How to Get the Winterbite Exotic Heavy Glaive | Destiny 2: Lightfall

With the launch of the Lightfall expansion, Destiny 2 is getting a suite of brand-new Exotic weapons and gear. From a new Machine Gun that uses rhythm to inflict Void debuffs to some fancy new Strand armour that augments your Threadlings, there’s plenty for Guardians to sink their teeth into. One of those weapons is a new Exotic Stasis Glaive called Winterbite. This weapon is full of interesting additions – primarily being a Heavy weapon instead of a Special weapon – that you’ll surely want in your roster of Neomuni weaponry. 

Here’s how to get the Winterbite Exotic Glaive in Destiny 2: Lightfall. 

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Prerequisites

Before you can even think about trying to get your hands on the Winterbite, you need to do a few things first. 

The first thing is to complete the Lightfall Campaign. This means getting up to, and past, the Desperate Measure mission. You also have to begin the quest for the Exotic Machine Gun, Deterministic Chaos (the quest is titled Unfinished Business) which gives you access to the Cloud Strider Memorial Room. Talk to Nimbus after the Lightfall campaign to accept it.

Hall of Heroes

From this point on, you’ll have to undertake a series of quests from one of the Neomuna vendors by the name of Quinn. They want your help in restoring several of the Cloudstrider Servers, each of which comes with its mini questline. After an introductory quest showing you around the facility, Quinn will give you the first one.

In total, you will need to complete:

• Stargazer Quest
• Maelstrom Quest
• Bluejay Quest

Once you have completed all three and repaired their monuments back in the Hall of Heroes, return to Quinn. You can finally begin the Strider Quest, which is where you will obtain the Winterbite.

Strider Quest

Winterbite Exotic Quest

The Exotic Quest for the Winterbite in Destiny 2 can be obtained from Quinn. You’re looking for the last set of information you need to repair the final Cloud Strider monument: the one for the very first Cloud Strider. Here are the quest steps for the Strider Exotic Quest:

1. Speak to the archivist to accept the quest.
2. Spend keys on a Terminal Overload Key Chest in each of the three different areas in Neomuna.
3. Defeat Shadow Legion forces in Neomuna to find location data, and dive into the Ahimsa Park Lost Sector for a data cipher to pull the data together.
4. Return to the archivist and discuss your findings.
5. Approach Strider’s memorial to repair it.
6. Destroy the Hydras and shut down the confluxes at Maya’s Retreat.
7. The archivist has a reward for you.

After you have completed all of the other quest steps, head back to Quinn in the Hall of Heroes to claim your reward.

Cloud Strider Monuments

Step 1 Notes

The first step in this quest is to open the Terminal Overload Key Chest in each of the three different areas of Neomuna. This is referring to the Terminal Overload event which tasks Guardians with stopping several waves of advancing Vex and Shadow Legion, which culminates in a boss fight. You don’t have to complete the first two waves (which just award an extra chest of Neomuna loot upon succeeding) and just need to beat the final boss to spawn the chest.

There are two important things to know with this step. The first is that you need to have a Terminal Overload Key to open the chest you need. These can be obtained from doing anything on Neomuna: patrols, chests and Public Events all have a chance of dropping one. However, they are more likely to appear in the current Vex Incursion Zone. You can tell which of Neomuna’s three zones is currently considered a Vex Incursion Zone thanks to the strange symbol paired with the glitch effect on the map.

Vex Incursion Zone

The second caveat is that this quest step is time-gated. The Terminal Overload event cycles through Neomuna’s three districts – Zephyr Concourse, Ahimsa Park and Liming Harbor – daily. You need to open one Terminal Overload Locked Chest in each zone, meaning that it will take a minimum of three days to complete this step. 

Terminal Overload itself isn’t too difficult and, just like last year’s Nightmare Containment, you can load into it directly via the map. Just remember to open the final chest over three days. Do that and you’ll be able to continue the Strider quest. 

Terminal Overload Chests

Winterbite Exotic Overview

The Winterbite Exotic Glaive is a very special weapon in Destiny 2. For one, it isn’t a Special weapon like every other Glaive, but it is instead a Heavy weapon. It still has a shield which blocks damage at the cost of lower movement speed, which is the same as other Glaives.

The Intrinsic Exotic perk is Big Frigid Glaive. Instead of firing out a normal projectile, the Winterbite will fire out a large ball of energy, Stasis energy to be exact. This will lock onto nearby targets and Freeze them. Additionally, while it is moving towards its target, it will act similarly to a Bleak Watcher Stasis turret and fire bullets that will slow enemies it hits.

The other Exotic trait is Weighted Edge. While the weapon has ammo loaded, its melee attacks will deal increased damage and Slow targets. This means that, when you are lacking in ammo, Winterbite will deal the same damage as all other special Glaives.

Portable Stasis Turret

On the surface, Winterbite is a very strange Exotic but one that certainly has a place. It essentially allows you to carry around a mini-Shadebinder in your pocket. You can throw out Stasis turrets whenever you see fit, slowing and freezing everything in your wake. All the best parts of Stasis – access to all three keywords and massive crowd control potential – are present without the need to be on a Stasis subclass. You can combo Freeze and Shatter with Volatile Rounds or Threadlings, opening a whole host of new possible interactions. 

That being said, Winterbite is still a Glaive. It only has a three-round magazine and it will reload extremely slowly. The fact that melee hits Slow targets (and deals great damage) is a great addition that promotes getting up close and personal. This is especially true with the aid of the perk Tilting at Windmills. Whether you want to get that close is another matter altogether. If you get caught in a firefight with low ammo, you’ll likely find yourself in need of a rez before you finish reloading.

Overall, Winterbite is a really fun weapon to use if you want to easily control the battlefield. You’ll even be able to cover several Champion types with Slow and Shatter. However, it is still a Glaive and requires a certain level of investment and recklessness to effectively use. Players looking to use Stasis as their primary tool will likely find more use in other Exotics such as the new Exotic Bow, the Verglas Curve.

The Winterbite

And that was how to unlock the new Heavy Stasis Glaive, Winterbite, in Destiny 2: Lightfall.