How to get the Wicked Implement Exotic scout rifle in Destiny 2

Destiny 2 guardians finally have a new weapon at their disposal—and one given by one of the Vanguard’s fiercest opponents, no less. All it takes to get the Wicked Implement Exotic scout rifle is finding some Exotic Fish, mowing down hordes of powerful Taken, defeating a beefy Tormentor, and accepting a gift from Xivu Arath.

Just a regular Tuesday for the Guardian, we’re sure.

The Wicked Implement 180rpm Stasis scout rifle has a long-anticipated secret quest tied to it, so players must complete a few steps before they can bag this Stasis-element scout rifle. The weapon’s visuals and story, however, might be enough to consider adding this to your Kinetic slot, especially thanks to that juicy 40 percent extra damage against red-bar enemies.

How to start the Wicked Implement’s secret Exotic quest

• Fish all three new Exotic Fish (Whispering Mothcarp, Vex Placoderm, and Aeonian Alpha-Betta) and place them at the H.E.L.M.
  • You can also just hitch a fire with another guardian who has all three Fish and all three Broken Blades.
• Find the three Hive statues in Deep Dive, which are located between the first and second encounters.
  • The first is in the first part where you step into the ocean.
  • The second statue is in a hidden room after clearing the second encounter.
  • The third statue is on the seabed, after the gigantic turbine and before jumping to the area leading to the second encounter.
• Open the secret door after the second encounter in Deep Dive
• Complete the Whetstone encounter

The Wicked Implement secret quest involves fishing and some extra steps on the Deep Dive activity, which will finally open a door at the Midnight depth (and we’ve been wanting to know what’s behind it since our first Deep Dive at that level).

Find all three Exotic Fish (or find someone who has them)

Destiny 2 gently pushed players toward fishing with a weekly quest, and if you made the most out of each region, you’re already a step ahead in your hunt.

To start the quest, you (or someone in your fireteam) must have acquired each of the three region-exclusive Exotic fishes: the Whispering Mothcarp (Throne World), the Vexing Placoderm (Nessus), and the Aeonian Alpha-Betta (EDZ). Depositing each of these at the H.E.L.M. will grant you the Broken Blades of Strife, Ambition, and Cunning, respectively.

Someone in your fireteam needs all three Broken Blades to open a secret door in a Deep Dive mission, so you can still get the Wicked Implement Exotic scout rifle as long as you find someone who already has the three pieces. Our Broken Blades are still in our inventory (as seen in the Fishing Tackle), so we could carry another friend or just redo the secret encounter for the fun of it.

Once you’re ready to hunt down this Exotic, launch a Deep Dive mission and proceed as normal until you first dive into the methane ocean of Titan. Then, you’ll need to do some more secret hunting to trigger this quest.

Enter a Deep Dive and find all three Hive statues

To start the Whetstone secret encounter, you’ll need to interact with three Hive statues. The first is before the first encounter, while the remaining two are before the second.

The first statue appears once you drop into the seabed, in the first area that has actual flora in it. Walk between the yellow plant and a rock, then make a quick right to a small passage in the rock. You’ll find an air bubble and the first Hive statue. Interact with it to light it on fire and hear some words from Xivu Arath.

The second statue is located after you’ve finished the first encounter. Face the door leading to the next encounter, then look for an open door by a catwalk on your left. Xivu Arath will talk to you once again.

The last one is after you’ve landed on the Bathypelagic Midnight depth, after the area with the spinning fan. You’ll come upon an area with a large drop leading to the next room. Instead of jumping down, look to your left to spot the feet of a final Hive statue in a corner. Xivu Arath will tell you to “bare your violence” upon her altar.

Now, head into the second encounter and indulge her.

Related: What is the Ascendant Challenge this week in Destiny 2?

Finish the second encounter and open the secret door

After you’ve finished the Deep Dive encounter at the Midnight depth, the game will direct you toward the next depth. Ignore that marker and instead look for a door on the right side of the arena (from where you entered). Ignite the three nearby statues and head through the methane ocean for another part of the quest.

