Xenophage is a sweet-looking exotic machine gun in Destiny 2 that dropped earlier this week. As we explained in our recent guide to getting the thing, its magazine capacity is relatively small but it fires explosive rounds that can chew through waves of enemies with an alarming quickness. But players have noticed that despite its ability to mow through trash mobs, the actual damage is relatively lacklustre, and outperformed by most power weapons in the game. 

There's a good video explaining the issues here, but the players swiftly decided the gun couldn't be working like it was meant to. Was there a bug in it?

Well, yes. Because in a bit of cosmic irony, and because this is the space magic-infused Destiny universe, there is literally a bug in the gun: Omar Agah was a member of Eris Morn's doomed fireteam, which was wiped out by the Hive. But—cue the Lore—he didn't really die in the strictest sense of the word. The Hive stripped him of his Light, but his mind and soul ended up inside a creepy crawly that powers the Xenophage. And I get the feeling he's pretty pissed about it.

So it's a bug in a gun with a bug in it! Get it? Except that it's apparently not actually bugged (in the non-lore sense) at all. Responding to inquiries, Bungie community manager Cozmo23 said on Reddit that the lack of precision damage is intentional—so, not a bug—but "the weapon underperforming is not intentional and currently being investigated."

So it's not bugged, but not delivering the damage it's supposed to, either. It's all a bit confusing (to me, at least), but the important thing is that you're not imagining things—Xenophage isn't rocking the Casbah like it should—but Bungie's on the case and will hopefully have it tuned up soon, regardless of what's actually been bugging it.

Xenophage isn't the only exotic weapon to be suffering from an amusingly ironic glitch: The exotic energy sniper rifle Izanagi's Burden works fine (as far as I know), but a bug in the questline means that some players just can't acquire it. Bungie is aware of that one, too, and working on it.

Do you remember that episode of The Simpson where Mr Burns is playing Ms. Pac-Man? "That's it. That's it. Come closer," he says, kiting the unsuspecting ghosts towards a power pill. "Mwwwaaahaha! Ironic, isn't it? The hunter has become the hunted. Oh God Smithers, I feel so alive!" That's the exact emotion I feel when gunning down shielded hobgoblins in Destiny 2. Allow me to explain.

Throughout Destiny's five-year lifespan, hobgoblins have been dickheads. Upon taking the slightest amount of damage, these robot snipers pop a flaming shield that renders them invulnerable for what feels like an ice age. During this downtime you have two options: 1) Break off and fight other enemies, at which point the hobgoblin will recommence shooting you in the brain. 2) Stand there like you're queuing for a toilet at a party whilst its friends light you up. Presumably while laughing in binary.

With the advent of Shadowkeep, this problem has not only gone away, killing hobgoblins has become one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Shadowkeep introduced something called the Seasonal Artifact. Unlocked via XP, the artifact gives players access to a limited selection of weapon and armor mods with niche but powerful effects. These mods include stuff like 'Oppressive Darkness', which applies a weakening debuff to any enemy hit by a void grenade, and Thunder Coil, which massively juices up all your arc melee blows.

These mods will go away at the end of the season when the current artifact is replaced by a new one with a different set of mods. Because of that limited lifespan, Bungie has been able to experiment with far more esoteric mods than have previously been possible. However, of the current suite, Anti-Barrier Rounds is the most ubiquitous. 

Its description states: "Shield piercing rounds designed to bypass combatant defenses. Strong against Barrier Champions." Barrier Champions are one of three new special enemy types introduced in Shadowkeep which require specific types of damage—Anti-Barrier, Overload and Unstoppable—to defeat efficiently. Champions have proved a welcome addition to the combat sandbox, because in relevant activities it becomes almost akin to a match-three minigame when thinking about your loadout and fireteam comp.

But the reason Anti-Barrier Rounds is such a standout is because it does more than just bodies the respective Champion type. As players swiftly discovered, it also lets you shoot clean through hobgoblins' flame shields. And friends, let me tell you, hosing those assholes down with an SMG while they're behind a fiery wall is an illicit, borderline erotic, thrill.

