The Taken King (Expansion)

The Taken King is a downloadable content (DLC) expansion pack for Destiny. It was released on September 15, 2015. The Dark Below and House of Wolves are required to play.

Digital Download
The digital download edition of The Taken King was released for $39.99 and was intended for players who already own Destiny, The Dark Below, and House of Wolves. It included:


 * The Taken King
 * Year 1 VIP Rewards
 * S-34 Ravensteel Sparrow
 * The Old Guard shader
 * Be Brave emblem

This edition was later reduced to $19.99 and updated to include The Dark Below and House of Wolves.

Legendary Edition
The Legendary Edition can be purchased for $59.99 and includes:


 * The Taken King
 * Destiny
 * Expansion I: The Dark Below
 * Expansion II: House of Wolves

Collector's Edition
The Collector's Edition can be purchased for $79.99 and includes:
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny
 * Expansion I: The Dark Below
 * Expansion II: House of Wolves
 * Collector's Edition Steelbook Case
 * Weapons Pack
 * Collector's Edition Digital Content:
 * Three class-specific emotes
 * The Sprinkler (Hunter)
 * Ham(mer) It Up (Titan)
 * The Circle Glide (Warlock)
 * Three class specific armor shaders
 * Three exotic class items with XP bonuses
 * Cayde-6's intel cache:
 * Modified Treasure Island book with intro letter from Cayde-6
 * Cayde-6's Personal Notes and Illustrations
 * Collection of Relics and Artifacts
 * Strange Coin replica

Digital Collection's Edition
The Digital Collector's Edition can be purchased for $79.99 and includes:


 * The Taken King
 * Destiny
 * Expansion I: The Dark Below
 * Expansion II: House of Wolves
 * Weapons Pack
 * Collector's Edition Digital Content:
 * Three class-specific emotes
 * The Sprinkler (Hunter)
 * Ham(mer) It Up (Titan)
 * The Circle Glide (Warlock)
 * Three armor shaders
 * Three exotic class items with XP bonuses

Pre-order Bonuses

 * Suros Arsenal Package

Background
Prior to the events of The Taken King, Guardians crippled the Hive invasion force on Earth and the Moon by methodically taking down their field commanders and strategists, including Sardon and Omnigul. The Guardians then banished Crota's soul and eventually killed Crota himself. They also destroyed a Shrine communing with Oryx and killed its protector, Sardok.

Eris Morn alerted Mara Sov of Oryx's arrival, and the Queen set out with the Awoken Armada to Saturn, where the Taken King's Dreadnaught had stopped to refuel. Uldren Sov led his fighter wings to attack the Dreadnaught and engage the fleet of Tombships protecting it, with the Queen and Oryx presiding over the battle from their respective flagships.

With help from her Coven of Techeun Witches, the Queen summoned her Harbingers, deadly orbs that could decimate an army in seconds. The Harbingers bombarded the Dreadnaught, but after the explosions faded away there seemed to be no lasting marks on the battlecruiser. Oryx then fired the ship's superweapon, which ripped a hole through the rings of Saturn and completely destroyed the Awoken fleet. Queen Mara and many other major parts of the Reef's leadership, including Paladin Abra Zire and Techeun Shuro, have since disappeared and are considered MIA, while Petra Venj has advised a remaining Paladin to declare all of them dead.

Attack on Phobos
Meanwhile, the Vanguard intercepted a distress signal on all channels, broadcasted from the Skyburners fortress Fleetbase Korus on Phobos. A Guardian is dispatched to Phobos, and they witness a strange new enemy slaughtering the Skyburners. Oryx contacts the Guardians, willing into existence an army of corrupted Cabal and Hive called the Taken. The Guardian defeats these Taken, overcoming Syrok, Word of Oryx. They then attempt to escape the Skyburner Keep via the Aerodrome landing pad, which is riddled with Taken. The Guardian reaches the landing pad and escapes Phobos in their ship.

From then, Oryx's master plan is revealed: He will enslave as many Cabal, Vex, Fallen, and his own Hive as he can, and use them to bring the system into ruin. Initially, one of his consorts, Ecthar (who also fluently speaks English), tells him to only retrieve the strongest of the four races and bring the rest to nigh-extinction, but Oryx objects to Ecthar's advice.

Realizing that the Taken are too deadly a threat to take lightly, the Vanguard send Guardians to rediscover lost powers of their forebearers. The Hunter gains the Nightstalker class and the Shadowshot super ability, the Warlock gains the Stormcaller class and the Stormtrance super ability, and the Titan gains the Sunbreaker class and the Hammer of Sol super ability.

