The third week of Episode: Heresy continues to build more intrigue in Destiny 2, adding a trio of Quests center??ed around the Hive on the Moon. All Guardians must do is eliminate three Wizards, but the foes can be trickier to encounter than you might initially imagine.

Episode: Heresy acts as the finale to The Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2, and it hasn't pulled punches in regards to content. Three weeks in, and players already have a new Dungeon, the Derealize Exotic mission, and a new player-favorite activity, The Nether. Week three continues the story in Heresy, but a hurdle presents itself as three MacGuff??ins from Wizards scattered around the Moon. These foes aren't immediately apparent, and it'll require a bit of work from players before they make themselves known.

Mission Dossier: Hive Hacking

When Guardians reach Step 17 of the "Act I: Echoed Warnings" Quest, they'll be prompted to complete three objectives before additional progress can be made. Th?e Quests are available from a second page on the Shaping Slab in Eris' Flat in The Last City, and each takes players to the Moon. The three variations are Lightsinger's Limb, Blade Navigator's Head, and Cultist's Limb.

Blade Navigator's Head

The easiest to accomplish is the Blade Navigator's Head Quest, as Guardians can find? the objective marker only a short distance away from the landing zone in Sorrow's Harbor. Players will notice a Hive ritual circle by the stairs leading up into The Scarlet Keep. Initially, the circle may not yield any foes. However, some should appear after Guardians partake in a bit of the Altars of Sorrow public event.

It's unclear if Altars of Sorrow progress is required to make the targe??t appear, but the Wizard spawned shortly after I completed a round myself. When Sarûk ur-Omni appears, it won't take much effort to beat the foe. Afterward, players will automatically collect the Head of Sarûk u??r-Omni.

Cultist's Limb

Next up, players can start to move towards the Catacombs in search of the Wizard Iyx ur-Anûkru. If ??Guardians are having trouble locating the Catacombs, they can ??make their way through the relatively linear path to the Circle of Bones in the Hellmouth. From there, the Catacombs can be accessed from the final passage on the right side.

Descending down the dark stairway, players will actually see Iyx ur-Anûkru, but a shield initially protects the Wizard. To make the foe damage?able, Guardians must locate and shoot three Hive runes scattered around the area. One is on the right side of the room, immediately visible after walking down a set of stairs. Another is on the left side of the room, a bit further towards the back. The? last Rune is stuck on the middle door at the rear of the chamber.

Once all three Runes are activated, the shield protecting Iyx ur-Anûkru w??ill dissipate. Player?s can make short work of the Wizard, and they'll automatically collect the Hand of Iyx ur-Anûkru.

Lightsinger's Limb

Heading back into the Hive's turf, Guardians can make their way towards the Summoning Pits to search for the next Wizard, Yor ur-Halaku. After arriving at the door leading into the Summoning Pits proper, players will be prompted to unlock the chamber. Inside, a brawl is breaking out between an Overload Champion Vex?? M?inotaur and a sizable Hive force.

After working through the Hive foot troops and air-bound Shriekers, Guardians can take care of the Minotaur and any lingering enemies. Once enough ??Hive go down, Yor ur-Halaku will appear at the ritual circle. Much like the other Wizards, this one shouldn't prove much of an issue. The Hand of Yor ur-Halaku is collected automatically when the enemy is defeated.

With all three Wizard parts, Guardians can head back to the Shaping Slab for rewards and Quest progress. Each Hive Hacking Quest rewards two Essence of Desire and a reprised weapo??n. In addition to the tangible rewards, players will also?? progress the Act I Quest, opening up the Kludge mission.

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Destiny 2 has a unique new Exotic weapon for Episode: Heresy:?? the Barrow-Dyad. The circular sub-machine gun certainly has a fun look, but beyond that, it's a force to be reckoned with. Guardians will want to hunt down the Barrow-Dyad for themselves, but they'll need to know how first.

While Destiny 2 players may be a bit spoiled after the ease of obtaining the Lodestar Exotic in this Episode, Barrow Dyad will take a bit more work. A multi-part Exotic Quest will take players across the sy?stem, into The Nether, and beyond to earn the chic new gun. However, before Guardians start worrying about how to get the new Exotic weapon, the first question should be how to gain access to its Exotic Quest.

Unlocking The Taken Path Quest

To gain access to the Barrow-Dyad, players must first obtain the Quest: "The Taken Path." However, it won't just make itself known to Guardians; players will have to seek out the new Quest. To get things started, players must head into the player-approved Nether activity and try to find a new Taken Blight. 

The large globe appears in the Trenchwa??y in The Nether, a bit off the ground and with glowing Hive runes engraved on a pillar beside it. The Blight can be found during the Anchored Thrones story mission, but it's still available if missed. Personally, I missed it during the mission and saw it during an Expert run of The Nether.

Once players touch the Blight, they'll be teleported to a new area mostly bathed in white. A large wall divides the room in half, with a Hive Rune plate positioned on the wall. If Guardians stand in front of the plate for a few seconds, a Rune will appear, and text will note that "Something whispers to the right." If players actually move to the right, they'll get t?eleported to the other side of the wall.

Once the mini-puzzle is complete, Guardians can head to the only object of interest on the other side of the wall: a bowl. In it lies a Taken Osseous Fragment. Collect the Fragment and head out through the portal. With the Fragment in hand, players should ensure they are caught up in the Episode: Heresy Act I: Echoed Warnings Quest. Guardians must complete step 14, wh??ich will lead back to the Shaping Slab in Eris' Flat. There, you'll find The Taken Path Quest.

Walking The Taken Path

The Taken Path Quest has six steps; the first is pretty straightforward. All players must do is unlock and equip the Scotopic Rune through the Ru?nic Enhancement Menu at the Shaping Slab or an altar in The Nether. The only thing that might get in Guardians' way is their Nether Enhancement Level. The Level corresponds with reputation rank, so players must have a lit??tle time in the Episode to equip the Tier 2 Rune. Once equipped, the next step of the Quest is to head to the Moon and locate something concealed by the Hive in Sorrow's Harbor. 

The path forward actually leads through the K1 Revelation Lost Sector, where players will encounter a Taken dome shield block??ing another Hive Rune plate. Standing in front of the plate, Guardians will be alerted that something whispers behind?? them. Walk backward to teleport back into the Lost Sector, but this time filled with Taken enemies. After players tear their way through the foes, a Taken Ogre will appear as a boss, and defeating it rewards another Taken Osseous Fragment.

To the Forgotten Shore

The next step of The Taken Path Quest requires yet another Taken Oss??eous Fragment, but this time it's in the Cosmodrome. The Veles Labyrinth Lost Sector is the destination, hiding another Rune Plate within. After completing the first plate by moving forward, players will teleport to another, which requires a move to the left. A third plate awaits, asking for movement backward.

The third puzzle will teleport players back into the Lost Sector filled with Taken enemies. Fighting through the horde, both a Taken Ogre and a Taken Centurian will harass players. But a third Taken Osseous Fragment will appear after the formidable foes are? slain. Guardians will be directed back to the Shaping Slab in the Last City. Three Quests will be rewa?rded for the efforts: Curse of Endurance, Curse of Urgency, and Curse of Revenge.

Breaking the Curses

?Each Quest specifies a locale: Sorrow's Harbor on the Moon for Endurance, the Hallowed Gr?ove Lost Sector in the EDZ for Urgency, and Nightmare Hunt: Pride for Revenge. At these locations, Guardians will find large Taken Blights and a swirling mass of Taken energy around a Taken Relic that can be interacted with. Interacting with the Relic accepts one of the aforementioned Curses and starts a simple combat trial.

Guardians must use the Relic to eliminate enemies until it becomes charged and then dunk th?e Relic back near where it was initially collected. The Quest in Sorrow's Harbor is the most straightforward, allowing players to nab the Relic, eliminate foes in the Altars of Sorrow event, and then dunk with ease. Heading into the Nightmare Hunt, Guardians will find that the Relic does not charge until after the Nightmare of Fikrul is defeated. Finally, in the Hallowed Grove, players will charge the Relic before it can be dunked at the end of the Lost Sector once the boss is defeated.

Calling to power

Each Quest has a final step that requires players to venture back into The Nether. In the activity, Guardians will be on the lookout ??for Hive statues with which they can interact. Each will summon a miniboss and will reward another Taken Osseous Fragment back at the statue once the foe is downed. 

• The statue for the Curse of Endurance Quest can be found in the Hall of Souls. It is between the entrance and a passageway on the right-hand side after appearing in the area. 
• The statue for the Curse of Urgency is in the Trenchway, in the large section with hidden platforms. It's tucked against the wall between the middle and left passages.
• The statue for the Curse of Revenge is in The Mausoleum. Players can find it in the lower area of the zone, just before the boss area. The statue is in a nook behind one of the big tentacles, so search thoroughly.

Once all three Quests are complete, Guardians will get an update on The Taken Path. The Exotic Quest will instruct players to head into the new Derealize Exotic mission, ?obtain one more Taken Osseous Fragment, and acquire the Barrow-Dyad.

The weapon itself will be found at the end of the Exotic mission. Once The Taken Path Quest is complete, players will get an unnamed Quest in its place. The Quest informs Guardians to head back to Eris' flat in The Last City and visit the Shaping?? Slab. There, players will earn the Dyadic Ascension Quest, which allows players to enhance the Exotic weapon further.

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A new Exotic mission is hitting Destiny 2 a bit sooner than most players expected. The Derealize Exotic mission is here, arriving after only a week into Episode: Heresy. But the mission won't give up its secrets or rewards easily -- and opening its doors ?is a whole other matter.

Destiny 2 has fallen into some comfortable habits, but it's refreshing to see Episode: Heresy shake some of those up. Exotic missions typically launch toward the end of a Season or Episode, as seen with Encore in Episode: Echo and the Kell's Fall Exotic mission in Episode: Revenant. 

That's not the case with Drealize, as players won't have to wait to jump into th?e new outing. That said, Guardians must accomplish some steps and prerequisites before the Exotic mission becomes ava?ilable.

How to unlock the Derealize Exotic mission

Before players can attempt the Exotic mission for Episode: Heresy, they'll?? have to unlock it first. The process is a bit involved, requiring most of the completion of the Quest that unlocks the Barrow-Dyad Exotic SMG. Guardians must complete several tasks that will send them to the Moon, Earth, and? into The Nether.

First and foremost, players must complete Step 14 of the Episode: Heresy narrative Quest: "Act I: Echoed Warnings." Once at that milestone, players can begin the process to unlock an Exotic Quest called "The Taken Path." This Quest is the key to earning the Barrow-Dyad and details the steps required to open access to the Derealize E?xotic mission.

Into the Dreadnaught

Immediately after starting the Exotic mission, players will find themselves in The Mausoleum portion of the Dreadnaught, in front of a group of Dread led by a Subjugator. Moving forward will cause the Subjugator to flee and prompt the Dread enemies to attack. Simultaneously, Taken Blights in the are?a will turn into large eyes that debuff players with Suffocating Terror. After the first wave of foes is defeated, another wave accompanied by a Tormenter will appear.

After taking out the Tormenter and Dread backup, the Fireteam can advance up the hills ahead, minding the eyeball in the sky. There is another Tormenter awaiting players at the top of the hill, so?? it's best to lure it back down to the area players first appeared in. Once that other Tormenter is dealt with, players can fully advance up the hill to encounter a considerable force of Dread.

This is a good place for the Fireteam to use any roaming Supers or other tricks they have up their sleeve. Bolt Charge and Ionic Trace Arc builds can really cut t?hrough the crowd here. Once enough Dread fall, a Strand Subjugator will appear as a boss for this opening section. Blast it down with Supers and heavy weapons, and then clean up any lingering forces. A portal will take players forward.

Vrhiisk, Seeker of Power

The Taken portal playe?rs ventured through leads to that area of The Nether containing portals that weave together the Dreadnaught. The one players are looking for is across the way, leading to the Trenchway. Venturing into the area, Guardia?ns will stumble upon the Taken and Dread fighting each other. Heading into the fight, players can mop up both sides and then press forward.

The first major boss encounter is ahead against Vrhiisk, Seeker of Power. The Stasis Subjugator will throw up a shield almost immediately. Guardians must destroy the Blights littering?? the battlefield to get the shield down, which requires jumping through a few hoops. First, Vrhiisk will summon six Taken Blight Sentinels that must be dealt with. They typically stay toward the back of the arena but can move around. 

Once the Sentinels are eliminated, T?aken Conduit Ogres will start appearing. Once these minibosses go down, they drop a Taken Relic that can be charged by destroying Taken enemies. After enough Taken are fed to the Relic, Guardians will get a notification that it is charged, and the debuff timer at the top of the screen will disappear. The Relic can now be taken to the top of a marked Blight to destroy it. 

After a Blight is destroyed, Guardians will become Torn Between Dimensions, like during the Oryx fight in the King's Fall Raid. The screen will become black and white, so there's no mistaking when it happens. Now, players need to collect another Taken Relic and recharge it to similarly destroy another Blight just like the prev?ious one. The only difference is that players will use the ethereal platforms littering the arena to reach the higher Blight.

With both Blights destroyed on the left side, the boss will become vulnerable again. Players can lean into it with everything before it raises its shield again at half health. From there, things will play out exactly as they just did for the left Blights but for the right side of the a?rena. W??hen both right-side Blights are similarly destroyed, the boss will flee, but it's taking players with it.

Guardians will find themselves in a small, circul?ar arena somewhat reminiscent of the room where the first Taken Osseous Fragment was found. From here, it's a cage match against Vrhiisk and some Taken cronies. If you still have any Supers or Heavy ammo, now is the time to use it. 

The final Fragment

Once the boss is defeated, a Hive Rune plate on the wall provides an exit. Or at least it should, but this plate is a bit more complicated ?to work than the previous ones encountered. Guardians will have to move in the direction indicated by?? the arrow on the ground in front of the plate after a symbol appears on it. A timer at work also ensures players are shifted to a new area every few seconds, making it easy to enter incorrect inputs.

The movements players will have to do in order are right, up, down, and ?left, but inputs are only accepted if Guardians are standing on a plate asking for that input. To avoid wrong inputs, which will reset the sequence, players simply remain still on the plate. A timer will shift Guardians to a new area and a new p??late every ten seconds, so it's just a matter of patience.

A short platforming segment will take players high up into the peeling chiton of the Dreadnaught. After a jump to the other ??side of the ?massive area, the final Taken Osseous Fragment will be claimed. A nearby Blight is destroyed after grabbing the Fragment, and players can head down into the previously blocked hole in the column of the ship.

Find the artifact

Following a long drop, Guardians will emerge in an orange-tinged area. Platforming is required to maneuver directly vertically and then in a l??inear path while avoiding explosions of Taken energy. Eventually, players will arrive in an area with a couple of?? enemies and several Hive tunnels in the walls. Start with a tunnel opposite the side from which you entered the area and head as far down as possible until a dead end is reached. Exit the tunnels and clear the enemies out of the following structure in the middle.

A shield blocks the actual way ahead, so first, the Fireteam will need to take a quick detour back to the left side but accessed from a tunnel as close to the next shield as possible. At the bottom of the chasm here, a purple Hive crystal is waiting to be broken. Two more crystals are waiting on the other side. One is below one of the lowest accessible platforms by?? a spike trap, and another is about lev?el with the Hive shield wall halfway down the passage.

Ahead is a bit more platforming through Taken explosions and spike traps, b?ut that's nothing new at this point. A vast cable will lead players forward, and then Taken Blight balls can be used as platforms to continue venturing upward. A Hive ritual circle stands before an open door at the top of the area, but it can't be interacted with just yet. Head through the doors for a Rally Fla?g location and the final encounter.

Xir-Kuur, both Taken and Not-Taken

Entering the arena, Guardians will find the Barrow-Dyad on a table across the room. As soon as?? the weapon is collected, the Fireteam will become Torn Between Dimensions. Taken Blights will appear in the arena, but no enemies yet. So, players can take their time eliminating each Blight that spawned. Once that happens, the boss, Xir-Kuur, will?? appear both as a Taken and Not-Taken variant.

Only one version of? the boss will be damageable at a time, and it is always easy to tell. If those giant eyes show up debuffing with Suffocating Terror, players must attack the Not-Taken boss. Alternatively, when players get the Torn Between Dimensions debuff and their screens turn black and white, it's time to attack Xir-Kuur, Taken. Guardians won't have to deal with Suffocating Terror while they are Torn, but they will have to destroy three Blights before the debuff is lost and Xir-Kuur, Not-Taken becomes vulnerable.

After going back and forth between the two bosses, the Fireteam will ev??entually defeat Xir-Kuur, Not-Taken first. When this happens, players will be alerted over comms that they must evacuate the room and activate the Hive ritual circle on the other side of the door. Doing so will seal the remaining boss in the chamber, ??acting as a prison. So, the remainder of the fight is a desperate attempt to close off the area before the boss can charge through.

When the door seals shut, the encounter and the Exotic mission come to a close. A chest will appear to reward players for ??their?? efforts, and The Taken Path Quest will reach its conclusion.

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Destiny 2?? had its latest Dungeon race, but PlayStation players, in particular, got the short end of the stick. Unexpected PSN outages plagued the experience, leading to instances where some players couldn't attempt Contest mode at all. Bungie has addressed the situation, announcing that Contest mode will return another weekend.

