How to get Barrow-Dyad in Destiny 2

Destiny 2’s Exotic SMG, Barrow-Dyad, piqued players’ interest before Heresy even came out. Now, guardians can finally get this weapon—and it may be hard to take it off.

The weapon first appeared in the Heresy Act One livestream, and Bungie was cryptic about how to obtain it. Though fans expected an Exotic quest later in the game, it was released in the second week of Heresy.

Here’s what Destiny 2‘s Exotic SMG Barrow-Dyad does, how you can get it, and if it’s worth the trouble.

How to get Barrow-Dyad in Destiny 2

Barrow-Dyad is obtainable through a secret Exotic quest called The Taken Path. This quest takes a bit of setup and culminates in an Exotic mission, which gives you the new weapon at the end. Here’s a short overview of the steps you should take:

• Finding a Blight in the Nether (any difficulty). We found our Blight in the Hall of Souls.
• Pull out your Ghost to see a path leading inside the Blight.
• Step on the plate and take note of the symbol and the direction that shows up in the bottom left of your screen.
• Return to the Shaping Slab and pick up the Taken Path quest.

After this, you must explore three locations and head to the Nether again.

• Go to the Lost Sectors in all three named destinations and pick up the Ghost remnants.
  • The fragments are in K1 Revelation (Sorrow’s Harbor, Moon), Veles Labyrinth (Forgotten Shore, Cosmodrome), and Hallowed Grove (The Sludge, EDZ).
• Summon and kill three enemies in the Nether by interacting with ritual altars placed in each of the three starting areas (Mausoleum, Trenchway, and Hall of Souls).
• Find more Osseous Taken Fragments in the Nether. We found six of them per zone.
• Complete the Derealize mission.

Following all these steps gets you the Barrow-Dyad Exotic at the end of the mission. This weapon is craftable, so just extract the pattern from the copy you receive there, and you’re all set. This also gives you the Dyadic Ascension quest to upgrade your intrinsics.

What does Barrow-Dyad do in Destiny 2?

Barrow-Dyad’s powerful effects make it a stellar weapon for add-clear, and an incredibly comfortable one to use at that. This is mostly because of its two interconnected effects, with any of its four catalysts providing a bit of extra damage. Here’s what it does.

• Panic Response (Intrinsic): Dealing damage with Barrow-Dyad fills up on Blight. If you’re not firing, the Blight meter drains to refill your magazine. Reloading grants this weapon up to six Blighted Seekers, which deal more damage to enemies. The number of Seekers is based on the gauge.
  • The buff is active for six seconds after reloading, and the weapon reloads itself even when Blight is empty.
• Taken Divergence (Trait): Hitting three different enemies generates a large amount of Blight and Seekers pierce targets.
  • A cryptic pop-up on the trait says, “This weapon resonates with your choices,” which might mean more options for this slot down the road.

Each of its four catalysts brings a little bit to the table here, even if some seem to stand out better than others. You can manipulate the Blight reload to get good uptime on High-Impact Rounds, while Hatchling provides some extra Strand synergy. One For All goes hand in hand with the Taken Divergence trait, giving you a chunk of the Blight gauge and a stark damage buff. Lastly, Target Lock might help when shooting down bigger targets.

Is Barrow-Dyad good in Destiny 2?

In our experience, The new Exotic SMG is certainly worth picking up. It’s hard to shake off some nearly ubiquitous Exotics for add clear (Khvostov 7G-0X, Sunshot, and Graviton Lance come to mind), but Barrow-Dyad is a formidable weapon when it comes to chewing through mobs of enemies. You can gather Blight quickly, especially if you shoot three different targets, and using the weapon feels seamless. You barely have to reload unless you want to trigger its intrinsic, because it fills around half your magazine in the time it takes to perform a slide—no Blight charge required.

If you’re a fan of the green element, Barrow-Dyad provides another option for Strand primary Exotics, such as Quicksilver Storm (with its catalyst) and Final Warning. The former is at the mercy of nerfs, with Bungie half-undoing an old trim to its power. The latter is extremely powerful but not as smooth as using the new SMG. If you’re on Prismatic, on the other hand, this Exotic SMG can give you loads of Darkness energy, keeping half of your Transcendence bar topped up. As much setup as it requires, this weapon is more than worth getting. You don’t want to miss out on an Exotic quest, after all.