Tis the season to scour the Solar system and deliver some festive firepower, as Destiny 2's annual Dawning event kicks off on December 12. Like previous years, this festive season will focus on the spirit of the season, as space-grandma Eva Levante urges you to gun down the enemies of the Light and harvest fresh ingredients from them that can be used to bake an assortment of cookies. Yes, it's kind of messed up but try not to think too hard about this event.

　　You'll also gather Dawning Essence from activities, allowing you to purchase several upgrades. These will last for the entire Dawning event and include the following perks:

　　Snowball fight!Gallery

　　Bonus event rewards.The ability to earn Dawning weapons with additional perks from Eva.Increased power and utility for your Stasis snowballs.Weapon focusing that allows for targeted weapon drops.The Best (And Most Ridiculously Fun) Destiny 2 Exotics

　　See More

　　Stasis snowballs are also being changed this year, as instead of finding them dotted around patrol zones, you'll create a snowball spawn point by defeating an enemy while using a Dawning weapon or ability. There'll be a new Glaive this year to collect, the Albedo Wing, and it can be acquired from Event Challenges, weapon focusing, or Festive Engrams. Players can also pick up a new Dawning Memento through the Winter Night quest, a Stasis-energy sword called Zephyr, and Dawning weapons will have some powerful perks this season:

　　Deconstruct

　　Dealing sustained damage grants bonus damage against vehicles and constructs and partially refills the magazine. Damage with Primary ammo or against constructs provides additional progress.Constructs include barricades, turrets, Stasis crystals, and other objects created in the field.This perk description states that it partially refills the magazine, but we'd like to clarify that this pulls ammo from thin air, not reserves.Attrition Orbs

　　Dealing sustained damage creates an Orb of Power.Cold Steel

　　Powered sword hits slow targets.Beacon Rounds

　　Final blows with this weapon grant your projectiles tracking. Dealing further damage extends the duration.Dawning Surprise (Origin Trait)

　　Rapidly defeating targets awards a Dawning gift. Defeated powerful targets count as more than one.While next week will see a festive atmosphere in Destiny 2, things are reportedly not so cheerful behind the scenes at Bungie. It has been claimed that morale is at an all-time low following mass layoffs, and with the Lightfall expansion underperforming, the studio might be on the verge of a Sony takeover if the delayed Final Shape expansion doesn't live up to expectations.

　　Darryn Bonthuys on Google+