How to get the Lumina fast and easy | Destiny 2
Much like the Thorn and last word quests, the Lumina proved to be a tedious and grindy set of tasks full of shenanigans. I won’t say it was bad because it utilized a lot of different activities currently in the game. But it definitely gave me a reason to moan and groan from time to time.
When I finally finished the quest took a deep breath in a sigh of relief. Of course, I was taking notes in preparation for this specific blog. In hindsight, I could have gotten the quest done significantly faster.
I did a lot of testing to find out which activities would cut down the grind time and award the most points or percentages for my time spent. Especially on the Fireteam Leader portion of the quest line.
For science!!
My research is your gain! Below is the easy way to acquire your Lumina exotic hand cannon, including the fastest activities that give the most points at specific parts of the questline.
Quest line bounties in order (simplified):
- Visit the cliffside in the salt mines on earth
(pick up a chest to acquire the Lumina quest) - System Positioning Device: Follow your next step to a specific chest
( my group’s location was IO’s excavation site, but yours could on any of the planets). - Bearers of Evil: Create 250 motes
- Rose Reveal: Defend the Light (multi-kills without reloading), Band Together (50k score Nightfall with friends), Face the Hordes (Blindwell on the Dreaming City)
- Fireteam Leader: 100% activities in the solar system
(Gambit, Crucible, Menagerie, Strikes, and Nightfalls all count) - Strength in Numbers:
(Kill an invader within ten seconds of them spawning)
(Make 50 orbs anywhere in the solar system)
(Kill guardians with hand cannons) - Bloom
(11 out 11 purple crystals in the Will of a Thousand strike )
(Defeat Xol)
My Strategy:
The fastest way to complete Bearer of Evil is to go to the Blindwell. I know by using this tactic you will spend a lot of time in the Dreaming City, but honestly, it doesn’t matter because its the easiest way to get it done.
The population is very high in Blindwell this week. Having so many people in your instance will make your orb creation go by fast because the orbs count no matter who they are coming from. My group finished this step in one tier III run, plus a bonus heroic charge.
For the Rose Reveal step, you’ll be completing Defend the Light and Face the Horde at the same time. At least you can.
Stay in the Dreaming City, equipt the risk-runner for your Defend the Light bounty. If you are a titan, pop that rally barricade as much as you can and shoot everything.
Realistically it took us (a team of three) 5 full tier III runs to complete Face the Horde, but 2 full runs to get the multi-kill portion done.
Completing the Nightfall is standard practice at this point. We went for 100k because that’s just what we needed. But, getting to 50,000 points is fast. We ran Strange Terrian.
For the Fireteam Leader step, I would advise you doing Menagerie only. I had a full team of six. My standard fireteam, plus three people from Bungie.net’s LFG. We all ran with the rose and it took Three solid runs for me to complete the bounty. Each run granted 20 points.
Unfortunately, I had already struggled through a strike, a Gambit match, two nightfalls, and two forges only getting for 21 points. Then went to help a buddy to the Menagerie and boom discovered a huge point boost. So, just stick with Menagerie.
However, if you are a glutton for punishment and tediousness you could try some of the following. I’ve written the corresponding points next to them.
Strikes: 3 points
Gambit: 7 points
Black Armory Forge: 4 points
Nightfall: 7 points
Menagerie: 20 (with a full team of Roses).
Strength in Numbers has one step that is completely a luck of the draw. That step is killing an invader before they kill a member of your team and before 10 seconds have passed (not on my watch metal).
You might get lucky or really be good at predicting where the invader is going to spawn. I personally got lucky. I put on my Truth and when I finally spotted the invade all the way across the map I aimed and fired. I know it’s cheap, but it worked.
My orbs were a third of the way finished by the time four Gambit matches passed while I was trying to get my invader kill. I finished them up in Blindwell.
We played three crucible matches and got the guardian hand cannon kills.
Bloom is the easiest part of the quest. You have to destroy 11 crystals before defeating Xol in the Will of a Thousand strike.
