Destiny 2 guide: How to get three free Forsaken Exotic Ciphers or Ascendant Shards for masterworking

Me flying into the tower to grab those balls. (Image credit: Bungie)

Back in October, Bungie announced that when The Witch Queen expansion launches in February, another chunk of old content will be sent to the Destiny Content Vault (DCV). Which is longhand for saying removed from the game until further notice. The idea is to prevent install size bloat and stop the game becoming a nightmare to test and balance. The biggest ticket items being culled in this round are the Forsaken campaign and Tangled Shore destination, both of which are getting the chop on 2 February, 2022.

To soften that pill, Bungie made the Forsaken campaign free to play for everyone, as of this week’s 30th Anniversary patch. For players who already own Forsaken, there’s some more sugar in the form of three Forsaken exotic ciphers. Each of these can be exchanged for an exotic weapon you don’t own from the Forsaken expansion.

"But Tim, I play this game as if it’s a second incredibly-poorly paid job and already own all these guns, what about me?" I have good news for you too, friend. In that scenario you can swap the three Ciphers for three Ascendant Shards, the most rare crafting material in the game (better known as golf balls). Given that Forsaken came out in September 2018, we really have had plenty of time to play it, so this feels like a fair shake, though I will miss that rascal Spider and the Paul McCartney-loving patrons of the Tangled Shore’s coolest Lost Sector.

To redeem your bribe/gift, simply head to the Tower, mosey on over to the Monument to Lost Lights, which is to the left of the Gunsmith, where the Vault is. Now select the Forsaken Exotics and go nuts. The obviously strong picks are Anarchy and Izanagi’s Burden for PvE or The Last Word, Ace of Spades and Le Monarque for PvP. That said, don’t sleep on the Always on Time sparrow. It’s faster than every single sparrow in the game, and has more health.

Bungie will also be showing a new trailer for The Witch Queen at The Game Awards tonight, so tune to see what that cheeky scamp Savathûn is up to next!

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With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.