Destiny 2 guide: Harbinger secret quest, Hawkmoon Catalyst and random rolls

In early December, Bungie dropped the Hawkmoon quest for Destiny 2 players as part of Season of the Hunt. But Hawkmoon was incomplete, thanks to its Random Rolls trait. In mid-January, Bungie launched a secret mission called Harbinger, which not only gives players random rolls of Hawkmoon, but also offers its Catalyst.

Note that you’ll need Hawkmoon to even access the missions, so go grab that before going any further. Here’s how to find the Harbinger mission and complete it.

Finding Harbinger

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Finding Harbinger is easy if you know where to look.

Go to the EDZ and land in Trostland. Run forward, past the church, and into the half-broken building. Jump up into the opening of the second floor and walk forward. You’ll see a tiny chimney. If the fireplace has brick over the opening (meaning you’re the first one here), use Hawkmoon to shoot the brick inside the fireplace until it explodes — you’ll know it’s working if you see the brick flash.

Once the fireplace is open, walk inside and interact with the little box to start the mission.

Note that this mission is pretty tough, so make sure you have your best gear on. It’s also solo-able, but is much easier in a Fireteam of three.

Step 1: Hunt the Emissaries

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Once you start the mission, you’ll get an objective: Hunt the Emissaries. Ignore this for now, as finding the Emissaries is our first big concern.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Walk forward and into the fireplace tunnel. This part is very linear. Follow the path through the brick walls until you reach a room with a chair and closed laptop at the end. Hug the right wall to find a thin path through the brick — if you reach the laptop and chair you’ve gone too far.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Follow the new path until you reach a closed door next to a red panel. Interact with the door to open it. Follow the path again until you walk outside.

This is the trickiest part of the mission, so we’re going to break it down step by step.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Look to your left to find a Hobgoblin. Before you kill it, pay close attention to where it’s standing. Kill the Hobgoblin and jump up into the brush where it was shooting you from.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Look toward the dam and then look down into the rocks under you. You’re looking for a small ledge covered in moss. Jump down and onto the moss-covered rock jutting out of the wall.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

On the rock, look forward to a fallen tree that’s pointing toward the dam. Jump from the rock onto the tree.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

While on the tree, look down at the dam. You’ll see a row of openings for pipes and a very thin, concrete lip before the long slide down to the water. Jump from where you are now to the lip. It’s a long jump but it’s not as tricky as it looks.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

On the lip, walk forward until you see the first big slant to your left — no pipes, just a slant covered in muck. It may not look like it, but you can walk up this muck. Walk up until you get within jumping range of the ledge right above you. Jump up to the ledge and then jump up again the smaller ledge above you.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

If you’re looking out toward the water, look left, around the corner, and up. You’ll see an opening here with a hatch. Jump up and into the hole — under the hatch — to complete the jumping puzzle.

Inside the dam, follow the path until you reach the long room. You’ll finally find the Emissaries in here. Each uses a unique elemental shield and Match Game is on, so it will be very difficult to break the shields without matching the correct element. When you get the first Emissary to half health, it will flee. Look for a door nearby that has a barrier with a big, black orb on it. Break the orb and enter the corridor to finish off the Emissary.

Repeat this process for the other two Emissaries. All of them will start in the long room. You’ll need to knock them down to half health and then follow them to a corridor. When you’ve finished step one, a new part of the dam will open up.

Note that the Emissaries will be in different locations on different weeks. Just keep looking for the door and follow the path — it’s very straightforward.

Step 2: Follow the Hawk part 1

Unlike the previous step, this one is very short. Go back to the long room and head over to where you started fighting the third Emissary. Follow the objective marker to a door with a Taken orb on it. Break the door and follow the path into the arena.

Step 3: Survive

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This section is full of combat. Three very large waves of enemies will spawn here, including more Emissaries and Unstoppable Champions. Make sure your loadout is set before jumping in.

The room here has a lot of cover, but it can still be dangerous, so we recommend using safety Supers like Bubble Titan, Well Warlock, or Stasis Hunter. Make sure to take out the sniper enemies first, as they make moving pretty tough.

Once you’ve cleared the room, the objective will shift once again.

Step 4: Follow the Hawk part 2

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From inside the dome, jump up to the highest door — there is a golden Hawk perched outside, so it’s tough to miss. Follow the path and jump into the portal.

Step 5: Reach the Shard

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If you remember the Hawkmoon quest, this next step is pretty easy. You’re back in the cave where the Shard of the Traveler sits. You’ll need to jump along the rocks until you reach the shard.

If you get lost or can’t remember your way, follow the large clusters of purple mushrooms and you’ll eventually find your way to the boss. Note that you may want to slap on a sniper for this section of the quest and the upcoming boss fight — there are loads of enemy snipers in here and taking them out before jumping is always the way to go.

Follow the path until you reach the Shard.

Like the Emissaries, this path will also be slightly different on different weeks. Continue to follow the mushrooms. If you hit a dead-end, try a different path.

Step 6: Draw Savathun out

This final boss fight can be extremely chaotic if you aren’t focused on the right enemies. Make sure you have a Solar sniper rifle and Hawkmoon before starting the boss fight.

When you approach the Shard, Akorith will spawn. Hawkmoon deals a ton of damage to this boss, so nail him with headshots to guarantee that powerful bullet at the end of your clip. When you finish off his first bar, he’ll spawn a wave of enemies.

This is where the boss fight can go very bad, so hide behind the rocks near the start of the encounter. Take out your Solar sniper and look for the two Taken Knights — one on each side of the arena. Knock them both out with your sniper and the enemies will stop spawning. Clean up the rest of the room to bring Akorith back.

Repeat this process until Akorith is dead.

Rewards

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After you kill Akorith, loot the chest under the shard. You’ll get a new Hawkmoon — which includes a randomly rolled perk — and the Hawkmoon Catalyst, which improves the clip size and gives various benefits for chaining headshots. To complete the Catalyst, you’ll just need to get kills with Hawkmoon. If you want more randomly-rolled Hawmoons with different perks, you’ll need to complete the entire mission again.

Once you finish the mission, it will appear on the Director when you look at the EDZ — meaning you don’t have to land in Trostland again. You can also visit Crow in the Tangled Shore and he’ll give you a quest called “Bird of Prey,” which will net you a new ship called Radiant Accipiter.

If you need help finding the hidden Feathers of Light in “Bird of Prey,” check out our guide.