You can choose this strike off of the Mars map and do it with matchmade players if you need to.
Crystals are present in the first room, the second room, and the fifth room. Xol’s boss room also has crystals. I finished shooting my crystals by room two. After you defeat Xol, wait until the end of the strike and your Lumina will drop.
YAY!
I stayed in the Dreaming City for most of my grinding with the exception of the Menagerie but, I think it was a simpler and easier way to get things done.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep announced, Bungie’s new direction is exciting!
How excited am I about the new expansion for Destiny 2?
Very!
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is coming out September 17, 2019. I think I can speak for a lot of the Destiny community and say that hearing Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy talk about all of the changes Bungie has implemented as a result of separating from Activision was like breathing new air. They released a new ViDoc and Trailer for Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.
I personally tweeted that watching the ViDoc in the live-stream from Bungie felt like watching a butterfly emerge from a cocoon. This is a very exciting time to be a Destiny fan, especially off the back of the Season of Opulence release this week.
Important notes from the stream:
- Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases this fall. You have the option to purchase it as a stand-alone if you don’t have Destiny 2 yet or as an expansion.
- As of the release of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Destiny 2 will be an Action-MMO single evolving world that you can play anywhere you want using cross-save.
- PC players will now be on Steam
- Stand-alone Content
- New Light will be a free download that gets new players into new content within 15 minutes.
- They’ll be no more exclusive activities.
- You can buy all content moving forward stand-alone.
- Google’s Stadia partnership launches with Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.
- The current life cycle of Destiny 2 will be bundled and available for $40.
Exciting mentions from the ViDoc include:
- We’re going back to the moon
- They’ll be armor trans mods
- New movements and abilities for sub-classes
- PVP updates
- Black Garden Raid
I think I saw Crota in the ViDoc as well. That’d be a great throwback!
Take a look at the ViDoc for yourself:
The Menagerie is the best activity in Destiny 2: Season of Opulence (first impressions)
How much fun did I have yesterday with the new content in Destiny 2: Season of Opulence?
So much!
Bungie hit it out of the park with everything regarding the Season of Opulence, in my opinion.
Invitation:
You start off the season with an invitation from Emperor Calus to come back to the Leviathan. Before you can get on to the Leviathan you have to go through a series of tasks to acquire your Chalice of Opulence and allow you to enter The Menagerie.
You also open up new daily and weekly bounties from Benedict that will give you a treasure map to a chest. The chest rewards you with a powerful engram, a rune, and Imperial currency for your efforts.
I enjoyed running through Nessus getting the Invitation done. It didn’t take long, but it did require some thought as each step introduced a new mechanic of utilizing your Chalice.
Knowing how to work your Chalice of Opulence is key this season and as soon as you reach The Menagerie and opened the final chest, you’ll know why.
The Menagerie:
To me, each room in The Menagerie felt like an ode to the best encounters in the Destiny universe so far. Besides the obvious gauntlet room and cranium uses, which made an appearance in Destiny 2 year 1 in the Leviathan raid and the Eater of Worlds raid lair, I saw so many nods to endgame activities already in the game.
For instance, in one room, you need to use swords to take down Hive Knight shields.
Hey Crota!
In another room, you had to keep feeding your well to keep the shield up. I found it to be a nice upgrade to the Blind Well in the Dreaming City, which is already a great activity.
Then we fought an Atheon-like boss this week! With the added killer vex walls, it really made for a blood pumping encounter.
Leveling:
Yesterday, I ended my playing session at 712 power. I chose to play one character, my hunter. I ran The Menagerie twice, some Dreaming City activities, a Nightfall, three strikes, and Gambit. I completed all of the Benedict bounties, as well as Ikora’s weekly.
I would say leveling was fair. Sure, you need to do all of the activities available to you, but I think that worked out fine. To be at 712 power without pushing myself for the grind is a good thing. That is a balance that I very much appreciate.
Overall, I have a very positive impression of Season of Opulence. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in the rotation for next week and stepping into the raid this weekend.