But wait, there's more. Anti-Barrier Rounds can shoot through those enormous rotating shields on Vex Hydras (which is sure to be useful when we eventually face the Undying Mind). And they can fire through the shields of Cabal chonky bois too. How about Hive Knights? Yep. Pop them in the face as they're cowering behind those boney cupboard doors.

Okay, so good perk is good. You get it. But we're not done. There's more synergy to be unlocked by the munificent brilliance of Anti-Barrier Rounds thanks to an armor mod in the seasonal artifact called Breach Refractor. It's description states: "Grants grenade energy on final blows with shield-piercing weapons or when a member of your fireteam shuts down a barrier Champion's ability."

Thanks to a glitch, you can actually apply two copies of this mod to your chest piece (see here for how), but honestly the effect is potent with just one Breach Refractor mod equipped. Every kill you get with Anti-Barrier rounds now charges your grenade ability. Next, try using a perk like Demolitionist on your SMG or Auto-Rifle for additional grenade energy on kills. Finally consider an exotic like Nezarec's Sin or Verity's Brow for Warlock, both of which will speed your grenade charge further when specced for correctly. Result: it's raining pineapples.

Given how good grenades are in Shadowkeep, again thanks to the seasonal artifact (remember that Oppressive Darkness mod I mentioned earlier), it's possible to create truly degenerate builds. Which is kinda weird given that Luke Smith wrote a three-part, trillion-word epic about how guardians had become too powerful and the creep needed to be reined in, but whatever.

I do feel like Bungie has delivered on Smith's other stated goal of creating more build diversity and adding depth to our character sheets. The only downside to Anti-Barrier Rounds is that it has made SMGs—let's be honest, I mean Recluse—even more meta than they already were. Which is odd given that Recluse is so strong that Bungie decided to nerf, uh… [checks notes] … the entire concept of 'pinnacle' weapons.

Anyway, that's a small price to pay for being able to stick it to hobgoblins. The seasonal artifact is such a success that the arrival of a new one December when Season of Dawn drops is my most anticipated thing in Destiny 2. Hopefully there's a mod that renders you immune to boss stomps.

With the introduction of Shadowkeep and the arrival of a wealth of new content, Destiny 2 has also seen a fundamental shift in how players can make Guardians their own. Armor 2.0 gives players a lot more control over how to build their character and express their creativity not only in fashion, but in function as well. 

The entire economy of armor stats, perks, and mods has changed in such a way that new and interesting builds are popping up constantly. This is also thanks in no small part to a new seasonal artifact system whereby players can progress and unlock even more mods for their character. Here are some examples of some powerful Guardian builds that wouldn't be possible before Shadowkeep.

Titan

Top-Tree Sunbreaker—Code of the Fire-Forged Hammerstrike is an exceedingly powerful ability that not only does a ton of damage to the target, but weakens them such that they take 30 percent extra damage from all fireteam members for 10 seconds.

Peregrine Greaves Introduced to D2 in Season of Opulence (returning from D1), the Peregrine Greaves allow Titans to do significantly greater damage with their charging melee ability if used while in the air. Technically this buff applies to the shoulder charge from top-tree Striker (Code of the Earthshaker) and the shield bash in the bottom-tree Sentinel (Code of the Aggressor).

Explosive Finisher Mod Finishers are also a new addition with Shadowkeep and the modifications for these have proven to be very useful. One in particular that I love using is the Explosive Finisher Mod used on your Arc-attuned class item. Upon use of this finisher, you trade a fifth of your super energy in return for all your grenade energy back instantly.

Monte Carlo Another exotic returning from Destiny 1, the Monte Carlo auto rifle provides melee energy back every time you damage an enemy with this weapon. It also provides a stacking rampage-like damage boost with every kill and the chance to refill your melee energy complete with every kill as well.

Loaded Question Pinnacle weapon found by completing a quest received from Zavala in the Tower. An excellent burst damage weapon that can take out waves of enemies due to the high area of effect damage it unleashes when your target is killed.

