Destiny 2: Festival of the Lost 2020 guide — The Haunted Forest, Cipher Decoders, and masks

We have just a little over a month left until the launch of Destiny 2: Beyond Light, and it looks like the Season of Arrivals will have its last hurrah with the Festival of the Lost 2020 event. The annual Halloween event will have you wearing your masks, grabbing your guns, and stepping inside the Haunted Forest once more to collect your spooky rewards. Here’s our event guide to help you out.

Note: Destiny 2‘s Festival of the Lost event runs from October 6 to November 3. It’s available to all players regardless of season pass ownership. For more information about all the other activities and content for this season, check out our Destiny 2: Season of Arrivals guides and features hub.

Destiny 2: Festival of the Lost 2020 event guide

After loading in, make your way to the Tower. Take in the sights and marvel at the redecoration that occurred. Looks like everyone’s keen on feeling the festive spirit (pun intended). Anyway, go ahead and speak with Eva Levante to turn in the quest. You’ll then be able to choose from three Traveler masks (one for each element). You can still pick a different one later on by purchasing it with glimmer.

Note: These Traveler masks have 750 power level (PL) only. If you want to infuse and increase their PL, you need to spend 500 candy.

After this, take a look at all the possible bounties and rewards from Eva. These are only active during the Festival of the Lost event.

Weekly:

• Collect 300x candy in the Haunted Forest.
• Collect 25x chocolate strange coins from activities outside of the Haunted Forest.

Daily:

• Complete 1x heroic public event while wearing a Festival of the Lost mask.
• Complete 1x heroic story mission while wearing a Festival of the Lost mask.
• Defeat enemies with grenades while wearing a Festival of the Lost mask.
• Defeat enemies with auto rifles while wearing a Festival of the Lost mask.

Much like in previous years, wearing a mask ensures that you’re progressing your bounties and picking up candy. In turn, you can use your amassed candy and chocolate strange coins to grab these rewards.

Masks (requires chocolate strange coins):

• Fractured Traveler – 10
• Variks – 20
• Exo Stranger – 30
• Ana Bray – 40
• Wrapped Traveler – 50
• Bubbling Mask (requires “Triumph: Many Faces”) – 10

Other rewards:

• Restless Shell ghost (exotic) – 200 candy
• Tomb Rider sparrow (exotic) – 300 candy
• Wrap Speed ship (exotic) – 500 candy
• Epic Mystery Grab Bag – 300 candy; 25 chocolate strange coins
• Mystery Grab Bag – 150 candy

The Haunted Forest and Cipher Decoders

So, where exactly do you amass a lot of candy during the Festival of the Lost event? Well, the Haunted Forest is your best bet. Before you access the activity, however, go ahead and meet with the Spider in the Tangled Shore. He’ll tell you to finish either a Vanguard strike, a Crucible match, or a Gambit match to obtain a Cipher Decoder.

Cipher Decoders are used inside the Haunted Forest. It’s the same activity you’ve gotten used to in previous years. It’s got a 750-PL requirement, and you can either join in with matchmaking or without (“Firewalled” version).

Inside, you’ll do battle against various enemy races in Destiny 2. You’ll also notice a 15-minute timer. The goal is to speedily clear branches (floors) by defeating enemies and reaching 100% completion for that branch. Don’t forget to collect candies, too.

In the end, you’ll fight a “Terror,” sort of like a miniboss. You can quickly nuke it with your supers (Tether -> Nova Bomb + whatever Titans want to do), Mountaintops, Anarchy zappers, sword slashes, and more.

Note: If you manage to clear the seventh branch, you’ll get a pinnacle reward just in case you haven’t reached the level cap yet in Destiny 2: Season of Arrivals.

After those 15 minutes are up, you’ll be teleported to an area with collapsing floors (there’s a Hive sword knight lurking below, so try not to fall down). If you manage to make your way towards the end of that area, you’ll spot five chests.

You can use your Cipher Decoders here to obtain additional rewards. These include more candy and chocolate strange coins, as well as random-rolled versions of the Braytech Werewolf and Horror Story.

If you need more Cipher Decoders, simply complete Destiny 2‘s playlist activities such as strikes, Gambit, or Crucible matches. You can bring as many Cipher Decoders as you want before doing your Haunted Forest runs if you want to open as many chests as possible.

As mentioned earlier, you’ve got almost a month — October 6 to November 3 — to do everything you want in Destiny 2‘s Festival of the Lost event, so there’s no rush.

Destiny 2: Season of Arrivals is available on Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub and Bungie’s event FAQ.