Plus, I’m waiting on June 6th to find out the big announcement from Bungie about the future of Destiny 2!
Destiny 2: Forsaken – Crown of Sorrow Raid Trailer reaction, Season of Opulence
I one hundred percent knew that the new Destiny 2: Forsaken raid Crown of Sorrow would end up being hive. Plus, I have this outrageous theory that somehow Savathun is involved in this. I mean she was in control of Riven in the Last Wish raid, so it wouldn’t be completely impossible.
Maybe Savathun is planning something to do with Calus.
Either way, I am excited for Season of Opulence to start tomorrow! I will be jumping in the raid too. As long as RNG is my friend. I’ll update you then.
Also, read my semi-preparation guide for Season of Opulence. It’s not to late to do some of the techniques I mentioned – Preparing for Season of Opulence (Destiny 2: Forsaken).
Lore: https://t.co/uDCY6ixAku
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Destiny 2: Forsaken- Season of Opulence (trailer)
Zero Hour Mission: My loadout and strategy to beat boss room- Outbreak Perfected(Destiny 2)
Ask me how many times I ran ‘Zero Hour’ before I finally found the perfect loadout combination, with the perfect amount of luck in the jumping puzzle, and the greatest optimism from my teammate.
Between May 8th and May 9th, it took 10 times to finish the Zero Hour and finally receive the Outbreak Perfected!
Loadout
I ran a Warlock because I knew I was going to be a mess if I tried to use my hunter. My loadout included top tree Nova Bomb, axion dart grenades (I contemplated switching to scattered but I didn’t), Skull of the Dire Ahamkara and strafe jump (the best decision I ever made for the jumping portion. It’s more controlled than any other Warlock jump).
I used Go figure (with Armor piercing rounds, hip-fire grip, and high-impact reserves), Arc Ikelos_SMG_v1.0.1, and One Thousand Voices (very helpful at the boss if you are lucky enough to have ammo).
My clan mates were both Titans. The only thing I know for certain one ran solar hammers with melting point and Whisper of the Worm (he did have the catalyst) and the other ran void shield with Arbalast.
Strategy
Initially, I used Riskrunner because of the Arc Shanks shields and a void Edgetransit, and sniper as a primary but I found myself running out of heavy ammo fast and that’s not good for the boss room. After I switched it up, I was still able to get rid of the arc shanks using Ikelos and I had to rely on my teammates or my grenade to break the void and solar shields.
My Nova Bomb focused on the servitors. If timed right, you can blow up the servitor and the shanks around it, get your super back because of Skull of the Dire Ahamkara, turn around and kill the next servitor and his shanks as well.
My teammate used Whisper of the Worm to post up and snipe the Walker Tanks that spawn after the servitors. In our case, after the Walkers neck opened he was able to get critical shots off while we used our sub-machine guns to shoot into the neck or clear ad mobs.
We did shoot the boss periodically throughout the encounter leaving him at half health by the time the final Walker was almost down. I used my Nova bomb and emptied One Thousand Voices into ton the boss, while the solar Titan used his hammers to clear ads/minions, and then the void Titan used shields to finish off the Walker tank.
We finished the encounter with seven seconds left.
It was satisfying.
Tr3-Vr tips:
In the Tr3-VR room, never leave a man behind. If one person gets left behind in the room, and the other two teammates go to the next elevator room, Tr3-VR will box the room off and will instant death the player left behind every time. In my experience, there is no way to get out of that room alone.
The best thing to do is split off going left and right to spread out the room and make Tr3-Vr chose which way to go.
Whoever is fastest could run alone. If two are running together and Tr3-Vr is coming, find a cubby hole in the wall. One person should stay out of the cubby, one person should stay in the cubby. Let Tr3-Vr satisfy its blood lust, DO NOT respawn, just wait for the revive.
If two people try to sit in a cubby, one will die and have to respawn because their ghost will get stuck up in the wall.
Worst case scenario, you need two people in the room to make it out alive.