Intellect Mods Help increase super energy generation speed. More super means more finishers

So what does this all mean? It means that your Titan will be dishing our Hammer strikes left and right. Build up that melee ability with your shiny new Monte Carlo. Sprint at your target until you see the blur on the edges of the screen (this means "full speed" for Titans). If you don’t have enough space, running in circles or into a wall can help. Once near the ill-fated enemy of choice, leap into the air and attack head on in true Titan fashion. 

If by some miracle your target survives, they’ll be taking tons of extra damage from your fireteam’s weapons thanks to the Hammer Strike buff for 10 seconds after you unleash your fury. On top of this massive single target damage, you’ll be able to spam your grenades thanks to your finisher mod and continue using the finisher thanks to your Intellect mods. Enemies beware. Even in the darkest depths of the Moon, Sunbreakers shine bright.

Warlock

Bottom-Tree Voidwalker—Attunement of Hunger The recently buffed Vortex Nova Bomb paired with the ability to either heal or do damage with your grenade makes for a dynamic playstyle that allows you to dive into the action and maintain survivability when necessary. This survivability is bolstered even further when players use Devour, a unique melee ability that heals your Guardian completely upon use.

Nezarec’s Sin An ominous exotic helmet that allows for continuous use of your void abilities. The perk is as follows: Abyssal Extractors—Void damage kills increase ability energy recharge rate. This means that both ability kills and void weapon kills will recharge everything in your kit.

Gahlran’s Right Hand with Demolitionist and Anti-Barrier Rounds In the current sandbox, there is only one kinetic primary that can roll with the perk Demolitionist and also use Anti-Barrier Rounds—Gahlran’s Right Hand auto rifle from the Crown of Sorrow’s Raid. Demolitionist is a relatively new perk that provides grenade energy on every kill and reloads the weapon upon use of that grenade. The reason for the Anti-Barrier rounds will become apparent in a moment.

Epicurean Fusion Rifle with Demolitionist (and preferably Feeding Frenzy) Found by slotting a Rune of Excess and any green run into your chalice in the Menagerie, the Epicurean is a void fusion rifle that can also role with Demolitionist. I always like carrying a weapon that uses special ammo in case I need a little extra kick. It might as well be void to feed my Abyssal Extractors and have Demolitionist to really boost my grenade use. Feeding frenzy would just be icing on the cake.

Breach Refractor This is the new Artifact mod that really ties the room together. It grants grenade energy on final blows with shield-piercing weapons or when a member of your fireteam shuts down a barrier champion’s ability. Remember we put Anti-Barrier rounds on our auto rifle? Here’s why. Stack this with Nezarec’s Sin and Demolitionist and you’ll be getting your grenades back in mere seconds when enemy density is high, but we know that won’t be for long.

Oppressive Darkness As long as we’re spamming grenades, let’s make them even more punishing to our enemies. With this mod, unlocked on the final column of the Artifact, causing damage with a void grenade adds a weaken effect to enemies. This means that hitting an enemy with your endless supply of grenades will also weaken them as if you had hit them with a Tractor Cannon or Hammer Strike. Not even fair.

Grenades are the heart and devouring soul of this build. Use them either offensively or defensively, but know that you will have a virtually unlimited supply. Every kill with your primary, with your secondary, and potentially your heavy helps boost their cooldown. 

Your melee is also going to be key to your survival as well. This warlock excels by diving into the middle of the chaos and causing havoc of their own. Standing on the sidelines will waste the potential of this build. If you get low on health punch an enemy and you’ll be back to full. If you’re melee is on cooldown, hold the grenade button and consume your grenade for health. Kill some enemies with any weapon and be right back in the fight with a full kit. Minors, majors, elites, and bosses don’t stand and chance unless you are standing still. Now get in there and devour your enemies.

Hunter

Bottom-Tree Arcstrider—Way of the Wind A sleeper in the PvP arena, Way of the Wind is entirely focused on speed, agility, and constant use of the infamous Hunter dodge ability. Your fingers will have to be quick and your aim must be precise, but if used correctly, this build will be a ton of fun to use and a nightmare for your opponents.

