‘Destiny’ Goes Sparrow Racing With The Dawning Event, Revamped Strikes, And Ice Breaker After Iron Banner

Destiny players eager to hit the racing track will have to wait until December 13. Bungie announced details for the second season of Sparrow Racing League on Saturday from the PlayStation Experience in Anaheim, California. It will arrive after Iron Banner next week as part of a month-long event called The Dawning to celebrate the holidays.

The Dawning will start Tuesday, December 13 and run just past the New Year to January 3, 2017. The event will add the Sparrow Racing League along with new holiday-themed quests plus new gear and weapons to earn. This even includes the long-awaited return of the Ice Breaker Exotic Sniper Rifle.

In addition to The Dawning event and Sparrow Racing League, Destiny players will receive an all new Strike game mode that introduces a scoring system. Members of a fireteam will be able to compete with one another to see who can earn the most points.

“The Dawning will deliver a season of healthy competition. We’re hosting a party, and all players of Destiny: Rise of Iron are welcome,” Bungie Community Manager David “Deej” Dague wrote in the announcement posted to its website.

“Sparrow Racing League is about to return. With it will arrive new Quests, new gear for your Guardian, and some brand new ways to compete in Strikes. Until January 3rd, The Dawning will deliver an experience of action and celebration.”

This year’s Sparrow Racing event will bring two new maps, one set on Earth and the other set on Mercury. The Earth-based appears to be set on Felwinter’s Peak and looks like a race down the mountain, similar to the Venus map from the 2015 event.

Meanwhile, the Mercury map is a traditional circuit map filled with untraditional elements. The Dawning trailer shows Destiny players racing through a tube section of the track with obstacles sliding up and down the sides. Elsewhere, a crisscross jump section promises the danger of mid-air collisions.

Amanda Holiday will host the new questlines for the Sparrow Racing League once again. That means new bounties, gear, and cosmetic items to earn.

While the Sparrow Racing League will come and go, Bungie has a permanent change coming to Strikes. The existing Omnigul and Shadow Thief Strikes will both be revamped with new Siva variations. Additionally, The Nexus will receive a revamped Taken version of the classic Strike that was included with the launch of the game two years ago.

That’s not the only classic returning from the original version of Destiny. Bungie is bringing the Ice Breaker Exotic Sniper Rifle back after it was purposefully left behind. Similar to the Gjallarhorn, the Ice Breaker turned into a game-breaking weapon that gave players unintended advantages in Strikes and Raids.

Now the question is how the Ice Breaker will behave going forward. Its signature ability is to automatically regenerate ammo. This was eventually nerfed by Bungie to reduce the amount of ammo the weapon could carry and slow down how fast it regenerates. The other component is to remove spaces in Strikes where players can camp and snipe enemies safely.

Destiny players looking for more decorations for their Exotic weapons will have their wish fulfilled. Bungie revealed the “Rose of Acid” and “Rose of Corruption” Ornaments for Thorn, “Steel Witch” and “White Witch” for Red Death, “Dunemaker” for Ice Breaker, “Cold Between Stars,” and “Ragabone” for Black Spindle, plus “Nova Mortis” for Thunderlord.

Naturally, the Tower will be decorated for The Dawning event. Holiday lights will decorate the social space along with snow.

Iron Banner is up first, however, as Bungie revealed Thursday. The monthly event returns Tuesday, December 6, with Rift also returning as the gametype.

[Featured Image by Bungie]