Destiny 2 Season of Defiance, Release Date, and What To Expect From Season 20

Destiny 2’s next big expansion called Lightfall is just around the corner as it’s set to go live on February 28, 2023. With it comes a new season as well and is titled Season of Defiance, a season that will feature big changes to how players take in the seasonal content in the game. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming season.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance release date - February 28, 2023

Season of Defiance will officially launch on February 28, 2023, at 1 PM ET, 10 AM PT. The new season kicks off together with the Lightfall expansion and will last until May 22, 2023.

Season 21 was already teased as Bungie has revealed it to be called Season of the Deep. No details were provided so far.


Destiny 2 - Season of Defiance story and content

Just like the previous seasons, Season of Defiance will feature seasonal activities that players can participate in and earn seasonal rewards. We don’t know what is in store for us when it goes live but the devs did tease that Defiance’s story will be centered around the ground war back on Earth, with many of the characters stationed on Earth defending The Last City against Calus’ army. 

Season 20: Season of Defiance changes

Umbral Engrams and Energy

Bungie is changing things up starting with Season of Defiance as they will be removing Umbral Engrams and Energy from seasonal content. According to this TWAB, Bungie is reducing the number of currencies to earn and use, so don’t expect any of these items to drop during Season of Defiance.

What’s replacing Umbral Engrams are Seasonal Engrams, Engrams that will be held by the season’s vendor, not your inventory. With Umbral Energy removed, opening these seasonal engrams are easier to understand as all you need to unlock what’s inside is simply spending Glimmer, the game’s base currency. 

Seasonal Currency

In previous seasons, you’ll need to gather seasonal currency such as Seraph Keys (Season of the Seraph) in order to unlock a specific reward tied to the seasonal activity. Starting with Defiance, there will be no seasonal currency but singular keys that will drop and can be used to earn extra rewards at the end of seasonal activity. These new keys will now also drop even during seasonal activities, a big change as seasonal currencies used to drop in activities outside the seasonal activity. They also plan to improve the base reward for completing a seasonal activity in case you don’t have a key available. 

Destiny 2: Lightfall goes live on February 28, 2023 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S. Xbox One, and PC. If you’re new to Destiny 2, I suggest you wait for the release of the new expansion as there’s a new new-player experience system that’s meant to make it easier for a player brand new to the game to understand all of the game’s mechanics without being overwhelmed.