Destiny 2 Heartshadow + Catalyst: How to get them

The Duality dungeon is the latest endgame activity in Destiny 2, and on top of offering challenging mechanics and excellent legendary loot, it also introduced both the Heartshadow exotic sword and its Catalyst. Needless to say, the entire community is desperately trying to clear this dungeon in order to get their hands on both of these.

This quick guide will tell you everything there is to know about it: How to get it? How to unlock it? Is it even worth it? And that last part is important because Exotic catalysts can be extremely hard to find and/or unlock, but the benefits are not always up to par.

Name: Heartshadow

Type: Sword Archetype: Exotic

Ammo: Heavy Element: Void

Craftable: No Released: Season 17

Source: Duality Dungeon Requires: Witch Queen Dungeon Key

How to get Heartshadow Catalyst

The catalyst for the Heartshadow Exotic sword can only be acquired within the Duality dungeon by completing a mini-quest. Reddit user Known_Masterpiece explains how to obtain the catalyst:

Standard-Bearer 1

Launch a fresh run and get into the first parkour section; you’ll need to head up to where the second lore collectible is, in the nightmare realm. If you have the sword, a miniboss will be spawned there. Do the murder-stab, and he’ll drop a standard like in the encounters. Word of Warning, this will start a collapse timer, so pick it up fast and jump down to the bottom bell to re-enter reality. Continue to the second bell-like normal, but before you ring it to leave, plant the standard behind the bell. It’ll give you a prompt. Clear the first encounter.

Standard-Bearer 2

After getting to the part with the two levers, there’s another boss that spawns in here. Kill them and get the standard, then continue to where you rotate the statues around. Stand up where the bonus chest is and switch dimensions. The plate is right where you are, plant and clear second encounter.

Standard-Bearer 3 (final)

The final step is in the room with the white-cloth-covered square. Get up to the catwalk above the main room, then look back towards the door. There’s another boss there; kill him and return to the first (lower) bell. If you are in the nightmare realm after killing one of these bosses, it is timed. From there, get up to where the ads spawn before the drop down to the Boss room. There’s a half oval against the wall in the center of the little square. Plant the banner, and a chest will spawn.

Destiny 2 Heartshadow Exotic & Catalyst

The catalyst adds the following perk:

• Wraithwalk: Faster movement while invisible and increased ammo capacity by +50.

Once acquired, you’ll need 400 weapon kills to unlock it. Using typical farming methods such as Shuro Chi Wall or the opening section of Grasp of Avarice will speed things along.

Catalyst: Heartshadow

Ammo: Heavy Element: Void

Source: Duality Dungeon (x3 banners) Requires: The Witch Queen Dungeon Key

How to Unlock: ► 400 kills Released: Season 17

How to get the Heartshadow

Heartshadow can only by obtained completing the Duality dungeon. You can find the entire Duality loot table here.

How to get the Heartshadow, Destiny 2

Heartshadow drop rate

The drop rate for Heartshadow is estimated at roughly 5%, based on community-driven data. Note that actual drop rates are unknown, as Bungie has never shared that information.

Albeit drop rates for Raid and Dungeon exotics are abysmally low, completing Triumphs will increase dungeon exotic drop rates. In this case:

• Mind Heist: Find all 12 Repressed Memories within the dungeon.
• Solo Thoughtstealer: Complete the dungeon solo.
• Master Thoughtstealer: Complete the dungeon on Master difficulty.

How good is the Heartshadow Dungeon Exotic?

Heartshadow features the following Exotic traits:

• Exhumation: Heavy attacks made with full Sword energy turn you invisible and fire exploding Void projectiles.
• Shot in the Dark: Remaining invisible grants this weapon increased damage for a brief duration. Hitting a target with this weapon’s projectiles while Shot in the Dark is active weakens them.

Heartshadow is the definition of a niche weapon. In very specific situations, such as Crota, this Sword can be used to extend high-potency buffs, such as Tractor Cannon, while also putting out respectable DPS when used in a swap rotation with certain weapons.

Unfortunately, Heartshadow is only B-Tier for PvE and C-tier for PvP.

Before you go…

Are you looking for other top-tier Raid/Dungeon Exotics worth chasing? We cover How to get Touch of Malice and How to get Conditional Finality here.