Destiny 2 Episode: Revenant Act 1 | How It Works

Destiny 2’s second Episode following the release of The Final Shape, Episode: Revenant, has finally arrived. The father of the Scorn, Fikrul, has clawed his way back from death once more, only this time he’s armed with the might of an Echo, an incredible artifact of Darkness which he has used to transform the Scorn. No longer needing dead flesh to grow his army, Fikrul has grown bold in his new vampiric ways, encouraging the Guardians to step up to the plate to be his hunters. Blessed by Misraaks, who is racked with a deadly curse from the long-dead Nezarec, we have become the Slayer Barons, elite monster hunters who will purge Fikrul and his foul family.

Episode: Revenant’s first Act features a lot for Guardians to sink their teeth into. From a huge overhaul to Onsluaght which adds new factions to fight, defences to deploy and loot to chase, to a fancy new Tonic system which hopes to mix up how you play both offensively and in terms of the gear you chase, Revenant’s upfront nature can be a bit daunting. In particular, the Tonic Table is especially confusing at first glance. Fortunately, we’re here to help walk you through it all.

Here’s everything you need to know about Episode: Revenant in Destiny 2.

If you’d like to read some other Destiny 2 content, you can find our coverage of The Final Shape here on KeenGamer:

1. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock and Farm the Exotic Class Items
2. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock the Legendary Khvostov 7G-02
3. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock the Exotic Khvostov 7G-0X
4. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock All Prismatic Fragments, Aspects, and Abilities
5. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | All Salvation’s Edge Secret Chest Locations

Bloodborne to Do This

Episode Revenant Act 1 Overview

Onslaught: Salvation

The main activity for Act 1 of Episode: Revenant in Destiny 2 is Onslaught: Salvation, a massive overhaul and update to the incredibly popular Onslaught activity introduced in Into the Light. Just like with base Onslaught, Onslaught: Salvation has a 10 Wave playlist for quick, efficient play, as well as a full 50 Wave node for those looking for more challenge and more loot. Of course, there’s also Expert Onslaught for those eager to battle even harder foes, but that doesn’t become available until you hit Light Level 2030.

Onslaught: Salvation brings a lot of quality-of-life improvements to the overall Onslaught activity. However, in terms of what Salvation itself brings, this version of Onslaught has three new maps – Widow’s Court, Eventide Ruins, and Kell’s Grave – which have all been corrupted and taken over by Fikrul’s dark influence. Salvation also brings two new enemy factions to Onslaught, namely the Cabal of the Shadow Legion as well as the new breed of vampiric Scorn, as well as three new kinds of Defences. There’s the new Stasis-lined Tripwires, Operable Turrets which you can sit inside and aim yourself, and Air Strikes which rain down carnage from the skies onto your foes.

This new version of Onslaught is where you’ll encounter the Revenant Barons in the new Wave 6 and Wave 10 break rounds. Instead of plunging into the heart of a Pyramid Ship, these waves will take you into the depths of the Fikrul’s many Nests where he has captured innocent Eliksni in hopes of turning them to his side with the Echo. The Revenant Barons are the main bodyguards of these kidnapped Eliksni and they have the unique ability to come back from death if you don’t destroy their totem after dispatching them. In some ways, they are similar to Hive Lightbearers and will pose a challenge on higher difficulties. 

Hunting in Style

Of course, a new activity means new loot and Onslaught: Salvation has three eye-catching loot pools to chase. Firstly, Onslaught: Salvation will drop the new Shadestalker armour sets for all three classes, classy vampire-hunter armour which has been enhanced by the Fallen’s Splicer tech. Then you have the Salvation and Vintage Salvation weapons, the former of which are brand new and the latter of which are reprised weapons from a previous season. For the new weapons, you can look forward to getting your hands on the following:

• Liturgy Stasis Grenade Launcher
• Exuviae Stasis Hand Cannon
• Red Tape Stasis Scout Rifle
• Vantage Point Arc Pulse Rifle
• Scavenger’s Fate Void Shotgun
• Insurmountable Void Sidearm
• Sovereignty Void Sniper Rifle
• Noxious Vetiver Arc Submachine Gun
• Bitter/Sweet Stasis Heavy Grenade Launcher

