If you’re rising through Destiny 2‘s Guardian Ranks in The Edge of Fate, rank four might throw a wrench in your plans of advancing quickly. You need to use both a faction drop modifier and a faction unit modifier before you can progress to the next step.
With the Portal’s true avalanche of modifiers in different difficulties and activity types, it’s easy to get lost along the way, especially if you’re juggling a plethora of effects to get your reward rank up. Both faction drop modifiers and faction unit modifiers raise the power of your enemies and increase the challenge level of a run, though you cannot choose them if your activity has locked effects. Here’s how to use each.
How to use a Faction Drop modifier in Destiny 2’s Portal
Faction drop modifiers and faction unit modifiers can be available in multiple activities, though you can only add them to Expert-level runs and above, so your foes will be at least 200 power. You can apply them after the Bane section alongside other harmful effects like threats, Chill Touch, and Counterfeit. Threat modifiers are also in this part of the menu.
Faction drop modifiers usually involve harmful effects that trigger whenever you defeat specific combatants. This usually applies to a specific type of enemy and will follow the main faction you’re fighting in a given activity.
- Fallen: Arach-No! (+10): Causes enemies to drop Spider Mines on death.
- Taken: Epitaph (+10): Taken enemies drop Blight geysers when defeated.
- Vex: Shocker (+10): Goblins spawn Arc pools upon death.
- Hive: Fire Pit (+10): Acolytes spawn fire pools on the ground when killed.
- Scorn: Festering Rupture (+10): Scorn Stalkers spawn mini-Screebs on death.
- Cabal: Pestilence (+10): Psions spawn Void grenades at their feet when defeated.
How to use a Faction Unit modifier in Destiny 2’s Portal
Likewise, faction unit modifiers alter the behavior of specific enemies, which can change how you respond to their actions. Despite having a similar level of danger, these might seem more noticeable during a run.
- Fallen: Hot Knife (+10): Shanks now have Solar shields.
- Taken: Denial (+10): Taken Vandals use their shields “significantly more often.”
- Vex: Air Superiority (+10): Flying units deal more damage.
- Hive: Martyr (+10): Exploding Hive units have more health.
- Scorn: Raider Shield (+10): Scorn Raiders have Void shields.
- Cabal: Scorched Earth (+10): Enemies throw grenades more often.
There’s no score requirement to advance from Guardian Rank four. You’ll complete the objective regardless of reward tier as long as you apply the required modifiers.
