Destiny 2: Lightfall has come with a bundle of new Exotic toys and gear for us to try out (and then Vault or shard when we’re done with them). Whether it’s a new Exotic Glaive in the Heavy slot, a Machine Gun that applies debuffs based on rhythm or a Stasis Bow that generates Stasis crystals better than most subclasses, there’s certainly a lot to play with in this latest release. One of the most interesting is a new Exotic Sidearm called Final Warning.
This is our first Strand Exotic weapon and it pairs perfectly with a bunch of different Strand builds and keywords. Managing to unlock it and its quest may take you a while, though.
Here’s how to get the Final Warning Exotic Sidearm in Destiny 2: Lightfall.
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Prerequisites
There are a fair few things you need to do before you can accept the Final Strand Quest. First, you must have completed Lightfall’s campaign. This means completing the “Desperate Measures” final mission and watching the final cutscene. Doing this will give you access to Strand, as well as a bunch of post-campaign content.
The next thing you need to do will take a while. You need to have purchased all Strand Aspects, Fragments and Grenades from the Pouka Pond for one of the Strand subclasses. These can be bought with Strand Meditations, a currency you earn from doing activities around Neomuna or from defeating enemies with Strand.
A Lot of Meditation
Each of the 14 Fragments costs 200 Strand Meditations. This means that, in total, you need 2800 Strand Meditations to unlock everything on one character. That may seem like an awful lot of grinding (and it is if you don’t know how to effectively get Meditations) but the process goes much faster by doing a few things. Easy Strand Meditation sources include:
- Neomuna Public Event Chests: 25 Strand Meditations.
- Terminal Overload Chest: 100 Strand Meditations
- Neomuna Lost Sectors: 15 Strand Meditations
The best way to earn the Meditations is to visit the current Vex Incursion Zone. Do some Lost Sectors, kill enemies with Strand and wait around for some Public Events. This works even better if the current Terminal Overload location is in the Incursion Zone as you can double up on ways to get Strand Meditations.
It’ll still be a bit of a slog but, eventually, you will have collected enough Meditations to accept The Final Strand quest from the Pouka Pool.
The Peaceful Pouka Pond
The Final Strand Exotic Quest Steps
The Final Strand quest involves you working with Nimbus to figure out a way to infuse Strand into a weapon. Now that you’ve mastered it on your subclass, you’ll need an Exotic to accompany it, after all.
Here are the quest steps for The Final Strand. It’s a pretty short quest, seeing that a lot of the work to get it was in saving up enough Strand Meditations:
- Visit Nimbus at Strider’s Gate.
- Search for Strand-inoculated gadgets in Veil Containment in Neomuna.
- Defeat the Shadow Legion looters and read their orders about where they took the spoils.
- Retrieve the Veil spectrometer from the Typhon Imperator.
- Visit the Pouka Pond in the Hall of Heroes.
- Complete Osiris’s training program in Radiosonde in at least 5 minutes and 30 seconds to retune the Veil spectrometer.
- Visit the Pouka Pond to finish your Strand weapon.
Well Earned
Step 2 Notes
The second part of the quest asks you to return to the Veil Containment area of the map, which is just outside of the Irkalla Complex. You visited this location during the last mission of the Lightfall campaign, but getting back to this location can be a bit tricky.
First, head over to Zephyr Concourse. If you’re entering this location from Strider’s Gate, head right. You’ll see a bunch of familiar walkways and areas where you fought in the campaign’s second mission. Continue on until you can walk up a flight of stairs and make it to a blockade that will take you into Esi Terminal. If you need a bit more guidance, open your map and look for the left-most exit leading out of Zephyr Concourse.
Once you enter Esi Terminal, head to the left. You’ll pass by some patrolling Shadow Legion and eventually come to a crossroads near some graffiti of a giant eye. Continue heading straight into the nearby open door where you’ll wander through some corridors before finding yourself in Irkalla Complex.
Hop down some ledges and you can then simply take the Darkness portal over to the Veil Containment area and start the next part of the quest.
