How to unlock the Barrow-Dyad Catalysts in Destiny 2

The Barrow-Dyad Catalysts continue to roll out in Destiny 2. But unlike previous episodic Exotic Catalysts, these don’t come from running a mission multiple times. Instead, you’ll need to fulfill some secret conditions.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through how to unlock the first and second Barrow-Dyad Catalysts in Destiny 2. These quests will net you the High-Impact Reserves and Hatchling Catalysts. Barrow-Dyad can also have the One For All and Target Lock Catalyst Refits, but they’re currently unavailable in the game.

This walkthrough assumes you’ve finished the “Dyadic Ascension” quest already to fully upgrade your Barrow-Dyad’s Intrinsic Perk.

Update (March 19): Added the second Barrow-Dyad catalyst.

How to get the High-Impact Reserves Catalyst for Barrow-Dyad

To get the High-Impact Rounds Catalyst Refit for Barrow-Dyad, you’ll need to complete an Expert version of the Court of Blades activity with the Exotic submachine gun equipped. When the activity ends, you’ll get an Exotic quest called “Sharp Osseous Spine.” Take this quest back to the Shaping Slab in Eris’ apartment and exchange it for the “A Needle’s Path” Exotic quest.

The first step of this quest is to fully rank up the Path of Resolve, getting it to reputation level 12. Complete various episodic activities (wearing the episodic armor gives you a boost here!) to level up until you reach the final level and claim the Moment of Clarity upgrade. If you’ve completed the “Dyadic Ascension” quest already, “A Needle’s Path” will skip to its second and final step.

Once you’ve reached rank 12 on the Path of Resolve and completed the first step, you’ll need to do another Expert level Court of Blades. However, this time, you’re limited to using precision weapons only (plus Barrow-Dyad). Here’s everything that’s fair game to use:

• Scout rifles
• Linear fusion rifles
• Sniper rifles
• Barrow-Dyad

If you complete the Court of Blades on Expert with the proper loadout, the High-Impact Reserves Catalyst will drop from the final chest. Head to The Enclave to re-craft Barrow-Dyad with your new Catalyst.

How to get the Hatchling Catalyst for Barrow-Dyad

To get the Hatchling Catalyst Refit for Barrow-Dyad, you’ll need to find and open a secret portal in the Dreadnaught. There is some contention among the community on what allows you to open this portal, but we recommend you do the following to increase your chances:

• Get the High-Impact Reserve Catalyst Refit for Barrow-Dyad and recraft the weapon with it attached
• Complete the second week of the Act 2 story
• Unlock the Path of Ambition (even if you don’t need to do this for the portal, you definitely will need to do it to get Hatchling, so get it out of the way now)
• Equip Barrow-Dyad when looking for the portal

Once you’ve done everything above, you’re ready for a bit of portal hunting, which is, mercifully, pretty simple. Load into The Nether (ideally the private version so you don’t ruin the experience of any other Guardians) and reload the activity until it starts you in the Trenchway — the area with the Tormentor boss that’s the exterior of the ship.

In the Trenchway, take your Guardian and your Barrow-Dyad and head inside. Cross the big chasm and head to the left side of the platform (where the fire crystal event sometimes spawns). Turn around and look across the chasm to the area you came from, then look up and to the right. On the wall, you’ll see an indent that leads into a secret room.

Walk up to the edge of the platform you’re on and pull out your Ghost. You’ll see a bunch of the invisible Dreadnaught platforms ahead of you. Carefully use the platforms to reach the secret room.

Once you arrive, you’ll see a strange device on the left wall. If you get close, you’ll see a prompt that says “Rites of the Deep Tithe Found Worthy.” If you see this, interact with the device and jump through the Taken portal that appears. Loot both chests and you’ll get a Heavy Osseous Spine, which you can take back to the Shaping Slab to get the “A Hammer’s Path” quest.

Some players have reported issues with getting into the portal due to what appears to be a bug. Destiny YouTuber Skarrow9 has discovered a workaround. Even if you can’t interact with the device, you can enter a friend’s portal and get the Catalyst quest if they open one in their game and you join their instance. We were able to confirm that friends can enter a hosts portal that was opened before they joined.

Once you have “A Hammer’s Path,” you’ll need to reach rank 12 in the Path of Ambition — be forewarned, this is quite time consuming. You can earn reputation by swapping to the Path of Ambition at the Shaping Slab (make sure you do this or you will earn 0 reputation for anything you do) and then completing seasonal activities like the Court of Blades or The Nether.

Once you reach rank 12 and collect all of the Path of Ambition Perks, the quest will ask you to complete an Expert version of The Nether using only close-range weapons. Here’s what you’re allowed to use:

• Shotguns
• Glaives
• Swords
• Barrow-Dyad

Similar to the precision weapon run of the Court of Blades for Barrow-Dyad’s first Catalyst, you’ll receive the Hatchling Catalyst as an activity completion reward as long as you adhere to the loadout requirements listed above. Note that you’ll need to complete the entire Expert Nether, not just the first encounter.

Once you’ve unlocked the Hatchling Catalyst, you can reshape your Barrow-Dyad in Savathun’s Throneworld at The Enclave.

When will the other Barrow-Dyad Catalysts be available?

The other two Barrow-Dyad Catalysts will become available as Heresy continues in Destiny 2, but as of this writing, are not yet available.

It’s possible that one or both of the missing Catalysts could be hidden in Act 2 or even time-gated until Act 3 begins on April 1. Based on how they’re organized in the crafting menu, it seems that after High-Impact Reserves and Hatchling (detailed above) we’ll get the One For All Catalyst next before fully completing Barrow-Dyad with the Target Lock Catalyst.

We’ll update this guide with instructions on how to get the final two Catalysts as they release.