Season 18, also known as Season of the Plunder, is in full swing in Destiny 2. This romp through space will see you embarking on a new swashbuckling, scoundrel-punching adventure. However, before you go on account and begin your merry jaunt across the briny stars, you might want to learn a thing or two about the new seasonal activity.
Ketchcrash and Expeditions are the main driving activities in season 18. This guide will detail everything you need to know to become a proficient pirate in your own right. Let loose the dogs of war, uncork the rum (or whatever the Eliksni drink), ready your shanties, and sharpen your shivs, because it's time to become a space pirate.
Updated September 28, 2022: We've updated this guide to include a helpful video that shows you everything you need to know about Ketchcrash.
How To Start
To begin the Ketchcrash activity, simply open the Helm in the Destinations tab and go to the left side of the screen. You'll see the icon for Season of the Plunder on the left that tells you which activities are linked to this Season.
Completing three runs of Ketchcrash will reward you with a Powerful Gear and a single run of master will grant you a Pinnacle drop. It's worth noting that the master difficulty level of Ketchcrash is not match-made.
How To Beat Ketchcrash
Phase One
Ketchcrash starts aboard your ship — "generously" loaned to you by the Spider (we're sure he's not up to any mischief). You'll start by clearing the top deck of your ship that's currently occupied by rival pirates. Once you've done this, you and the other guardians on your team will need to calibrate four cannons and get them shooting at the enemy vessel.
One guardian can easily hold a single plate (standing on plates calibrates the cannons on your ship). Although you don't have to be too worried about charging them up quickly, you've got plenty of time to beat this first encounter. This first phase is fairly simple and shouldn't pose a challenge to most players. Once that's done, it's time for some wet work.
Phase Two — Prepare To Board
Phase two is you boarding the enemy vessel in search of treasure. You'll start by clearing enemies (usually Fallen pirates or Cabal defectors). Then you'll proceed to two encounters that vary each time you run the activity. So far, there are 3 possible smaller tasks to complete as you complete your boarding action across the enemy ship. These tasks are as follows:
| Activity | What To Do |
|---|---|
| Security Servitor | There are three hackable points that you can stand in (these will be displayed). Destroy the Fallen Servitors and hack the points to make the central Security Servitor vulnerable to damage. |
| Fallen Walkers | Defeat the Fallen Scorch Captain to get Scorch Cannons. Fire the Scorch cannons at the devices that shield the Walkers. Normal weapons will not deal any damage to Walkers while they're shielded. |
| Blow Up Storage Tanks | There are tanks of Ether (what the Fallen consume to stay alive). These will be distinguished by a purplish outline that surrounds the tank. Heavy Shanks will spawn that drop explosive charges when killed. Throw these charges at the tanks to blow them up. |
After you complete whichever two of these tasks you get in your activity, you'll gain access to the final encounter.
Phase Three — Kill The Captain
The final stage is a short boss fight. So far, there's been a new one each week; we've encountered Aye-I and Ransaak as of now. All we need is a sparrow called Jack and the whole crew is here. These fights usually boil down to reducing the boss's health and triggering a wave of enemies to swarm you — killing these starts the next damage window for the boss.
That's it! You're a pirate now, scrapper. Go forth and plunder in the Traveler's name. But wait... there's more. At the end of this activity, you'll be able to open a chest with your skeleton key, giving you a chance to obtain seasonal weapons and armor.
Expeditions
Expeditions are another activity within Season of the Plunder. This is a quick activity that involves holding glimmer drills, and then collecting the treasure that spills out and throwing it on your pile.
You then escort your treasure to another drill before finally fending off an ambush. The end of this activity is how you use "Treasure Maps" for bonus rewards. We'll take a look at the treasure maps below.
The Captain's Atlas
There are three primary currencies you're going to be dealing with this season.
- Map Fragments - which you get from completing Ketchcrash.
- Treasure Coordinates - which you get from strikes, crucible, gambit and various other activities.
- Plundered Umbral Energy - which you get from using treasure maps at the end of the Expedition activity.
In the "quest" tab of the directory, you'll find the Captain's Atlas. This stores a grand total of 50 Map Fragments and 325 Treasure Coordinates. You'll use the Captain's Atlas to make Treasure Maps (almost akin to Season of the Splicer) — these give you seasonal weapons, armor, extra glimmer, and other goodies. They'll give you the Umbral Energy for this season that also allows you to focus Umbral Engrams at the Helm.
