Destiny 2 has officially launched Season 13, Season of the Chosen, which includes a slew of new activities for Guardians to participate in. One of the biggest new additions to Bungie's looter-shooter is the new Battlegrounds activity, which is a new mode where players have to take on large hordes of enemies at once. But to take full advantage of the Battlegrounds and the rewards it offers, players will want to pay visits to the HELM.
The HELM is a new hub area that can be found on the Tower in Destiny 2. Players need to travel it to through the map, and they will find it in the upper portion of the Tower. It's hard to miss, but even so, some players may not know how to get back to it after they visit it as part of the new Destiny 2 Season 13 story content.
RELATED: Destiny 2 Focusing on Witch Queen Content Instead of Expanding Cosmodrome
Updated by Payton Lott on June 4, 2021: A lot of players have had issues getting the HELM to appear on the map. Some reported that it just would not appear, and others were experiencing a bug that locked them out of the HELM completely. Because of this, we've gone back into this guide to update it with any pertinent information to help with clarity concerning the mechanic. Anyone that is having trouble activating the HELM should try the potential fixes at the end of this list.
The HELM in Destiny 2 will be hugely important in Season 13, and quite possibly in new seasons as well. It's here where players can interact with the War Table to get Battlegrounds bounties, which are often challenges that can be completed in other Destiny 2 activities as well. They will also use the HELM to decode and decrypt Umbral Engrams, which can provide some of the best Destiny 2 Season 13 rewards.
Destiny 2 players will want to equip the Hammer of Proving and load it with a mod. Then after they manage to complete another Battlegrounds activity, the hammer will have a charge. Players can then use that charge to decode an Umbral Engram at the HELM, and then decrypt it to get a powerful new piece of armor or a new weapon. This and collecting Battlegrounds bounties will be the main reasons why Destiny 2 players visit the HELM, but it serves some other functions as well.
RELATED: Destiny 2: The Eliksni's View of Saint-14 is Terrifying and Prompts Reflection
Some of Destiny 2's Tower amenities are also found in the HELM. For instance, Destiny 2 players can access their Vault in the HELM in case they need to quickly store some of the new gear that they've gotten from Umbral Engrams. They can also check their mail and pay Crow a visit, if they so desire.
RELATED: Destiny 2: How To Find The Trove Guardian
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if Bungie expands on Destiny 2's HELM to make it even more convenient for players. For now, though, Destiny 2 fans will need to visit it to grab Battlegrounds bounties and decode Umbral Engrams as they try to complete the Season 13 challenges.
HELM will not appear if the first mission in Season of the Chosen is incomplete. The mission, called Battleground: Behemoth, is on Nessus to the left of The Fissure. If this is the case, defeating the Cabal and finishing the quest will unlock the HELM. For those experiencing Season of the Chosen for the first time, the game will automatically pull guardians into the mission when logging in. If it does not, clicking the mission on Nessus should work.
Another recurring issue with the HELM occurs right after completing the Battleground mission. Instead of being transported to the HELM, Destiny 2 will crash or prevent players from clicking on the Tower to access the new location. While this appears to be less of a problem in the past couple of months, there is a potential workaround.
By creating a new character, completing the first mission on Europa (Beyond Light), and restarting the game, some people have been able to gain access to the HELM. Obviously, this fix is only for guardians that do not have three maxed-out classes, as it will reset one of them to the Beyond Light power level.
Destiny 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.