How to unlock every new subclass tree in Destiny 2: Forsaken

Similar to Destiny's big 2015 expansion, The Taken King, Destiny 2: Forsaken adds three new trees to each of your Titan, Hunter, or Warlock's trio of subclasses in Bungie's shared world shooter. Guardians are able to unlock all three new trees in the game eventually, but it's a long and surprisingly complex process that's isn't as straightforward as you'd expect it to be. 

It is a worthwhile endeavour, however, as it gives you even more tools and powers to play with during Forsaken's expansive end-game content, and the ability to switch between these new abilities can be the key to defeating high level bosses or conquering the competition in the Crucible. Here's what you need to do to catch 'em all, as it were, in Destiny 2: Forsaken. 

1. Collect Visions of Light

Gaining access to your first new subclass tree is the easy part in Destiny 2: Forsaken. After completing the campaign's first mission, you'll receive a milestone to collect 100 Visions of Light, which drop frequently from minibosses across The Tangled Shore. Simply play through the campaign, and you'll soon have racked up enough Visions of Light to unlock a new mission on IO, also called Visions of Light. 

Start this mission, and you'll receive a Seed of Light towards its end, which allows you to unlock a new ability tree of your choosing from one of your Guardians' three subclasses. This Seed of Light can only be used once, so choose carefully, as you won't be getting your next one for a while. Getting kills with your subclass powers will allow you activate more abilities in the new tree, until you've maxed it out across all four branches. 

2. Get to the Dreaming City

Before you can even think about activating the second or third subclass tree for your Guardian, you'll need to gain access to the Dreaming City, Destiny 2: Forsaken's sprawling end-game zone that isn't unlocked until you've completed the campaign. 

Even with the last campaign mission finished, it's another winding road before you can actually enter the zone, but luckily for you, we've got a full guide on how to unlock the Dreaming City right here. Done all that? Good, now comes the really grindy part. 

3. Play the Blind Well Public Event

Destiny 2 Forsaken's storyline

The Dreaming City features a new, special kind of Public Event called The Blind Well, in which Guardians must streamroll through hordes of enemies in order to get to and take down a final boss. This Event is tiered up to four levels of difficulty, and you can access new tiers by either purchasing them from Petra for 13 Dark Fragments, or being lucky enough to pick them up as random drops throughout the Dreaming City. 

Completing Tier 2 of the Blind Well (which has a power recommendation of 540, by the way), has a small chance of dropping a Seed of Light, which then unlocks access to yet another Seed of Light mission on IO, paving a clear and straight path for your second subclass tree unlock. 

4. Repeat step three

For your third and final subclass tree, it's a simple case of grinding through Blind Well Public Events again until another Seed of Light drops into your inventory. This is easier said than done, of course, as the Blind Well is by no means an easy challenge beyond Tier 1, even with several seasoned Guardians playing together. Still, for now, this is your best and surest best at becoming the true, fully levelled Guardian you were always supposed to be. Good luck. 

For more Destiny 2 walkthroughs, guides, tips and tricks, make sure you visit our Destiny 2 guide hub, or if you're after some general help then check out our Destiny 2 tips for the things we wish we knew before we started playing.

Alex Avard

I'm GamesRadar's Features Writer, which makes me responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!