The Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion allows us to reminisce on our Guardians’ journey throughout the story, with returning areas and even our very first weapon: Khvostov. However, the journey to unlock it is not an easy one, and you'll need to unlock the legendary variant before you can the exotic. Buckle up for one of the grindiest weapon hunts in Destiny 2 for a while.
Here we'll run through how to get both variants of the gun, including how to find the Lost Encryption Bits you need to open the chest in The Divide, and the Motes of Light to open the exotic Khvostov chest in the Old Tower. It's worth noting that while you can get legendary Khvostov right now, since an overthrow boss in The Bloom has been a bit bugged, it might not be possible to get the final Mote of Light you need from it until that's fixed.
How to unlock Khvostov 7G-02 (legendary)
To unlock legendary Khvostov you need to do the following:
- Finish The Final Shape's campaign and the Queens I exotic mission
- Progress Micah-10’s questline through the Convalescence quest to unlock the Alone in the Dark quest and gain access to the Cyst activities
- Find one Lost Encryption Bit within each of the six Cyst activities
- Loot Lost Encryption Bits from the nine Pale Heart region chests
- Use those 15 Lost Encryption Bits to open the chest in The Divide to get legendary Khvostov
Before you can even work towards getting the legendary Khvostov, your first step is to finish The Final Shape’s campaign and then the Queens I mission, which is a part of the Destined Heroes exotic quest unlocked at the end of the campaign. You then need to progress Micah-10’s questline in the Old Tower through the Convalescence quests to access the Cyst activities and the Alone in the Dark quest. You'll need take this quest multiple times to access all of the Cysts and grab the Lost Encryption Bit located in each.
Lost Encryption Bit locations
Now that you are able to take on the Alone In The Dark quest, you need to find 15 Lost Encryption Bits. While nine of these are located in region chests marked by crosses on the map—three in The Landing, The Bloom, and The Impasse—the other six are located within the Cyst activities that unlock each time you take the Alone in the Dark quest from Micah.
Within each Cyst, you'll need to search for a hidden pile of junk from which you can get each Lost Encryption Bit.
Aerial Ace Encryption Bit location
At the end of this mission, you can head out through the path under the cliff in the boss room. Follow the lava until you jump up to a small rock before another pool of lava. Just to your right, before you cross the lava, you can find a small crevice you can get through. In here, is the junk pile.
Moth-Infested Cavern Encryption Bit location
Early on in the mission, after unlocking the door with the Hive runes, you will fight an ogre. Jump down beneath where it was standing and head inside one of the caves to find the Encryption Bit in the junk pile.
Searing Light Encryption Bit location
At the end of the mission, after defeating the boss, you will see a cave with a purple light in the boss room. The Encryption Bit is in here, in the small drop down area beneath the rocks you can platform across.
Slayer Encryption Bit location
At the end of the mission, you will fight an ogre. Once it is defeated, look for the cave with the tree trunk in front of it in the boss room. The Encryption Bit, and a Vision of the Traveler, which you need for a step to get the exotic variant, can be found here.
Smothering Darkness Encryption Bit location
At the end of the mission, after you fight the boss, you can look across the cave from where it was to find a purple-lit cave. In here is the pile of junk with the Encryption Bit.
Sword Dance Encryption Bit location
The final Encryption Bit is located about midway through this mission. After you fight the ogre on the staircase (its the second ogre in the mission), you can follow the path ahead through the gap high up in the wall. Instead, of going through the upper path, head through the gap lower down. Destroy the wall with the sword to find the final pile of junk behind it.
Unlocking the chest In The Impasse
Now you have all the Lost Encryption Bits, you'll want to travel to The Impasse in The Pale Heart. Head through into The Divide Cosmodrome wall until you reach the golden chest; it's just to the right after the first corridor where the ground starts to turn icy. This is where you first picked up the Khvostov in Destiny. This legendary version has multiple perk choices including Strategist, Pugilist, and Demolitionist in column one, and then Multikill Clip and Attrition Orbs in column two.
How to unlock Khvostov 7G-0X (exotic)
As mentioned, you need to acquire the legendary variant of Khvostov in order to get the exotic. If you don't, you simply won't be able to open the chest containing the gun. The exotic variant of Khvostov is a suped up version of the gun with set perks, unlike its legendary counterpart. Its unique trait is that every seventh bullet from this weapon deals additional damage and ricochets to nearby targets.
Here are the steps to get it:
- Locate all eight Visions of the Traveler along with the eight Motes of Light they give
- Kill all three Overthrow bosses in The Landing, The Bloom, and The Impasse, getting a Mote of Light for each. When you acquire 17 Motes of Light, they'll transform into a Mote of Primordial Light
- Visit The Speaker’s room in the Old Tower, where you met Cayde-6 at the start of the campaign, and place each Vision of the Traveler on the eight podiums to make a chest appear
- Use the Mote of Primordial Light to open the chest and get exotic Khostov
The most challenging part of doing this is defeating the Overthrow bosses, since it's random which one you'll get when you reach the final tier of an Overthrow, and that can make this process a bit grindy. You'll also have to gather the Visions of the Traveler— this video from Esoterickk is a handy resource for getting them all quick. At least one of these is located within a Cyst activity, so that means you'll need to progress Micah-10's questline to gain access as well.
As mentioned above, the 'meatball boss' in The Blooming was disabled for a while due a bug where it was eating players' Motes of Light instead of dropping 17th one. While the boss is back now, it's currently unclear whether it's entirely fixed and will drop the mote you need.
