gambit can drop one of six unique weapons after each match. You can also focus Gambit Engrams to force one of these weapons to drop. All obtainable Gambit weapons are listed below.
| Gambit Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Bottom Dollar |
|
| Trinary System |
|
| Borrowed Time |
|
| Servant Leader |
|
| Herod-C |
|
| Dead Weight |
|
Tips For Earning More Infamy
Every method of earning Infamy that we mentioned above is invaluable for increasing your Gambit rank. To make the most of each method, there are a few different strategies and tips you can use to make earning Infamy a little bit easier.
General Gambit Tips
- Use Concussive Dampener: This chest armor mod reduces all AoE and environmental damage you take by 25%, 40% if you use two of them. Calling this mod a lifesaver is an understatement.
- Constantly Invade: Whichever team gets a good invasion first snowballs hard and usually wins the game. Invade as soon as you can, and keep the invasions coming whenever a portal is available. If no teammates invade, you're almost guaranteed to lose.
- Ammo Finders Are Mandatory: Tired of Gambit's random ammo economy? Run two ammo finder mods for your Heavy weapon. This guarantees a Heavy brick will spawn after 15 kills. Couple this with scavenger mods to have Heavy ammo ready for the Primeval and Invaders. Special Ammo Finisher is also a great choice if your build has a lackluster Super.
Get A Team Together
This is easier said than done, but the effort you put into getting a four-stack together is more than worth the time investment. Coordinating with your team makes invading, Mote collecting, and Primeval damage much easier to pull off. If you don't know many players that play Gambit, consider messaging good players you match with or use an LFG service (such as the Destiny 2 PC LFG Discord).
Invade If You're Solo
Invaders make and break Gambit games. This role requires minimal coordination with your team, depends solely on your skill, and gives you the ability to delay the enemy team's progress. If you can't get a group together, you need to be a good Invader if you want to win consistently. There's no way around it.
Fortunately, you don't need to be good at PvP to be an efficient Invader. The sheer presence of an Invader makes many players stop in their tracks and hide, putting their Mote-collecting process to a screeching halt. Constant wallhacks make it relatively easy to headshot players, so Sniper Rifles, Machine Guns, and Leviathan's Breath work exceptionally well.
If the enemy team is in the Primeval phase, one or two kills can give your team enough time to rebound. Use your Super and Heavy weapon to ensure these kills. Weapons such as Truth, Jotunn, Leviathan's Breath, Xenophage, and virtually every Machine Gun work wonders for getting Guardian kills. The penalty for dying as an Invader is minor, so keep throwing yourself into the invasion portal. The more you do it, the better you'll get.
Speed Clearing Tips
Killing enemies in Gambit is key to winning games. The sooner you clear a wave, the faster you can deposit your Motes and summon a Primeval.
Here are a few things you can use to speed up the PvE aspect of Gambit:
- Use Warmind Cells: They work in Gambit. A single Warmind Cell can clear waves of enemies for you. If you build around them, you can summon the Primeval in just a few minutes.
- PvE Exotics: Trinity Ghoul, Huckleberry, and Riskrunner are the best add-clearing Exotics in Destiny 2. Nothing comes close. Make sure these weapons are Masterworked before you use them.
- Use Portals: Certain Gambit maps have traversal methods, most of which are portals. These let you teleport to the other end of the map in an instant. Use these to cut your traversal time down by a few seconds.