The Sundered Doctrine Dungeon was released on Friday, February 7, kicking off Destiny 2's second-ever Dungeon race. Like a Raid race, the last two Dungeons have been released with a Contest mode, massively increasing difficulty and offering some sweet rewards to the brave Fireteams who overcome its challenge. However, PlayStation players didn??'t have as easy of an experience, with lengthy interruptions draining away precious time.

Bungie offers another Contest mode weekend

Just taking a look at the comments on social media and sites like Reddit, it was clear that players weren't happy about the PSN outage. On the day of the Dungeon release, one Redditor commented, "Multiple people have been told by customer support that this "maintenance" which wasn't scheduled, could last anywhere from 24-48 hours, ju?stice for the psn community[.]" 

The commenter wasn't the only one, with many PlayStation players sharing similar sentiments. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Bungie to acknowledge the situation. One day after the Sundered Doctrine release, Bungie posted on Bluesky, saying, "Due to issues affecting PlayStation players' ability to sign in to Destiny 2, we a??re planning an additional Sundered Doctrine Contest Mode weekend for all platforms. Spec??ific dates and times will be announced at a later date."

The studio clarified that the race itself would be unaffected but that players would simply have another chance to take a crack at Contest mode. That means, if players want, they can attempt a clear for the coveted Emblem and a guaranteed Dungeon Exotic, Finality's Auger.

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Sigil Shards are among the new resources added to Destiny 2 for Episode: Heresy, helping to make delves into The Nether more manageable and control potential rewards. However, Sigil Shards aren't explained very&nbs??p;well to players, and you'll want to know how to make the most out of the currency.

Destiny 2 will often feature specific resources or currencies tied to an Episode or Season. For Episode: Heresy, that has been Metastasized Essentia scattered around the Dreadnaught, Essence of Desire, best earned from refining Metastasized Essentia, ??and Sigil Shards. However, after earning the resources themselves, even more important is that players know what ?to do with them.

Where do Sigil Shards come from?

Guardians can earn Sigil Shards just by playing the game during Episode: Heresy, but there are some strategies that are proving more fruitful than others. There is a?lways the chance that a defeated enemy will drop a black Taken orb. If players destroy it, three pickups will spring forth, each rewarding two or three Sigil Shards.

Thankfully, it's easy to earn Sigil Shards while tackling other Heresy tasks. The Nether, for example, provides Sigil Shards from all chests. Players can earn even more if they get the Rune that rewards Sigil Shards from Metastasized Essentia nodes encountered during the activity. Of course, that's all in addition to the Sigil Shard orb??s occasionally dropped by enemies.

Sigil Shard farming

As of this writing, there is an incredibly easy way to farm Sigil Shards. Best of all, it doesn't ??require an unreasonable time investment. That said, it's unclear if this is an intended interaction in-game ?or if it's a bug that Guardians can take advantage of while active.

If players head to the enemy-rich Altars of Sorrow Public Event on the Moon, there should be no problem amassing piles of Sigil Shards. So long as Guardians are using a weapon with good AOE potential, like an Indebted Kindness with Voltshot, or even some ability spam with a new Bolt Charge Arc build, there will ??be no shortage ??of Sigil Shard orbs littering the battlefield. After the phase or event ends, players can go around shooting the orbs and collecting all of the Shards.

The only downside to this method is that players can only carry 300 Sigil Shards at a given time. In the grand scheme of things, a stack of 300 isn't that much. So,? Guardians must spend the resource almost as quickly as they amass it.

What are Sigil Stones for?

Whenever Guardians collect Sigil Stones, it translates to XP gains for Mastery of Resolve reputation ranks. In addition to vendor XP, players can also use Sigil Stones for Runic Enhancement and the Tome of Want.

Runic Enhancement allows you to spend Sigil Stones on Runes that can be equipped through the Shaping Slab or via altars at the start of The Nether runs. The costs of Runes can vary, with the selections increasing in price from right to left. While these Runes only work in The Nether, each offers worthwhile buffs, like the Tier 3 Healing Rune, making Healing Orbs more effective. That can be pretty handy in the new activity with limited healing options.

Alternatively, players can use Sigil Shards to focus specific rewards through the Tome of Want. As players participate in Episode: Heresy, they'll oc?casionally collect items called Crumbing Scriptures to be used in the Tome of Want. These Scriptures allow players to choose a specific reward through the Tome, but finding Scriptures isn't guaranteed. After Guardians complete the "Tome of Want: A Primer" Que??st, 100 Sigil Shards can be used if a Crumbling Scripture isn't available.

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Did you know that Destiny 2: Heresy ha??s a pretty darn foolproof system for spotting secrets n??o matter where you are? This might not have been a big deal in seasons prior, but The Nether activity has oodles of secret chests and whatnot, which means you'll be hunting for those.

For better or for worse, The Nether is the crux of Destiny 2: Heresy. It's not that the rest of the seasonal offers are bad (quite the opposite, in fact), but Nether is such a stellar e??xperience almost across the board that you'll probably be spending hours upon hours prowling through the Dreadnaught. Much of it's got to do with chasing loot, naturally, and the good news is that Nether is loaded with goodies. The bad news is that the majority of them are tie?d to secret chests, and you need to know how to chase those down. Fret not, though, because I've got a trick for you: relying on your Ghost!

How to find all the secrets and chests in The Nether activity in Destiny 2

Pull out your Ghost! No, really, it's that simple: you just need to pull the ol' Ghost out, and if you're reasonably close to a secret chest, Ghost will turn in its general directio??n. Better yet, even if you're not actually having your Ghost out to look for secrets, you're going to get a Ghost icon in the upper right corner of your HUD whenever you're close to a scannable/lootable goodie.

You can build upon this feature, too: use the Wombo Detector Ghost mod at all times. It allows you to detect resource drops and loot caches within 50 meters of where you stand, automatically marking them on your HUD as soon as you're in range. Note that this will also help you stack up on Metastisized Essentia and the Essence of Desire, which is particularly handy.

The small downside to this feature is that ?the secret loot chests, for example, do not despa??wn. This means they'll remain on your HUD even after you've looted them, making them a royal pain to keep track of during a prolonged Nether run.

On a final note, make sure to give this technique a shot in the new Sundered Doctrine Dungeon, too. You never know: this feature used to be extremely popular back in the earlier years of Destiny 2's content roster, where Ghost would be able to scan various points of interest to deliver semi-hidden narrative context. It was great fun, as ?repetitive as it might've gotten in the end, and I'm thrilled to see a partial r??eturn to form for the feature.

The post How to spot secrets in Destiny 2: Nether? appeared first on Destructoid.

Destiny 2's economy of resources and collectibles is never-ending, changing in an instant with the release of new content. That's proven the case for Episode: Heresy, with many new resources added? for Guardians to balance. Essence of Desire is one o??f those newcomers, but it requires some effort to earn lots.

With each new Episode (or Season), Destiny 2 often adds novel gameplay mechanics and progression systems to keep the game feeling fresh. With Heresy, that comes in the form of the Tome of Want and forrays into an activity players seem to like, The Nether. However, to use the Tome of Want and to open those lock?ed chests in The Nether, Guardians will need plenty of Essence of Desire.

Where does Essence of Desire come from?

Thankfully, Essence of Desire isn't too hard to come by on its own. Players can earn Essence of Desire while participating in activities on The Nether, but the drip feed can be painfu?lly slow. That said, there is ano??ther way to earn Essence of Desire, and you'll get a lot more for your troubles.

In Eris' Flat in The Last City, Guardians will find a Taken Altar just to the left of the entryway. You can only interact with the Altar if you hold ten or more Metastasized Essentia, and doing so will consume the resources. In return, players will get a bunch of loot, in??cluding 10 Essence of Desire.

The Taken Altar is the most lucrative way to earn Essence of Desire, but that also means you'll have to spend a lot of time in The Nether to accrue the 10 Metastasized Essentia needed per interaction.? At least, in addition to the Essence of Desire, you'll also get some reprised Season of Arrivals weapons and some upgrade materials with each pull.

What is Essence of Desire used for?

As mentioned earlier, Essence of Desire is the key to several rewards in Episode: Heresy. Most notably, each time Guardians activate a ritual using the Tome of Want, it ??costs two Essence of Desire. The Tome helps you narrow potential rewards down, allowing the ability to focus specific weapons, armor, or resources.

In addition to the Tome, Essence also comes up whenever players find locked chests while exploring The Nether. Each of these?? locked chests similarly costs two Essence of Desire to unlock. Inside, Guardians will be rewarded wit??h Sigil Shards and a guaranteed weapon drop.

While there's no requirement for players to stock up on Essence of Desire, they certainly help make The Nether all the more rewarding. Plus, if you're already engaging with Episode: Heresy ?anyway, you'll undoubtedly end up with some Esse?nce of Desire to spend.

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If there's one thing Destiny 2 players are familiar with, it's collecting new resources as they enter the game. Episode: Heresy&nbs??p;adds a trove of new currencies and collectibles to fret over. However, only one requires as much labor to earn as its name is difficult to pronounce: M??etastisized Essentia.

Destiny 2 is always getting new forms of currencies and resources. Many of these items are specific to a Season (or Episode), acting as the grease between the gears of new activities or whatever pursuit Guardians are currently chasing. Metastisized Essentia is one of the new Heresy currencies, similar to the Radiolite resource from Episode: Echoes. While Metastisized Essentia can lead to even greater rewards during Heresy, Guardians must first set aside a tidy supply.

Where to find Metastisized Essentia

If players want to go out and farm a solid stack of Metastisized Essentia, the place to head is into The player-approved Nether activity. The new activity is a great way to earn rewards throughout this Episode, including new Heretical weapons, Sigil Stones, and, of course, Metastisized Essentia. Not to mention the Tome of Want, allowing players to direct their loot whilst in The Nether. Metastisized Essentia is strewn throughout the Dreadnaught while engaged in the activity and marked as a resource node by Ghosts if ??you use a Detector mod on your Ghost Shell.

Visually, Metastisized Essentia is a spiked white ball sitting atop black tentacles. Looking a little closer at the resource, you can see it's both riddled with eyes and appa??rently breathing. Interacting with the resource, Guardians will receive one or two? Fleeting Metastisized Essentia and some Sigil Stones.

After collecting Fleeting Metastisized Essentia, it's technically still not in the player?'s possession. The resource must be refined into regular Metastisized Essentia by looting the final chest in each zone. Of course, that chest is guarded by a boss who appears after Guardians clear three minor objectives.

In addition to t??????????????????????????he Metastisized Essentia readily available in The Nether, players can also get a supply of the resource from Eris' flat in The Last City. On one side of the room is the Shaping Slab, the Episode's main reputation vendor. Metastisized Essentia is a reward available o??n that reputation reward track.

How to use Metastisized Essentia

Metastisized Essentia is only valuable to players in clusters of 10, as that's how the resource is exchanged back at Eris' flat. Opposite the Shaping Slab, right near the d??oorway, there's a Taken Altar hungry for Metastisized Essentia. 

For every?? 10 of the resources turned in?to the Altar, Guardians will get a trove of rewards. 

• Essence of Desire x 10
• Enhancement Cores
• Enhancement Prisms
• Reprised Season of Arrivals weapons
• Episode: Heresy reputation

While it doesn't appear that Metastisized Essentia is used for any Heresy systems itself, it is worth depositing what's ha?d in between runs through The Nether. Guar??dians will assuredly be amassing the resource as they interact with the Episode, so it's worth converting it into some potential usable rewards.

The post How to get Metastisized Essentia in Destiny 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Most players would agree: guns are pretty darn important for Destiny 2. It may come as a surprise to some of the newer players, then, that the pinnacle of utility in the game was an Outlaw/Rampage combo fo?r a while. Chris?? Proctor worked hard to change that, and succeeded.

It's hard to put into words just how straightforward and downright boring the Perk meta was for Destiny 2 earlier on, truly. Up until Shadowkeep or so, the only thing you really wanted on your gun was a potent reload perk and a reasonable damage perk, and that was it. When Chris Proctor took over weapons design and features back in 2019, however, this all changed, and so it's sad to hear that he's leaving Bungie for good. "In two weeks I'll be living in another country, and in four weeks I'll post an update from a new role," said Proctor over on LinkedIn.

Chris Proctor is leaving Bungie, moving to a different country

"Working at Bungie at all is the job of a lifetime, sandbox design even moreso, let alone owning Destiny weapo??ns for 5 years and ending up as Sandbox Craft Lead at a studio with a legendary grasp of core gameplay," said Proctor in his announcement. "It's been a humbling experience, and the time of biggest growth in my career (and I re?ached 23 years in games, 20 as a designer this year). I can't recommend Bungie highly enough as a place to do amazing work with some of the most skilled game devs in the industry."

Often cited as one of the most personable and beloved Bungie employees among the Destiny 2 community members, Proctor made a name for himself by making guns genuinely interesting and engagin??g to use. And while it's true enough that you do still want them to reload f??aster and dish out more damage, it'd be silly to pretend Bungie hadn't made strides over the past couple of years. Predictably, the community is saddened by the fact that Proctor is moving on.

Proctor hasn't provided any information on what his next project might be,? but he did say that he's about to embark on a "huge, interna?tional [move]," and that "it's an exciting time" for him.

Under Proctor's leadership, Bungie began introducing extremely potent and satisfying crowd control Perks such as Voltshot. To say nothing of Reconstruction, Bait & Switch, or Explosive Light, just to list a few. Though I'm certain Bungie would've improved things to some extent even without Proctor, the man knew his stuff, and it'll be interesting to see how Destiny 2's meta changes now that he's gone.

The post The man who fixed Destiny 2’s weapon roster is leaving Bungie appeared first on Destructoid.

It's been a while since there was a reason for players to get excited about a trace rifle in Destiny 2. However, the new Lodestar Exotic trace rifle from Episode: Heresy might be just the thing to rekindle that old love wit?h the weapon type.

Destiny 2's trace rifles had a bit of a heyday up into the Lightfall era. Back then, it was much easier to generate heavy ammo bricks when using two special ammo weapons. Trace rifles fit nicely as the "primary" special weapon, featuring large reserves. Those days wouldn't stick around forever, though, and the gu??ns fell by the wayside when Bungie retuned heavy ammo drops. Now, with a primary ammo trace rifle on the table, it might harken back to those old times.

Where does the Lodestar come from?

The Lodestar Exotic trace rifle is a reward that's exclusive to Episode: Heresy's Season Pass. That said, players don't necessarily need to purchase the Episode itself to access the new weapon; it's available on the free reward track at Rank 40. So, as long as you're participating in Destiny 2 during Episode: Heresy, you shouldn't have a problem acquiring ??the weapon.

If players did shell out for Episode: Heresy or bought the annual pass version of The Final Shape, the Lodestar will be available to claim immediately from the Seaso?n Pass. Further into the premium track, the Artificial Sun Ornament is also available once Guardians reach Rank 100.

Once Heresy is over, the Lodestar will likely be available for purchase through the Monument to Lost Lights in The Tower. While Bungie hasn't explicitly confirmed this, i??t has happened to countless other Exotic weapons earned through the Season Pass.

What does the Lodestar do?

The Lodestar is very different from the trace rifles players are familiar with. On the surface, one reason is that the gun uses primary ammo, essentially m??aking it infinite. Looking deeper, the Exoti??c also has some peculiar behaviors that might take a little getting used to.

When Guardians aim down the sights of the ??Lodestar, instead of emitting a solid beam like other trace rifles, it will behave more like a pulse rifle. The bursts of energy have their place, though, as they increase damage and detonate Blinding explosions on Arc-debuffed enemies. Additionally, once players deal enough Arc damage while using the Lodestar, they can perform an alternate reload to imbue the weapon with Jolt while firing from the hip.

The Lodestar should work nicely with any number of Arc builds in this Episode, especially with the Artifact Perks that rely on Arc debuffs like Jolt. Lodestar may be hitting far above its weight class during Heresy because of its Arc focus, b??ut even after, it'l?l still allow players to relive the glory days of running double special weapons.

The post How to get the Lodestar exotic in Destiny 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Episode: Heresy has set itself up to offer one of the best experiences for Destiny 2's Arc Subclasses. With sweeping buffs across the Subclass, new Aspects, and a new keyword, Bolt Charge, to play with, it looks like Arc may be the strongest it has ever been for Heresy.

Of course, an individual Guardian's experience may vary, which typically depends on the quality of a player's build. If you know how to craft a setup that leans into what's currently hot, you'll have no problem playing with all of Destiny 2's ne??w Arc Subclass toys. If not, wel??l, that's what I'm here for.

Start strong with the Artifact

For Episode: Heresy, Guardians can access the Tablet of Ruin as an Artifact. While the Tablet of Ruin isn't as singularly focused as the Stasis-centric Artifact from Episode: Revenant, there are quite a few options that benefit Arc players. With the, quite frankly, wild changes to the Arc Subclass and a number of its features, the Heresy Artifact ensures players can have a blast while r?iding the lightning.

In particular, Overclock And Load is available in the second column, offering bonus Handling and Reload Speed stats to any Arc weapons wielded whi??le you're Amplified or have Bolt Charge active. This proves especially nice as? a compliment to the reworked Amplified state, now granting damage resistance and making enemies less accurate.

The third column has two Artifact Perks of note, Dielectric and Photonic Flare. Dielectric ensures that players gain a stack of Bolt Charge whenever ?they defeat an enemy with an Arc debuff (Blind or Jolt). On the other hand, Photonic Flare creates a Blinding explosion whenever an Exhausted or Severed enemy is defeated with Arc damage. Sever is easy enough to apply with Strand weapons, and E?xhausted comes from Overload weapons or those with specific Origin Traits.

