It wouldn't be a new Destiny 2 season if there wasn't some sort of new progression system. Ever since Season of Dawn, Bungie has included progression systems tied to that season's content loop, giving players avenues of improving their end-of-match loot.
Season of the Chosen's new progression system is the Hammer of Proving, a massive Cabal hammer that can smash Tribute Chests at the end of a Battleground match. Upgrading this hammer can be a confusing process for most, both in how to unlock upgrades and which upgrades are best. In this guide, we'll be going over which Hammer of Proving enhancements are the best and which order you should unlock them in.
How To Upgrade The Hammer Of Proving
The Hammer of Proving can be upgraded at the H.E.L.M., a social space accessible from the Tower's Directory. When at the H.E.L.M., interact with the War Table to find a submenu allowing you to upgrade the Hammer of Proving.
You will be able to unlock three upgrades each week by completing Seasonal Challenges that grant War Table Reputation. Unlike past progression systems, you can only unlock enhancements adjacent—vertically or horizontally—from one another. You will be forced to unlock "Tribute Chest I" as your first upgrade, at which point you can unlock any node adjacent to it. It will take seven weeks to unlock every enhancement.
Seasonal Challenge completions and Umbral Engram focusing are beyond the scope of this guide; we'll just be focusing on which upgrades are best. If you need this information, we cover every Seasonal Challenge on our Beyond Light Hub page. If you're unfamiliar with how the Hammer of Proving works in general, we have a guide for that as well.
With that out of the way, let's go over which enhancements are worth unlocking.
Best Enhancements
Below lists the best enhancements that Guardians can unlock. They are listed in order of importance.
Essential Upgrades
- Tribute Chest I: You have to get this one first. It grants one Cabal Gold after you smash a Tribute Chest.
- Hammer Charge I: Allows your Hammer of Proving to carry five Hammer Charges. This is needed to reach the Cabal Gold column.
- Cabal Gold I: Increases your Cabal Gold capacity to 56.
- Cabal Gold II: Increases your Cabal Gold capacity to 70.
- Cabal Gold III: Increases your Cabal Gold capacity to 84.
- Red Legion Chest I: You need this enhancement to reach the Challenger Medallion column.
- Challenger Medallion I: This is needed to reach Challenger Medallion III.
- Challenger Medallion II: This is needed to reach Challenger Medallion III.
- Challenger Medallion III: For 28 Cabal Gold, you can make a Challenger Medallion that grants two Hammer Charges when you break a Tribute Chest, allowing you to focus Umbral Engrams more often.
At this rate, the next three upgrades you get will rely on how often you play Battleground matches.
Battleground Farmers
- Proving Rune I: Slot a Rune for one Legendary Shard that grants a 5-10% chance of obtaining extra Glimmer after a Battleground match.
- Proving Rune II: Slot a Rune for one Legendary Shard that grants a 5-10% chance of obtaining extra Cabal Gold after a Battleground match.
- Proving Rune III: Slot a Rune for one Legendary Shard that grants a 5-10% chance of obtaining an extra Hammer Charge after a Battleground match.
Note that the percentages listed are based on anecdotal experience. These Runes activate too infrequently to warrant unlocking for players that aren't avidly grinding Battleground matches.
Everyone Else
- Mission Focus I: Gain a random Chosen Focused Umbral Engram in your first Tribute Chest for the week.
- Mission Focus II: Gain a random Chosen Focused Umbral Engram in your first two Tribute Chests for the week.
- Mission Focus III: Gain a random Chosen Focused Umbral Engram in your first three Tribute Chests for the week.
At this point, you can get whichever upgrades sound the most appealing to you. Remember, unlocking every upgrade requires completing every Seasonal Challenge that grants War Table Reputation. It will take seven weeks to unlock all of them.
Why Are These The Best?
Obtaining Hammer Charges is a royal pain in Season of the Chosen. Umbral Engrams require up to five charges to focus, meaning you'd have to play five Battleground matches to get one Tier three Umbral Engram. That's a massive time investment, so it's imperative everyone unlocks "Challenger Medallion III" whenever they can.
We recommend you focus on unlocking the "Cabal Gold" enhancement column first, however, as a series of Seasonal Challenges require you to obtain large sums of this resource. Having a larger reserve of Cabal Gold not only makes completing these challenges easier, but larger gold reserves allow you to run more Battleground matches consecutively. Even if you don't care about Battlegrounds, "Cabal Gold III" is a must.
Runes sound fantastic on paper, granting a chance of obtaining even more Hammer Charges at the end of a Battleground match. Unfortunately, the "small chance" listed is around 5-10%, as these Runes very seldom proc. Unless you're running Battlegrounds back to back, you won't see much return on your investment.
Obtaining three free Focused Umbral Engrams every week from the "Mission Focus" column is much more worthwhile for most players, giving you three additional chances of obtaining "god roll" gear while completing your Battleground weekly challenge.