Destiny 2’s Ascendant Challenges are among several moving parts involving the Dreaming City’s intricate Curse, which envelops the area in a three-week time loop.
The curse ranges from weak to strong to strongest, and each cycle brings you a ton of treasure to hunt for—if you’re brave enough to dive into the Ascendant Plane in search of riches. Destiny 2 has six Ascendant Challenges, which rotate every week. They’re a surefire source of Dreaming City gear, including reissued versions of Waking Vigil, Tigerspite, and Twilight Oath. Finishing an Ascendant Challenge grants a piece of Legendary gear, but you can get your hands on an extra drop if you have Petra Venj’s weekly bounty.
Ascendant Challenges yield one piece of gear each week, plus another from Petra’s bounties. Those objectives are character-based, meaning you can get six pieces of Dreaming City gear from Ascendant Challenges alone.
To find the entrance to the Ascendant Challenge, you must consume an item called Tincture of Queensfoil, available from Petra Venj for five Legendary Shards or found in chests throughout the Dreaming City.
Each Ascendant Challenge has a special entrance, and though the challenge changes every week, its entrance remains in the same spot whenever it pops up.
What is this week’s Ascendant Challenge in Destiny 2? (April 30 to May 7)
- Challenge: Forfeit Shrine
- Entrance: Gardens of Esila (The Strand)
How to find and complete the Forfeit Shrine Ascendant Challenge in Destiny 2
The Forfeit Shrine Ascendant Challenge takes place in the Gardens of Esila in the Strand. Once you get to the gardens, drink your Tincture of Queensfoil and look for a portal by a rock on your left. Before getting in, bring a damage Super, a mobility Exotic, and an Eager Edge sword to make the process easier.
Head inside and look for the marked Arc Charges scattered across the map. Your goal is to pick them up one at a time and dunk them in the pool in the middle. The Charges will be marked, so they’re somewhat easy to spot. Just run up to them, pluck them, and bring them back to the middle, minding the enemies and Blights on the way.
After you’ve dunked all three Arc Charges, Abyssal Knights will spawn. Standing on the pool restores your Super gauge, so use your best abilities to clean the room and finish this week’s Ascendant Challenge.
How to get Dreaming City gear in Destiny 2
Dreaming City gear got another revamp with Season of the Wish, making those weapons even more relevant. While they still performed decently, perks like Voltshot on Waking Vigil can give them even more of a fighting chance. Blind Well continues to be a good source of the new gear (though its new power delta makes it more of a slog than before), and some Season of the Wish activities can also drop the reissued weapons.
Petra offers a weekly bounty for completing the Ascendant Challenge if you want to earn Dreaming City gear from exploration, awarding you an extra piece of gear for your trouble. Each week, she also offers a bounty that costs Dark Fragments and yields an Offering to the Oracle. Taking the reward to the Oracle in the Spine of Keres gives you an extra drop and, on weeks where the Curse is strongest, lets you visit Queen Mara Sov’s throne room. You can also find an Ahamkara Bone there if you’re hunting for Cursebreaker.
In addition, check out Petra’s bounties every day for a daily objective that awards gear, as seen in its tooltip. Finishing eight daily bounties and doing Petra’s weekly quest will yield Dreaming City gear if you purchase the objectives.
Like Ascendant Challenges, these are on a weekly lockout per character; you can accomplish them more than once a week as long as you’re not on the same Guardian.