There's only one Arc Artifact Perk in the fourth column, but it's absolutely worth? having. Flashover massively interacts with the new Bolt Charge keyword, increasing its lightning bolt damage and making Guardians Amplified when they reach max stacks of Bolt Charge. With Amp?lified as good as it is, you'll want to be in that state as often as possible.

Finally, the last column of the Artifact has Defibrillating Blast. Still, depending on the final build setup, you may get more mileage out of Particle Reconstruction or Heavy Ordnance Regeneration. Defibrillating Blast grants max stacks ??of Bolt Charge when players stun a Champion. The Arc bolt heals the wielder and Jolts nearby enemies.

Of course, with alternatives like Volatile Marksman, Horde Shuttle, and Particle Reconstruction, you may be tempted toward another elemental affinity. The good news is, there's some wiggle room for these alternatives, even if players go for all of the Arc options. So, feel free to throw on that Strand Support Frame auto rifle to heal in The Nether.

Warlock

Players can choose between two main Arc build styles within the Warlock Class. Guardians can either go all in on support with Ionic Traces to ensure god-like abilit??y regeneration for themselves and allies ?or opt to maximize damage. Either build can work wonders; it's just a matter of the content players intend to tackle and what kind of gameplay they want.

Ionic Trace farmer Warlock

Ionic Traces are great. The Arc-exclusive pickups r?estore ability energy on their own, and they can be buffed with all manner of Aspects, Fragments, and Exotics to do some truly remarkable things. For instance, with the right setup, Warlocks can become an Ionic Trace-generating machine and gain stacks of Bolt Charge in the process. Not only do those Ionic Traces rest??ore energy to all of your abilities, but whenever an Ionic Trace tracks to you, allies benefit, too.

This build starts with the Subclass, where Warlocks will want to play with some new Aspects and Fragments. For regular abilities, Healing Rift, Chain Lightning, and Flashbang Grenade offer additional support, allowing for healing, Jolt, and Blind, respectively. Super choice can be up to play??ers, but I've enjoyed having Chaos Reach for some big damage whenever needed.

Arc Aspects for this support-focused build are Ionic Sentry and Electrostatic Mind. Ionic Sentry is a new Aspect that gives Warlocks easy access to Bolt Charge stacks. As players eliminate foes with Arc weapons or abilities (or Kinetic weapons), they build progress toward an Ionic Sentry turret. When activated, it Blinds enemies on impact and chains Arc damage to nea?rby foes. Electrostatic Mind helps add to the near-constant flow of Ionic Traces Guardians will create, spawning one whenever enemies are defeated with Arc abilities or if they're affected by Jolt or Blind. Electrostatic Mind also refreshes Amplify whenev??er an Ionic Trace is nabbed.

Fragments are where players have a bit of wiggle room. A few, like Spark of Resistance, are an auto-include because damage resistance is so important, but others are more d?ependent on play st??yle. Spark of Discharge is also worth using, ensuring all those Ionic Traces grant stacks of Bolt Charge and offering a chance to create more Ionic Traces when using Arc weapons. From there, the other two Fragments aren't set in stone. Personally, I like Spark of Frequency and Spark of Beacons. The two Fragments help strengthen other aspects of the build, spreading the Blind debuff and improving Amplified.

Moving to gear, the piece that makes this build come alive is the Fallen Sunstar Exotic helmet. The Exotic improves Ionic Traces, making the pickups track to you faster and granting bonus ability energy. Taking things to the next level, nearby Fireteam members also get ability energy back whenever you do. Complimenting the Exotic h??elm is an Arc fusion rifle from Season of the Plunder: Delicate Tomb. The Exotic fusion rifle now benefits from massive buffs, including Particle Reconstruction. It also generates Ionic Traces and Jolts enemies, playing into everything else we have going on.

Stat-wise Guardians will want to ensure they're hardy enough by capping Resilience at 100. From there, this build wants abil??ity energy for frequent Flashbang grenades, so Discipline comes next, followed by Recovery.

Electric friends Warlock

If Warlocks want to focus on pumping out as much damage as possible instead of supporting the Fireteam, Arc still has plenty to offer. Arc Warlocks always had the option to take along an Arc Soul, shooting at anything foolish enough to get in your way. Well, now that Arc Buddy can be accompanied by the new Ionic Sentry turret, leading to destructive displays of friendship and power. Part of the allure of this build is its simplicity and flexibility. It can be used with any number of Exotics or heavy weapons to acco??mmodate demanding Raid ?encounters or other high-difficulty activities.

The build starts in the Subclass menu, where players will want to opt for Healing Rift, Chain Lightning, and Flashb?ang Grenade, just like the previous build. The Aspects are also the same options, Electrostatic Mind and Ionic Sentry. The reasons are different; however, with Electrostatic Mind only in the buil??d to ensure Ionic Traces make us Amplified. Ionic Sentry is more in the spotlight in this build, as we'll use it as fast as possible.

Fragments are also similar to those chosen for the support build. Guardians still want Spark of Discharge for Bolt Charge access and Spark of Resistance for hardiness. To that end, Spark of Beacons will almost always be active, and the Blind effect helps ensure Arc Artifact Pe??rks trigger. Finally, as this b?uild will be played more aggressively and with more emphasis on Bolt Charge, Spark of Frequency offers a better Amplified effect and makes Bolt Charge stacks count for more.

While much of the Subclass setup is similar, the build comes into its own with the Exotic choice. The Getaway Artist Exotic gauntlets allow Warlocks to consume their Arc grenade to become Amplified and gain an e?mpowered Arc Soul instantly. With Flashba?ng Grenade's low cooldown and a few Ionic Traces, players will find that they have their grenade recharged before their Arc Soul fizzles out. 

The??re isn't any one specific Exotic weapon that makes this build function, and that's okay. Players can use whatever heavy and primary weapons they want, but it is worth having an Arc special weapon equipped to make use of Spark of Beacons. With Piercing Sidearms ??in the Artifact this Episode, Indebted Kindness fits the bill nicely -- especially if players managed to earn a roll with Voltshot.

Warlocks should be ripping across the battlefield like a bolt of lightning. Start encounters by consuming your grenade to create an Arc Soul, and then start decimating foes with Arc weapons. It shouldn't be long before players have an Ionic Sentry available. Then it's just a matter of keeping the two Arc buddies going while triggering Bolt Charge lightning strikes and plugging away with whatever else Guardians want to use. Like the other Warlock build, Resilience and Discipline are king. Once both a??????????????????????????re at 100, Guardians can dump the rest of their stats into Recovery.

Hunters

Though ??Hunters may not have gotten a whole new Arc Aspect, the Class did get some substantial Subclass changes. As such, there are now some notable options if Hunters are looking for a shocking new build. With Bolt Charge on the table, players can incorporate it into a well-rounded Arc setup or build completely into the new effect to get as much out of it as possible.

Hive Boomer Hunter

If Guardians ever wanted to know what it felt like to play as the Hive in Destiny 2, this Hunter build is probably as close as we'll ever ge??t. The setup allows players to wield an iconic Hive weapon and reap benefits that even the Lightbearing Hive doesn't ??have access to. Hunters will become a thunderous wrecking ball powered by Hive magic and electricity.

Getting the build rolling, Hunters will want to equip Gambler's Dodge, Disorienting Blow, and any grenade players wish. We're taking Gambler's Dodge to ignore the long cooldown on Disorienting Blow, and we're taking that so we can become Amplified whenever we strike an enemy with the melee ability. It also grants Bolt Charge stacks and blinds the target. For a Super, Gathering Storm is an all-around solid choice, b??ut there's no harm if you really want to use another.

Aspect-wise, Ascension got a bit of a glow-up since its initial arrival, now offering more Fragment Slots and the ability to Amplify allies. It also Jolts enemies within range, too. The other Aspect of choice is Flow State, refreshing Amplified whenever Hunters defeat a Jolted enemy. For Fragments?, Spark of Resistance offers that nice damage resistance, and Spark of Frequency makes Amplified and Bolt Charge even better. 

Spark of Ions works alongside Flow State, creating an Ionic Trace when Jolted enemies go down. Those Ionic Traces benefit from Spark of Discharge, granting more total Bolt Charge stacks. It?'s up to players for the last Fragment, but Spark of Amplitude can be nice for some free Orbs of Powe?r.

The thing that ma??kes this entire build work is the combination of two Exotics: the Mothkeeper's Wraps and the Ex Diris grenade launcher. The Mothkeeper's Wraps Exotic changes grenades to two charges of a new ability. This new grenade releases moths that target enemies, Blinding them on detonation. If they find an ally instead, they grant Void Overshields. Ex Diris also works with moths, creating them on ?direct or final blows. However, when the two are combined, Ex Diris can create multiple moths when its effect occurs, and the same happens when you toss a moth grenade.

To make the most out of this build, players will need to ensure special ammo is plentiful. To that end, getting the armor mods section of this setup is extra important. For stats, Guardians will want to hit 100 Resilience first? before pouring as much as possible into Discipline, then Mobility.

Lightning strike Hunter

If Hunters want more flexibility in their weapon choice, the next build offers plenty of opportunities for Bolt Charge. It even incorporates the weapons that inspired the feature to double down on lightning strikes on priority targe?ts. Guardians can bring a storm's wrath anywhere they like on the battlefield and reposition to another target in the blink of an eye.

For Subclass setup, players ??can take Marksman's Dodge and Combination Blow if they need to lay into bosses during a prolonged damage phase. Otherwise, Hunters should opt for Disorienting Blow and Gambler's Dodge more generally for the Bolt Charge stack??s, the primary means of getting the Amplified buff, and the Blind debuff on enemies. The grenade choice should be Pulse. For Supers, if boss damage is a concern, Gathering Storm is the way to go. Otherwise, Storm's Edge offers impressive clearing capabilities and acts as an emergency eject button.

We're looking to get the most functionality out of our Exotic armor choice, so for Aspects, we'll be taking Tempest Strike and Ascension. Tempest Strike lets Hunters use a pow?ered melee while sliding to unleash an Arc uppercut projectile that Jolts anything it hits. The Aspect also grants Bolt Charge stacks when defeating enemies. Ascension also functions based on movement, allowing players to activate while airborne to travel upwards, Jolting enemies with Arc damage and Amplifying allies.

In the realm of Fragments, Hunters want to maximize all thei??r effects in play. As such, Spark of Shoc??k and Spark of Magnitude will improve Pulse grenades, increasing duration and making them Jolt targets. Working with that, along with all of our other sources of Jolt, Spark of Ions generates ability energy-restoring Ionic Traces. Finally, Spark of Frequency and Spark of Resistance make Hunters hardier, boosting Amplified effects, increasing Bolt Charge stacks gained, and increasing damage resistance.

For gear, Hunters are looking at the Gifted Conviction Exotic. Thi??s chest armor ensures that a volley of bouncing Arc explosives also Jolts nearby enemies whenever Ascension or Tempest Strike is activated. If the effect Jolts enemies, Hunters additionally gain bonus damage resistance. We'll take either the Thunderlord Exotic machine gun or the Cloudstrike Exotic sniper to make that setup all the? sweeter. Either choice creates the same lightning strike effect that inspired Bolt Charge with repeated damage.

After everything is put together, players can use Ascension, Tempest Strike, or even Storm's Edge to maneuver around the battlefield. As players use their abilities and movement? tech, they'll be Jolting enemies and becoming Amplified on a near-constant basis. All the while, ability energy and Bolt Charge will be plentiful, which can lead to back-to-back big hits between the Pulse grenade, Ascension, Tempest Strike, Bolt Charge, and whichever Exotic weapon players choose. Stat priorities are much like most other Hunter builds, 100 Resilience first, then stack Discipline and Mobility.

Titan

The Titan Class has seen a lot of changes over the last two Episodes, both to Subclass functionality and general performance. Arc is looking pretty spicy for Heresy, with great build options to let players become a never-ending Bolt Charge amplifier or an unkillable vangua??rd breaking through the front lines.

Lightning Rod Titan

The first Titan build leans into the new Bolt Charge feature, allowing the whole Fireteam to seamlessly build stacks and discharge the feature passively through weapon damage. Titans will be holding the line, dropping a recently improved Barricade and unloading on foes with Arc weapons and abilitie??s to unleash lightning strike after lightning strike of Bolt Charge.

Starting with Subclass selection, Titans want to take Rally Barricade for its short cooldown, as it will heavily play into Aspects. Thundercl?ap ??generally works pretty well for a powered melee, even if players can't charge it all the way. If you're confident in your Ballistic Slam abilities, it was buffed to grant Bolt Charge and deal more potential damage. Pulse grenade is also on the menu, similarly working with a chosen Aspect. For Super, Titans can take Thundercrash for massive damage whenever it's up.

In the world of Aspects, Titans are going for Touch of Thunder and Storm's Keep. Touch of Thunder improves several grenade options, including Pulse grenades, increasing its damage over time and generating Ionic Traces. Storm's Keep is the new Aspect, rewarding multiple stacks of Bolt Charge to the user and nearby allies whenever a Barricade is deplo??yed. Guardians behind the Barri??cade gain additional stacks of Bolt Charge, and weapon damage can discharge the effect.

Fragments are straightforward, improving grenades, buffing Amplified, and making Bolt Charge stacks count for more. Titans will want to take Spark of Shock, Spark of Magnitude, Spark of Resistance, and Spark of Frequency. Together, th?ese should make Titans and their Barricade a solid rally point.

The Exotic armor piece that helps bring this setup to life is an old favorite: Heart of Inmost Light. The Exotic chest armor is perfect for a build using Barricades as often as possible, as using one ability empowers the other two with faster regeneration and increased damage. Titans can drop a Barricade and immediately gain enhanced Pulse grenades (which are alread??y benefitting from several buffs) and a beefier Thunderclap. Of course, the Barricade and Storm's Keep are interacting to provide Bolt Charge, not only to you but also to the whole Fireteam.

Guardians can finish the build with an Exotic weapon like Thunderlord to double down on Arc lightning Strikes. And that machine gun can be made all the better with the Heavy Ordnance Regeneration Artifact Perk. To make the most out of this setup, Titans will want to prioritize Resilience above all else, as it's also the stat used for its Class abilities. That ensures Barricade uptime is a??s optimal as can be, and additional stats can go into Discipline and then Recovery.

Amplified Berserker

The alternate Titan build is for Guardians who want to be a menace to the enemy force, ?runnin?g headlong into swarms and obliterating swathes of foes. Players will have ample protection and heal while they take out their rage in melee combat.

Titans will want their Arc Subclass tuned, including important Aspect and ability choices, to g?et this build rolling. For Class ability, this build uses Thruster because we're not building into Barricade interactions, and it has the shortest cooldown out of the available options. Our melee ability will be Thunderclap, and it will be a cornerstone of the build. Flashbang works great as a grenade choice, offering a fantastic opener or a way to escape a sticky situation. As for the Super, Either Fists of Havoc or Thundercrash both work well, depending on what the cont??ent calls for.

Aspect-wise, this Titan build uses Juggernaut and Knockout. Juggernaut provides a front-facing shield when sprinting with a charged C?lass ability. If enemies damage the shield, Titans gain a stack of Bolt Charge. Being Amplified incre?ases the strength of the shield. Knockout allows us to become Amplified when we defeat enemies with melee attacks and heals us in the process. The Aspect also buffs regular melee attacks with Arc, increasing range and damage.

Fragment choices are self-explanatory, feeding into the Juggernaut Aspect and the types of gameplay the build best supports. The mainstay choices are Spark of Resistance and Spark of Frequency, increasing protections, and the Amplified buff, respectively. Spark of Frequency also benefits from all the melee Titans will be doing, increasing weapon? Reload Speed and Stability after landing a melee hit. Spark of Haste also increases Resilience, Recovery, and Mobility while players sprint (which they'll be doing quite a bit). Final??ly, Spark of Feedback is spicy, increasing outgoing melee damage after players receive melee damage.

For Exotic armor, this ??????????????????????????build excels with An Insurmountable Skullfort. The Exotic helmet fully restores melee ability energy and a chuck of health with each powered melee kill. Considering the sheer power of Thunderclap, even if it's completely uncharged, that's no problem when facing down Minor enemies and even some Majors. Even if the Thunderclap doesn't land a kill, melee energy is restored based on the number of melee hits from the ability.

For weapons, the Monte Carlo Exotic auto rifle completes the ?build. The Exotic restores melee energy on auto rifle hits, so a whiffed Thunderclap isn't as big a deal as you might imagine. Even better, if players have the Catalyst, its "melee" attack triggers An Insurmountable Skullfort's healing and melee regeneration effects. If players want to go the extra mile, they can add a sword to decimate big targets that refuse to go down. Players will want to ensure they max their Resilience at 100 before moving to focus on Discipline and Recovery next. Strength would normally be a consideration, but Monte Carlo's effect allows us to ignore the stat.

The post Desti?ny 2: Best Arc builds to amplify Episode: Heresy appeared first on Destructoid.

As with most content drops for Destiny 2, Episode: Heresy adds a new activity in the form of The Nether. While Guardians will largely be slaying out foes and handling mini-objectives in The Nether, the a??ctivity throws a twist into the mix: players can't heal themselves through traditional means.

This no-doubt throws Destiny 2's healing-capable Warlocks into disarray, but it also means that players can't just hang? around and wait for health to regenerate on any Class. Instead, if players want the abi??lity to heal themselves and the rest of the Fireteam, they'll need to make some conscious decisions about their loadout.