Overall thoughts:
This mission was fun. My clan mates and I had a great time playing through it. After we beat it, we went in to figure out the Heroic mission course. We figured that out so we plan to finish that soon as well.
Opinion: This is why we can’t have nice things (Destiny 2: Forsaken – Revelry Event)
I have a question for you. If Bungie creates a horde-like unlimited mode in Destiny 2 would you…
- A: Play the mode as intended, kill enemies, and try to get the highest level?
- B: Speedrun and only kill majors?
- C: Complain that this isn’t exactly a horde mode and call it trash?
I’m only asking because B and C are the most common things that I have run into while playing the Revelry Event. Not that there is anything wrong with speed running. It’s fun to test your fireteams limits. But, I have been getting mixed reviews.
I’ve played the Verdant Forest and my main objective was to optimize my clearing power while moving as fast as possible. But, I had a jarring experience with a teammate on Tuesday.
I logged in and hopped in a fireteam with my group. After running through 40 levels we ran out of time and warped to the 5 bosses. We went back to the tower, picked up bounties from Eva Levante and my friend literally says, “I’m tired of this mode already, let’s run strikes.”
Why can’t we have nice things?
You want to stop playing the new content and go back to playing the vanilla content that you complained about when there was no new content, and now that you have that new content you find old content better?
He wanted to stop because he didn’t want to grind for “no reason”.
It just started on Tuesday and trust me if it was bad, I wouldn’t lie about it. But, even if it’s not mobs and mobs of enemies attacking you in the re-imagined Infinite Forest, it’s still an activity with new triumphs attached.R
I recently wrote about Destiny being in a good place. I still believe that.
Opinion: Destiny 2 is in a great place
The content is literally 2 days old at the time of this writing and I just wish we could enjoy the content without the salt. Destiny 2 still has so many other activities to do. Plus, a new exotic to grind for. Why dog out the content? It’s meant to be an add-on to the other options available. Plus, it’s a free update and the Verdant (infinite) Forest is pretty close to an unlimited horde mode.
I am hoping for a genuine response. How do you feel about the Revelry Event?
Opinion: Destiny 2 is in a great place
I’m a long time Destiny player. I’ve enjoyed my time with this game. Through the ups and the interesting times, I played and so did many others. But now, Destiny 2 is in the best place it’s been since Taken King.
Sure, Cayde-6 had to die and pretty much every guardian you come across is Dredgen but, hey at least we’re having fun, right?
I remember the height of Destiny. Always the top of the Twitch directory, never a dull moment with the grind for over-powered but fun weapons, and a very creative community that always made their own fun.
Members of the community made full blown charity events in the process of enjoying the game!
However, as being a content creator becomes more and more accessible, the voice of the community seems to be trending to a toxic conversation. Rants about economy issues in the game are a mainstay, loot drop issues, and lack of reasons to grind.
But, I think Destiny 2 is actually in a great place in this post Forsaken world with the annual pass.
There is more to do in this game than ever before. As a player, we have a longer content loop. You can do strikes, you can grind the Dreaming City, run the Black Armory Forges, and now play out the new modes, Gambit Prime and Reckoning in Season of the Drifter. And let’s not forget we still have two viable raids available as well.
In my honest opinion, I don’t believe we are expected to do each loop for each piece of content. At least not for the average player.
There are times when I don’t get to every milestone before reset. But for those privileged to be able to grind the content daily and reach max power in two or three days, I have a question.
Do you realize the weight your voice holds?
Between using your platform and attending summits, you are speaking for the collective.
Would it be so terrible to admit that the seasonal content since Forsaken has actually added much needed depth to the game?
Random rolls are back, new loot to chase, titles to grind for, longer content loops to play, and materials to stack.
Isn’t that the name of the game?
Plus, the lore is getting really interesting in the game. Have you been able to read up on the Emissary?
Sure no game is perfect and no developer can make the entire player base happy all the time. But, I’m enjoying Bungie’s game. And perhaps focusing on those positives is why I think Destiny 2 is in a great place.
-ABD