Arc Battery Grants overshield and reduced cooldown during activation for all arc class abilities. Found in the final column of the Artifact mod chart.

Oathkeepers Allow for indefinite holding of a bow in the sweet spot which can be very useful for peeking corners in the Crucible.

Accrued Redemption Bow Found in the first encounter of the new Garden of Salvation raid, Accrued Redemption is a precision bow that can hit like a truck. Pair this with a No Distractions perk and you’ll be confirming headshots left and right. For good measure, toss a Quick Access Sling mod on it as well. You’ll see.

Eriana’s Vow One of the newest and easiest to acquire exotics, Eriana’s is the first hand cannon to use special ammo. It takes two headshots to kill guardians in PvP, but with this build, we’re going to circumvent that just a bit.

Paragon mods Try to stack paragon mods so that you can re-earn you dodge ability as quickly as possible throughout a crucible match. It’s vital to survivability and outplaying opponents.

As mentioned above, the bottom-tree Arcstrider is all about constant movement, agility, and speed. Perks on this tree allow for increased sprint speed, faster cooldowns when wounded or sprinting, and it makes you harder to kill while dodging. Stack this extra dodge protection with the new Arc Battery mod and you’ll be virtually invincible with every dodge. With Way of the Wind, your dodge should be returning to you very quickly. Consider all of the extra cooldown buffs the tree brings, especially with all the paragon mods you’ve stacked on your armor.

As for your damage output, Accrued Redemption paired with Eriana’s Vow is quickly becoming a new meta pick for PvP enthusiasts everywhere. The sequence goes like this: With Oathkeepers equipped, you can hold your bow at optimum draw for as long as you like. Once you find your target, take a shot at their head for the crit. As the arrow is in flight, you can swap to Eriana’s immediately thanks to the Quick Access sling mod on your bow. Since you’ve already aimed at the head for the bow shot, getting a round out of Eriana’s for a quick headshot seals the kill almost instantly. Incredible damage paired with high speed and a short cooldown dodge will make this hunter build a must-try in the Crucible.

After all of this, one thing should be exceedingly clear. There is no such thing as a "best build" in Destiny 2’s new Armor 2.0 system. Whether you’re building for burst damage, survivability, PvE, PvP, raids, or running a specific kit, Shadowkeep has brought with it an incredible variety of ways to play the game effectively. What’s your favorite build? Comment down below and tell us how you like to play.

What's the point of becoming a god-destroying wielder of the Light if you don't look good doing it? Destiny 2 has hundreds of pieces of armor, and a huge array of shaders. Add ornaments to your options, and you have a lot of choices when it comes to making the ultimate look. Will you be a serious edgelord covered in blades and spikes, rocking black and red shaders? Or will you be a blindingly colorful Guardian? And, if you are just starting out in your Destiny adventures, where should you start? Well, you're in the right place to make sure your more Dolce and Guardiana and not a Sepiks Primark.

Where to start

If you are new to the land of Destiny, or to thinking about trying to refine your look, there are some key things you should know. The first step is an easy one—just play. It's never bad to have an idea where you want to go but you're not going to be able to choose between a collection unless you've built a decent one. The best way to get a good number to play with is to do general activities in the game world. First up, complete the game's story. After that, just keep hitting checks on the weekly list. By playing in the Crucible, doing strikes, story missions, flashpoints, and more, you will build yourself a strong starting point.

That all being said, it's always good to know what kind of direction you are moving. Each set from various activities have strong themes that might dictate where you want to be getting drops from. Tangled Shore and early Forsaken content drops armor that is a little more Mad Max, while the Dreaming City is high fantasy. The Moon's vibe is haunted astronaut and Mars is all about geometry. If you are trying to build a certain way, it's good to do a little research. If you want to see what the sets look like, DestinySets is a good place to start. It's a resource that shows off all the items in Destiny.

Also be sure to check out the DestinyFashion subreddit. It's a whole community focused on toying with Destiny's aesthetics and coming up with beautiful new creations. If you want to get inspired, or even just rip-off someone's look, it's the place to go.