Living on the edge

The Nether isn't the first time Destiny 2 has limited the healing capabilities of our Guardians. Even as recently as the last Episode, a combat modifier called Brawn increased player health while restricting healing. What Guardians encounter in The Nether is much of? the same. Within the activity, players' health increased by 300, and shields increased by 75, but at the cost of regeneration capabilities.

You'll have to find new ways to stay alive when partaking in The Nether, and that's the point. During the developer livestream showcasing Heresy before its launch, Bungie explained that it wanted health to become a resource in the activity, encouraging more methodical play. The idea certainly has some merit, as The Nether seems to have been balanced to make the lack of self-healing very difficul?t to ignore, es??pecially towards the end of a run.

Healing options in The Nether

Despite The Nether being specifically designed so that the image of the unstoppable, invincible Guardian is shattered, there are still some consistent ways to stay alive. Mostly, that will mean either taking some equipment built to heal other players or scrounging around The Nether looking for scraps of? health and ammo. There are also some opportunities to get around The Nether's curse with buildcrafting.

While one method isn't necessarily superio??r to the other, relying on the pickups you find within the activity can be perilous if luck isn't on your side. Though it might mean sacrificing something else that can help bring some pain to your enemies, opting for healing through either equipment or your build means that the Fireteam will always have a way to regain health, even in dire predicaments.

Support Frame auto rifles

The most obvious way to directly oppose the lack of self-healing in The Nether is by having each member of the Fireteam use a Support Frame auto rifle. These weapons work like normal auto rifles when you aim down the sights, but instead, shoot healing bullets when firing from the hip. Currently, there are two of these weapons in the game, one from The Final Shape's weapon pool and another arriving for Heresy.

Most Guardians likely have a No Hesitation auto rifle or two lying around i?f they've completed The Final Shape's campaign. If you're lucky, you have already unlocked the ability to craft the? solar weapon and can customize it to your liking. No Hesitation uniquely can benefit from a damage buff after rapidly healing allies, and it additionally provides Restoration to those healed.

The new Adaman??tite auto rifle is not craftable, but it works ??a little differently. Instead of increasing its own damage, Adamantite increases healed allies' damage and starts creating Unravel projectiles on that person. Depending on the weapon's roll, you might still even be able to reap similar benefits to No Hesitation. The Circle Of Life Perk also allows Adamantite a damage buff after healing allies.

Alternatively, if players don't want to use an auto rifle at all, Red Death Reformed, Crimson, and Lumina are also on the table. The Exot??ic pulse rifle, Red Death Reformed, allows Guardians to heal themselves when they defeat enemies and nearby allies when reloading after kills. Lumina is an Exotic hand cannon that can shoot healing shots to heal allies, and Crimson is an Exotic hand cannon that can be used to heal the wielder.

Collecting health from pots

Aside from what players are taking into The Nether, the activity can provide some respite within its own walls. Throughout the activity, Guardians will come across pots and urns strewn about the Dreadnaught. If players spot one, d??estroying it can yield some kind of resource, whether it be health, ammo, or even something as odd as a Strand Tangle.

Generally, the pots can help in a pinch, but they're not to be relied upon. There's no telling what you'll find when you bre??ak one open, and on the off chance it's not health, you'll find yourself still hurting. That said, pots can be handy as a quick in-the-moment way to find additional resources.

Orbs of Power and Recuperation

Though you can't heal yourself via standard means like a Solar Healing Grenade or a Warlocks Healing Rift, there are some ways to build into healing in The Nether. S?pecifically, if players incorporate an armor mod on their legs, they'll be able to reclaim a bit of vitality each time an Orb of Power is collected.

The armor mod powering this interaction is called Recuperation, and it only costs one energy to equip. It's well worth swapping out an elemental Surge or a Holster mod i??n favor of a little extra health every time one of those juicy Orbs appears on the field.

Boons

In addition to everything Guardians can do to prepar??e for The Nether ahead of time, there are some powerful in-activity buffs that exist to help things along further. These buffs are called Boons, and they're separated into three different categories of power: Minor, Major, and Corrupted.

The Minor Boon Paracausal Health is one to keep an eye out for, as it makes each health pickup found in pots cou??nt for that much more. This Boon can also be stacked up to 10 times, making it something worth grabbing if staying alive proves an issue.

As for Major Boons, I've had some good times with both F?inishing Heal and Classical Healing. Finishing Heal provides a bump of healing each time players use a Finisher to d??efeat an enemy and it can be coupled with other Boons that also function off of Finishers. Classical Healing, on the other hand, rewards a big chunk of health every time Guardians use their Class ability. This Boon can itself be enhanced by another Minor Boon that increases Class ability regeneration.

One option likely won't cut it

Though the above options all work to heal players in The Nether, it's probably wise for the vast majority of players to double up on healing possibi??lities. The Nether is a revive-based activity, so the run is over when the Fireteam runs out of revives. You want to do everything you can to prevent a run of The Nether from being cut short so you can earn as many rewards as possible.

To this end, it's worth planning ventures into The Nether, especially if you bring a full Fireteam of friends. If possible, I'drecommend at least two players with a ?weapon with healing capabilities. I'd also suggest everyone in the Fireteam use the Recuperation mod on their leg armor. From there, the Boons and luck of the pots will take players the rest?? of the way.

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Stop me if you've heard this one before. It's launch day for some new Destiny 2 content, but irrepressible error codes and server instability make the title impossible to access. That's what's playing out right now for Episode: Heresy, with the final Episode stumbling r?ight out of the gates.

Destiny 2 really needs a win right about now. The live-service game hasn't had a good year, with mediocre, bug-filled Episodes replacing the old Seasonal model. The hope was that Bungie was saving the best for last, that Heresy would re-inspire some faith in players after months of negative press and controversies. However, the launch of Episode: Heresy did not inspire confidence, coming online with a slurry of error codes preventing most? players fro??m doing much more than reaching Orbit.

Server maintenance has been extended

While it doesn't seem like the vast majority of players can access the new content Episode: Heresy brings us, or remain in-game to do much else, Bungie is aware of the situation. Almost immediately after the Episode went live, the studio initially commented on X via its Bungie Help account, noting, "We're currently investigating stability issues?? and a rise in various er?ror codes, including PLUM. More information will be provided when available."

It seems that in addition to the instability brought alongside the Heresy update, some other aspects of the game might have been broken, too. The team accidentally turned back on elemental surges in Raids, which had been a previous controversy side-stepped by disabling the modifiers. As of now, it appears as though elemental surges are enabled in most Raids but not all. Unfortunately, a fix will have to go by the wayside while Bungie irons out the stability issues miring Episode: Heresy.

"Note, today's server and stability issues are our top priority to fix," the studio explained. "We appreciate your patience while we continue our investigation." From there, it wasn't too much longer before Bungie officially extended official Destiny 2&nb??sp;downtime. Hopefully, this immediate snafu isn't the first taste of what players can expect from the new Episode. 

Destiny 2 is certainly no stranger to server issues or extended downtime, especially surrounding the launch of new content, but this was not the time to fall back into old habits. Either way, Heresy did not create the best first impressions right out of the gat??e.

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Though I'm not one to harp on the sorry state of a game, I do think Destiny 2 is in a rough patch right now. Thankfully, we're very close to the release of Episode: Heresy and its fancy new Tome of Want feature?? is looking migh??ty promising indeed.

Destiny 2: Episode - Heresy is positioning itself as the nostalgic new take on several beloved elements and features from Destiny's past. Not only is the legendary Dreadnaught returning as the featured activity location, but there are murmurs of Oryx himself making a return, somehow. Setting aside convoluted lore, though, the gameplay side of things is plenty exciting as well, thanks to the afor?ementioned Tome of Want, which seems awfully similar to the old Chalice system featured in the Menagerie activity.

Destiny 2: Heresy's Tome of Want harkens back to Menagerie, but how will it work in practice?

As one of the finest pieces of sunset content Destiny has ever had, the Menagerie is one of those high points that veteran fans will remember fondly for years to come. The Menagerie itself isn't some unattainable ideal that Bungie's never reached before: we've had much better activities since. In fact, Episode: Heresy's own The Nether roguelite Metroidvania mode looks downright excellent. No, the bit that made the Menagerie truly excellent w??as the Chalice: a unique loo?t-focusing system that Bungie has refused to return to.

The Chalice was very simple: by slotting in specific runes and/or resources, you could ensure that your next Menagerie loot drop was almost exactly what you wanted it to be. This, combined with the Menagerie's randomized nature (and a few unique semi-exploits), made this the activity to play whenever you had the tim??e. While we don't know yet if the To??me of Want will be as rewarding as the Chalice was, it sure as heck sounds fun.

Basically, Destiny 2: Heresy's Tome of Want is a baseline seasonal item, and we'll all unlock it on day one of the release, on February 2. The Tome is a focusing item, leveraging the new Essence of Desire seasonal currency to reliably dish out more-or-less the exact kind of loot players are attempting to target-farm. Expect a bevy of upgrades, optimizations, and optional tweaks for the Tome of Want as you progress through Heresy, but this is all standard fare. So, interes??ting stuff, but we'll have to see how it pans out in practice ??before we start praising it.

For me, it all comes full circle when I think about the Tome of Want. My biggest problem with Destiny has always been uncertainty: how will the next big feature pan out, where might Bungie take the narrative next, and how might the game's precarious meta be balanced in a few weeks? I don't think Episode: Heresy will bring about some much-needed certainty into the mix, but I do think this will be much better than the annoying Tonic system was, and that counts for something.

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Destiny 2's Arc Subclass is about to improve in the upcoming Episode: Heresy. Bun??gie has started sharing some details about the next bout of in-game content, including how each Class' abilities will change.

The spotlight here is on a new Arc keyword, Bolt Charge, that lets you repeatedly target foes with lightning strikes. Of course, that's not all from the finale Episode of The Final Shape, as new Aspects ??are also inbound to help? shake up the gameplay sandbox.

While these tweaks and additions don't come with every Tuesday reset in Destiny 2, they often appear in significant updates. With three Episodes for The Final Shape, the structure allowed Bungie a well-defined period of four or so months before changing things up when a new Episode arrived. Now, it looks like some of the biggest shakeups of The Final Shape era were saved for Episode: Heresy.

Introducing Bolt Charge

Bungie highlighted what players could expect from Subclasses heading into the? new Episode. While Arc will have a lot going for it in Episode: Heresy, one of the spotlight items is the new keyword: Bolt Charge. It is an Arc feature that allows Guardians to call down a surge of electrici?ty to damage foes. It works differently from other keywords, potentially requiring a bit more planning.

"While you have one or more stacks, from any source â€?Aspects, Fragments, weapon perks, etc.  â€?dealing damage with any weapon increases your Bolt Charge stack c??ount. Each time a stack is gained, you gain a chunk of melee energy. At 10 stacks, your Bolt Charge is ready and any ability damage â€?Arc or otherwise â€?summons a powerful Arc bolt, dealing roughly the same amount of damage as a Solar Ignition with a smaller area of effect. Different from Ignition though, Bolt Charge is tuned to have more consistent and predictable uptime," the studio said.

It sounds like the key to making the new feature work is getting that first stack of Bolt Charge. From there, additional stacks seem easy to gain, as any weapon damage contributes. Bungie did mention that players wouldn't just be limited to pure Arc builds to ?use the new keyword. Prismatic Subclasses will also have access to Bolt Charge through various options.

After watching the short gam?eplay clip of a Titan player using the new Ar?c Aspect to trigger Bolt Charge on the first encounter in the Vesper's Host Dungeon, the feature looks incredibly powerful. In that clip, it appears the lightning strike knocks a respectable 15 percent or so of health off the Brig.

New Aspects

Warlocks have a new tool to play with in the form of Ionic Sentry. This Arc Aspect allows Guardians to ??create their own Tesla tower that chains electricity to any fo?es unfortunate enough to be within range. As a bonus, the Ionic Sentry deploys with a Blinding effect and builds stacks of Bolt Charge as it slays enemies. Using the Ionic Sentry is as simple as charging the feature up by getting Arc kills and then activating it by tossing out a grenade.

Bungie commented on the new Aspect's design, "St?ormcallers are masterful at channeling Arc energy, reshaping and redeploying it to cause mayhem on the battlefield. With Ionic Sentry, Stormcallers have harnessed Arc energy and coalesced it into ??a perfect orb of hurricane and harmony. Once it is charged up through Arc ability and weapon kills, you gain access to Ionic Sentry as a special grenade throw, similar to how Gunpowder Gamble works for Gunslingers."

While Hunters did not get an Arc Aspect to coincide with Bolt Charge, Guardians will have a new Void Aspect to play around with. It is called On The Prowl, a??llowing Hunt?ers to defeat marked priority targets. When defeated, those priority targets create a weakening smoke cloud that Hunters and allies can use to become invisible again, gaining ability energy in the process.

Titans are also getting a fancy new Arc Aspe?ct: Storm's Keep. Whenever Titans use their Class ability, they'll bestow a "moderate" number of Bolt Charge stacks to themselves and nearby allies. If Titans take one of the Barricade abilities, friendly players (including the casting Titan) will gain Bolt Charge stacks while behind it and can also discharge the lightning strike with weapon damage instead of only ability damage.

"We wanted to do a few things with this Aspect for Strikers," the studio noted. "We wanted to create an opportunity for Barricade to be used offensively and we wanted to capitalize on what Bolt Charge can prov??ide. We?? envision Strikers pushing forward on the battlefield and using their class abilities to cement themselves as the tip of the spear in any fireteam."

Arc Subclass updates

Several updates are coming? to the Arc Subclass aimed at making it more viable and forgiving in endgame content. Most importantly, PvE enemies wil??l now be less accurate against Amplified players, and Guardians themselves will gain 15% PvE damage resistance when under the effect.

Many Fragments are also seeing tweaks to support the Arc-focused Episode. Spark of Discharge will grant a stack of Bolt Charge whenever an Ionic Trace is collected, and Spark of Momentum gets th?e new effect of getting a Bolt Charge stack after sliding over ammo bricks. It's also easier to trigger the Fragment, but the melee energy bonus has disappeared.

Spark of Frequency will have the added benefit of providing an extra Bolt Charge stack whenever players gain Bolt Charge from any source. That is joined by Spark of Volts, which also adds Bolt Charge stacks when Guardians get Finishers on top of the Amplified buff. Finally, Spark of Ions will add?itionally reward Ionic Traces whenever players defeat enemies with Bolt Charge.

Hunters

While Hunters may not have a flashy Arc Aspect to use in Episode: Heresy, plenty of updates are coming to the Subclass itself. The Tempest Strike melee ability is getti??ng its damage increased by 57% in PvE. Additionally, players gain a stack of Bolt Charge if it is used to kill a Jol?t-affected target.

The Disorienting Blow melee is also seeing a change, offering a "moderate" amount of Bolt Charge stacks whenever dealing damage with the ability. It will also deal AoE damage around the target, and its Blind effect has increased from six meters to a lit?tle over n??ine and a half meters. And for Arc Staff Super enjoyers, there's now a good reason to ensure you're reflecting blows, as it will offer a stack of Bolt Charge. 

Any of these retuned abilities will work well with the touched-up Ascension Aspect. The Aspect now provides three Fragment slots when running an Arc Subclass (already available on Prismatic). Activating the Aspect's effect, an upward Arc Staff twirl, now procs the effects from several other Hunter Class abilities. Bungie noted that Gambler's Dodge, Marksman's Dodge, Empowering Dodge, and T?hreaded Specte?r would be included for now, but more options could come in the future.

Titans

Alongside the new Aspect, Titans have a slew of quality-of-life tweaks coming their way. First and foremost, and most important for Storm's Keep, are a few changes to Barricades. Overall, Guardians will be more resilient when behind a Barricade, with splash damage resistance jumping from 60% to 80??%. On top of this, the Taunt effect is changing a bit, no longer losing potency and range over time.

The Juggernaut Aspect is also getting a glow-up. The Juggernaut shield effect now offers 60% splash damage resistance in PvE and 10% in PvP. Additionally, you have an extra 10% flat damage reduction ?in PvE when the shield is up. Finally, when the shield successfully blocks damage, Titans gain a stack of Bolt Charge.

Titan's Ballistic Slam melee ability is also seeing some significant updates. It allows Titans to deal AoE damage with a ground slam after sprinting and while airborne. In Heresy, you won't have to sprint for long before the ability is ready, and damage will scale based on the distance Guardians travel. If that didn't get your attention, overall PvE damage has been bumped by? ??30%, and a stack of Bolt Charge is earned for each enemy damaged by the melee.

Warlocks

Warlocks have the least of tweaks to their Arc Subclass, bu??t they already had a powerful setup with Arc Soul and Supers like Chaos Reach. Speaking of Chaos Reach, its damage will increase by 15% agai??nst non-Champion targets in PvE. The Stormtrance Super is similarly getting a damage boost, jumping by an additional 20% against non-Champion PvE foes.

The Lightning Surge Aspect is getting some tweaks, too. When Guardians use its effect, Amplified will be consumed. Damage is also getting reduced in PvP, from 20 per projectile to 15. That said, ??a payout is getting easier to predict with a two-meter width and a one-meter height increase of its cone.

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Believe it or not, Oryx, the Taken King, is returning to Destiny 2. Bungie confirmed as much in a Developer Livestream for Episode: Heresy, but there's obviously a lot of information the studio has yet to give us. We know we'll be venturing back into the Dreadnaught, and the Taken and Hive will be involved, but we lack the finer details. The stream did, however, provide players with an idea of what the bones of Heresy will look like.

