Big Destiny 2 news this week. There's a secret mission on Io, the moon covered in Vex and Taken, and it has its own unique exotic weapon. It requires finding a specific enemy during a Taken Blight Public Event, the one with the floating dark orbs, in the Lost Oasis area. Apparently it's a nod to a hard to get weapon in Destiny 1?

The whole thing has been really awesome to follow and the mission itself is really fun and difficult. It's breathed some new life into Destiny 2 a few weeks before its Solstice of Heroes event.

EDIT: Can't manage to spoil the video imbed so I'll just post the link right here

Reinvigorated my drive in the game. I'd dropped off after clearing Spire of Stars but now that there's some new content that actually requires reach max power, I'm pushing forward again. This is exactly the kind of mystery/communal effort that I'd missed from the first game.

Yeah, this Quest was really cool. Just an FYI, it's being taken down at 10am CST this morning but will be back next week. Hopefully, with both DMG and Cosmo commenting about the Cabal PE spawn rates, that will be addressed while it is away, because that is the one sour spot with this event (there was a 4 hour period yesterday where this event was unable to be completed due to constant Cabal PE's).

For anyone that really digs into this, there is a lot more going on that just picking up the final reward from your first completion of this mission, as it opens a static Heroic Version that allows to run this mission anytime. It will be interesting if that mission disappears when it is taken down or not. There is a pretty cool throwback to D1 puzzle within the Heroic version, and finishing the Heroic in it's own right has a special and amazing reward. For reference I ran this mission for 3 finishes successfully, 1 purposeful dead run, and 5 failed attempts (learning the jumping part and a few shortcuts is very useful). I will also be running at least 2 more runs each week over the next two weeks. This mission has significant teeth, and the reward is substantial.

Overall, I feel like this is the best thing Destiny has done since the Arg Puzzle back during Rise of Iron, and Destiny 2 desperately needed something like this to revitalize the community this close to Forsaken.

Edit: I wanted to throw a couple more things out there about this, but the first is a bit of a SPOILER, so be warned. Xol Lives (at least, very likely) on, in a way, through The Whisper of the Worm, just as Oryx did through the creation of The Touch of Malice. Just watch the Byf video, it's really good. The second part, is a few tips a tricks of how to make running this mission much easier. KhasisHD does a pretty great job at explaining a few of the shortcuts and showing how they work, but it fails to mention a few things I will explain in detail below.

Jumping Puzzle

• Titans - Titans should be running Sunbreaker Fireforged for multiple reasons for the combat section, so I'd go ahead and set that up to start with, but the most important thing for the jumping portion is to be wearing the Lion's Rampart Exotic Boots. This is extremely important because Jump Jets actually pretty much doubles your jump boost distance, and rather than 2 boosts, it grants you 4 uses of boost, allowing you to feather a jump while in air for very long distances. This is especially useful when using the Catapult jump because it grants you more height as you go. I can't recommend this build high enough for this mission. Once you finish the Jumping Puzzle, I highly recommend a quick swap to the Synthoceps.
• Hunter - Hunters should be running an Arcstrider, as will become clear later in the combat section, but for now, you need to be running the Stomp-EE5 Exotic Boots for this jumping section. I start by using the High Jump so I can do a 1 jump straight to top, but Triple Jump to the Chest like Khasis does is fine too. Either way, be switched back to Triple for the Jumping Puzzle part. Having 3 jumps will save you throughout the puzzle on any screw-ups and allows you to skip certain portions of it. Once you finish the puzzle, I suggest a quick swap to Raiden Flux.
• Warlocks - I do not recommend running this on a Warlock if it can be prevented, but if you have to, just be careful and cautious. You will likely be the slowest member of your team no matter what just due to base movement abilities. I also strongly suggest running Stormcaller with the Crown of Tempests. Keep in mind using a Super of Dawnblade can decrease time spent in the Jumping Puzzle, but it's both a waste of a Super, and you likely won't have one anyways. Icarus Dash can also save time on Dawnblade, but that's both the worse of the two Subs for Dawnblade for PvE and Daybreak doesn't do enough damage to proc Everlasting Fire frequently enough to justify itself here. Just stick with Stormcallers Ions tree.