The Eververse In the Room

If you are playing and feel you haven't found something that speaks to you, you could head over to Tess and look at her wares in the Eververse. This is, of course, Destiny 2's shop front for real life purchases. You have to open your wallet if you want what's in here. Tess mostly sells ornaments (which modifies the look of a piece of gear) in here, but will have a new set each season to get.

However, if you don't have the capital, you can earn Bright Dust by doing several weekly bounties. This will allow you to pick up items from Tess without spending real money. The catch is she rotates her inventory each week, so you have to just wait for the item you want to show up. Engage with Eververse as you feel comfortable, but it is a resource to use to spruce up your look.

We're in the Endgame Now

So, you now have a decent collection and you know the kind of vibe you want, but—wait, where did that guy get that really cool Vex-themed helmet? Where is that beautiful white and gold Warlock robe from?

Bungie's designers know people want the best looking stuff, and because of that, the best of the best is usually hidden behind end game content. Each Raid in the game has its own set and they are well worth experimenting with. Not only do you get to play the highest tier content in the game, but you slowly build a beautiful set that tells others that you've achieved something. You beat the raid, you've overcome the hardest content in the game.

What's the point of fashion if not to show off?

There are other great end game sets you can get too. Thanks to the game's new Season Pass track, as you play and gain experience, towards the end you will get cool new armor and ornaments. These really jazz your look up (although this will take 10s of hours to complete).

If you want to look as good as possible, you likely will have to interact with this challenging content that can take some time to reach. Aside from the fashion though, this content is the best in the game. While aesthetic might be your priority here, you'd be robbing yourself if you didn't try out a raid or two.

Throwing shade

You think you have the right armor, but there's still an important decision to make that will make or break your look. What color are you going to be?

Destiny doesn't function like a lot of games that just let you paint your armor any color you want. Instead, it has set shaders that you can put on each piece of armor. These are found by general play, through the Eververse, vendors or specific activities. The best way to peruse what shaders Destiny 2 has to offer is to go into your main menu and tab over to Collections. From there you can hit the flair book and select the shaders sub-tab. Here you will be able to see just about every shader the game has to offer. Even if you don't own something, you will be able to see it and, importantly, 'try it on' with the preview button.

As a handy tooltip here too, when you are mousing over a shader, it will tell you how to get the shader you are after. Some may be unavailable as they can be tied to certain yearly events or stuck in Eververse limbo from a previous season. For most others though, they are tied to an achievable activity.

I currently really like the Gambit Emerald and Crucible Redjack shaders, if you want a place to start.

Fashion 2.0

The addition of Armor 2.0 in the Shadowkeep update has complicated the fashion game, but ultimately gives you more flexibility. Instead of armour coming with a pre-rolled perk on it, now it comes empty. This allows you to invest in the piece, picking and choosing which perks you want to apply yourself.

Before this update, armour was left behind with each expansion. Looks only available in year 1 were abandoned as new stats and rolls were added to newer pieces of armor. If you liked something from a bygone time, you had to choose having worse perks just to look better. Now, that's not the case. This has blown the cosmetic scene wide open as now mostly everything (sorry Trials of the Nine gear) is usable once again.

However, there are distinct drawbacks too. Firstly, if you've been playing a while, anything you have from before Shadowkeep came out will likely need to be re-earned. That means back to old raids, content and more. That armor you have sitting in your vault, unless it has better perks than something you can concoct, you should dismantle it.

What's more than that, you might have to earn it several times over. See, not all armor drops are equal now. There are six stats that that can roll at various values on a piece of armor. These can help build your super, grenade and melees quicker, or even just make you faster. However, each armor also rolls with something called elemental affinity. There are now three sub-groups that the armor can roll—arc, solar and void. These are important because they dictate what perks you can use, including weapon-specific ones. 

Arc supports Machine Guns, Shotguns, Bows, Pulse Rifles, Swords perks. Void takes Hand Cannons, Grenade Launchers, Scout Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and Sidearms. Solar supports Auto Rifles, Fusion Rifles, Linear Fusion Rifles, SMGs and Rocket Launchers. If you are a hand cannon lover and want to stack up on dexterity and reloader mods, you have to grind until you to get a void piece of armor. You also have to pray that it has decent stat rolls for what you are trying to build. This means you might have to re-earn the new armor several times over before you are content.

