Nightfall

Nightfall is a Vanguard playlist activity, and the "endgame" PvE activity. It went through several iterations over the lifespan of Destiny and Destiny 2.

Destiny
The Nightfall Strike is an extremely difficult Level 42 strike with five modifiers total. One of the modifiers is Epic, which replaces Heroic. The remaining four modifiers are random. Matchmaking is unavailable. The Nightfall is always a different Strike from the Weekly Heroic Strike; before House of Wolves, the two used the same Strike each week. A minimum Light level of 380 is recommended.


 * Year One
 * Random—rewards can include up to a dozen Strange Coins, various crafting materials, and Legendary or even Exotic gear.
 * Radiant Light buff—all experience and reputation gains are increased for the rest of the week. Radiant Light was removed in The Taken King; sources of XP and Reputation were adjusted accordingly to make up for its absence.
 * Year Two
 * Random—rewards can include up to a dozen Strange Coins, various crafting materials, and Legendary or even Exotic gear.

Destiny 2
In their current iteration, Destiny 2 Nightfalls are chosen between 6 strikes every season. Completing enough Nightfalls, with more progression depending on difficulty, awards the player Powerful Gear. Obtaining 100,000 points in a single strike awards Pinnacle Gear. Nightfalls always have an Acute Burn Modifier. Nightfalls are the only way to obtain Nightfall weapons, with one weapon being awarded by each different Nightfall for the season. The Nightfall node has 4 difficulty levels available, Adept, Hero, Legend and Master, with increasing difficulty and rewards.


 * Adept: a single modifier was applied to the Strike alongside the Acute Burn. The minimum Power Level suggested is 80 below the Pinnacle Cap. Rewards include Exotic gear (rare), Enhancement Cores (uncommon), and Nightfall weapons (rare). Matchmaking is available. As of the launch of Lightfall, this difficulty was removed.
 * Hero: two modifiers are applied to the Strike alongside the Acute Burn, as well as the Champion Foes modifier. The minimum Power Level suggested is 40 below the the Pinnacle Cap. Rewards include Exotic gear (uncommon), Enhancement Cores (common), Enhancement Prisms (rare) and Nightfall weapons (uncommon). Matchmaking is available.
 * Legend: the Shielded Foes and Match Game modifiers are applied on top of the previous ones, as well as the Equipment Locked modifier. The minimum Power Level suggested is 10 below the the Pinnacle Cap, or the Powerful Cap. Rewards include Exotic gear (common), Enchancement Prisms (uncommon) and Nightfall weapons (common). Matchmaking is unavailable.
 * Master: another Modifier is applied to on top of the previous ones, as well as the Champions Mob modifier. The minimum Power Level suggested is 20 above the the Pinnacle Cap. Rewards include Exotic gear (common), Enchancement Prisms (common), Ascendant Shards (uncommon) and Nightfall weapons (common). Matchmaking is unavailable.

Grandmaster Nightfalls
Grandmaster Nightfalls are the final difficulty level for Nightfalls. They are selected from a separate node, though they share Weekly Challenge rewards with regular Nightfalls. Grandmaster Nightfalls become available 6 weeks into a Season, after all of the seasonal Nightfalls have had a chance to be played. Completion of all the seasonal Grandmaster Nightfalls is required for the Conqueror Seal, or to gild it. While normally one can only play the weekly Nightfall, players with the Conqueror seal have access to a "Catchup Node" that allows them to complete each Nightfall once outside of its chosen week.

On top of all the modifiers of Master difficulty, including no matchmaking, two modifiers are added, one of which is specific for that Nightfall. The Limited Revives and Extinguish modifiers are also applied. Players cannot Join In Progress for this activity. The minimum Power Level suggested is 40 above the the Pinnacle Cap, but the Contest modifiers lowers the player's level to 15 above cap. Rewards include Exotic gear (common), Ascendant Shards (common) and Adept Nightfall weapons (common), which can be only obtained from Grandmasters. You are also rewarded with a Nightfall Memento every time you complete a Grandmaster Nightfall.

Scoring
The scoring system of Nightfalls has two aspects. The direct numerical score counts enemy kills, with an increasing amount of points awarded for Elite, Major and Ultra combatants, as well as the way they are killed, such as multikills or precision damage. Collecting Orbs of Power and reviving temmates also increases your score. The second metric, present in Hero or higher difficulty, is Champion scoring. Defeating all Champions in the strike grants Platinum rewards, and access to the prizes mentioned above. Missing Champions gives a lower score, going to Gold, Silver and Bronze, with decreasing rewards. There is also a time limit to the strike, after which players will no longer gain points from actions, will steadily lose points, and will be deprived of all revive tokens, if present.

Trivia

 * With the release of Beyond Light, base Nightfalls were removed, leaving only Nightfall: The Ordeal. With the release of The Witch Queen, The Ordeal was renamed Nightfall, though it didn't fundamentally change.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King
 * Rise of Iron
 * Destiny 2
 * Curse of Osiris
 * Warmind
 * Forsaken
 * Season of the Forge
 * Season of the Drifter
 * Season of Opulence
 * Shadowkeep
 * Season of the Undying
 * Season of Dawn
 * Season of the Worthy
 * Season of Arrivals
 * Beyond Light
 * Season of the Hunt
 * Season of the Chosen
 * Season of the Splicer
 * Season of the Lost
 * The Witch Queen
 * Season of the Risen
 * Season of the Haunted
 * Season of Plunder