Why I’ve Become A Gambit Gremlin In ‘Destiny 2’

This past week, I shared a picture of a fun roll I got on Breakneck, the reprised Destiny 2 auto rifle that was originally a specialized Gambit weapon. In this screenshot I revealed that the gun had…five perk options, which means I’ve reset my Gambit rank three times already in the 2.5 weeks since Season of the Wish started.

So uh, am I crazy? Alright look, let me explain why I have become a Gambit main, at least in terms of the three ritual activities Destiny offers, the other two being strikes and Crucible (I have also been playing a lot of this season’s activity, The Coil). But why Gambit?

• First and foremost. It’s short and fast. Gambit games are rarely more than 5-6 minutes. There is almost no way to make them longer than that, given that one side, at least, will spawn the primeval in short order, and while there is damage gating on the boss, it doesn’t last long. The only way to really extend a Gambit game by any amount is having two invaders that keep killing lots of people on each side. Usually this is…more one sided, and so these games are short. Strikes, with long, winding paths and tons of time and damage gating, and Crucible matches, short of mercies, are much longer by comparison.
• So, with Gambit being so short, you can get a lot done relatively quickly. Gambit XP bounties are easy. Gambit completions of transmog bounties are easy. Something like collecting materials for this Dawning event is easy (and it’s double XP week for Gambit, which has helped my resets). You get more loot this way from short matches and fast rankups. And in this case, I really did want a good Breakneck, hence the desire to get all those perk options.

• I also find Gambit more diverse of a play experience than strikes, which have the exact same enemies spawning in the exact same spots with the exact same bosses every time. It’s even worse when there’s only one Nightfall to run in a given week. Gambit flips through all the races and the mode is dynamic in terms of how they’re cleared and what happens with invasions. Crucible is more dynamic of course, as no two games are the same, but I am not terribly good at Crucible, so I’m only dealing with minimal PvP in Gambit (though I will grind out Crucible when I have to, like I did to get all the Iron Banner ornaments last week).
• I think Gambit is creative? It feels unlike any other mode in any other game. And while there have been times it has been horribly unbalanced in the past, I think over the years we have settled to a place that is actually a good meta. Invasions are not overly oppressive, Primeval burning isn’t instant and uncounterable. There is not a Queenbreaker or Sleeper Simulant that you can use as easy mode as an invader (maybe Leviathan’s Breath). It’s in a good place. Also, I really enjoy being creative with various builds to make the most of Gambit. This season, that’s been using Winterbite a bunch to clear sides easily, kill invaders or enemies with its homing missile, and whack away at bosses with Synthoceps or other melee exotics. Each season I come up with new builds and most are pretty fun.

The biggest problem with Gambit is how little Bungie supports it. It has been neglected for years, and the best thing we can hope for is something fun to farm like Breakneck, but that’s it. The mode has lost maps over the years rather than having any more added, and it’s just been shoved to the side despite it being a genuinely good, efficient mode at this point.

So, I’m probably done with Gambit soon for this season, after this holiday event, after my transmog bounties are done, after my battle pass is finished. I got my cool Breakneck, after all. But yeah, that’s why I like Gambit now. Maybe you should go back and try it again.

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