Onslaught: Salvation Weapons

Meanwhile, the Vintage Salvation weapons are a small handful of reprised Season of the Splicer weapons. There are only a small number of these available but they have been updated with new perks:

• Chroma Rush Kinetic Auto Rifle
• Ignition Code Kinetic Grenade Launcher
• Gridskipper Void Pulse Rifle
• Soujourner’s Tale Solar Shotgun

One thing that is important to mention about both the Onslaught and Vintage Onslaught weapons in Episode: Revenant is that they are not craftable: for the first time since crafting was introduced to Destiny 2, the seasonal weapons cannot drop as red borders and must be farmed to obtain the rolls you want. However, both of these weapon sets can be Enhanced and there’s a slim chance to obtain these weapons already Enhanced and with double perks in each column from Onslaught: Salvation just like the shiny variants from the original Onslaught (although these won’t have the special Holofoil Shader). 

Vintage Splicer Gear

Vesper’s Host Dungeon

The only other major activity in Act 1 of Episode: Revenant is the launch of a new Dungeon, Vesper’s Host, on Friday, October 11th. To unlock access to Vesper’s Host, you need to own The Final Shape Dungeon Key, which also entitles you to a second new Dungeon sometime in Episode: Heresy.

Vesper’s Host will take place on the Reef as we storm an Awoken Tower that Fikrul has overrun after getting his hands on the maddening power of the Echo. For the first time ever, Vesper’s Host will have Contest Mode active for 48 hours after release. This will act the same way as Contest Mode Raids with higher difficulty enemies, forced enrages on bosses, and even Respawn Tokens. If you want to experience the Dungeon on day one but don’t want to suffer through Contest Mode, the Normal Mode of Vesper’s Host will become available to all players once the first three players clear the Dungeon.

Vesper’s Host

The Last City Revenant Hub Area

Apothecary Eido Reputation

The Scribe of House Light and daughter of Misraaks, Eido, is our main vendor for Episode: Revenant in Destiny 2 and you’ll find her in The Last City, a beautiful new hub area and a return to the fabled streets of the last safe city on Earth. Eido’s main form of reputation is Apothecary Eido rep which you’ll primarily earn from completing Bounties and Onslaught: Salvation runs.

Alongside Bounties, Eido will have two special Requests per day. These requests will be specific Tonics of Refined rarity (something we’ll cover in detail in a moment). If you can create the kind of Tonics Eido is looking for, you can turn them in for a guaranteed Revenant Legendary Weapon as well as 100 Apothecary Eido rep. This is a great way to quickly level up, especially if you have a lot of Reagents in your pocket.

Increasing your Rank with Eido will let you pick up two small Ingredient Bundles full of Reagents, an Ascendant Alloy, an Ascendant Shard, and the Old Rancor Exotic Sparrow. You’ll also be able to earn and obtain Powerful Revenant Engrams each major rank up which contain Revenant gear. One major omission from Episode: Revenant compared to most other Destiny 2 seasons is that Eido does not have a focusing tab for gear, primarily because most of that work will be covered by the Tonic Table. As such, Eido is a very straightforward vendor: rank up with her, obtain rewards, redeem your Revenant Engrams for seasonal loot, and rinse and repeat.

Apothecary Eido Reputation Vendor

Act 1 Fieldwork (Minor, Major, Key)

Aside from the usual vendor offerings, Eido also has a special tab available in The Last City called Fieldwork. You can think of these as small side-quests similar to the Specimen quests from Episode: Echoes, only they are usually far shorter. Fieldwork is also the main avenue for your seasonal upgrades, as well as a reliable source of Reagents, making them an important part of the Revenant gameplay loop. Fieldwork comes in three difficulties and you can have two Fieldwork in your inventory at any one time: there are ten Minor Fieldwork activities, five Major Fieldwork activities, and one Key Fieldwork.