Securing a Beachhead
The Vanguard has discovered Oryx's Dreadnaught in orbit of Saturn, and has analyzed its super weapon. Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 directs the Guardian to one of the dead Colony Ships in Old Russia, where he had previously hidden a stealth drive that could get Guardians past the super weapon into the Dreadnaught to face Oryx. Upon touching down in the Blast, just outside of the Fallen House of Devils' lair in the shadow of Exodus Red, the  Guardian discovers that the Taken have attacked Earth and are fighting the Fallen. The Guardian enters the Exodus Blue and accesses a service elevator to reach a platform. The Guardian then extends a bridge to the other spire of the Exodus Red. After crossing the bridge, the Guardian fights past Fallen and Taken to the top, where they recover the stealth drive. However, a force of Taken warps in, led by an Echo of Oryx. The Guardian defeats the Echo and returns to the Tower.

With the stealth drive equipped, the Guardian approaches the Dreadnaught in Eris Morn's jumpship, remaining undetected by the super weapon. However, the drive unexpectedly malfunctions, and the Dreadnaught locks onto the jumpship and fires the superweapon. The jumpship is destroyed, but the Guardian manages to warp out onto the Dreadnaught just in time. They hunt down three energy links throughout the gargantuan Dreadnaught, each fiercely guarded by Taken. When every link is destroyed, the super weapon shuts down for good. The Guardian then finds a Skyburner Warship rammed into the Dreadnaught's hull, where the Cabal are locked in a fight with Hive and Taken forces. The Guardian establishes a transmat zone and takes down a Goliath tank, aided by Cayde-6, who pulls the Guardian out.

Hunting Oryx
In order to find Oryx, the Guardians break into the crashed Cabal gunship, the Dantalion Exodus VI, and steals information that the Cabal have secured on Oryx. They learn of a portal called a Rupture that leads to Oryx's throne room. Tracking a scout team dispatched to the Rupture, the Guardians take out another Echo of Oryx and learn that the Rupture can only be traveled by those with Ascendant status. Eris Morn tells the Guardian how to become Ascendent Hive, the Guardian goes to the Soul of Crota and uses Cayde-6's stealth tech to infiltrate the Temple of Crota and take a shard of Crota's crystal and soak up the power given off by Crota's Soul, Cayde's stealth tech fails and the Guardian is out numbered by Taken. Eris Morn tries her best to get the Guardian safely out and only gets the Guardian half way out, the Guardian fights through the waves of taken and escape the Temple of Crota. With enough to become Ascendant, the Guardian travels back to the Dreadnaught and fights the wave of taken at the Rupture, after defeating the Taken the Rupture activates and the Guardian became Ascendant. The Guardian was teleported to a unknown place, the Guardian found the next Rupture that would lead to the throne room were Oryx was waiting, the Guardian faced two of Oryx's best, after defeating them the Rupture activates again and the Guardian continues to Oryx's throne room were the Guardian fought a strong battle to stop Oryx, the Guardian succeeded to stop Oryx but only weakened him. Oryx makes one last escape and uses his swords power to escape before death.

Locations

 * Dreadnaught
 * Phobos

Story Missions

 * The Coming War
 * Cayde's Stash
 * The Dreadnaught
 * Enemy of My Enemy
 * Lost to Light
 * The Promethean Code
 * Last Rites
 * Regicide

Questlines

 * Blighted Worlds
 * The Court of Oryx
 * The Nightstalker's Trail
 * The Road to King's Fall
 * The Stormcaller's Path
 * The Sunbreakers' Challenge
 * The Taken King
 * The Taken War: Earth
 * The Taken War: Venus
 * The Taken War: Mars
 * The Wolves of Mars

Strikes

 * Fallen S.A.B.E.R.
 * Shield Brothers
 * The Sunless Cell
 * Echo Chamber

Raids

 * King's Fall

Crucible Maps

 * Memento
 * Vertigo
 * Bannerfall
 * Crossroads
 * Cathedral of Dusk
 * Frontier
 * The Drifter
 * The Dungeons
 * Sector 618

Crucible Playlists

 * Mayhem
 * Rift
 * Zone Control

Subclasses

 * Nightstalker (Hunter)
 * Stormcaller (Warlock)
 * Sunbreaker (Titan)

Trivia

 * Specially-marked cans of Red Bull came with a code that could be redeemed for one Focused Light and limited-time exclusive access to the quest Make the Vanguard Smile in The Taken King. Codes can be redeemed here.