Oryx, the Taken King, is a major villain from Destiny's past. Once a Hive god and a significant force to be reckoned with, Guardians would eventually topple the monarch in the original Destiny's The Taken King expansion. To do so, we boarded Oryx's Throne World spacecraft hybrid, the Dreadnaught. While the King's Fall Raid is currently available in Destiny 2, Episode: Heresy will be the first time Guardians can? explore the Dreadnaught in the sequel. 

The return of the King

Following a trend established in the Episodes of The Final Shape, it seems Episode: Heresy also plans to bring back a major villain. While Echoes brought Maya Sundaresh back into conversations, and Revenant offered a finale for Fikrul, O?ryx definitely has the most star power as an ??Episode's headlining villain. That said, the revival of Oryx doesn't appear as simple as what was attempted in the Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon.

In some key art shared during the livestream, a ghostly visage of Oryx is shown peering over the Dreadnaught. The blue-spectered foe doesn't appear to be haunting us in the flesh, perhaps much in the same way that the Ahamkara Riven came back for Season of the Wish. That said, Bungie did hint at a flesh-and-blood enemy at the root of Heresy's conflict: an as-of-now unnamed Dread characte?r.

Of course, with the prospect of Oryx's return on the horizon, Guardians will need to call in the specialists to deal with the combined Dread, Hive, and Taken threat. Naturally, that means Eris Morn, the Ghost-less Moon Guardian who briefly became a Hi?ve god during the Season of the Witch. Joining the Hive expert is her more-than-just-friends ally, The Drifter, and Commander Sloan from Titan, who'd become afflicted by Taken corruption dur??ing Season of the Deep.

Are we getting the power to Take?

During the stream, there were some coy hints and references that Episode: Heresy may finally let players do something they've been asking for since the Taken were encountered: Gain the power to Take. The power of the Taken is intrinsically tied to Oryx, as he originated the ability. While control of the mindless faction has drifted since Oryx's fall, who knows what's bound to happen when the King? himself returns? 

If persistent ??rumors suggesting that we're going to use the Dreadnaught to leave the solar system pan out, then it stands to reason we might need to master the same powers as its former steward. Bungie's Narrative Architect, Nikko Stevens, said, "[Sloan] has been afflicted with this Taken corruption that we saw back in Season of the Deep, and she's learned how to sort of hold it back but also utilize it to make her stronger. So she is going to be teaching us some of that." Adding some fuel to the fire, Senior Social Media Manager Andy Salisbury noted, "We're going 'Beyond,' once again."

Stevens added another piece of context later on when asked about the Path of Resolve in Heresy. "There is 'an event' that happens at the beginning of the Episode," Stevens noted. "This 'REDACTED' event sort of kicks off Sloan's motivation for teaching us about the Taken power that she has been holding back. So, that is the Path of Resolve, she's going to be teaching us how to fight ?fire with fire." 

The Narrative Architect continued, explaining how the Path of Resolve would factor into gameplay on the Dreadnaught. "We're going to be going into the Dreadnaught, taking some control of that Taken energy, taking some control of those old Hive Magiks, and wi??elding them using our Light and&?nbsp;using our Paracausaility," Stevens said.

Into The Nether

Launching with the first Act of Episode: Heresy is a new activity called The Nether. The studio explained that The Nether would take players back through the old patrol zones of the Dreadnaught as Guardians rot out recent incursions by Dread, Taken, and Hive foes. As Senior?? Designer Ryan Harris notes, the activity was designed to be highly replayable.

"Baseline, the Patrol Zones are randomized and varied. The encounters inside are varied and randomized as well. So, time over time, when you launch into the activity, it's going to be a different starting bubble, different enco??unters, and different events and objectives for you to engage with," Harris explained.

The Nether may have some? familiar trappings, but the activity will take on a wholly different vibe. Guardians will not regenerate health on their own, so a dedicated healer might be needed to conquer more serious difficulties. To compensate, Bungie is increasing player health by 300 and shields by 75 while in The Nether. "We really want to make your health a resource," Harris noted.

Ammo will also appear at a more limited capacity in The Nether, but the developers explained that there are ways? to earn both health and ammo drops throughout the activity. Finally, as Guardians progress through The Nether, they will acquire Boons, which are buffs that will remain present for ??the rest of the run. Destination materials, chests, and destructible environmental objects like pots were described, acting as potential resource caches.

The Nether will have ??variable instances, with one mode that caters to solo players. "For players who are wanting that explorat??ive aspect, we've seperated out the modes a little bit. People can go in and they can explore the Dreadnaught, but people who are just looking to bust through the activity and get loot, they have a different matchmade mode," Stevens noted. In addition to the solo and regular matchmade mode, there's also an Expert difficulty option.

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While Destiny 2's Episode: Revenant is in its waning weeks, Bungie has a few tricks up its sleeve to see the content off, as several balance changes have hit the game ahead of the new Past is Prologue event.

Oddly, the tweaks to general gameplay are pretty significant for the end of an Episode. Of course, these alterations will likely set the pace for the upcoming Episode: Heresy, but you can start taking advantage now.

Every once in a while, Bungie changes how things feel in Destiny 2. The studio usually tackles one or two topics at a time, such as Exotic armor or ability tuning. For Episode: Revenant's final ??Act, b?oth Exotic weapons and armor are seeing some changes and general tuning for many of the weapon archetypes available in-game.

Exotic Armor updates

In a post detailing update 8.1.5.3, Bungie covered how the game would change for the final Act of Revenant, starting with Exotic armor. ??One of the most significant pieces of news is that the Ballidorse Wrathweavers Exotic for Warlocks is now functional once mor??e.

The studio had previously deactivated it near the start of Episode: Revenant after Guardians found a way to one-shot bosses with Stasis explosions. Naturally, that didn't attract the best attention in the Stasis-??focused Episode, but at least players now have a few weeks to play around with it and all of the Stasis Artifact Perks for some wild combinations.

Warlocks also saw another boon to Exotic armor in Bungie correcting another functionality issue. The Stormdancer's Brace Exotic is supposed to refund Super energy and grant a damage buff for each enemy slain with Stormtrance. Players weren't getting the Super energy? gains if they activated the Prismatic Subclass's Transcendence ability. This bug has been resolved and now functions correctly.

The next positive change was more general, as it affected multiple Exotics. For Exotic armor effects that reward an eleme?ntal Surge damage bonus, like Mantle of Battle Harmony, Foetracer, or Path of Burning Steps, the Solar Surge x4 wasn't applying to anything other than Two-Tailed Fox. Bungie has corrected this so players can enjoy the ful??l force of a Solar Surge.

The additional Exotic armor tweaks aren't strictly positive. Many are fixes for bugs but end up decreasing current effectiveness. First up are Hunters with the Celestial Nighthawk Exotic. It inadvertently benefited from the roaming Super buff in Episode: Revenant, recharging Golden Gun much f?aster than intended. This has been adjusted so the Super charges normally.

For Titans, Bungie took a swing at the Crest of Alpha Lupi Exotic and ??its Spirit of Alpha Lupi effect on the Titan Exotic Class Item. It appears the studio feels that the healing offered was a bit too generous for Thruster enjoyers, so it has been reduced across the board. The full Exotic now only restores 60HP with its healing pulse when using the Thruster Class ability. Similarly, the Spirit of Alpha Lupi on Stoicism has its healing capability reduced to a mere 30HP while using Thruster.

Warlocks didn't escape without a nerf of their own, another instance of Bungie fixing something that wasn't working correctly. Before the third Act of Episode: Revenant, Warlocks could extend the Song of Flame Super by activating the ?unique effect of the Mantle of Battle Harmony Exotic. The studio has corrected this over?sight so the already-powerful Super doesn't get out of hand.

Exotic weapon updates

There weren't nearly as many changes to Exotic weapons? as there were to the armor, as mentioned above. That said, all of these tweaks are worth noting, as they're all for popular weapons. Kicking things off for PvP players is the ever-popular Ace of Spades. Depending on how you look at it, this could be either a buff or a nerf, but the weapon now does Solar damage with its Firefly explosions. Those booms were previously Kinetic damage.

The Whisper of the Worm Exotic sniper has been reliably popular even before its reintroduction through the remade Whisper Exotic mission. Now, it's a force to be reckoned with, bolstering multiple Catalysts and build options. As the gun is about landing multiple precision hits to refund ammo, Crucible fans should know that the flinch against other players has been reduced by?? 50 percent.

Finally, Graviton Lance has been a favorite of Guardians looking for a long-range, reliable Void weapon. It's not getting diminished in terms of t??he direct damage it does, but it is getting a slap on the wrist with a return ??to its previous RPM. Graviton Lance is now back to 300 RPM, down from 325 RPM.

Weapon archetype and Perk updates

For weapons in general, some are rising up for Episode: Heresy, while others have seen their time in the sun and are getting a bit of a nerf. Sidearm fans can start to break out their favorite Heavy Burst archetype, as the category has received an overall damage increase. Body shot damage has been bumped from 30 to 33, and precision damage h?as jumped from 48 to 52.8, making these weapons incredibly dangerous at a range where reliable precision damage isn't an issue.

Submachine guns are also getting some love, seeing a general magazine increase across the board. It seems, based on the vague wording of the buff, that all submachine guns are included in this boon, inc?luding Exotics. Bungie specified that the magazine increase would be anywhere between 10 and 15 percent, depending on the specific weapon. For Lightweight pulse rifles, general damage went from 17 to 20.4 and 31.45 to 31.6 for precision damage. Auto rifles got a small but needed bump to damage as well. The Rapid Fire archetype specifically went from 13.5 to 13.6 damage and 23 to 23.1 for precision damage.

Lightweight scout rifles are getting inched up in effectiveness. The Lightweight archetype's damage receives a nudge from 32 to 38 and precision damage from 64 to 64.6. Alternatively, High-Impact pulse rifles are getting tuned down a bit, with Bungie noting that it now takes six precision hits to elimi??nate a player with a Resilience score above 10. High-Impact archetypes now deal 21.5 damage per shot, down from 22. Additionally, precision damage dropped to 38.7 from 39.6, and the damage falloff for aiming down sights has been reduced.

Outside of general damage tw?eaks, hand cannons have a new Intrinsic Trait for the Precision archetype. The guns now reduc??e the aim down sight movement penalty by 10 percent. On the opposite end of the range spectrum, sniper rifles across the board now have 20 percent less camera roll flinch against players. Topping weapon changes off, Bungie reduced the self-damage done to players using heavy grenade launchers by 50 percent.

Looking at the individual Perks that can appear on weapons, Bungie made two changes for Act Three. The most substantial is that the Iron Banner Origin Trait, Skulking Wolf, now works in PvE and makes enemies less accurate when they're shooting you. Also, the studio noted that it rolled back the changes to how the Target Lock Perk works on submachine guns. Those alterations were made in Update 7.3.5, ??forcing the Perk to trigger when Guardians went through 20 percent of their clip rather than 12.5 percent.

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While a current focal point of Destiny 2's Episode: Revenant is a Tonic system that didn't initially work as intended, the third Act offers players a reliable way to brew Exotic Tonics. While it was possible for Guardians to create an Exotic Tonic before, there weren't recipes for the concoction until recently. Of course, as with many things in Destiny, players aren't just given the means to produce these valuable Tonics. First, Guardians must uncover the Tonic recipes for themselves; otherwise, strike it lucky on a never-ending?? treadmill of chance.

The Tonic system in Destiny 2 is a feature of Episode: Revenant that served as a way?? for players to influence gameplay and rewards. The idea is that players earn Tonic ingredients by de??feating enemies and completing certain activities. Those ingredients can then be distilled into either a Volatile Tonic that boosts a specific effect or an Enriching Tonic that augments rewards. Of course, before Guardians can brew a Tonic, they'll need its ingredients and the required recipe. That's where Exotic Tonics become a bit more tricky than Rare or Legendary counterparts.

What are Exotic Tonics?

Episode: Revenant Tonics come in different rarities. Players start with the ability to create Uncommon, green Tonics and learn new recipes as Fieldwork is completed and more Tonics are brewed. Typically, players create somewhere between four and six Uncommon Tonics to earn a recipe for a Rare Tonic, and the same is true going from Rare to Legendary. However, Exotic Tonics are a b??it different, and not just in how players earn them.

Exotic Tonics are only available for one category of Tonics: Resource. As such, each helps players earn a specific Exotic currency. There are three Exotic Tonics in-game: a Tonic of Exotic Ciphers, a Tonic of Ascendant Shards, and a Tonic of Ascendant Alloys. In addition to offering a chance to earn more of the specified resource from activities and kills, each Exotic Tonic lasts for 112 minutes or nearly two hours.

How to earn Exotic Tonic recipes

With enough time and effort, Guardians can learn all of the Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary Tonic recipes just by continuing to craft Tonics. Exotic Tonics require a specific course of actions to earn, with two taking players into the Kell's Fall Exotic mission and another being up to lady luck. As players hunt down the Intrinsic Trait upgrades for the Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun in Kell's Fall, they'll earn two Exotic Tonic recipes, the Tonic of Ascendant Sha?rds and ??the Tonic of Ascendant Alloys.

It doesn't matter the order in which players obtain the Intrinsic upgrades, as the Tonic recipes aren't tied to specific pickups. Instead, players need to locate and collect the Intrinsic u??pgrades in any order to open up more Exotic To?nic recipes. Alternatively, the final Exotic Tonic has been in the game since the start of Revenant, but it might be the hardest to make. That's because there's no recipe; players must get lucky while brewing other Tonics.

The Tonic of Exotic Ciphers can technically be made after players have started creating Legendary Enriching Tonics. There's a slim chance that while brewing any Legendary Enriching Tonic, a Tonic of Exotic Ciphers will also be creat??ed. Guardians can tilt the o?dds in their favor by earning the Extraordinary Tonics upgrade from Eido through Major Fieldwork from the first Act. It increases players' chance to create higher-tier Tonics while brewing, which helps but still leaves a lot to chance.

How to create each Exotic Tonic

After players have earned the recipes for the Tonic of Ascendant Shards and the Tonic of Ascendant Alloys, they can start producing as many beverages as resources allow. Technically, the same is true for the Tonic of Exotic Ciphers, but without a specific recipe, Guardians are at the mercy of whatever reagents are plentiful or trivial to farm. Here are the ingredients required to brew the Exotic Tonics from Episode: Revenant:

Tonic of Ascendant Alloys

• Enriching Nugget (2)
• Enriching Flake (2)
• Tomb Flake (2)
• Reflective Flake (2)
• Enriching Powder (6)
• Reclaimed Vitality (60)

Tonic of Ascendant Shards

• Enriching Nugget (2)
• Enriching Flake (2)
• Tomb Flake (2)
• Reflective Flake (2)
• Enriching Powder (6)
• Reclaimed Vitality (60)

Tonic of Exotic Ciphers

As mentioned previously, the Tonic of Exotic Ciphers can be a bit of an enigma for reliable farming. Ideally, players will luck into a few as they progress Tonic recipes and Fieldwork. If not, some tips and tricks can at least help Guardians spend their ingredients wisely. O??ne important first note?? is that the Tonic of Exotic Ciphers only appears when brewing Enriching Tonics. Don't waste your time or resources with Volatile Tonics, at least in the pursuit of a Tonic of Exotic Ciphers. 

Another worthwhile consideration is the cost of each Legendary Tonic in the hunt for Tonics of Exotic Ciphers. Specifically, the World Gear category of Tonics offers the cheapest cost per Legendary Tonic. Each Legendary World Gear Tonic requires Enriching Nugget (2), Enriching Powder (3), and Reclaimed Vitality (20). Each ingredient is readily available when playing almost anything in-game, with even more significant payouts for Episode: Revenant content.

If Guardians want to eek a bit more feasible use out of the Tonics made in pursuit of some Exotic C??ipher juice, they can brew from the Onslaught, Tomb of Elders, or Kell's Fall categories instead. However, those Tonics all require an additional reagent earned from the activity with the same namesake. It costs an additional Enriching Flake for Onslaught Tonics, a Tomb Flake for Tomb of Elders Tonics, and a Reflective Flake for the Kell's Fall Tonics. 

Going the route of weapon Tonics is a bit more work, as it demands players to frequen?t the activity from which they're hunting weapons. That said, there's no question that the rewards ?stand to offer a lot more than Glimmer and upgrade materials earned from dismantling set after set of Shadestalker armor.

The post Destiny 2: How to brew Exotic Tonics appeared first on Destructoid.

Guardians diving into Destiny 2's new Exotic mission, Kell's Fall, will encounter an odd sight toward the start of the endeavor: an organ. Those musically inclined pla??yers hoping that the instrument is a part of some elaborate puzzle or gameplay mechanic are in luck, as the organ is the key to most secrets within Kell's Fall. Thankfully, players don??'t need to do all the work required to piece together each melody, as any will work if you know which order the notes go in.

The Kell's Fall Exotic mission has its share of secrets tucked within, including Exotic Catalyst Quests and intrinsic upgrades for the Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun. Many of these optional pursuits are accessed via the organ found within the mission. However, players must know what tunes to play to get what they want. Guardians can spend some time hunting down all the hidden melodies scattered throughout the Exotic mission, but that time-consuming work can be skipped thanks to the efforts of the Destiny community.

How to use the organ in Kell's Fall

Shortly after players first encounter The Trickster, they'll enter a building with the organ against the back wall. The organ is connected to a series of pipes, which are, in turn, connected to switches with symbols on them. Each symbol can be shot to play a particula?r note on the organ, and a series of symbols can be shot to put toge?ther a melody.

