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How to get Gambit Prime armor in Destiny 2

Learn everything you need to know about Gambit Prime armor, from the four main roles to the various perks on offer in Destiny 2: Season of the Drifter.

Sam Chandler

March 6, 2019 10:30 AM

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Destiny 2’s Season of the Drifter has kicked off with Joker’s Wild. The big addition in this DLC is Gambit Prime and The Reckoning, two new modes that work in tandem to bring you brand new armor sets. The new armor in question is Gambit Prime armor, a special collection of armor that comes with perks specific to Gambit and Gambit Prime. If you want to really flex your Gambit skills, you will want to get a full set of Gambit Prime armor. Let's dive into what each armor set brings to the table, what perks the armor offers, and how to get your hands on Gambit Prime armor.

How to get Gambit Prime armor

Gambit Prime armor is a set designed for Gambit and Gambit Prime but only available through The Reckoning. This is a new PVE activity that players can complete with a squad of up to four players. Players can unlock one piece of Gambit Prime armor at a time for each succesful completion of The Reckoning. The caveat is that players must first acquire the Weak Synthesizer.

The Weak Synthesizer is a device that turns Synths into special Motes. Once a Mote has been made, it can be placed in a bank at the start of The Reckoning. Depending on what Mote has been made will dictate what type of Gambit Prime armor is rewarded. For example, putting a Sentry Synth into the Synthesizer will yield a Sentry Mote, which when placed into the bank in The Reckoning will reward one piece of Sentry armor.

Once a Mote has been placed in the bank, the portal will open allowing access to the arena. Players will need to successfully beat the boss in order for the Mote to turn into an armor piece.

Once you have started an activity in The Reckoning, you will have 6 minutes to complete it. If players do not kill the final boss within those six minutes, they will be teleported out of the arena where they can collect their Mote from the loot bank and use it again. Every player will need to bank a Mote if they want to get a piece of armor.

While the armor type you get from the bank is guaranteed to be the type of Mote you used (Collector, Invader, etc) the piece of armor will be random. Players could wind up receiving multiple helmets before receiving a single chest piece.

Gambit Prime armor roles

There are currently four sets of armor that players can earn through playing The Reckoning. Each armor type is determined by the type of Mote you used to activate The Reckoning. While you will most likely want to obtain all four armor sets at some point, each complete set has a specific purpose, allowing players to focus on a primary role:

• Reaper – Slays mobs quickly and helps generate motes for allies.
• Invader – Steals enemy motes and focuses on killing opponents.
• Collector – Sends bigger blockers and is rewarded for mote collection
• Sentry – Protects the bank and counters invaders and blockers.

Each Gambit Prime armor set really leans into a specific role. If you're more comfortable with one role, like invading, choosing the Invader Gambit Prime armor set is going to be a good idea. It's going to be interesting to see how the meta shifts as players discover the best team loadout. Though there are four Gambit Prime armor types, it could end up being better to have multiple of the same type, for instance, three Sentries.

But there's a reason why the Gambit Prime armor allows players to excel in a specific field, and it's all thanks to the Gambit Prime armor perks.

Gambit Prime armor perks

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As you can see from the table above, each set of Gambit Prime armor (Collector, Invader, Reaper, and Sentry) has four unique perks. These perks are unlocked by equipping multiple of the same armor type. This means players can potentially mix-and-match armor sets to unlock various perks across the board. 

Outside of the four main roles, Gambit Prime armor also comes in three different "rarities": Illicit, Outlawed, and Notorious. The difference between these is how much of a bump-up in levels a piece of armor provides. For example, Illicit offers a +1 per piece of armor, Outlawed grants +2, while Notorious boasts +3.

Having a full set of Illicit Gambit Prime armor equipped can give a maximum of +5, meaning that not even the second perk will be activated (as it requires +6). One way to reach the fourth perk requirements is to equip a full set of Notorious Gambit Prime armor. 

Complete higher tiers in The Reckoning to unlock the Outlawed and Notorious Gambit Prime armor.

However, we did mention mixing and matching armor pieces to unlock various perks. To make this a reality, players will want to use a synth as a consumable. When consumed, a synth will give a +3 bump to one of the four roles for 30 minutes. Players can only have one role bumped at a time, so if you consume a Sentry Synth and then an Invader Synth, you will lose the +3 to Sentry.

With this in mind, players could potentiall wear three pieces of Collector armor and two pieces of Sentry armor, use a Collector Synth, and wind up with Inheritance, Umbral Armor, Cashback, Umbral Strike, and Safe and Sound from those two different armor sets.

Picking the right Gambit Prime armor for you is going to be based on how you like to play. Players aren't just limited to one armor set though, as they can mix and match to unlock various perks across the board. It's even possible to have the level one perk from each Gambit Prime armor set if you wear one piece from each. Start experimenting with various Gambit Prime armor sets to see what best suits your playstyle in Destiny 2.

If you’re looking for more help with Joker’s Wild, make sure you hit up our Destiny 2 complete strategy guide. We have a ton of helpful strategy articles that will assist you as you try to unlock all the pinnacle weapons and compete in the new game modes introduced with the latest update.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler