Trials Of Osiris Is Back In Destiny 2 With A New Currency And An Old, Great Weapon

Now that we're done with The Final Shape's world first raid race for Salvation's Edge in Destiny 2, it's time to get back to normal weekend activities, and that means the return of the Trials of Osiris. The high-stakes competitive mode is back this weekend, allowing you the chance to go Flawless and earn some serious, one-of-a-kind rewards. And like just about everything else in The Final Shape, Trials is seeing some significant changes from the way it used to work.

Bungie gave us a few details about those changes in its latest This Week In Destiny blog post. The specific new alteration is that Trials is getting a new currency, called Osirian Cipher. What exactly these will get you isn't clear, though: the blog post only says, "This new and very aptly named currency can be exchanged for rewards every weekend." Nothing in the inventory of Saint-14, the Trials vendor, currently requires an Osirian Cipher to purchase it, but Bungie advises you "use them wisely," which suggests you'll be able to use them to grab specific rewards. We'll add more details here as soon as they're available.

As the blog post details, Osirian Ciphers are going to be somewhat hard to come by. You can earn one for completing a Passage of Persistence, and if you manage to go Flawless and reach the Lighthouse, you'll get four ciphers. You can keep a total of 10 in your inventory.

Meanwhile, this weekend allows you to earn the Adept version of The Summoner for your Trials tribulations. The auto rifle is highly accurate and dumps bullets fast, making it pretty deadly. Bungie has also updated it to be a Strand weapon rather than Kinetic, so if autos are your thing, you might want to try to nab one.

As always, both the Trials of Osiris rewards and the map are randomized when the mode goes live at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Fridays. Here's what you're facing this weekend:

• Map: Bannerfall
• Game Mode: Dominion (capture a control point or eliminate all opponents to win)
• 20 rounds won -- Pinnacle Trials Engram
• 7 matches won -- Pinnacle Trials Engram
• Reputation Rank 10 -- Aisha's Care (Strand pulse rifle)
• Reputation Rank 16 -- Shayura's Wrath (Void submachine gun)
• Flawless run -- The Summoner (Adept), Solar auto rifle

If you're not familiar with Trials of Osiris, the special PvP event runs from the daily reset on Friday until the weekly reset on Tuesday, giving you four days to take part. Your goal is for you and the other two players in your fireteam to achieve a "Flawless" run, in which you win seven matches without losing any.

Going Flawless gets you a trip to the Lighthouse, a special social space you can't reach any other way, and provides you with special rewards, including Adept weapons that can only come from Trials. These have additional stat bonuses, making them among the most coveted items you can get your hands on.

To access the mode, you'll need to buy a Trials Passage from Saint-14. The card tracks your wins, but not track your losses--so you can keep playing and earning rewards even if you lose out on a Flawless run. You also earn rewards based on the number of rounds, rather than matches, you've won during your session, Saint-14 has a reputation system similar to other vendors that will dish out some Trials-only loot in exchange for your participation, even if you don't clean out any lobbies.

Finally, you'll also earn Trials Engrams for participating in the mode, which you can cash in with Saint-14 during the weekend you receive them. You can tune those engrams to yield specific pieces of loot, or take your chances with random drops that will expand what's available in your loot pool. You get Engrams even if you don't go Flawless, so it's worth trying your hand at the mode for some cool rewards, even if you're not cleaning out the competition. Just note that your Engrams for the weekend have to be cashed in before the weekly reset on Tuesday.

Check out the rest of our Destiny 2 coverage with our Final Shape guides hub and our Final Shape review. You might also want to find out what Xur is offering this weekend.