How to get the Barrow-Dyad Exotic in Destiny 2

Guardians the world over were curious at the launch of Destiny 2's Episode: Heresy, for there was a mention of a unique Exotic weapon arriving with the season: Barrow-Dyad.

It wasn't clear how players were going to get their hands on it, but in week two of the episode, players noticed a new Taken Blight appearing in The Nether — and entering it kick-started a hunt across the Dreadnaught, the Cosmodrome, and The Moon.

At the end of the quest, a new Exotic mission — and Barrow-Dyad. Here's our guide to unlocking the Barrow-Dyad SMG in Destiny 2.

Table of contents

Begin your hunt for Barrow-Dyad in The Nether. I recommend picking the Explore mode and diving in solo.

Once you spawn in, you'll be looking for a Taken Blight that doesn't quite fit into the surrounding area. The image above was taken in the Trenchway ,which was where I spawned, but no matter where in The Nether you start, there will be a Blight just like this.

Have a look around for it — you'll know it's the right one if you get dragged toward and into it if you get close. Once you enter the Blight, a plate and a Hive symbol will appear with a prompt to strafe in a certain direction.

Stand on the plate, then move in the direction mentioned to teleport to the other side of the wall, where you'll pick up a curious object: a Taken Osseous Fragment. Grab it, and head to The Last City.

At the Shaping Slab in The Last City, Sloane will give you The Taken Path Exotic quest. Your first step will be to unlock the Scotopic Rune in the Runic Enhancement menu. If you don't have the Sigil Shards needed, run The Nether and open chests/find Metastasized Essentia.

Once unlocked, the quest will continue with two Blights appearing at Sorrow's Harbor and the Forgotten Shore.

The first Blight you're chasing can be found in the K1 Revelation Lost Sector at Sorrow's Harbor on The Moon. Enter the Lost Sector and look for the Taken Blight. Shoot it, then stand on the plate.

A Hive rune will appear on the plate ahead of you and a message will tell you to step off in a particular direction. Simply look at the rune, then strafe in the direction the message mentions. If done correctly, you'll be teleported back up the hill and Taken enemies will spawn ahead of you.

Clear the Lost Sector and defeat the Ogre, then pick up the Taken Osseous Fragment.

The Blight in the Forgotten Shore in the Cosmodrome can be found in the Veles Labyrinth Lost Sector. Head in and begin navigating the maze until your find the room lit up by the blue light. The room should contain a small Blight and a shielded plate.

This time, you'll have multiple symbols to read. If the symbol that appears matches that of the next in order, move in the direction the pop-up tells you. If done correctly, Taken will spawn. Eliminate the Taken then follow the pools of Taken energy back into the labyrinth.

Keep killing Taken and following the pools until the boss spawns, after which you'll be able to pick up your next Taken Osseous Fragment.

Defeat enemies, stand on plates. Follow Taken pools through the maze to the Keeper of Power for the next fragment.

Back at the Slab again, and Sloane will give you three Curse missions. In these missions, your goal is to become consumed by Taken energy and eliminate enemies before the timer runs out. After you kill a set number of enemies, you'll need to dunk the Taken energy into a nearby Blight.

The Curst quests take place in the following locations:

Find the Taken orbs in each location to become consumed, then shoot enemies with your Taken weapon and Super to progress each quest. Once you've dunked all three Taken essences, you'll progress the main Exotic quest.

To finish up each Curse quest, head into The Nether and look for the Hive Statues. If you've run the King's Fall raid, these statues will be familiar.

Interact with the statues to summon a mini-boss. Once the boss is defeated, the statue will spawn in a Taken Osseous Fragment. You'll need all three to progress.

Once you've got the three fragments, the Exotic mission Derealize will be unlocked.

The Exotic mission Derealize can be started via the Destinations menu at The Last City, near the launcher for The Nether. Here you'll dive back into the Dreadnaught and face Vrhiisk, disrupting his ritual once and for all.

Beware the Suffocating Terror debuff throughout this dungeon. Staring at the giant Taken eyes will stack Suffocating Terror. If you reach 10 stacks, you'll die. Carve your way through hordes of Dread until you reach Vrhiisk where you'll become Taken again to destroy Blights. Once the Blights are down, Vrhiisk will teleport you into a chamber.

Finish him, then look for the line of symbols and the plate. Standing on the plate will start an eight-second timer with an emblem appearing ahead of you. If that emblem is the first in the order of Hive symbols (from left to right), step in the direction the bottom plate is pointing.

If the symbol is not next in the order, wait for the timer to expire. You'll be teleported into another room where another symbol appears ahead of you. Again, if it matches the next symbol in the order, step in the direction of the plate beneath you.

Once you've cleared all four symbols, progress through the jumping puzzle and to the final boss of the dungeon. Here you'll need to bring down Xir-Kurr who alternates between Hive and Taken forms. You'll defeat his Hive form but must escape the boss room and seal his Taken form in (likely to deal with later)!

Return to the Slab to complete the main Exotic quest and start the bonus Exotic quest, which will unlock different intrinsic perks for Barrow-Dyad.

Barrow-Dyad is one of the most unique-looking Exotic weapons we've seen in a while. This 720 RPM Strand SMG comes with the Exotic Intrinsic perk Panic Response.

Dealing damage with Barrow-Dyad builds up a meter that, when the weapon is reloaded, converts the first shots of the weapon into seeking Blights.

However, the weapon auto-reloads itself passively at the cost of the meter charge. To best use this weapon, fire it at enemies and let the Panic Response meter build, but don't manually reload until the meter is full.

The extra trait Taken Divergence grants a massive bonus to the Panic Response meter when dealing damage to three different targets in quick succession, allowing you to build up the meter quickly. The Blights deal significant damage, so be sure to stack as many up as you can before firing.

As it's a Strand SMG, it interacts strongly with Heresy's Artifact Mods like Unraveling Orbs and Horde Shuttle.

Each Intrinsic upgrade you complete for Barrow-Dyad will unlock more barrels, magazines, and grips to customize the feel of Barrow-Dyad. There is also a catalyst for this weapon, but at this time it is not clear how it is obtained.

The perk traits on offer with the catalyst include High-Impact Reserves, Hatchling, One For All, or Target Lock. Once they're unlocked, you'll be able to pick your option at The Enclave by reshaping Barrow-Dyad.

That's all for now! Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Destiny 2 news and guides.