Not all of the switches?? will be available on the first run of Kell's Fall. However, more organ switches will become available in subsequent runs, with all accessible by the third completion. That said, it appears that most, if not all, melodies can be played on the organ with the switches available during the second run through the Exotic mission. 

When Guardians are ready to input a melody, they'll need to stand on the circular plate directly in front of the organ. From left to right, the switch?es can be numbered through 13, so players don't have to try to remember each switch symbol. As long ??as the switches needed are present, players can orchestrate as many melodies as they want, even all of the known combinations in a single run.

Known Kell's Fall organ melodies

As mentioned earlier, it's primarily thanks to the Destiny community that it's this easy to enter each of Kell's Fall organ melodies. Throughout the Exotic mission, eagle-eyed Guardians may spot a string of glowing ??symbols written on a wall or a wayward symbol tucked out of sight behind some rubble. These symbols correspond with the symbols on the organ switches, and in the correct order, these are the melodies players are looking for. Some are easier to find than others, and some are downright cryptic with the placement and orientation symbols that appear.

While there's a Triumph in the Secret category of Episode: Revenant for playing six melodies on the organ, eight have been discovered by the community. It's certainly possible that there are more melodies that players have ??yet to learn of; the community has banded together to share what's already known. These are all of Kell's Fall organ melodies confirmed to work, and here's what they do:

Slayer's Fang Intrinsic Upgrade #1

The code to open the door t?o the first Intrinsic Upgrade is 2, 11, 1, 10, 7, 6. If players enter the sequence correctly, they'll see the text, "Ancient gears grinding deep within the fortress."

Slayer's Fang Intrinsic Upgrade #2

The code to open the door to the second Intrinsic Upgrade is 1, 4, 11, 1, 4, 10. Once the melody is correctly entered, players will see text that says, "Barrier giving way."

Slayer's Fang Intrinsic Upgrade #3

The code? to open the door to the third Intrinsic Upgrade is 1, 8, 1, 6. Once the melody's code is correctly entered, players will see a line of text saying, "Air stirring in a forgotten passage."

The Scorned Organist

The code to access the secret Kell's Fall boss is 10, 4, 6, 1, 11, 4, 8, 1. After Guardians enter the sequence, the Fireteam will be teleported to an arena to fight the Scorned Organist.

Uldren's Shrine

The code to open the door to Uldren's secret shrine is 1, 8, 4, 11, 1, 6, 4, 10. Players can confirm they entered the melody correctly if they see text that reads, "The melody sounds like a child, yearning for his father." The secret shrine is tucked away in the U?ndercroft section of Kell's Fall, in one of the red dome buildings, on the platform just before dropping down into the next area. 

The Trickster and The Mad Bomber

The code 1, 8, 1, 9?? allows The Trickster to appear during the fight against Kaniiks, The Mad Bomber. Players will know they've entered the sequence correctly if they see text that says, "The melody twists your stomach in knots. You've made a terrible mistake." The ad??ded boss can be hurt during the encounter and will turn invisible to escape after taking enough damage.

The Trickster and The Mindbender

The code 1, 8, 1, 11, 9 sends The Trickster to the fight against Hiraks, The Mindbender. If the code was entered correctly, players will see text that says, "The melody sends a chill?? down your spine. What have you done?" As with the previous code, The Trickster will appear in another fight. The added boss is similarly damageable and will also pull another disappearing act once hurt enough. 

Savathûn is still watching us

The code 4, 7, 9, 6, 2, 6, 7, 1 is a bit of an oddity, as all it seems to do is award a cackle from Savathûn that echoes over the room. Players will, of course, know they've correctly entered the sequence if they hear the antagonist from The Witch Queen laugh over the comms. While there are suspicions t??hat there could be more to this melody, no one has been able to identify anything else happening?? after activating the switches.

The post Destiny 2: All known melodies for the Kell’s Fall organ appeared first on Destructoid.

There's much to be said about the current state of Destiny 2, but the world's first race events are a tried-and-true roll call for the community. Since we're not getting any new Raids anytime soon, Dungeons are the next best thing, and Sundered Doctrine is now on the docket.

Though we have absolutely no actual promotional materials for Sundered Doctrine in Destiny 2, Bungie has been kind enough to reveal some interesting details about this fancy new Dungeon in the latest TWID (This Week in Destiny) blog post. For example, we now know that Sundered Doctrine takes place aboard Rhulk's sunken Pyramid vessel, back in Savathûn’s Throne World. Sundered Doctrine's world's first completion race will kick off on the Dungeon's release on February 7 (Friday). Remember, too, that this means Contest Mode will be enabled for t?he next 48 hours, making Sunder?ed Doctrine far more challenging than it otherwise woul??d be.

The Sundered Doctrine Dungeon world's first race is coming to Destiny 2

Sundered Doctrine is thus poised to be the second Dungeon released to its very own world's first race, following last year's Vesper's Host. Only, this time around, Bungie intends to pull all the stops for the winning team: "This time around, rather than a podium race??, we’ll be looking to crown the single team that ri?ses to the top and finishes first. With that, we are leveling up the reward, creating something memorable and unique to honor the incredible accomplishment of the winning team. That's why, for this race, each winning team member will receive the first-ever Dungeon Race trophy," says the announcement.

This is fairly unprecedented, as such real-world trophies had previously been the exclusive purview of Raids. Thi?ngs definitely are a-changing, as we can see.

If you're a mere mortal such as myself, and don't necessarily intend to compete in the world's first race proper, odds are you're still going to want to score a piece of sweet loot. Fancy new guns and armor are a given, and to get any of that goodness, you'll need to meet the Power Level requirement. As per Bungie, the PL target is 1995 for all encounters, which should be e?asy eno??ugh to target.

To be eligible to play Sundered Doctrine in the first place, all players in your Fireteam need to own the Final Shape Dungeon key and acquire the Drowning Labyrinth quest. Whenev??er a new Dung?eon releases, this NPC or the other will invite Guardians to pick up its respective quest from them. This is, presumably, how we'll acquire Drowning Labyrinth upon the Dungeon's release.

I'll happily admi?t that I wasn't able to complete Vesper's Host during its Contest Mode?? period. If you, too, end up struggling with Sundered Doctrine in February, there's nothing to worry about: all the important goodies (i.e. guns and armor) will still be available after Contest Mode runs out, on the reset of February 9. From that point onwards, the Dungeon will be more accessible to the average player with a reduced Power Level requirement. Neat!

Remember, too, that this is going to mark the start of the third major Episode of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. It's a thrilling enough predicament, for sure, but Bungie's recent track record ??has got me slightly worried for what mi??ght happen to Oryx's Dreadnaught.

The post Destiny 2’s next Dungeon, Sundered Doctrine, is coming out very soon, and so is the world’s first race appeared first on Destructoid.

If Destiny 2 players want to make the most out of their new Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun, they'll need to revisit Kell's Fall. The Exotic mission evolves ?with subsequent playthroughs, not showing its true nature until after Guardians' second completion.

Alongside the Exotic Catalyst Quest objectives hidden throughout Kell's Fall, players can also find three Intrinsic Trait upgrades. But it will take more than curiosity to find the upgrades; players will have to master the Scorgan.

Many of the Exotic weapons obtained through Exotic missions are enhanceable by completing certain tasks in subsequent runs of the mission. In the case of Kell's Fall, those are the Exotic Catalysts and the Intrinsic Trait upgrades. Each upgrade generally enhances the weapon, making it even more dangerous. The final upgrade even provides a nice boost to some of the shotgun's stats. All Guardians must do is masterfully navigate through Kell's Fall, stopping to ?investigate all the ethereal nooks and crannies.

When are the Intrinsic Upgrades available?

To acquire each Intrinsic upgrade, players will need to open a secret passage within the Kell's Fall Exotic mission. Each of the three hidden paths is accessed via the organ towards the start of the mission. Short??ly after players have their first fight against The Trickster, they'll enter a building with a large pipe organ at the back of the room. This organ is, in fact, playable, and specific hidden melodies open most of the secrets in the Exotic mission.

By standing on the plate in front of the organ, players can shoot the switches connected to the instrument. Each switch emits a note, and Kell's Fall reacts when specific arrangements are played together. To keep things simple, the community has numbered the switches up through 13, read from left to right. An essential piece of information to note is that all organ switches are not active until players have completed the first two runs of the Exotic mission through Episode: Revenant's story.

That said, players can open some of these hidden chambers even during their first run if they are persistent enough. However, the upgrades themselves won't appear until after Slayer's Fang has already been earned. Similarly, while all the switches won't be av??ailable until a third run, players should be able to open the optional Intrinsic upgrade paths availa??ble after a single Kell's Fall completion through the Episode. Additionally, Guardians can play all three melodies to open every Intrinsic upgrade path in a single run.

Slayer's Fang Intrinsic Upgrade locations

Once players have earned the Slayer's Fange Exotic shotgun, they should be able to reenter Kell's Fall (provided the Fireteam's host has made it far enough in the Episode: Revenant story) and access the hidden Intrinsic upgrade p??athways. As each is unlocked by playing a correct melody at the organ, it's imperative that Guardians don't forget to stop by the instrument and confirm entries are correct via the text that appears on the scr??een.

Technically, Slaye??r's Fang starts with the first version of its Intrinsic Trait, Nightsworn Sight. So, as players unlock these upgrades, it will change to Nightsworn Sight II, III, and IV.

Nightsworn Sight II

The first I??ntrinsic upgrade for Slayer's Fang can be?? found right off to the side of the Scorgan. Normally, heading further into the Exotic mission, Guardians head up the organ's left-side path. On the right, another path leads to what appears to be an empty room. However, that's not the case after playing a particular tune. 

If Guardians stand on the plate in front of the organ and shoot switches in the order of 2, 11, 1, 10, 7, 6, they should see the text, "Ancient gears grinding deep within the fortress." The message confir?ms the melody was played correctly and?? opens another door in the room to the right of the organ.

Inside, players will find a Tonic bottle that can be collected. Guardians w??ill be rewarded Nightsworn Sight II on top of a few other rewards after picking it up.

Nightsworn Sight III

The next Intrinsic upgrade for Slayer's Fang is in the Mirror Gallery, specifically once Guardians enter the reverse??d mirror dimension. Of course, players will need to have already opened the pathway via the organ earlier to proceed.

Standing on the plate in front of the organ, players can shoot the switches in the or?der of 1, 4, 11, 1, 4, 10. If done correctly, the Fireteam wil?l see a message that says, "Barrier giving way."

Back inside the Prismatic-ified Mirror Gallery??, the locale players are hunting for is just before the large room with the gnarled tree growing through it. Guardians will find themselves in a long hallway with a navy blue door at its end. Normally, this door is shut tight, but the melody opens it ??up. Inside is a room with a knife on the floor. The knife can be collected to receive Nightsworn Sight III and some additional rewards.

Nightsworn Sight IV

The final Intrinsic upgrade in Kell's Fall is just before players head into the encounter with The Mindbender. Players will have just come out of the platforming section and find themselves in the side room?? off of a larger chamber. If players look behind to see where they came from, they'll notice three unlit torches stacked atop one another and mounted on the wall.

Each of these torches corresponds with a lit brazier in the a?rea. There's one in the side room with the torches, in a nook behind some chains. The other two are in the main chamber with the mirror portal to The Mindbender. Once all three braziers are?? doused, the torches will light instead, and a hidden passage will reveal itself. However, that passage is a dead end without the organ.

Back at the start of the mission, at the? organ, players can stand on the plate to enter the sequence 1, 8, 1, 6. If Guardians do this correctly, they'll see text that says, "Air stirring in a forgotten passage." This opens another door inside the secret dead-end room by The Mindbender encounter, leading to an urn. Players can collect the urn to unlock Nightsworn Sight IV and earn additional rewards.

What does Nightsworn Sight do?

All Exotic weapons have an Intrinsic Trait that, along with other Perks and features, gives the gun its unique feel. On its own, Nightsworn Sight is a buff t??hat allows kills to grant Truesight, increases reloaded speed and precision damage and ensures the tracking submunitions add the Weaken effect to targets.

As if seeing through walls or Weakening enemies with ricochet damage wasn't impressive enough, each time players upgrade the Intrinsic Trait, they also upgrade its effects. Nightsworn Sight II and Nightsworn Sight III increase the precision damage and reload speed bonus the Trait provides, and Night??sworn Sight IV further improves effects on top of some flat stat boosts. With the final Intrinsic Upgrade, Nightsworn Sight IV adds 10 Range, 10 Stability, and 10 Handling to the weapon.

Of course, Guardians can only take advantage of these upgr???ades after they've already gone out and earned them. Additionally, finding these Intrinsic Upgrades isn't enough on its own, players must remember to head back to the Enclave to Reshape the changes into the weapon.

The post Destiny 2: Where to find the Exotic Intrinsic Trait upgrades for Slayer’s Fang in Kell’s Fall appeared first on Destructoid.

The Destiny 2 community is up in arms again, this time over the new Slayer's ?Fang Exotic shotgun from Kell's Fall??.

As it turns out, the weapon can actually damage and debuff its wielder, leaving some under the impression that the situation is another blunder during Bungie's buggy Episode: Revenant. Howeve??r, the situation too??k an odd turn when the studio hopped to social media to explain that the self-damage and Weaken effect are not bugs; they are features.

Episode: Revenant, and the greater year that's followed since The Final Shape expansion, hasn't been the best for Destiny 2. The first Episode, Echoes, ended in an unsatisfying flop, and Revenant has had no shortage of issues since it began. Between the now-infamous Weightgate, Tonicgate following soon after, and a crop of Dawning Event issues, the hits to morale and studio trust have b??een relentless. Now, players have a hard ??time taking Bungie's explanation at face value when something seems off in-game.

Why is my gun hurting me?

Imagine the surprise of players who get caught by their own ricocheting projectiles of Slayer's Fang. Not only will the weapon damage its wielder, but it can also apply the Weaken debuff. Slayer's Fang can be as powerful as anything else in the game, but if it's Weake??ning and has a chance to kill players, it becomes less practical and more of a hazard.

It appears that's been the consensus of the Destiny 2 community, with many taking to social media to question whether the new Exotic weapon's behavior is an accident. With the state the game has been in lately, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if yet another piece of content shipped broken. However, Bungie has made it clear that Slayer's Fang is (mostly) working as intended.

The burn means it's working

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bungie brought the discussion to the Slayer's Fang Exotic and acknowledged some of the discourse highlighted by the community. "We've seen conversations around Slayer's Fang's ability to do self-damage and apply Weaken to yourself if you're hit by the ricocheting projectiles. Note, the Weaken is only applied while Nightsworn Sight is active, while the self-damage always happens. This is intentional for both gameplay and narrative reasons and we wanted to give a bit of insight into our thought process?."

The team explained that the possibility of self-damage was a conscious choice. Bungie noted, "A lot of ricochet projectiles or explosives do self-damage (Sleeper Simulant can even kill the user) and it's an important balancing measure." The studio added that this potential self-damage creates a risk/reward sc?enario that influences a player's choice of weapon use.

Bungie als?o shared a lore reason why Slayer's Fang behaves?? the way it does. "On the narrative side, Slayer's Fang is aware of its use as a tool for destruction and doesn't lend its power to its wielders easily," the studio noted. "You may find that if you mishandle Slayer's Fang, the gun with a mouth for a barrel may just bite back a little. With the ultimate Slayer Baron weapon in your hand, you may not fear dreams nor teeth, but you will want to handle it with care."

In the final section of the post, Bungie doubled down, stating, "So, appropriate for its design and narrative goals, Slayer's Fang doe??s a?? little damage plus a short Weaken instead of outright killing the player."

The community bites back

Bungie's definitive statement on Slayer's Fang went about as well as anyone familiar with the Destiny community might expect. Between the X post itself and similar Reddit topics, commenters quickly pointed out that Bungie's explanation felt too convenient. One X commenter said, "Dude there is no way you put an exotic weapon in the game that can actively harm using the weapon as i??ntended."

Others are echoing a similar sentiment across social media. "I'm actually not too bothered by the self damage or even weaken applying from the ricocheted shots as many others seem to be since it's been a present interaction throughout the game," explains one Redditor. "But what's really bothering me is the attempt at giving it a narrative explan??ation of making the self-damage a canon in-universe result. It reads like it was written up by one of the teenaged kids of one of the develope?rs who's going through their edgelord phase."

Of course, it wasn't an entirely negative response. Some players loved that Bungie took the time to come up with a narrative reason for why the Exotic weapon was behaving the way it was. "Please don't change it," begged one X commenter. "[R]ealistically it won't come up in combat and it's a neat little?? narrative beat. People complaining are doing it just to complain."

Poor design or backtracking?

It seems that the Destiny community has a real chicken-or-egg situation here. Was the self-damage and Weaken debuff intended all along as a yet-to-be-disclosed narrative tidbit? Or is Bungie's explanation a ba?ndaid aimed at yet another unseen wound? It's tough?? to say, and we'll probably never get a definitive answer. Still, it is interesting to note that there's no mention of the potential damage or debuff anywhere on the weapon or even hinted at through its Lore page.

If Slayer's Fang's self-damage and debuff were intentional, then the quality of the weapon design becomes part of the conversation, even if we're taking the lore explanation into account. And sure, other Exotic weapons like Sleeper Stimulant have le?thal ricochet potential, but those aren't weapons players are sprinting into melee range to use. Sleeper?? Stimulant also doesn't punish players for using it with a Weaken debuff, increasing damage taken across the board.