Combat Section

• Titans - Subreaker Fireforged with Synthoceps is the build I highly recommend here. Synthoceps allow you to both one hit many of the enemies around you when Biotic Enhancements proc, but also drastically increase Hammer damage. Keep in mind, Hammer damage is almost double after about 25m distance because 6 Vulcan Rage sparks fly rather than 3, so don't be afraid to throw those Hammers across the room. The more you are surrounded by enemies, the better because of the Biotic Enhancements damage buff.
• Hunter - Arcstrider Wind tree with Raiden Flux is the build I recommend here. Combat Flow from Warrior just isn't viable due to the high level of enemies, and it's been proven multiple times that due to the doubling Raiden Flux gives to both damage and time, Arcstrider now is the king of damage output among Supers. 1 Arcstrider can nearly clear an entire room of Ads solo, but two chaining Supers, can completely clear the early rooms and have Super back from Orbs. Make sure you wait to pop Super until you can quickly get a kill or two in, as that is what will proc Raiden Flux to slow Super drain and increase damage.
• Warlock - Stormcaller Ions with Crown of Tempests isn't quite Arcstrider, but it will get the job done, especially if you wait to pop Super when you can proc Transcendence by having full Ability energy. This along with Tempests will allow your Super to last a very generous amount of time. Note: This build is much more useful on Heroic due to it being Arc Singe with the added 25% damage.
• Weapons: Generally speaking you want to take a Void Energy Weapon, primarily due to 2nd room. Popping Shields here with Void will near kill those enemies and allow them to be quickly dispatched, otherwise this room becomes very difficult. Using a Solar Energy on that final room is also useful, so bring both if you can, as the time swapping is well worth it between rooms. I highly recommend a Kinetic Hand Cannon, and Void Mannanan loadout. Either way, there are several sections where a Scout Rifle is very useful, either Kinetic or Energy. For your Power Weapon, I highly recommend the Sleeper Simulant if you have it. It is very good here. I've also seen The Colony be used to great effect on this mission for Rooms 1 & 2. Two energy Exotics I've seen used in the final room to great effect are Riskrunner and Polaris Lance. I tend to switch from Sleeper when it is out of ammo to Polaris and a Linear Fusion for the rest of the fight. Specifically on the bosses, Polaris's Perfect 5th Explosion seems to deal a ton of damage, especially if multiple players are slapping them with them. For the Heroic variant, obviously switch your Power Slot for Whisper if you feel comfortable hitting Crits, as it does a ton of damage and rarely runs out of ammo.

Strategy Tips

One of the biggest tips I can give is to make sure your team is always playing Destiny correctly, IE Super Chaining and making sure each player has Super up the vast majority of the time. Clearing Rooms with Supers is by far the quickest way to complete this missions Combat Section. For the final room, I highly recommend walking in and shooting out the two Blights on the right and left, and then having all players crash on the one directly in the center of the arena. This allows a wide area to shoot the Bosses from during the mission, as they like to hide within these Blights if they aren't destroyed. Immediately after, if possible, I recommend using a Super (Arcstrider preferred) to clear the front of the room of Ads. By this time, 1 or more of the Bosses will start to spawn in. Go back to the entrance with cover, and start to whittle down a single Boss as a team. Fully clearing a Boss, rather than damaging multiple at the same time, clears their abilities off the table, which are often the leading cause of deaths and lost DPS. The other big thing to be aware of, are Cabal Centurions off to the right, as they will be the ones spewing Orbs at you like crazy, so clear them as often as needed. Try to stick together as much as possible, because if one players runs into the arena, Ads and the Bosses will try to engage that player, often forcing bad angles for the other two players, so sticking together focuses their attention on all 3 of you.