Just like Destiny 2’s first season after the launch of Beyond Light, Season of the Chosen has thrown a new quest at players hungry for an Exotic new addition to their arsenal. Taking the form of a classy scout rifle, Dead Man’s Tale’s primary perk is that landing successful headshots will increase its damage output and reload speed.
It’s also only the second Exotic in Destiny 2 to feature random rolls, sharing that honour with the hand cannon Hawkmoon. So how do you get it? Here’s how.
Start this week’s Nightfall: The Ordeal Strike
The Arms Dealer is currently on rotation in the Nightfall strike playlist, so make certain that your power level is at least 1230 and head on over for some target practice on the Cabal. Look for the door just behind the hologram table in the first room of The Arms Dealer. This will take you into another room that is filled with turrets, so ready your weapons.
Work your way towards the landing pads, and prepare to throw down with a Cabal Phalanx called Than’grot, Loyal to Caiatl. Keep pushing through, make your way to the furthest landing pad and look for a big grey crate. Interact with it and you’ll get your hands on a Cabal Distress Signal datapad.
Return to Zavala
Once this part of the quest has been done, you can continue with the Strike or return to orbit. Whatever, I’m not your mom. Chat to Zavala in the Tower, and you’ll unlock a new mission on the Tangled Shore, called Presage.
Begin the Presage mission
Once you start it, you’ll start the quest in the loading bay entrance of the Cabal ship called the Glykon. Head down the nearby ramp, face your Guardian back towards the spaceship and keep an eye open for the red pipes to the right. Jump on them, and follow the path of pipes until you get past the sealed bay doors.
Defeat the Locus of Communion
Once you’ve blasted your way through some light puzzles, it’s time for a fight! The Locus of Communion is pretty much a reskinned Hangman from the Forsaken days, and he’ll come at you with his big bloody hammer and enough flames to make a pyromaniac happy. Once he has been dealt with through multiple levels of the stage and you’ve fiddled with a few boiler room panels, the mission will be complete.
Claim the Dead Man’s Tale
With the Locus dead, head into the next room and grab your shiny new death-dealer. A brilliant weapon for people who are skilled in landing precision killshots, Dead Man’s Tale can also be re-rolled to get versions with better perks. Re-running the mission will net you a Pinnacle drop, and you’re able to acquire one new Dead Man’s Tale per week per account. Presage runs will earn you three Pinnacle drops per week and one per character, but only your first run of the mission in a week will give you a new Dead Man’s Tale.
Time to start grinding then, for a Dead Man’s Take that has Fluted Barrel, Armor-Piercing Rounds, Killing Wind, and Fitted Stock perks.
Read the lore
I always like taking a quick read of any of the fascinating lore on a new Destiny 2 piece of gear, and Dead Man’s Tale doesn’t disappoint. If you don’t feel like holding down the left bumper, here’s the text!
Dead Man’s Tale
“Long, short, they all end the same way.” —Katabasis
Gaelin-4’s war beast leads us through balmy Venusian jungle. Our rifles low, our Ghosts high in the canopy like sentry drones.
“My vehicle is old. Needs maintenance. Been running too long without cutting the engine,” I say.
Gaelin sends me a sideways look. “That shipwright still around? She used to make cider in the autumn. I swear, she kept us like a pack of strays.”
I sigh. “No, I mean this thing.” I run my hand over my body. “Besides, you know I can’t go back there.” I straighten the leather wrap around my Tex-foundry rifle.
“You know I literally tune myself, right?” asks the Exo Hunter.
“Why? You’re immortal.”
“And you’re not?”
“I know, but I’m… slower. I feel slower.”
“Uh huh.”
“Just not like what I used to feel like. Not… spry. Not up here either.” I tap my helmet.
“Tragedy. I feel for you. Have Gilgamesh tune you then.”
I chuckle. “Yeah… he’d love that.”
“You two having issues again?”
I shake my head in a stiff, narrow lie. “You think we come back the same every time?”
“I do. Straight from the manufacturer ,” Gaelin-4 says.
“Sometimes I get the feeling… something’s different.”
Gaelin stops and squints at me.
I dip my head and let my hood fall forward. “Nothing I can put my finger on, just little things. Adjustments.”
“You think he’s changing you?” Gaelin’s voice sounds more serious than surprised.
I wait too long to answer. It’s not because I don’t know my answer, but because I want to feel like I still doubt it. I raise my head. Gaelin meets my eyes and looks up to the canopy.
He leans his shoulder into me and drops his voice to a whisper. “My Clip’s a good one, but you need to realize Ghosts don’t know anything. Nobody does. They’re just like us. They get curious. They question. If you think something’s coming unwound, you need to sit down and talk it out.”
“Wait… did Clip change yo—”
“Please,” Gaelin scoffs. “You’re paranoid.” He turns to keep walking and calls back, “Life changes you. Same with them. I’m the only one that stays the same.”
Gaelin raises a fist and we stop. His war beast sniffs the air and turns us east. We continue walking.
“What’d you name the beast?”
“Castus.”
“You’ve been reading too many of the Spider’s books .”
“Some of ’em are good.”
I laugh. “Aren’t you the man that said anything you got tying you down can be made into a noose?”
“Yeah, some time ago.”
“You’ve been taking a lot of jobs with him ? Those Fallen?”
“You’re one to talk, Emperor’s lackey . Some of those Eliksni aren’t so bad.”
Last Updated: February 17, 2021
