During the morning watch of the 12th, Bryant approached Peleliu in the destroyer screen of Task Group 32.5 (TG 32.5), which consisted of the flagship Louisville, Idaho, Mississippi, and Portland.

Daily, Bryant took leave of her screening duties with the capital ships to close the beach and dump 40-millimeter rounds on enemy positions which threatened the operations of the underwater demolition teams (UDTs).

Bryant served as part of the screen for the 323rd Regimental Combat Team tasked with occupying the atoll, needed as an advance base for operations to liberate the Philippines.

[1] A decision by the American high command to cancel the landings at Yap and Mindanao in favor of accelerating the timetable for operations against Leyte and Luzon afforded Bryant little time to replenish her depleted supply of fuel and ammunition.

During the early morning hours of 20 October, Bryant stood off Leyte approximately 12,000 yards (11,000 m) from Catmon Hill conducting indirect fire in support of the troops landing with the Southern Attack Force near Dulag.

The Japanese strike force under Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura — composed of the battleships Yamashiro and Fusō, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers — steamed into the strait from the south during mid-watch on the 25th.

Deployed to the east side of the strait, Bryant, Halford, and Robinson comprised one of the three destroyer sections assigned to screen Rear Admiral Oldendorf's left-flank cruisers.

By the time Bryant closed within range of the enemy column, many of his ships had been sunk or were burning as a consequence of the right-flank destroyers’ torpedo attack and the gunfire of the battleships and cruisers in the battle line.

[1] After receiving word that American escort carriers had come under fire in the Battle off Samar, TG 77.2 discontinued pursuit of Nishimura's force and steamed to aid the baby flattops.

Although the majority of 7th Fleet units returned to Ulithi at the end of October to rest after the nearly-continuous operations of the summer, Bryant, three battleships, four cruisers, and 12 other destroyers remained in Surigao Strait lest the Japanese attempt another thrust through that entrance to Leyte Gulf.

No surface threat materialized, but the task group endured repeated air attacks on 1 November which, according to the destroyer's war diaries, the Japanese pilots pressed home with "fanatic determination."

Though Bryant splashed one of the enemy dive bombers, the kamikaze suicide planes wreaked havoc on the destroyers, damaging five and sending Abner Read to the bottom.

[1] The next morning, the convoy reached Mindoro, and the destroyers formed a circular screen about five miles (8.0 km) from the beach to cover the unloading of the remaining landing ships.

Early on the 9th, Bryant closed the beach to provide fire support for the Lingayen landings, then patrolled the area, weathering heavy seas and high winds, during the next week to parry a possible incursion by the enemy.

While the island received a ferocious pounding from air and sea during the two days before the landings, Bryant provided close-in support to cover beach reconnaissance and minesweepers.

For the balance of February and into March, Bryant patrolled her fire support area lashing out at enemy targets when needed and occasionally acting as a radar picket.

En route, the destroyer made a refueling stop at Saipan, before putting in at Ulithi on the 13th for a week of voyage repairs and tender availability in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa.

Her port batteries dispatched one, and the CAP splashed another; but the third attacker, though hit repeatedly and trailing smoke, made it through and crashed into Bryant just below the bridge near the main radio room.