Destiny 2 Exotic Mission Rotator: September 19, 2023

Beyond raids and dungeons, exotic missions are some of the best PvE content Destiny 2 has to offer. However, even these great experiences aren’t safe from the clutches of the Destiny Content Vault, and their disappearance throughout the years has saddened many.

Luckily, Season 22 has an excellent solution: the Exotic Mission Rotator. This new system brings back beloved missions from past seasons while also sprucing them up with some enticing loot. In this article, we’ll cover what these missions are, how they rotate, when each will be featured, and their rewards.

Destiny 2 Exotic Mission this week: September 19, 2023

The rotating Exotic mission this week is Vox Obscura and rewards the Dead Messenger Exotic grenade launcher.

Exotic Rotator rewards this week

While these Exotic quests can be fun and challenging, most Guardians are running them for a chance to earn exclusive weapons and armor.

These are the weapons and armor sets available this week:

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Dead Messenger	Grenade Launcher	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Void	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Explosive Personality	Grenade Launcher	Wave	Legendary	Special	Solar	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Solar	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Piece of Mind	Pulse Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Recurrent Impact	Machine Gun	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Heavy	Stasis	The Witch Queen	Yes	Heavy	Stasis	Average ❘ B	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Heavy	Craftable
	Sweet Sorrow	Auto Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Arc	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Arc	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Thoughtless	Sniper Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Stasis	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Under Your Skin	Combat Bow	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Void	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier

Armor Set	Released	Titan Preview	Hunter Preview	Warlock Preview	Source	Obtainable?
Tusked Allegiance Vox Obscura	Season 16				Vox Obscura	Yes

🛑 These rewards require ownership of The Witch Queen or Season of the Risen.

Exotic Mission Rotator, Destiny 2

Weekly rotation

This is the Season 22 calendar covering the entire Exotic missions rotation until November 28, 2023:

What is the Exotic Mission Rotator?

Over the years, Bungie has added missions that carry specific exotic weapon rewards to Destiny 2. These typically are kept a secret until they’re discovered by the community in-game, making for a day almost as exciting as the release of a new raid.

The exotic mission rotator, new for Season 22, takes some of these missions from past years and puts them into a playlist. This playlist features one mission per week, granting unique rewards that reset every Tuesday.

Currently, three missions are available via this rotator: Presage, Vox Obscura, and Operation: Seraph’s Shield. Bungie has confirmed that more Exotic Missions will be added in 2024.

Exotic Mission Rotator Rewards

Each Exotic Mission offers several rewards, including a specific craftable Exotic weapon, several Legendary weapons, and one armor set.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Dead Man's Tale	Scout Rifle	Exotic	Exotic	Primary	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 13	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Dead Messenger	Grenade Launcher	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Void	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Revision Zero	Pulse Rifle	Exotic	Exotic	Primary	Kinetic	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Operation: Seraph Shield		The Witch Queen	Season 19	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier

As explained by Bungie:

Weapon crafting rewards:

• First completion of the mission on Normal or Legendary difficulty will award the Exotic Deepsight weapon associated with the mission.
• Each completion of the Normal or Legendary version of the Exotic mission will award an intrinsic upgrade that can be used when crafting the Exotic weapon.
• Each completion of the Legendary version of the Exotic mission will award a Catalyst upgrade for the crafted Exotic weapon.

Exotic Mission Rotator rewards, Destiny 2

Armor and weapon rewards:

• Weekly mission rewards:
  • One guaranteed Deepsight weapon that has not had its pattern unlocked and one armor piece that has not already been obtained.
• On every completion, you will receive an additional weapon from the mission’s weapon pool. However, this weapon will have no knockout or guaranteed Deepsight behavior (the weapon can roll with Deepsight, but this would be on a random percentage chance).

Note that Exotic Missions feature two difficulties, Normal and Legendary, and each has separate weekly reward lockouts.

Exotic Rotator Missions: Season 22

As of Season 22, this rotator features three missions from past years. Let’s take a quick look at all three and what they have to offer.

Presage

Released with Season of the Chosen back in early 2021, Presage is the closest thing to a horror experience you’ll get in Destiny 2. Here, you’ll explore a seemingly abandoned Cabal ship filled to the brim with Scorn forces.