All in all, this is great for the long term of Destiny and fashion. Being able to use any of the really cool armor looks from previous seasons is perfect. The entire universe has just opened up. In the short term though, it means most of what you've earned previously is now useless and it might take a lot of grinding to get something you are happy with. The amount of effort you are willing to go to get perfect form and function will be for you to decide.

Since the launch of New Light, the free-to-play version of Destiny 2, some players have effectively been locked out of earning what is widely regarded as the best damage dealing gun in the game: Izanagi's Burden. Originally introduced as part of the Season of the Forge, this exotic energy sniper rifle enables players to combine four bullets into a single super-powerful 'Honed Edge' shot. It's the current king of burst damage, and has become the go-to weapon in loadouts for much of the game's most difficult content. 

Unfortunately, due to a bug related to the Forge activities which the gun's questline relies on, players hoping to acquire the weapon have been unable to make progress for nearly a month now. 

Bungie promised a fix in the October 29 update, and technically, it delivered. Players are now able to progress the quest beyond the broken step and pick up a key mold from Ada-1, the Forge's activity vendor found in the basement of the Tower. Now the bad news: At the same time, Bungie also broke the quest in spectacular new ways. Players are reporting that three different steps in the Izanagi's Burden quest aren't registering upon successful completion of the required activity. 

Bungie community manager Dylan "dmg04" Gafner confirmed the studio is aware of the new issues. Responding to complaints on the subreddit, he said: "Team is digging on this right now. Fully understand the frustrations here, as players are looking for a top DPS weapon to use in difficult content."

The reaction of players has been one of understandable frustrations, particularly from those who lost 'rare' forge bounties which were essential to finishing the quest, time-consuming to complete, and hard to acquire in the first place. No doubt the frustration is exacerbated by having to watch teammates and streamers gleefully doming bosses with Izanagis. 

Gafner wasn't able to commit to a how or when a fix will be issued, writing "Once we have more info on the underlying bug, the proposed fix, and a timeline, we'll let you know." We've reached out for further clarification and have asked if a hotfix outside the usual patch schedule is in the works. 

Until then, check out some alternative guns you might want to grind for. If it's a high DPS sniper you're after, a Tranquility with the Firing Line perk would be my pick.

On the lookout for a Destiny 2 Pit of Heresy guide? Everyone loves a bit of dungeon crawling, don’t they? They must do, otherwise Bungie wouldn’t have just added a second dungeon to Destiny 2. This is a three-guardian pinnacle event in which players will find themselves tested in both mechanics and endurance. So, here’s my full Pit of Heresy walkthrough.

How to start Destiny 2 Pit of Heresy

Before Eris will even think of letting you in the Pit of Heresy, you'll need to run a little errand for her, called Deepening Wake. That means you’ll need to participate in the Moon’s new activity, which is basically a mix of the Blind Well and Escalation Protocol, but with Hive. 

This event requires players to defeat five waves of enemies, and then a boss. As it takes place in Sorrow’s Harbor, you will find yourself fighting shoulder to shoulder with many fellow guardians. Should you manage to complete the full five waves first time, you’ll have more than fulfilled Eris’ request and received decent loot for your efforts.

Preparation

First ensure you are the correct power level. The Pit of Heresy is a 940 Power Level (PL) event and that certainly feels justified. In terms of enemies, you can exclusively expect the Hive, but no Champions. That means you can prioritise solar damage for witch shields and mods for extra damage against bosses, which you’ll definitely need.

Loadouts can be equally as flexible, but the tried and tested combination of Izanagi’s Burden/Recluse/Whatever Grenade Launcher you prefer works well. That said, nobody will mind if one of your Fireteam wants to flex their Divinity. Also every encounter boasts a rally barricade at its starting point, so stock up on those, too, if you haven’t already.