Veil Containment Zone
Step 4 Notes
Part 4 of the quest asks you to return to the Typhon Imperator, Calus’ flagship which is parked in Ahimsa Park. Getting to the ship isn’t much of an issue and you should continue moving until you reach the area with the giant gladiator statues in the distance.
In all other quests where you enter the Typhon Imperator, you would go right into a series of side rooms. For this quest, though, jump down onto the catwalk below, which should extend out as you approach. From here you can waltz on up to a pack of Shadow Legion, as well as their Tormentor boss.
This Tormentor is the one holding the item you need, so make sure you bring something that can confidently take down a Tormentor. Once that is done and dusted, you can continue on to the next step.
A Grand Battle
Step 6 Notes
The final proper part of The Final Strand is worded a bit strangely. It asks you to go do Osiris’ training program in Radiosonde, but what it actually wants you to do is complete the Headlong: Time Trial mission.
You can load up this mission from Neomuna, where you’ll find the node at the bottom of the map. This mission is simply a rerun of your final test with Strand, where you were swinging and flying through the Vex domain. You have to complete this in under 5 minutes, but that is very easily done.
Slap on your Grapple, enter the mission and you’ll be walking out with the next part of the quest in no time.
Headlong Time Trial
Final Warning Exotic Overview
Final Warning is a weapon that is sure to please fans of Titanfall’s Smart Pistol. It’s a Siderarm built around tracking and charging up a burst of bullets that interact very well with Strand and Strand keywords.
The main intrinsic Exotic trait is All at Once. Holding down the trigger will mark any targets within range with a red diamond (this can be done in either hip-fire or ADS) and load up multiple bullets. After a few seconds, you will fire a burst of up to 10 bullets at once. Hitting a marked target with a fully charged burst will Unravel them. You can release the trigger prematurely to fire a smaller burst.
Then we have the second Exotic perk, Pick Your Poison. This changes how the weapon’s marking system will work based on how you use it:
- If you Hip-fire: Projectiles will track marked targets, dealing increased body shot damage on impact.
- If you Aim Down Sights: Projectiles have greatly increased velocity and deal extra crit damage to marked targets.
Tracking Rounds
Final Warning is a really interesting weapon, but you’ll need to attune yourself to it to get the most out of it. Firstly, the ability to instantly Unravel targets makes Final Warning an excellent pick for any Strand build. You can combo it with things like the Warlock’s Exotic Swarmers or the Thread of Continuity to consistently spawn Tangles. This is a great boon for plenty of builds, including those built around the Strand Grapple and constantly refunding energy using Tangles.
Secondly, the gun is just pretty fun to use. It will definitely feel familiar to those who used other Exotic like the Devil’s Ruin or Ticquu’s Divination. And, while the tracking is nowhere near as aggressive as a Smart Pistol, it does the job well enough. The best way to use the Final Warning is to alternate between which fire mode you’re using: on large groups of adds, prime them with a tracking hip-fire burst before focusing down any remaining targets by aiming. Using it like this, with constant Unravel triggers and Strand explosions going off is where the weapon truly comes alive.
The main difficulty with Final Warning is what type of gun it is. Sidearms aren’t particularly strong and it can take a while to kill even minor targets. The constant Unravel is undoubtedly a nice touch, but I don’t think it will be enough to justify using it outside of Strand builds. You have to be very “all-or-nothing” with this weapon, which does limit its viability compared to some other guns like Quicksliver Storm (which can be used on basically any subclass, even with a Strand-focused Catalyst).
Overall, Final Warning is a very fun weapon. It embodies a lot of what the Strand identity is about: fast, frantic action with a lot of different mechanics. If you want a weapon that will perfectly accompany practically any Strand build, Final Warning will serve you well. If you aren’t very keen on Strand or are planning on using another subclass, though, the weapon does lose a lot of punch and becomes just another above-average Siderarm.
The Final Warning
That was how to get the Final Warning Exotic Sidearm in Destiny 2: Lightfall. Eyes up, Guardians!