The normal difficulty variant of this mission isn’t timed, so explore to your heart’s content! It’s one of the most immersive spaces the Destiny franchise has to offer. Presage is the source of Dead Man’s Tale, a unique exotic scout rifle that now has the option to be crafted. Presage also rewards top-tier weapons from Season 17.

Rewards:

Presage rewards

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Dead Man's Tale	Scout Rifle	Exotic	Exotic	Primary	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 13	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Austringer	Hand Cannon	Adaptive	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Beloved	Sniper Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Solar	Beyond Light	Yes	Special	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Bump in the Night	Rocket Launcher	Aggressive	Legendary	Heavy	Stasis	Beyond Light	Yes	Heavy	Stasis	Average ❘ B	PvE	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Heavy	Craftable
	CALUS Mini-Tool	Submachine Gun	MIDA Synergy	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvE	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Drang (Baroque)	Sidearm	Together Forever	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Firefright	Auto Rifle	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Worst ❘ D	-	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Kinetic	Craftable
	Hollow Denial	Trace Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Void	Beyond Light	Yes	Special	Void	Weak ❘ C	-	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable		Repulsor Brace
	Nezarec's Whisper	Glaive	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Arc	Beyond Light	Yes	Special	Arc	Weak ❘ C	-	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable
	Tears of Contrition	Scout Rifle	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Average ❘ B	PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Kinetic	Craftable
	Without Remorse	Shotgun	Lightweight	Legendary	Special	Solar	Beyond Light	Yes	Special	Solar	Average ❘ B	PvP	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable		Incandescent

Armor Set	Released	Titan Preview	Hunter Preview	Warlock Preview	Source	Obtainable?
Eidolon Pursuant Presage	Season 17				Presage	Yes

Vox Obscura

Vox Obscura came with Season of the Risen and has you and your fireteam storming a Cabal bunker on Mars. While this mission is timed, it has noticeably fewer mechanics than the other two featured in this playlist.

Completing Vox Obscura rewards Dead Messenger. This exotic wave frame grenade launcher can utilize all three Light elements, making for a great counter to missions with high elemental shield density.

Rewards:

Vox Obscura rewards

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Dead Messenger	Grenade Launcher	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Void	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Explosive Personality	Grenade Launcher	Wave	Legendary	Special	Solar	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Solar	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Piece of Mind	Pulse Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Recurrent Impact	Machine Gun	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Heavy	Stasis	The Witch Queen	Yes	Heavy	Stasis	Average ❘ B	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Heavy	Craftable
	Sweet Sorrow	Auto Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Arc	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Arc	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Thoughtless	Sniper Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Stasis	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Under Your Skin	Combat Bow	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Void	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vox Obscura		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier

Armor Set	Released	Titan Preview	Hunter Preview	Warlock Preview	Source	Obtainable?
Tusked Allegiance Vox Obscura	Season 16				Vox Obscura	Yes

Operation: Seraph’s Shield

Basically a small-scale version of the Deep Stone Crypt raid, Operation: Seraph’s Shield was released with Season of the Seraph. This mission has Guardians venturing into a Braytech orbital platform above the Last City to rid it of Fallen forces.

This one is relatively mechanically complex but doesn’t have a timer, making it an enjoyable experience if you take your time.

Revision Zero is the unique exotic you’ll get for completing Operation: Seraph’s Shield. Able to fire a two-round burst, four-round burst, or powerful sniper-like shots, this pulse rifle is truly a jack of all trades. It’s also craftable, allowing you to customize it to your liking.

Rewards:

Exotic Rotator Challenges

Last but not least, these Missions also feature specific challenges. These challenges are meant to test you and reward those who succeed with even more loot. This is how challenges work:

• The challenge rewards will be output at pinnacle power and will prioritize the rewards in the following order:
  • One guaranteed Deepsight weapon that has not had its pattern unlocked.
  • If weapon patterns have all been unlocked, the challenge will award one armor piece that has not been obtained.
  • If all weapon patterns and armor have been obtained for the in-rotation mission, the challenge will output a random weapon or armor.

Exotic Mission Rotator Difficulties, Destiny 2

What about the cult classics?

It’s great to see all these missions back in the game, especially with enticing loot. But it has left many players with one question: What about the rest of the exotic missions we’ve lost to the DCV?

Luckily, Bungie has stated that they’re also looking into bringing older fan favorites like Zero Hour, The Whisper, and Harbinger back through this system. While a timeline hasn’t been set, it’s clear that Bungie has early plans to make this rotator even more robust in the future.