The type of Fieldwork you’ll be engaging with most often is the Minor Fieldwork. These missions will task you with exploring a specific region on a planet for a mysterious item as well as completing a standard Destiny 2 objective like “Kill 35 Vex” or “Complete 3 Lost Sectors”. Once the Fieldwork has been completed, you can return to the Last City and place your discovery on the ingredients wall, allowing you to claim a small Reagent Sack from Eido. New Minor Fieldwork will become available as you unlock new Tonic Recipes.

Meanwhile, Major Fieldwork is, honestly, far easier. Major Fieldwork activities will have you visit a strange alchemy table somewhere in the system. When you interact with this table, you’ll enter a short time trial where you need to defeat 15 opponents before the timer expires. This is always extremely easy and you have way more time than you will ever need. Completing Major Fieldwork is important, though, as each will give you a new page in The Garden-Way Lore Book as well as special seasonal upgrades which improve everything from your Reagent acquisition rate to how often you unlock higher-rarity Tonic Recipes. One new Major Fieldwork will become available for every two Minor Fieldwork you complete.

The final category of Fieldwork is Key Fieldwork and there’s one of these per Act. According to the description, completing this will “unlock new possibilities in the Tonic Laboratory” which hints that it may be key to unlocking the Resource Tonic category. To unlock Act 1’s Key Fieldwork, you must complete all five Major Fieldwork assignments which, in turn, means you need to complete all ten Minor Fieldwork assignments.

Eido’s Fieldwork

The Tonic Table (Volatile Tonics and Enriching Tonics)

The other thing you’ll find in the Last City is arguably the most interesting addition to Destiny 2 with the release of Episode: Revenant and that’s the Tonic Table. This nifty little alchemy bench is where you’ll tinker with Tonics, powerful potions which buff your offensive abilities as well as your luck, allowing you to increase your combat prowess or focus your loot pool. Tonics are an incredibly important system in Episode: Revenant, especially when it comes to obtaining loot and efficiently progressing through Eido’s Fieldwork.

Firstly, there are two types of Tonics that you can create, Volatile Tonics and Enriching Tonics, and each one does something slightly different. Beginning with Volatile Tonics, are used to buff or empower your combative abilities. As of Act 1, there are a total of five unique Volatile Tonics all of which provide a special buff or bonus upon consumption. Additionally, each Tonic will also boost one of this Episode’s Artifact perks, improving its performance and efficiency: essentially, while that specific Tonic is active, the artifact perk tied to it will also be buffed. The five types of Volatile Tonics in Destiny 2 are:

• Tonic of Protecting Frost: While Frost Armour is active, Primary ammo Stasis weapons deal bonus damage
• Tonic of Stasis Crystallization: Shattering a Stasis crystal grants you a small amount of class ability energy
• Tonic of Renewing Finishers: Finishers grant you a small amount of health
• Tonic of Weakening Void: While Devour is active, Special ammo Void weapons deal bonus damage
• Tonic of Amplified Arc: While you are amplified, Primary ammo Arc weapons deal bonus damage

The Tonic Table

Meanwhile, the second type of Tonic is the Enriching Tonic and, as the name suggests, these affect your loot drops. While active, depending on your chosen Tonic, you’ll have an increased chance of earning specific gear, such as the new seasonal weapons and armour. As of Act 1, Revenant doesn’t seem to have a dedicated focusing system, so you’ll rely on higher-tier Enriching Tonics to chase loot. Uncommon Enriching Tonics are far more broad in scope than Legendary Enriching Tonics, which boost the drop rate of a specific item, similar to the Attunement system introduced with Into the Light. The Enriching Tonics are broken up into four main categories, each of which will let you dilute your loot pool and choose which types of loot you actively want to chase.

• Onslaught Tonics: Allow you to earn Onslaught: Salvation weapons and reprised Season of the Splicer weapons across the system.
• World Gear Tonics: Allow an increased chance at earning World Gear (weapons and armour) across the system
• Shadestalker Tonics: Allow you to earn Shadestalker armour (which increases the chance of reagents dropping when worn) across the system
• Resource Tonics: Allow you to earn resources such as Enhancement Cores, Ascendant Shards, Glimmer, and more

Both Tonic types are made from various Reagents that you’ll find while participating in activities across Destiny 2. Some, like Reclaimed Vitality, Voltaile Powder, and Enriching Powder, drop anywhere, with an increased drop rate inside Revenant activities. Other Reagents, meanwhile, will only drop in certain activities: Enriching Flakes only drop in Onslaught: Salvation, whereas Tomb Flakes and Reflective Flakes come from the Tomb of Elders and the Kell’s Fall Exotic Mission, respectively (two activities which will likely be added with Act 2 and Act 3).