I do think the situation seems a bit odd. As I mentioned, there's nothing in the weapon's Lore hints that the gun could harm or debuff wielders. Also, this isn't the first time this has happened. It seems much more likely that Bungie made a powerful, fun shotgun with some oversights. The community quickly uncovered those ove??rsights, and it's much easier to say that it was always supposed to work that way.

Slayer's Fang has its fans and has indeed shown to have its haters. Either way, it's becoming clear that it's far from an automatic pick. As many players have noted, there is no shortage of shotgun choices in Destiny 2, and plenty can ??do just as much, albe??it in a different way, as Slayer's Fang. That's all without the risk of damaging or Weakening oneself and without using an Exotic slot.

The post Destiny 2’s newest Exotic harms and weakens wielders, Bungie says its intentional but players aren’t buying it appeared first on Destructoid.

Though you may feel that Bungie has fumbled Episode: Revenant's g??r?and finale, Destiny 2 is thankfully more than just its latest narrative beat. 2025's Festival of the Lost, for example, is bound to be a hoot, and now's the time ?to vote on each Guardian Class's cheeky new armor set.

After Festival of the Lost 2024's wizard-themed armor set?s, Bungie is now steering back towards the even?t's horror roots. What better way to do so than with a? suite of monster costumes from contemporary pop-horror media, then? Once again, players get to vote on each of the three Classes' respective armor sets, and it is going to be a tough choice.

Vote for Slasher or Specter armor sets for Destiny 2's FOTL 2025

The vote for 2025's FOTL is now up, and you can participate either by entering the survey via this link or by checking in with Bungie's promotional email newsletters, which should ?be coming our way sometime soon. The choices are all? rather phenomenal, if I may say so myself:

• Titan Class: Jason Vorhees (Halloween) vs the Babadook (Babadook)
• Hunter Class: Ghostface (Scream) vs La Llorona (Mexican folklore)
• Warlock Class: Scarecrow vs Slenderman (internet creepypasta)

I don't believe there's any chance of the generic scarecrow costume beating out the literal Slenderman, but you never know! We'll need? to wait and see how the armor sets look and feel in-game, but the designs as they appear in the featured artwork seem like they'd work well when mixed and matched with other assorted sets. A huge boon, that, and not something that fashion-minded Guardians will take for granted.

The really good news is that the armor sets that lose the vote won't be gone forever: "While you’ll still vote on which armor set is going to be released during Festival of the Lost, we will commit to producing the runner-up sets later. While we aren’t promising a specific timeline, they’ll typically be released before the next year’s Festival of the Lost event," says Bungie in this week's TWID.

As for all those wizard and witch-themed armor sets that lost in 2024, those are set and primed to release this year, in a surprise twist: "We know a lot of you loved the Wizards who didn’t make the cut for 2024. We felt the? same way, so we’re making plans to release those armors during Heresy this year. We aren’t plann?ing on producing all past runner-up armor, but we felt like the fashion could use a few more wizard hat options," the post reads.

So, Destiny 2 fashionistas are going to have their hands full this year 'round no matter what. The Festival of the Lost 2025 will kick off sometime late in October, and if you'd like to get a sense of what to expect, look no further than this handy guide to last year's FOTL. It's a grind, for sure, but one that's often very well worth it.

The post Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost 2025 vote is now on, featuring Slenderman Warlocks and Friday the 13th Titans appeared first on Destructoid.

Destiny 2 has finally delivered the closing mission of Episode: Revenant's third and fin?al Act and it's a perfectly fine piece of content. The bit that's not fine, according to some players (myself included), is the lore behind it and wha?t happens with Eramis, one of the main Eliksni antagonists.

Obvious spoilers ahead for those who haven't yet finished Destiny 2's grand finale of Episode: Revenant's third act. I cannot help but feel that Bungie's storytelling has fallen off a cliff after The Final Shape wrapped up. Episodes have served up narrative flubs one after another, and Revenant is no different in this respect. Specifically, while it's certainly great news that we've finally received the conclusion to the all-but-forgotten Kell of Kells story thread, it's gone in a truly wild direction. Mithrax is only technically now the Kell of Kells, while the grand savior of the Eliksni goes to Eramis. How's that for a twist?

Players do not enjoy what Destiny 2 is doing with one of its main living antagonists

For those who haven't kept up with Destiny's story-beats over the years, Eramis (the literal Kell of Darkness) is many things. Chiefly, a xenocidal maniac that's been leading the House of Salvation since the Beyond Light era onwards. Disregarding whatever char??acter growth Eramis might've received in the subsequent DLCs, she has done all of the following:

• Tried (and almost succeded) to blow up the Last City with a nuclear bomb.
• Attempted to eradicate regular Eliksni living on Europa.
• Mounted numerous assaults on both Eliksni and human civilians.
• Went after Mithrax, the Kell of Light several times.
• Caused the destruction of Rasputin and his Warsat network.

This is an inexhaustive list, mind, but it illustrates the point I am trying to make. Then, in the final moments of Revenant's final cinematic cutscene, the Echo MacGuffin ends up choosing and empowering Eramis over Mithrax. Simultaneously, Mithrax has been suffering from the curse of Nezarec all along, and it?'s conceivable that a super-causal artifact such as the Echo could've cleansed him of it. Subsequently, Eramis chooses to take her House of Salvation Eliksni with her and travels into deep space.

Mithrax becomes the de facto Kell of Kells (but Variks and Eido are still around). Has Bungie gone against the lore-established prophecy of T??raveler itself blessing the Kell of Kells? Perhaps, but we'll have to see if there's more to this than currently? meets the eye.

The fact is that it doesn't sit right with the community that one of the wo??rst in-universe war criminals still aliv?e in Destiny has just received their happily-ever-after ending. Not everyone agrees with this assessment, of course, but the discussion has overtaken a part of the game's subreddit.

Bungie has been on a bit of a bender when it comes to redemption arcs. Between Uldren/Crow, Savathun, Rasputin, and now Eram?is, the trope is tiring by now. At the same time, there's always been a chance that Eramis would turn a new page at some point, and Bungie's been setting the stage for that over the past couple? of releases. Regardless, this development doesn't feel like a very satisfying conclusion to this whole year of content.

Whether this was a redemption arc for Eramis or just a somewhat clumsy way of taking her off the board for Destiny: Frontiers, it doesn't fill me with confidence for Bungie's future narrative development. Content-wise, I'm still excited for what's to come, and Frontiers looks mighty interesting in the context of what we've been getting over the course ??of 2024, but I feel that Destiny's writing has lost much of its luster by now. The ??whole Kell of Kells schtick drives that home for me.

The post Destiny 2’s Episode: Revenant’s handling of Eramis confuses and angers players appeared first on Destructoid.

Destiny 2's new Kell's Fall Exotic mission has a secret encounter awaiting players. No, not the different bosses you fight at the end of the activity as you progress the episodic narrative, but one that can be battled right toward the start. It's a c?hallenge against the mind behind the organ Guard?ians encounter within Kell's Fall, the Scorned Organist. But if players want a chance at the tortured musician, they'll need to learn how to conduct a little song of their own.

The Kell's Fall Exotic mission is the main centerpiece of Episode: Revenant's third Act. The Exotic mission is built to be replayed, with three different iterations occurring as players tackle the Act Three story. Outside of the content on the surface of Kell's Fall, the Exotic mission holds its own secrets. The Scorned Organist is one of these secrets, alongside the hidden Illusory Anchors needed for Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun? Ca?talysts.

T??hat said, it's surprisingly easy to go up against the Scorned Organist. All Guardians need is the right tune and a bit of patience.

Where is the Scorned Organist?

The Scorned Organist secret boss is indeed within Kell's Fall, but it's not something players will just discover as they're running through the mission. There's a specific way to get to the Scorned Organist encounter, and it involves the instrument that the foe ?seemingly built. While Guardians pass by the large pipe organ in each run, shortly afte??r The Trickster's first appearance, it isn't always usable.

The organ's pipes are connected to a series of buttons that can be shot to play specific notes. However, several buttons will be missing on the first run through the Exotic mission. This drastically limits ??the melodies that can ??be played, including the one needed to get players to the Scorned Organist encounter. That said, enough of the buttons will work by the time Guardians head into the Exotic mission a second time, so it's doable as early as Kell's Fall: Distortion.

If players head to the organ, they'll notice a plate with a glowing aura in front of the instrument. Guardians must be stan??ding on this plate to interact with the organ. There are a total of 13 buttons to play notes on the organ, so we'll number those 1-13 and read from left to right. The button sequence that plays the melody needed to fight the Scorned Organist is 10, 4, 6, 1, 11, 4, 8, 1.

If you are having trouble getting the melody to work, try swapping to a single-shot weapon? (like a scout rifle) to ensure buttons aren't being hit repeatedly by?? accident. Once entered correctly, the Fireteam will be teleported to a new area to face the secret boss.

The Scorned Organist's final tune

After the Fir??eteam plays the correct melody on the organ, the group will be teleported directly to the Scorned Organist. Guardians will find themselves in a large chamber with a wide open center. The Scorned Organist will teleport into the arena a few seconds after players arrive, appearing in front of the large circle decal on the opposite wall.

Other enemies will populate the chamber,?? and the Scorned Organist will occasionally drop down a Void shield totem, but the start of the battle isn't too spicy. However, once players bring the Scorned Organist down to around two-thirds of its health pool, it will become immune and summon a Tormentor.

The Tormentor can be quite a pain, especially when it dive-bombs players and ends their Super prematurely. But once it's eliminated, Guardians will be able to get back to work on the boss. From here, there aren't any other tricks that the Scorned Organist has up its sleeve. Other enemies will continue to periodically flood the arena while the Scorned Organist attacks and creates Void shield totems. Once players manage to overcome the Scorned Organist and its lackeys, the Fireteam will be teleported back in front?? of the organ. 

Are there rewards for beating the Scorned Organist?

While there's seemingly no immediate reward for the secret battle, the Scorned Organist is actually the final step in Eido's Fieldwork f??or Act Three. After working through the Act Three Minor and Major Fieldwork, the final Key Fieldwork will demand the Scorned Organist's demise. 

For your trouble, players will be rewarded with the Spectroscopic? Ghost Shell and a Large Tonic Reangent Sack. T?hat said, the boss may have to be conquered again if you already jumped at the opportunity to take down the Scorned Organist before taking on the Fieldwork. If that's the case, at least once you know how to get to the secret fight, the Tormentor is the only major hurdle.

The post How to find and beat Kell’s Fall secret boss Scorned Organist in Destiny 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

After toppling Destiny 2's newest Exotic mission, Guardians must return to Kell's Fall to ??hunt down Illusory Anchors. These Anchors are the k?ey to opening up powerful options for the new Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun, but players have to find them first. Everything is not as it seems in Kell's Fall, and it will take courage and wits if players hope to strengthen their arsenal with the power of the dead.

The Kell's Fall Exotic mission is the highlight of Destiny 2's latest Act Three of Episode: Revenant. The endeavor takes players deep into a Dracula-inspired stronghold of the Scorn leader Fikrul. While there's?? plenty of action on the surface of Kell's Fall, there is a trove of secrets to uncover within the Exotic mission. After completing it once, players will earn a new Exotic shotgun that can be empowered with four unique Catalysts. The only catch is that Guardians must venture back into Fikrul's diabolical lair on an even more challenging difficulty if they want to earn these Exotic boons.

Becoming a Revenant Slayer

After players have completed a run of Kell's Fall, they'll earn the Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun and?? open a second version of the Exotic mission. While completing the Episode's narrative involves going back into Kell's Fall to partake?? in a third iteration of the content, Guardians can complete all of the Exotic Catalyst Quests as soon as Expert difficulty is available.

After returning from the first run, players will earn the Quests by talking with Eido and the other involved NPCs in The Last City. There are four in all, Revenant Slayer I-IV. The first step of each Quest is identical; it just asks for Guardians to defeat 20 enemies while under the effects of any Tonic. All four Quests should be completed at the same time, and ??that will open up the next step for each Catalyst Quest: the Illusory Anchor hunt.

Three Illusory Anchors are hidden in four areas throughout the Kell's Fall Exotic mission. They will only appear when the mission is undertaken on Expert difficulty, adding a little more challenge to the whole ordeal. Thankfully, there are no limited revives in place, so players can take their time locating each Anchor and destroying it without worrying about losing progres??s or getting sent back to Orbit if the Fireteam goes down.

The Illusory Anchors can only be i??nteracted wi?th if players have equipped the Slayer's Fang Exotic. Anchors become more visible as players get closer to them with the Exotic, and aiming down the sights of Slayer's Fang solidifies them. Once an Anchor materializes, Guardians must shoot it with the Exotic shotgun to destroy it and earn Quest progress.

Revenant Slayer I - Mirror Gallery

The first locale players will have to head to in the hunt for Illusory Anchors is the Mirror Gallery. This is the first mirror realm segment Guardians traverse in the Exotic mission after smashing through the first set of rubble and following the short fight against The Trickster near the organ room. There is no boss to worry about, but enemies will still try to ruin your day. That said, they don't respawn infinitely, so they can be focused down and eliminated ?if they become an issue.

The first Illusory Anchor is nestled immediately to the left of where Guardians appear after entering the mirror realm. It is in between a crystalline tree and a closed door. The second Anchor is a bit further ahead, just before the large room with the gnarled tree growing horizontally. The Anchor is at the end of the preceding hallway, in front of a large navy blue door. The final Ilusory Anchor is in the large room with the horizontal tr??ee, on the opposite side from where the second Anchor was found. It's in front of the large crystalline pink door on the right side of the room, but Guardians might have to get pretty close to it before it reveals itself.

Revenant Slayer II - Fighting Pit

The next set of Catalysts amps up the heat a bit, as players must hunt for? the Anchors while juggling a boss encounter. The Fighting Pit is where Guardians face off against Kaniks, The Mad Bomber. When players head into the mirror realm during the bout, that will be the opportunity to hunt these Anchors down. Thankfully, all three Anchors in the Fighting Pit are pretty close together.

The first Anchor is located right on the central platform in the chamber, ?floating in the air. A second can be found against the room's back wall, opposite the mirror portal by a sealed door and some statues. The final Anchor is tucked away in the arena's side room filled with statues and podiums. It's right up against a wall.

Revenant Slayer III - Sanctum

While fighting Hiraks, The Mindbender, three Illusory Anchors, c?an be found in the mirror realm. The encounter will occur as usual, but Guardians can see the destructible objects during the bout. In my personal experience, this set of anchors gave my Fireteam the most trouble. After shooting the first Anchor, my Quest step was completed, but the object disappeared for my allies. We couldn't find any other anchors, so we reset the encounter, and the same thing happened again to another player. The third Guardian seemingly progressed as intended after a third encounter reset, locating and destroying all three anchors before getting a Quest update.

After porting into the main room of the mirror realm, the first Anchor is tucked behind the mirror portal the group just exited. The second Anchor is just inside the arena, near a table on the right. The final Anchor can be found in the ha?llway reached via the opening in the main?? room. Guardians will locate the Anchor near some boxes and a brazier.

Revenant Slayer IV - Throne Room

Three Illusory anchors can be located during the final battle against Fikrul. Guardia?ns can participate in ??the fight as usual, heading into the mirror realm when the Scorn leader readies his big attack. Once inside, players can use Slayer's Fang to locate, materialize, and destroy the three anchors scattered around the area. There will be plenty of heat on Expert difficulty, but death just serves as a temporary delay.

The first Anchor can be found right near where players exit the portal, by the titular throne in the Throne Room. The second Anchor is in an entryway on the opposite side of the chamber. On the left and right side of this doorway are Dreaming City-esque planters. The Anchor is above the right-side planter if you're facing the door. The final Anchor is on one of t??he sides of the room, a bit above eye level. It's floating by an Awoken statue, again, much like one that you'd find in The Dreaming City.

What happens after finding all Illusory Anchors?

Once all three anchors are destroyed in any area, Guardians must continue and complete the Exotic mission on Expert difficulty to finish off the Quests. Of course, player??s can take a break after destroying the Anchors and return to get the Expert completion later; they'll just lose their checkpoint if it's not done in the same wee??k. With that known, efficient players will likely opt to do all four Exotic Catalyst Quests during one Expert run, so long as no pesky bugs prevent anchors from appearing for someone.

Once all four Quests are complete, players will earn four new Exotic Catalysts for the Slayer's Fang. Revenant Slayer I rewards Repulsor Brace, Revenant Slayer II provides Loose Change, Revenant Slayer III gives Stats For All, and Re??venant Slayer IV grants Cascade Point. Depending on the needs of the Guardian, that's a lot of wiggle room for this Exotic shotgun.

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Act Three of Episode: Revenant has come to Destiny 2, and its main attractio??n is the new Kell's Fall Exotic mission. Guardians are tasked with forging deep into the Revenant lair of Fikrul to root out his corrupting influence and investigate the Echo he wields. However, the Exotic mission is not just a simple run through a haunted house; players will have to venture into the enemy stronghold?? multiple times if they want to conquer the fel Kell.

Kell's Fall serves as the main centerpiece of Act Three, meaning players must repeatedly venture into the Exotic mission as the narrative unfolds. While Guardians aren't prevented from joining a friend to attempt Kell's Fall if they're not caught up on the story, players ??c?annot select the activity independently unless they've already completed Act One and Act Two.

When players are ready, they can head to The Last City and pay a visit to the Holoprojector. Eramis will set Guardians on their ?course, sending you off for a few other ?chats before heading into the Exotic mission proper.

