The Dawning is Destiny’s winter event that runs from December 13th to January 3rd. This three-week event includes sparrow racing, a new strike scoring system, and daily winter gifts including brand new loot and gear. Thanks to Arekkz’s video (linked below), we’ve gathered all the info you need before you play.
Even after the event comes to a close on January 3rd, you will still be able to do sparrow racing in private matches, in addition to the new strike scoring system that will be implemented.
Sparrow racing league has 2 brand new tracks and a brand new record book but this time the record book is free and tracks strikes too. There will be, of course, rewards at various milestones. There are also two new tracks on top of the ones introduced last year. One track is set on earth around a snowy mountain pass and another is set on Mercury featuring vex warp gates and hairpin turns. In addition any new SRO gear can be infused, and also has ornament options.
As far as strike scoring goes, the new system now rewards you with medals based on your actions. In turn, these medals get you points. Now, points are earned as a team, but individual scores are still tracked at same time. You can earn medals for things like grenade kills, super kills, et cetera.
When you get a certain number of points you hit tiers. They rank as bronze, silver, and gold. In addition, Zavala offers you strike scoring related bounties. Completing these earns you the usual stuff, but also now has a chance to drop the new Year 3 Icebreaker.
You will now have two sets of bounties when running strikes, the regular vanguard ones and also strike scoring specific ones. The other two new exotic weapons for The Dawning event will come from quests as well.
In addition there are three more remastered strikes. In the Shadowthief strike, there is now a SIVA variant, with Taniks going invulnerable, and to make him vulnerable again you must destroy SIVA power cores. With the Omnigul strike, the final boss room locks you in and at key damage milestones to the boss, Omnigul disappears and summons enemies for you to fight. And finally, the Nexus strike implements some Vault of Glass-style mechanics, with a cleansing mechanic at key boss health milestones, and you use the relic to down the boss’s shield.
Lastly, there will be lots of new gear. Some will be unique gear sets tied to strike scoring system and also event itself. Visit the tower on daily basis for free gift every day for the entire three weeks.