The Wall of Ingredients

Tonic Rarities and How to Unlock More Tonic Recipes in Destiny 2

One thing you’ll notice early on is that there are three different kinds of Tonic rarities. There are Diluted Tonics (green rarity), Potent Tonics (blue rarity), and Refined Tonics (purple rarity). The higher the Tonic, the stronger the effect will be, with Refined Tonics, in particular, granting bonuses to two Artifact Perks in Volatile Tonics and hyper-specific attunement opportunities in Enriching Tonics. Also, higher-rarity Tonics will last for longer, too, with the time limit increasing by 20 minutes for each tier.

So, how do you unlock more Tonic recipes? Well, you just need to make Tonics.

After creating a certain Tonic enough times, you will automatically unlock the higher-rarity version of that Tonic. For example, if I just keep making Diluted Tonics of Protecting Frost, I will, eventually, unlock the recipe for Potent Tonics of Protecting Frost. If I then start repeatedly making Potent Tonics over and over, I will soon unlock access to the Refined Tonics of that type. Of the two Tonic types, Volatile Tonics are the simplest.

Volatile Tonics

Enriching Tonics is a bit trickier to figure out. You’ll begin with Diluted Tonics of each category, granting you access to a very wide selection of loot: for example, the first Onslaught Gear Tonic increases the odds of obtaining Shadestalker Armor, Onslaught: Salvation weapons, and reprised Splicer weapons (known in Revenant as Vintage Onslaught weapons).

After creating this Tonic a few times, it will split and unlock one of the following three Tonics. It will either become the Tonic of Onslaught: Weaponry, which boosts the drop rate of Onslaught: Salvation weapons, Onslaught: Vintage Weaponry, which boosts the drop rate of Splicer weapons, or the Tonic of Shadestalker Armour, which boosts the drop rate of the Shadestalker armour set and unlocks access to the Shadestalker Tonics category. If you invest in these Tonics they will eventually split themselves, giving you even more freedom as they become Refined Tonics. The same is true for all of the other Enriching Tonic categories.

To unlock more Fieldwork, you need to unlock a certain amount of Tonic Recipes. The easiest way to do this is to spend your Reagents on low-tier Tonics until you have all of the available Potent Tonic recipes at your disposal, then rinse and repeat with the Refined Tonics. It doesn’t matter if you even use the Tonics you create, as just the act of making them will eventually unlock new recipes. Volatile Tonics are a lot better early on as they are far cheaper to create than Enriching ones and way simpler to figure out.

The Alchemist

Destiny 2 Episode: Revenant Act 1 Gameplay Loop

Now that you know everything about Revenant in detail, what does the loop for this Episode of Destiny 2 look like?

1. Play Onslaught: Salvation to earn seasonal weapons, armour, Eido reputation, and large amounts of Reagents.
2. Return to the Last City and turn your Reagents into Volatile and Enriching Tonics at the Tonic Table.
3. Once you have created the Tonics of your choice, consume them for offensive and loot buffs.
4. Return to Onslaught: Salvation or play activities of your choice while the Tonics are active for increased Artifact Perk power or loot drop chance.
5. When the Tonics run out, return to the Last City and make more.
6. Pick up Fieldwork activities from Eido to continue the storyline after unlocking new Tonic Recipes. These will also award Reagent packages, allowing you to make more Tonics.
7. Rinse and repeat.

Of course, alongside the Episode: Revenant-specific activities, players with The Final Shape Dungeon Key will also be able to play the Vesper’s Host Dungeon, opening even more doors in terms of loot and play potential.

Episode: Revenant

That was everything you needed to know about Destiny 2 Episode: Revenant Act 1.