First encounter

The first encounter is all about matching the correct runes and utilising a relic to defeat enemies with unique interactions. There are several towers built in to the face of the mountain in the first area. Each tower has a Hive rune on top that's used to navigate this stage. 

To find out which runes you should be looking for you need to drop off the cliff and into the first tower. Here you need to kill a set of enemies and gain access to a room with a Knight therein. Defeating it rewards you with a relic and a view of three runes. 

Take note of them and retrace your steps. Then find the matching tower and dispatch its inhabitants. You'll need to use the sword depending on the enemy. If the room has a Knight, use the relic’s melee function. If it’s a Wizard, unleash a damage-dealing projectile. Then, if it’s a Shrieker, deflect its shots back at it to destroy it. 

When you’ve finished all three towers based on the runes you’ve noted, an exit will open and a chest will appear.

Second encounter

Collect your loot and continue until you see a wall of doors. Ignore the vast array of doors and look for a hole in the wall to head just off to the right of the broken bridge on which you're standing. 

Follow this path until you drop in to a dimly lit room. Here there are some hidden tunnels with small Hive membranes protecting them, which can be destroyed with a few shots. There are also two unkillable ogres rampaging around the wider tunnels, so be vigilant. 

Escape this by navigating these tunnels and killing the Hive Knights you come across. Killing a Knight triggers a void orb dropping. Dunk this orb in a vessel outside of three doors the ogres are protecting. After you kill three and deposit their orbs in each of these doors the next stage commences.

Third encounter

The third encounter in the Destiny 2 Pit of Heresy is largely a wave defence activity with a debuff mechanic. There’s a large wall protected by six Hive runes in the centre of the room. Your goal is to destroy them.

Similar to the previous encounter, you need to destroy Hive knights and deposit their void orbs in the container next to the blocked door. It sounds simple, but this time, you're hit with debuffs. If the team accrues enough of them, it's game over. Counter this by depositing void orbs, thereby reducing the debuff. 

My team worked on rotation: we stationed one of us outside the door to kill adds that spawn above the area and fire devastating shots. Then we switched each time one of us deposited an orb. When you've deposited all six, the encounter ends and you can blast your way through the door.

Fourth encounter

Now you're met with a jumping puzzle and another set of runes protecting another door. This time you need to carefully jump around the ledges and platforms within the area while looking for more towers with runes that match those on the new door.

When you locate one of these towers you will need to kill a Hive Wizard inside and the enemies surrounding it. When you clear the area, the rune disappears. Your biggest obstacle is the platforming here, so equip mobility-friendly gear or change your jump for this section.

Final phase

The fifth and final phase of the Pit of Heresy is a big ol’ boss phase that recalls some of the previous encounters. You need to kill Knights for relics and dunk more void orbs, all while the dungeon boss rains down projectiles. 

To progress to a damage phase, kill the Hive Knights that surround the arena, take their relics to one of the three nearby towers, kill the relevant enemy (Knight, Shrieker, or Witch) as you did in the first encounter, take the dropped void orb the enemy drops, and deposit them in one of the three receptacles. 

As you deposit the third orb the boss enters a damage phase and the floor beneath you glows green. Stay in this spot to continue dishing out damage. After a period of time the boss bends down on one knee and starts to charge an attack. This attack kill you instantly, so take cover outside the damage zone to avoid it. 

It took my Fireteam two phases of boss damage to defeat it, but it seems possible to do it in one. Regardless of how many phases it takes, when that boss goes down you will receive a fully masterworked piece of pinnacle gear.

With the launch of the Festival of the Lost, Bungie has also released its latest exotic weapon quest: The Journey. 

Through completing The Journey, players will be able to unlock the new exotic machine gun, Xenophage. 

As Destiny 2’s second exotic machine gun, Xenophage offers a unique and powerful set of perks. Its slow rate of fire makes it feel more like a single-shot anti-artillery weapon, but holding the trigger proves it is an automatic. 

Each shot fired from this 13 round magazine provides a devastating punch with a small explosive radius that can tear through waves of enemies. In total the weapon can hold two magazines of ammo and its inability to deal crit damage seems a little odd, but it was able to tear through Nightmares with ease so it’s definitely worth getting. 