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been wondering what’s behind that door, and now you’ll finally know—though you may not enjoy the answer.

Complete the Whetstone encounter

• Face off against Khull, Executioner Knight.
• Defeat the three Elite enemies to get three stacks of the Deathly Sharp buff, which allows you to damage Khull.
• Move to the next room and use the Cruxes of Darkness to open the way.
• Defeat the Honed Minotaurs again and obtain the Deathly Sharp buff to damage Khull.
• Take down Khull and move to the fight against Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace.
• Repeat the process for Khull to defeat Omen, but in a larger, darker boss arena.
  • Omen has far more health than Khull, so prepare accordingly.

After crossing a small sea traversal section and killing a few enemies, you’ll spawn a boss called Khull, Executioner Knight. This is the prelude to the actual Whetstone encounter, and it teaches you an important lesson before leaving you to fend for yourself.

You’ll notice Khull has three Honed Minotaurs by his side. Each Minotaur you kill grants you a stack of Deathly Sharp, and you’ll need three stacks to actually deal more than two or three damage to Khull. Kill the Minotaurs, get the buff, and then slaughter Khull. The boss has a small health gate in the second part, so save your Supers for later. Once you’ve been introduced to the mechanics, you’ll enter an area called The Drowning and start the actual Whetstone encounter. You’ll have 10 minutes to finish it, or else you’ll get kicked back to Orbit with nothing to show for it.

Shoot the Cruxes of Darkness in the room to proceed (one is in front of you, the other is below the stairwell), then look for more Cruxes in the next room, close to the altar in the middle. These Cruxes let you damage some of the Honed Minotaurs, so kill all three and make short work of Khull to advance to the next part—which is also the hardest section by far.

You’ll come out in a dark room and face off against a Tormentor known as Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace. His mechanics are similar to Khull: kill three Elites, get the buff, and make mincemeat out of him. That said, his area is much larger and the clock is still ticking.

If you’re struggling to find the enemies, the game will eventually give you quest markers, but these Elites can spawn far away from each other. Try to remember the layout of the room and focus on where the middle area is. Splitting up worked better for us here, since it allowed us to use the buff more efficiently and save time.

Related: What is the Nightfall weapon this week in Destiny 2?

Keep in mind both the timer and the sheer health pool on Omen can make this a pretty hard endeavor, and you may need to return to Orbit a few times before you can get this mission done. If the timer runs out, you’ll automatically head to Orbit, but you can try this mission as many times as you want to.

We struggled a bit against Omen for our first kill, but using Divinity with higher-damage weapons helped. Our Divinity Warlock was also using Cenotaph to help with ammo generation.

After you’ve killed Omen, head to the other end of the room compared to where you entered and you’ll find another Darkness statue. Xivu Arath will have her choice of words for you, with extra dialogue telling you to sharpen yourself against her implement—just after giving you the Wicked Implement Exotic scout rifle.

What does the Wicked Implement Exotic scout rifle do in Destiny 2?

The Wicked Implement scout rifle’s unique intrinsic, Creeping Attrition, slows enemies after landing consecutive precision hits (which, in our experience, takes around three or four hits to activate). Once Creeping Attrition is up, players can make use of its Tithing Harvest unique perk to create Stasuis shards upon landing precision blows. These shards track to the player, and picking them up refills the magazine. The Wicked Implement Exotic also comes with a catalyst. Its source is listed only as Deep Dives, so what it does and how to get it are still unclear.

The Wicked Implement is a solid scout rifle for fans of its archetype, and it’s also another Exotic that can synergize with Stasis words (just after Verglas Curve in Season of Defiance). This can carve a spot for itself in Stasis builds, especially if you’re looking for an Exotic Primary weapon. Its utility isn’t limited to Stasis, though, since all subclasses can use it and still benefit from the magazine refill from grabbing a Stasis shard.

And sure, it might be a bad idea to take a weapon from the Hive God of War, especially once we know she gains power from acts of war—but this secret quest might just be worth it.