Useful Tools for Destiny 2

Bungie offers an API for Destiny 2, which was a bit of a surprise to me. An API is an interface that allows programs and web applications to retrieve and send data about the game and its players, sometimes only after the player grants permission. This allows motivated developers to write their own applications for interacting with the game in their free time. This way, players can engage with the game even when they’re not playing, and sometimes much more effectively than through the in-game options.

It’s a clever move by Bungie. It simplifies things like inventory management for players, and the developer doesn’t have to pay a single euro for it—they just need to keep their API up-to-date and functional. So, it’s essentially free outsourcing. Other (online) games could take a page out of their book. I already loved the API for Eve Online.

But what does this API make possible, or rather, which helpful programs have been created by other motivated players and made available to everyone else? I’ll briefly introduce the tools that are most important to me.

Where is Xur?

Xur is a vendor in Destiny 2 who appears somewhere in the solar system every weekend from Friday to Tuesday, selling exotic items. On the website https://whereisxur.com/, you can check where Xur is currently located and what he’s selling. It even includes a video to help you find his exact location.

Ishtar Collective

The Ishtar Collective website isn’t a tool for the API itself, but rather a kind of wiki for Destiny 2 lore. Every Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 player has surely noticed the lore snippets presented as books and divided into chapters. On the other hand, you don’t really want to “waste” your playtime reading lore. That’s where the Ishtar Collective comes in, offering the complete lore texts of the game on a single website. With the Ishtar MultiTool add-on, it’s also available in German.

DIM - Destiny Item Manager

Managing your gear and items in the game is, unfortunately, not handled very well. The vaults are only accessible in the Tower and on the H.E.L.M., and items not in storage have to be found in the collection and reacquired. Swapping items between characters also has to be done through the vault. Or, you can use the Destiny Item Manager, or DIM for short. The tool shows you your three Guardians and your vault in four columns. This allows you to quickly move or equip items. You can easily switch between your gear sets using saved loadouts. And the best part? If you have an item in your collection but not in your vault, it will be pulled from the collection for you. A must-have for every Destiny 2 player.

Braytech - The To-Do List

The last site I want to feature is called Braytech. This more polished and better alternative to TodayInDestiny allows you to log in with your account and track your in-game progress. The site covers all progress and all weekly challenges. You can see which exotics and cosmetics you’re still missing, which region chests and lost sectors you haven’t completed, which quests and bounties you haven’t finished, and of course, your progress on the weekly challenges. I still have a lot to do, but dedicated players can really work through their lists with this.

Other Tools

Finally, I’d like to mention two more tools. I’ll cover them briefly, as I haven’t spent much time with them yet. I’ve used Destiny2ArmorPicker more extensively. It allows you to put together your optimal armor set. You select an exotic armor piece, then your planned stat mods. The tool then searches your vault and collection for matching armor pieces and displays the maximum achievable stats. You can then focus on specific stats until only the gear sets that offer the highest possible stats remain. Just quickly export it to DIM and you’re done.

Destiny Recipes is a to-do tool similar to Braytech, but with a focus on the upcoming season. It’s designed to help players prepare for the next content drop in the best way possible. The right gear, a tidy inventory, and maximum power level. If you have the tool open on the side, you can even have it automatically dismantle unnecessary loot.