Today, 23 July, the Destiny Beta opens for Xbox One and Xbox 360 gamers. And the scheduled maintenance downtime for the PS4 and PS3 Beta versions has now been lifted. So what better time than to present a mighty swathe of tips and tricks for the game that Bungie itself has supplied.

The Destiny Beta runs until 27 July and there's plenty of time to get involved. The easiest way to earn a Beta entry code is to pre-order the full game, which will be released on 9 September. Other ways have sprung up, including competitions run across the internet - it's best to keep'em peeled in case more appear.

Those who have been playing for a while will realise that although the Beta offers a healthy slice of action to experience (while Bungie tests its servers) content is still limited and there's a cap on how high a level your Guardian can reach. Plus, there's only a finite number of missions you can complete.

However, it has been opening up and adding new content over the life of the Beta session, including the Iron Banner, which was available on 19 July only. There is more teased, with Bungie encouraging Beta testers to report for duty at 2pm Pacific time (10pm UK time) on 26 July. There will be a reward for those who play around that time - an emblem that will only be available then that your profile will carry forward into the final game.

Before you get to that though, you have to survive your first forays into the single-player or co-op missions and The Crucible - Destiny's player versus player arena - and here's a few tips from Eric Osborne and Lars Bakken, the developer's community manager and game designer respectively.

READ: Destiny Beta first impressions: Is it on course to be the best game of all time?

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General tips for Destiny Beta

  • When you score kills with your super ability, you’ll spawn orbs of light. Your teammates can scoop them up to fuel their own devastating supers.
  • Sometimes when the sun goes down in Rocketyard and Skywatch (two areas of Old Russia), the Fallen and the Hive go to war, sending out waves of high level reinforcements. You can jump into the middle of the fray, or stand back and watch them throw down.
  • You can find a Hive Ogre or a Hallowed Knight guarding a treasure chest beneath the helipad in Skywatch.
  • You can use the vault in the Tower to share weapons, armour, and items between all of your characters.
  • While your exploring you can find materials like Spinmetal that you can exchange in the Tower for reputation and upgraded gear.
  • Each Faction offers unique shaders you can purchase that change the colour scheme of your equipped gear.
  • There are five Golden Chests and numerous Dead Ghosts hidden throughout Cosmodrome for players to find.

How to survive The Crucible

Level advantages

In the standard Control mode, players enter on an even playing field, their levels are effectively equalised. However, the equipment and weapons they have accumulated over the missions are retained and available for use.

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Control mode

Control is a cross between Team Deathmatch and Objective PVP modes. Basically, the first team to reach 20,000 points wins or, if the game goes to time, the team with the highest score at the end wins. Players earn points for getting kills and assists, plus capturing and neutralising control points.

There are other points available for different types of kill about a standard one. Getting kills with a headshot, melee, grenade, Super, heavy weapons, or vehicle will all add additional points on top of each kill. And, for each control point your team holds, everyone on that team gets a bonus modifier on every kill.

Tracker tips (radar in the upper left)

  • Friendlies always show up as dots and players can see their position relative to their own. If a player goes in with a pre-made fireteam, the dots will be green instead of the standard glue.
  • Enemies always show up on the Tracker, so it has nothing to do with movement. If they are crouched, however, they will ping less frequently, but still show up. This greatly reduces camping.
  • The Tracker is broken up into segments, and generally shows where the enemies are without revealing the exact position. This means effective Tracker usage requires a combination of map knowledge and in-game situational awareness.
  • When lines appear outside the main segments, it shows the general direction of enemies, and usually following that will get the player back into action.
  • When the centre piece starts flashing that means an enemy is within 6 meters, and Bungie calls that the panic zone.

How to use ammo crates in The Crucible

  • Ammo in Destiny uses Bungie's private loot stream tech, so any glowing ammo block you see on the ground is always for you.
  • Ammo crates can be shared. When a teammate activates a crate, it will also create ammo for any nearby teammates. This is true of both special (green) and also heavy (purple) ammo. It’s a great idea to gather teammates around a heavy ammo crate so everyone gets ammo, but beware that some enemies will try to bait you with this.
  • Primary ammo is plentiful, and players always spawn with it.
  • A small amount of special ammo is available at round start, but after that it must be picked up from special crates or dead enemies.
  • Players never spawn with heavy ammo in The Crucible, and the only way to get it is to get it from a crate or kill an enemy who has it. If a player dies with heavy ammo they drop it for their killer.
  • The announcer gives a 10 second warning before heavy ammo comes in. Learn the locations in the map and listen for the warnings.

Super abilities

Guardians have Super abilities which have a cool down period after use. They come back on a timer, and players will never lose progress on death.

The timer can be sped up by doing good things that help your team, including kills, assists, and neutralising and capturing control points.

They might need to be used sparingly in The Crucible through as many Supers have a warm-up animation and vulnerability, so using it in the heat of battle is not always the best idea.

Teammates should be encouraged to stick around as you use a Super move. Successfully using one will generate orbs of light for any allied teammates in the private loot stream. Picking these up will make their own Supers recharge faster.