Here’s how to pick up Xenophage.

Step 1: Embrace the Light

To start this quest you’ll need to go to the Moon and enter the portal next to Eris (you can also get here through Sorrow’s Harbor). While in the room where Eris usually sits after completing a memory you will see four statues. Each statue can be interacted with and will light one of the other four statues around the room.

To successfully light all four at once, interact with the statues in the following order (taken from the perspective of entering the room): front right, back left, front left. Upon lighting the final statue, a chest will appear and reward you with The Journey.

Step 2: Lighting the way

After acquiring The Journey you will be given some very cryptic steps that allude to the Anchor of Light on the Moon. Head to the Anchor of Light and move towards the large tower on the left side. Within the small building under the tower to the left when you enter there will be a fire. Interacting with this fire will give you a buff. 

When in possession of the buff you will need to run around the Anchor of Light and activate six lecterns in a specific order. If you fail to interact with these lecterns in the right order, you will lose your buff and will need to start over. You can see the correct path below, with help from our pals at GamesRadar+.

Step 3: Solve the Lost Sector puzzles

After lighting the fires in the previous step you’ll be treated to another series of rather ambiguous clues. What these clues really mean is that you need to venture into the Lost Sectors on the Moon, all four of them, and complete a puzzle that can be found on the wall at the end of each past the final chest. 

These puzzles are all based on rotating tiles. Shooting a tile will alter the 3x3 grid in different ways. Your goal is to rotate all the objects in the correct order until the entire puzzle matches the symbol placed above it. To save you the heartache of completing several mini Rubik’s Cubes, here are the solutions to each puzzle from their starting position below. The notation below matches up with a standard computer number pad. 

K1 Communion: 1, 3 ,8, 8

K1 Revelation: 6, 4, 5, 5, 4, 8, 2, 5

K1 Logistics: 7, 1, 6, 5

K1 Crew: 9, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3, 2

After completing all four of the puzzles and obtain four map fragments, you will unlock the next step in unlocking Xenophage. 

Step 4: Journey to the Depths

Now that you’ve got a full map you will need to complete the first phase of the Pit of Heresy. Directly after you complete this section and unlock the chest you will be faced with a wall of doors. Look for the door that does not have a rune hanging over its awning and jump inside. While you are inside you will want to interact with another rune and proceed to the next encounter.

Step 5: Light more torches

Within the second encounter, while the invulnerable ogres are chasing you, there will be a series of Hive runes on the floor at a cliff at the far side from where you dropped down. As you interact with the runes, a series of platforms will appear in the chasm in front of you. 

Jump over these platforms and acquire the fire. With the fire in hand, continue back the way you came from and stick to the right-hand side. This might prove tricky due to the ogres, but your end goal is to locate a door with two lecterns outside and light them (similar to those you lit in step 2.) When you light them, the doors will open and you can progress to the final step in the quest. 

Step 6: Defeat the Hive Witch

As the doors open you will enter a room with four different runes in each corner. Each of these runes corresponds to an energy type indicated by the glowing orb below it. Blue represents arc, red represents solar, purple represents void, and white/colourless represents neutral. In the next room there will be a boss roaming the area, an object that contains a glowing orb of light, and four different places to deposit this light. 

To damage the boss you will first need to look at the debuff you are currently affected by at the bottom left of your screen (void, solar, arc, or neutral), match it with a rune in the first room, and then find the matching rune within the second room where you should then deposit the light you’ve picked up. After depositing the light you will receive a buff for 30 seconds that will allow you to damage the boss using attacks of that specific energy type and only that specific energy type. So make sure you have a varied loadout.

Continue to follow the process of matching your debuff with the correct rune and following up with the correct damage until the boss is defeated. As the boss slowly falls you’ll be awarded with one final item that should be returned to Eris, and in exchange for this item you will receive the Xenophage. 

Now it’s time to rip through some enemies like cheap toilet paper. Have a look at the Xenophage in action below: