Destiny 2: How to catch Exotic fish and use each Broken Blade

Destiny 2 Broken Blade statue
(Image credit: Bungie)

Anyone who's caught one of the new Destiny 2 Exotic fish in the last couple of weeks might be a little confused. When you go to dunk your catch in the HELM aquarium, you receive a Broken Blade item that doesn't appear in your inventory, but as with all mysterious Destiny 2 items, it does have a hidden use.

If you haven't ventured back to Neomuna yet this season, you might want to grab your free Epochal Integration, or if you haven't got the new seasonal Exotics, knowing the lost sector rotation is handy. Here's how to use each Destiny 2 Broken Blade and catch the Exotic fish that give you them.

How to catch Exotic fish

Handing in one of the unique Exotic fish gets you a Broken Blade (Image credit: Bungie)

The game is adding new Exotic fish for each destination alongside the fishing rally quests. Since fishing spots rotate weekly—with only one being labelled as 'Exotic' on the map—it's likely you'll have a better chance acquiring an Exotic fish at those spots. That said, the weekly Exotic fishing spot and the fishing rally don't always seem to be in the same place. Luckily, there's a double chance to catch Exotic fish this week.

When you dunk your new Exotic fish into the aquarium for the first time, you also get a Broken Blade, which I'll explain what to do with in the next section. For now, here's each Exotic fish with its destination, plus the blade it drops:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Exotic fishDestinationBlade
Kheprian AxeheadAll destinationsNo blade
Whispering MothcarpThrone WorldBroken Blade of Strife
Vexing PlacodermNessusBroken Blade of Ambition
Aeonian Alpha-BetaEDZBroken Blade of Cunning

Broken Blade of Strife

The first statue is right by where the Twlight Plant is (Image credit: Bungie)

Each Broken Blade is used to activate one of the three Hive Statues hidden in the new seasonal Deep Dive activity. Doing so gives you a little dialogue from Xivu Arath and lights the statue up. The statue where you need to use the Broken Blade of Strife is located in the initial Twilight depth of the Deep Dive. Drop off the walkway into the underwater caves, but instead of dropping down again, go straight ahead, then left, then right, and crouch through a small gap. The statue is just down a drop to your right. Incidentally, this is right next to where you find the Twilight Plant for the Aquarium Vivarium secret triumph.

Broken Blade of Ambition

The next statue is located in the room with the first encounter of the Deep Dive, though you can't get to the statue unless you complete the challenge itself. I'm pretty sure you also have to beat the challenge, too, otherwise you'll be teleported out of the area to the final boss. When standing by the portal, turn left, and head over to that side of the big open area to find a raised platform with an open door, and a hive statue inside you can activate.

Broken Blade of Cunning

Activate the third hive statue (Image credit: Bungie)

The final statue is located in the Midnight depth underwater section immediately after the previous one. Once you turn off the big fan and drop down through it, drop down again, and then hug the left wall around the corner to find a ledge with the statue tucked away. Activate this and you're all set. Lower down, I'll explain what this all actually does.

So what do the Broken Blades do?

After you activate all three statues and complete the first two encounters, you'll find that a door opens off to the side of the second encounter's room. Inside are three hive statues which each fireteam member must activate to lower the barrier in the next water section, allowing you to continue. What follows are two boss encounters where you have to kill taken minotaurs to damage them, but they are far harder to locate in the second boss. Complete both and you'll get the new Exotic scout rifle, Wicked Implement.

The good news is that you don't need to complete Pressure Trials in the first two encounters or anything like that to activate this extra part of the Deep Dive. But the bad news is that this activity is Grandmaster level, i.e. if you wipe as a fireteam, you'll have to start the entire Deep Dive again. Good luck!

Sean Martin
Senior Guides Writer

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.