Destiny 2’s best exotic weapon is currently impossible to acquire

Izanagi’s Burden is the current top choice for DPS, but a bugged quest has left some players stuck sniper-less.

Since the launch of New Light, the free-to-play version of Destiny 2, some players have effectively been locked out of earning what is widely regarded as the best damage dealing gun in the game: Izanagi’s Burden. Originally introduced as part of the Season of the Forge, this exotic energy sniper rifle enables players to combine four bullets into a single super-powerful ‘Honed Edge’ shot. It’s the current king of burst damage, and has become the go-to weapon in loadouts for much of the game’s most difficult content. 

Unfortunately, due to a bug related to the Forge activities which the gun’s questline relies on, players hoping to acquire the weapon have been unable to make progress for nearly a month now. 

Bungie promised a fix in the October 29 update, and technically, it delivered. Players are now able to progress the quest beyond the broken step and pick up a key mold from Ada-1, the Forge’s activity vendor found in the basement of the Tower. Now the bad news: At the same time, Bungie also broke the quest in spectacular new ways. Players are reporting that three different steps in the Izanagi’s Burden quest aren’t registering upon successful completion of the required activity. 

Bungie community manager Dylan “dmg04” Gafner confirmed the studio is aware of the new issues. Responding to complaints on the subreddit, he said: “Team is digging on this right now. Fully understand the frustrations here, as players are looking for a top DPS weapon to use in difficult content.”

The reaction of players has been one of understandable frustrations, particularly from those who lost ‘rare’ forge bounties which were essential to finishing the quest, time-consuming to complete, and hard to acquire in the first place. No doubt the frustration is exacerbated by having to watch teammates and streamers gleefully doming bosses with Izanagis. 

Gafner wasn’t able to commit to a how or when a fix will be issued, writing “Once we have more info on the underlying bug, the proposed fix, and a timeline, we’ll let you know.” We’ve reached out for further clarification and have asked if a hotfix outside the usual patch schedule is in the works. 

Until then, check out some alternative guns you might want to grind for. If it’s a high DPS sniper you’re after, a Tranquility with the Firing Line perk would be my pick.