Kell's Fall: Reflection

After loading in, Guardians will find themselves once again on the Tangled Shore in front of a bizarre sight: Scorn kneeling before players. These first foes aren't interested in a fight. Instead, they want to see players face off against Fikrul. You can head off to the right by the gnarled tree, hopping across gaps in the cliffside. Further ahead, players will turn left and continue along the linear path until they encounter the first obs??tacle: Araskes, The Trickster.

This battle isn't anything much for Guardians?? to worry about, but the foe will periodically turn invisible and scurry away. After players bring Araskes to half health, the enemy will retreat, and the way forward will open. Ahead, you'll encounter a large chamber with a pipe organ at the back of the room. If you inspect the organ a bit closer, you'll notice a series of glowing symbols attached to the instrument. These can be used to play melodies, which cause things to happen in the Exotic mission.

There is one melody readily avail??able to play on the organ. It can be found written on a wall in a room at the end of the path the right-side stairway leads to. However, the room it opens will only have something to collect after Guardians have completed the Exotic mission at least once. Otherwise, players can head up the stairs to the left of the organ and follow the next set of stairs upwards.

You'll soon arrive at a dead end, but in the room, there is also a glowing brazier nearby. Interacting with the brazier opens a door, and the path leads to a large, empty hallway. The path forward is behind some rubble tucked behind a branch in the corner of the hall. Some rubble will block a small entryway, melee it to clear it aside. The next room has what looks like a broken mirror, but shooting the mirror reveals it to be a portal, taking players to the Mirror Gallery. This Prismatic-tinged realm is?? a bit of a labyrinth, but there's only one way forward for Guardians. When players reach a large area with a tree growing horizontally through it, egress is at the other end of the room, down the left path. A brazier will await in a room with another broken mirror. 

The mirror will take players back to reality, and a linear pa?th will eventually lead to some rubble?? that needs clearing on the left side of a large hall. That cave passage will ultimately lead players to the Fighting Pit, where a Rally Flag and the subsequent encounter await. Kaniks, The Mad Bomber will attack the Fireteam in the next large room. Kaniks itself is shielded, so players will need to traverse the mirror realm again to gain the necessary power to defeat The Mad Bomber. In the mirror realm, certain enemies will drop motes of Revenant Power. Once Guardians collect 10 motes, they'll get the Revenant Empowerment buff, allowing players to break Kaniks' shield.

After The Mad Bomber is dealt with, Fikrul will appear to show off the power he can wield, thanks to the Echo. After the display of strength, a passage on the right will open, and players can head through there. The path ahead is pretty straightforward, but towards the end, some rubble will block the path off to the right. The path opens up to a red-li??t area that serves as the Exotic mission's main platforming challenge. Players will want to carefully make their way toward the back right side of the room, heading through any caves that look like there's light coming from them.

Eventually, you'll reach what looks like a dead end with a b??right white light at the end of the passage and red dome-like structures. The way forward is actually down, and you can spot the landing place by ??the warm glow emanating from the cave's mouth. After exiting the platforming section, players will enter a red room with braziers scattered around the area. If Guardians look back to where they came from, they'll notice three small torches stacked atop one another. As players light the braziers in this area, the torches will react in kind. After all three braziers are lit, a door will open behind the torches. A hidden symbol is written on the wall in this small room, which is worth noting for later use.

In the next room, a shattered mirror will lead players back into the mirror realm and the next encounter. Guardians are facing o??ff against Hiraks, The Mindbender, and he'll initially be damageable when encountered. After knocking down a third of his health, The Mindbender will retreat, and Guardians must escape the mirror realm. A path on the s??ide of the mirror realm will lead to another shattered mirror, which the nearby braziers can awaken. Once back in reality, players will encounter Hiraks in the next room.

After another third of The Mindbender's health is gone, he'll pull another vanishing act, and players will have to hunt through the mirror realm again. Hiraks will make his final stand here, and after a short bout, The Mindbender will go down. Fikrul makes another appearance to taunt players, and once Guardians are ready, they can head through the door to the right and th??rough the mirror portal.

The path ahead will lead toward a gravity lift, and once ascended, players will encounter Araskes, The T??rickster, again. After ascending a long and winding staircase, Guardians can have their rematch with The Trickster. Araskes will harass players during the climb, but he'll inevitably meet his end at the top. Through the next door is Fikruls throne room and the final challenge in Kell's Fall.

Fikrul awaits in his throne room ahead, but he's invulnerable with the power of the Echo??. Before long, Fikrul will begin cas?ting an attack, and that's the players' cue to head through the mirror portals. On the inside, Guardians can defeat enemies to collect Motes for Revenant Empowerment. Once at 10 stacks, players can head back out to Fikrul. However, the Scorn leader feels you are beneath him, so he summons a lacky, Reksis Vahn, The Hangman. 

Rek?sis Vahn won't take much to bring down, but it'll mean Fikrul makes his escape. After defeating The Hangman, players will receive a trove of Tonic supplies and rewards, including the ??Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun. If Guardians visit The Last City, they can check in with Eido, The Spider, and Crow for four (!) Exotic Catalyst Quests and the next step in taking down Fikrul: heading back into Kell's Fall.

Kell's Fall: Distortion

After the first completion, Guardians are tasked with heading back into Kell's Fall to empower the Slayer's Fang Exotic shotgun and continue gathering intel on Fikrul. While most of the Exotic mission remains the same, players can access new areas and find new secrets within. For instance, the organ near the beginning?? of the Exotic mission will now have most of its buttons working. That said, there are still three that remain broken.

The passage through the Exotic mission is functionally the same as the first run-through. However, Guardians must locate the Apot??hecary, who'll be locked up just before the ascent up the winding staircase where The Trickster reappears. Otherwise, players will face off against the Screeb Matriarch at the end of the Exotic mission. This boss is even less of a threat than the last, as the Screebs created can chain explode next to the boss for massive damage. Once it's defeated, players will get treated to a bit more lore and then close out this chapter of Kell's Fall.

Kell's Fall: Defraction

Guardians will have to venture into Kell's Fall one last time to see to ??Fikrul's demise. After the second outing, some behind-the-scenes work with Eido and the new Apothecary ally leads to ??a stake-like quest item that can be used to inject Fikrul's heart with a Tonic that will turn his Dark Ether to Light. This will make the ghoulish leader mortal, allowing players to land a killing blow.

Insid??e the Exotic mission, it's much like the previous run. The encounters remain as players remember them, but there will be more opportunities for secret interactions and powerups for the Sl?ayer's Fang Exotic shotgun. As with the second run, Guardians must visit the Apothecary on the way up the staircase.

The final battle takes place against Fikrul himself, but Guardians are prepared f??or the foe this time. The fight goes a lot like previous final battles have in Kell's Fall: the main difference is th?e opponent players are fighting against. During the encounter, after players get the Revenant Empowerment buff, Fikrul will assault the Fireteam in the mirror realm. The procedure is no different, though, and the Scorn leader will finally get the cinematic end he deserves.

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Remember last year's "Weightgate" micro-scandal that shook Destiny 2's community to its very core? It wasn't quite as dramatic as that, granted, but it sure was a royal mess. Now, some players think that Destiny 2 is silently repeating that particular mistake in the background of?? its ongoing season.

The problem with Weightgate was that Bungie initially claimed that nothing was amiss, only for the Destiny 2 community to band together with hard data to show for its efforts. Subsequently, Bungie admitted that Legendary-tier weapons did have janky perk weighting in place, though it was a mistake rather than an attempt to make god roll items harder to get. The players' trust in how Bungie is wrangling Destiny 2's Perk RNG has since been eroded, however, and some fe?el that we've now got an encore. Redditor Wrecluse has posted their "relatively small" dataset of 104 recorded Rake Angle sword drops which (according to them) may suggest Perk weighting.

Is Destiny 2 experiencing a new Weightgate?

As per Wreckluse's findings, "Certain perk combinations, like Rimestealer + Vorpal Weapon and Replenishing Aegis + Close to Melee, appear more frequently than others." Conversely, "Chill Clip is relatively less common overall (~11.54% frequency in Perk 2A), which may sug??gest it is less weighted."

While 104 data points might sound like a fair number to assess,? it is actually a rather small sample that even Wreckluse themselves admit is?n't enough to draw concrete conclusions. As one would expect, other members of the community have been quick to call this out.

I'd argue that one of the biggest problems with Wreckluse's argument is that they haven't kept track of all of their drops' respective perks. More specifically, Destiny 2's weapons roll about a dozen unique perks whenever one drops. Instead of jotting down all of them for each of the featured 104 drops, Wreckluse has only kept track of the two main perks. This makes it much harder to spot any potential RNG anomalies right off the bat. Further, perk RNG information found at Light.gg suggests?? no obvious problems with Rake Angle's drops, and data sets found using this app were what initially tipped the community off about Weightgate.

With all of that in mind, it doesn't seem like Wreckluse is actually witnessing a new round of perk RNG problems unravel. I'd argue that this isn't necessarily the crux of the problem in and of itself, however. Instead, the issue is that there's a track record of Destiny 2 having RNG problems that not even Bungie was aware of. Whereas we used to be able to write such events off as bad RNG a while ago, the fact that Weightgate was a thing means it can happen again. Wreckluse's post is, thus, just o??ne of many more to come, and they're all going to be worth keeping track of just so Weightgate doesn't h??appen again.

In other, extremely related news, Bungie is now actively hiring more quality assurance staff to assist with future Destiny 2 releases. Over the past year or so, it feels like the game has slowly been coming apart at the seams with every new content drop and event. Some of these bugs have been rather obvious, while others crept in only to be spotted later on. To call this anything but unacceptable would be a mistake for a game as prolific as Destiny. With Frontiers on the horizon, Bungie needs to sort out its processes to re-establish Destiny 2 as the premiere live-service co-op shooter. Otherwise, it's not looking great. But hey, at least we've all got phones to play Destiny: Rising on, right?

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If player accounts are anything to go by, it seems there was another Destiny 2 bug amid the recent deluge of issues that accompanied the Dawning holiday event. Bungie created three limited-time Emblems for the event featuring Commander ??Zavala, Ikora Rey, and Crow. The Emblems were supposed to be extremely rare at the event's launch and progressively become easier to earn as the event went on. However, it doesn't seem like that's how everything played out in-game.

Destiny 2 has been having a rough go lately. The current Episode, Revenant, has been rife with issues. First, players realized weapon Perks weren't being distributed correctly in what became known as Weightgate, and that was followed shortly after by Tonicgate, where players revealed that Revenant's primary loot system, Tonics, wasn't working as intended. As if this wasn't bad enough, Destiny 2 soon started its Dawning holiday event, which similarly was riddled with issues.

With everything going on, especially with the mass of buggy Dawning features and Quests, the limited Emblems not behaving as Bungie described might not have been on the community's radar. That said, looking at some of the online discourse, it seems something was definitely up with Destiny 2's first Dawning bake-off.

The Bake-Off was a bust

Bungie explained how the 2024 Dawning bake-off would work in a This Week in Destiny communication a few days before the event started. The team explained that the three Emblem rewards would be extremely rare when the event started, but as the community engaged with the bake-off, chances of earning the l??imited flair would increase. Accompanying this explanation, Bungie shared a schedule detailing which NPCs would be featured during each week the Dawning ran for.

"During the?? Dawning, baking a certain set of cookies starting on a given week will give you progress towards the community-wide goal: a significant drop-rate increase for all three emblems," Bungie noted. "If we all bake enough of them, we will sooner than later reach the threshold, significantly increase our drop-rate chances, and earn the emblems. All three dr?op on every week of the event, so don't worry if you are out during one of them."

In practice, however, it doesn't seem like the bake-off worked as intended. There are countless examples of players commenting about the iffy drop rates online, with one player even noting that they'd opened something like ?130 A Gift in Return pack?ages before earning a single limited Emblem. Even odder are examples of players who quickly and easily earned all three of the Emblems within their first few packages early in the event, when the rewards were supposedly the rar??e??st.

From Christmas to Krampus

Of course, the bake-off and progress toward better Emblem drop rates were contingent upon players participating in the event, baking treats, and delivering them to the highlighted NPCs on any given week. It's certainly possible that player progress simply wasn't enough over the three-week event, but player engagement is?? no secret to Bungie, and it wouldn't make sense to set a participation goal too lofty for the existing player base. Couple that with the accounts from players who earned their Emblems bizarrely fast, and it seems more likely that an??other bug (or RNG issue) affected the Emblem drop rate or the bake-off interaction bonus.

Making the whole situation all the more egregious is the process player?s go through to earn a single A Gift in Return and a chance at wha??t seems like an unreliable system. The A Gift in Return item is earned from NPCs after giving them a treat. The only thing is, the A Gift in Return is only one potential reward and it's by no means the most common. Guardians are much more likely to earn some Glimmer or a random throwaway weapon. After turning a couple dozen cookies into three or four A Gift in Return parcels, it can be frustrating to have all that work amount to a handful of Enhancement Cores. It's even more annoying when you realize those same A Gift in Return packages can be spent on guaranteed Dawning weapons from Eva, which also have a chance to reward Dawning Mementos.

Personally, I was abl??e to earn two out of the three rare Emblems within my first five A Gift in Return packages on the first day of the Dawning. From there, I could not earn the third throughout the rest of the event, even with near-daily participation -- and I must have opened so?mewhere between 10-15 A Gift in Return parcels in the last three days of the event alone.

Between some early birds getting the paid Event Card for free, all of the other bugs, and potentially even the bake-off Emblems, 2024's Dawning has not left the commun??ity in a particularly jolly sentiment. Hopefully, Bungie can reignite passion and earn back player trust in the new year, but 2024 ended with more of a holi-don't than a holiday for Guardians.

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After an Episode in Destiny 2 where it seems like almost nothing has gone to plan, Tonics are finally working the way they're supposed to, at least according to Bungie. Alongside the game's weekly Tuesday reset, Bungie communicated that it tackled a few pesky bugs haunting Guardians throughout Episode: Revenant.

Episode: Revenant is the current Episode of live content in Destiny 2, but the season replacement hasn't exactly gone off without a hitch. There have been bugs and issues present since day one, with players discovering that some may have even been tucked away within the game long before the Episode. The game was first rocked by Weightgate, exposing issues with certain weapon rolls, and then Tonicgate revealed that the whole Tonic system powering Episode: Revenant was also broken. The winter holiday Dawning event topped things off, releasing with almost no working parts.

Seemingly to make up for the myriad of issues with Tonics, Bungie also buffed how they all work. Now, hopefully, the tides are turning with this first change and buff to how Tonics work in Destiny 2, along w??ith a few other spirited attempts to smooth out other pain points.

Tonics are now (mostly) worth using

In a patch notes communication, Bungie confirmed that Tonics would now work as intended. "Legendary Tonics now 100% guarantee their specific reward," the studio noted. Bungie also explained that it added a new feature to incentivize using specific Tonics for specific activities. The patch notes described that "Legendary Tonics now increase the chances of obtaining the specified gear from the activity they are made for." Essentially, players consuming a ?Tomb of Eld?ers Tonic will further increase weapon drops from the Tomb of Elders activity.

Tonics also got a flat-out buff in the form of a duration increase across the board. The base ?Uncommon Tonics have had their effects lengthened from 20 minutes to 40, Rare Tonics have gone from 40 minutes to an hour, and Legendary Tonics? now offer 80 minutes of an impact as opposed to the original hour. With this change, players may still need to reapply Uncommon or Rare Tonics in more prolonged activities like Onslaught: Salvation. However, a Legendary Tonic should cover most Guardians for all but lengthy Dungeons or a Raid.

Other 8.1.5.2 fixes

Update 8.1.5.2 didn't just take a swing at Tonics; it also attempted to iron out some of the other problems players have been having throughout the Episode. For the newish activity, Tomb of Elders, Bungie fixed an issue where not all objectives would spawn during a round, resulting in the inability to progress particular bonus objectives. Additionally, the team "fixed" the ches??t at the end of Tomb of Elders that initially only rewarded Glimmer, but that'?s under the assumption it wasn't supposed to do that from the get-go.

Despite the Inverted Spire Strike getting a pretty respectable glow-up, it apparently wasn't included in the Vanguard Ops playlist. Bungie has resolved this issue, so it should start showing?? up aside from when it's featured as a Nightfall. The team also got to a Lost Sector bug preventing weapon drops on certain days. On the Raid and Dungeon front, Master Crota's End and Salvation's Edge will start respecting player checkpoints again, and a few bugs have been fixed in Vesper's Host, including stu??ff getting stuck in the floor.

Sentinel Shield Titans have had enough fun, as Bungie has fixed? the bug causing massive Super damage. The team did buff the Super a bit as it brought it back into line, though. It now does ??44% more damage against non-Champions and 15% more against Champions. Similarly, Hunters' Spectral Blades got some tuning to make it more competitive. The Super now does 66% more damage to non-Champions and 30% more damage to Champions.

Also, for Hunters, the Knucklehead Radar Exotic helmet was applying its effect on a hit instead of on a shield bre??ak; this has been resolved. Finally, the High Ground weapon Perk is ?now reenabled, as Bungie corrected the bonus damage issue against other players. In doing so, the team increased the height differential required to trigger the effect by 150% when using primary ammo weapons.

While the fixes and change to Tonics are the most significant news to take away from these patch notes, at least Bungie is working toward fixing some of the other issues in the game. It might be too little too late for some Destiny 2 players, but this is the kind of caretaking that keeps the game from reaching the quality control lows i??t has recently found itself stuck in.

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