Strike

"Strikes are the backbone of the Vanguard's response to the Darkness. Each mission is planned for maximum disruption and hindrance of enemy lines. Your Strike service directly impacts our ongoing war with the Darkness. So serve well."

- Commander Zavala

Strike is a cooperative mode featured in Destiny. Strikes represent a middle ground in PvE content between Story missions and Raids in terms of length and difficulty, and are optimized for a fireteam of three players. Usually, Strikes are composed of a linear series of enemy encounters which may or may not include a mini-boss, culminating in a battle against one or more bosses supported by additional enemies. Some of the newer strikes feature simple puzzle mechanics that make boss fights more challenging.

As of The Taken King, Strikes have a chance to drop Strike-specific loot that can help gear players up in preparation for Raids. Playing in a Strike playlist continuously increases the chances of better loot on consecutive strikes.

Strike Playlists
Higher-level versions of each Strike are available in the Strike playlists. Entering a playlist will launch a random Strike alongside two matchmade players.

Year One
These playlists were available during Year One of Destiny, and incorporated all available base game and expansion Strikes. Playlists at higher levels offered greater rewards.


 * Vanguard Eagle—Level 18
 * Vanguard Viper—Level 20
 * Vanguard Wolf—Level 22
 * Vanguard Tiger—Level 24
 * Vanguard Roc—Level 26, added by The Dark Below
 * Vanguard Dragon—Level 28, added by House of Wolves

Year Two
The Taken King replaces all Year One playlists with the following:


 * Vanguard Legacy—Level 20 required, includes all Year One strikes only, no modifiers
 * Vanguard Strikes—Level 36 required, includes Year Two and select "remixed" Year One strikes, no modifiers
 * Vanguard Heroic Strikes—Light Level 260 required, includes Year Two and select "remixed" Year One strikes strikes, Heroic and one random modifier active
 * The Vanguard Heroic playlist replaces the Weekly Heroic Strike; players are rewarded for the first three strikes completed in this playlist each week across all of a player's characters.

Year Three
Rise of Iron's Strike playlists retain the Vanguard Legacy and Vanguard Strikes, but adds two new playlists:


 * SIVA Crisis--Light Level 320 required, includes Strikes from Year One to Year Three with no modifiers.
 * SIVA Crisis Heroic--Light Level 350 required; includes Strikes from Year One to Year Three; three random Heroic modifiers active per week; replaces Vanguard Heroic.

Nightfall Strikes
A random Strike is selected each week for the Nightfall Strike, a high-difficulty challenge with the Nightfall and Epic modifiers active in addition to three other randomly-chosen modifiers; after The Taken King is released, the latter three modifiers will be manually selected by Bungie each week instead of randomized. Nightfall Strikes do not include matchmaking, requiring players to fight alone or assemble a fireteam of three before starting. Rewards include Legendary and Exotic gear.

Trivia

 * Similarities have been drawn between Strikes and the Firefight mode from the Halo series.