Destiny House of Wolves: Prison of Elders explained

As promised, Destiny revealed today Prison of Elders, the new end-game co-op Arena activity coming in place of a new raid with the House of Wolves expansion.

Prison of Elders can be thought of as the PvE end game alternative to the Trials of Osiris, which was fully revealed last week. On the most basic level it can be compared to Gears of Wars' Horde Mode, where you and a Fireteam of two other Guardians enter into a prison set up by the Awoken Queen that houses some of the solar system's most dangerous criminals.

Guardians may enter the Prison of Elders at level 28, but there are additional Challenge modes designed for level 32 (Broken Legion), level 34 (Uroxx's Grudge), and level 35 (Skola's Revenge). The level 28 version allows for random Guardian matchmaking, while the harder difficulties actually require you to form a pre-made Fireteam.

On the most basic level, you'll be responsible for defeating waves of enemies over the course of four rounds  (three waves each) — one against each race of the Darkness: Hive, Fallen, Vex, or Cabal. There's a checkpoint in between each round.

While the level 28 Prison of Elders is entirely randomly generated, the Challenge modes are crafted and will rotate each week. The level 34 mission will be replaced with something new and that mission will become the level 32 mission; the level 32 mission will become the level 28 mission, and so on. So what's crafted exactly?

To keep things interested, Prison of Elders will come with modifiers. There's a total of eight modifiers — a mix of old and new — and, like it sounds, they will modify the gameplay in that particular run. For example, a new modifier called Brawler will make your melee attacks super strong. Another mod, Catapult, increases your grenade recharge rate. The Juggler and Lightswitch modifiers are also included.

In addition to fighting off waves of enemies, you'll be presented with secondary objectives which can consist of things like disarming bombs by standing near them or killing an enemy before he reaches a specific destination. These secondary objectives encourage you to move around the map rather than stand in a corner and shoot everything that comes at you. And it'll be fun to explore too because Prison of Elders will introduce all-new arenas.

Once you complete all four rounds, you'll face a final boss. There are six bosses, and although Bungie isn't ready to talk about them yet, they did reveal that the level 35 challenge will have you face off against Skolas in a bonus sixth round.

Of course, successfully completing Prison of Elders will reward you with gear and other items. Level 28 will reward you with Queen's Wrath-themed gear, while the level 32 Challenge guarantees a piece of Fallen-themed armor. The level 34 Challenge, as you can probably guess, rewards you with a Fallen-themed weapon. The Fallen armor and weapon pieces can only be earned in Prison of Elders. You'll also have the potential to earn Etheric Light, the new rare material required to ascend lower-level Legendary and Exotic gear to level 34.

Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves will be available on Tuesday, May 19th.