Destiny 2: How to get the Lumina exotic handcannon

Another week, another round of activities and content in Destiny 2. For this weekly reset, Destiny 2’s Guardians will finally have their chance to obtain the Lumina via an exotic quest.

This exotic handcannon is the first of its kind. It’s a weapon that can be used to heal your own allies using its Noble Rounds perk. Imagine being even more of a pure support class in Destiny 2, eh beloved Warlocks? You can check out the recent trailer for the Lumina exotic below:

Note: The tidbits on the Lumina exotic quest were initially provided by Reddit user Ginsor who’s become a trusted source for datamined information regarding Destiny 2. It’s possible that there will be more details (such as modifiers and additional tips or tricks) once the actual quest goes live this weekly reset.

Update: It seems the datamined information was slightly incorrect with regards to some of the quest steps or their ordering. We’ve updated the guide accordingly.

It’s time to heal with this baby.

Lumina, Lumina, I Keep Coming Back To Lumina

Step 1: The first step to getting the Lumina exotic handcannon in Destiny 2 is to go back to where you found its counterpart, Thorn. As we’ve noted in our previous Thorn guide, you’ll have to make your way past the Salt Mines lost sector in the EDZ. Then, once you reach the abandoned camp, check out where you originally found Thorn and you’re off to start the Lumina quest.

Step 2: At this point, you’ll be given a specific location that can change every hour. Take a look at your positioning quest item to determine the location. Head there and find the chest. If it’s in a lost sector, it’s not the actual chest therein but it might be in a room off to the side. In my case, it was in Shaft-13 in the EDZ, and it was in a small room down a hallway before the actual lost sector.

Once you’ve opened the chest, you’ll gain the Rose handcannon. It’s sort of like a prototype or depowered version of the Lumina.

Step 3: You’ll need to generate 250 orbs of light. Here’s the cool part — it seems the progression is helped by the teammates around you. In my case, I simply headed to Mars to do Escalation Protocol. With around four other blueberries, I completed this step in a few rounds.

The abandoned campsite where you originally started the Thorn quest is also where you’d start looking for the Lumina exotic.

That Escalated Quickly

Step 4: Your next task is to empower the Rose’s perks. You’re given three sets of bounties to complete.

Kill enemies without reloading your weapon – You’ll need a hundred of these types of kills so just use auto rifles, machine guns, the Huckleberry SMG, or pretty much anything really, as long as you’re not accidentally reloading.

Complete a Nightfall strike with a score of 50,000 or higher – This is fairly easy to do. If you’ve been following our guide to hit 750 power level, you can just crank up the handicap and breeze through the Nightfall without any modifiers.

Complete Blind Well, Escalation Protocol, or Black Armory forge activities – You’ll need 35 points to complete this step. The activities give the following number of points:

• Blind Well gives seven points per heroic run.
• Black Armory forges will net you four points. For instance, in Bergusia Forge, you get one point per wave, and then two points for killing the Fallen Walker boss.
• Escalation Protocol gives one point per wave and three points for the final boss kill during the seventh wave.

So, out of all three, which one will let you progress the fastest? Why, it’s none other than Escalation Protocol. Provided that you have a decent fireteam, or you’re surrounded by several other randoms, you can clear waves in no time.

Even better, once you kill the boss during the Escalation Protocol’s seventh wave, you can redo the activity from the sixth wave! You’re looking at nine points for a full completion, and then four points per sixth-to-seventh wave repetition.

Escalation Protocol, added during Destiny 2’s Warmind DLC, offers the fastest way of progressing early on in the Lumina exotic quest.

Fireteam Leader

Step 5: Fireteam Leader – This one is all about doing various Destiny 2 activities with the Rose equipped until you hit 100 percent. The more Guardians you have in your fireteam that have the Rose equipped, the more progress you’d obtain. From testing, these were the two fastest means:

• Menagerie (Normal) – A quick run through the Menagerie with all six players equipping Rose will net you 35 percent. You’ll have to do three runs. You can check out our Menagerie guide here, as well as our write-up on how to fight this week’s boss Arunak.
• Lake of Shadows strike – A quick run through Lake of Shadows, the fastest strike that can be completed, will net you 12 percent. You’ll need to do 10 runs.
• Other activities may provide certain percentages but I did not focus on these.

Step 6: Strength In Numbers

This part requires a bit of extra competition in Destiny 2’s Gambit or Crucible matches. You’ll need to do the following:

• Generate 50 orbs for your teammates – This can be done in any activity.
• Defeat Guardians as a team using handcannons – This can be done in the Crucible as well.
• Defeat an Invader before they can kill a teammate – Naturally, this can only be done in Gambit or Gambit Prime.

This last part can be annoying. Just remember to be aware of an invasion happening and try to get the jump on your opponent. Use weapons such as the Truth rocket launcher to play it safe. Oh, and it seems you need to get the final blow on the invader to get this part done.

There might be some players out there who’ll just invade and then do a wave at you. That would be nice, but do expect some Gambit sweats too.

Then, it’s time to meet up with Xol once more.

Problem Xol-ving

Step 7: For the final step, you’ll have to complete the Will of Thousands strike and defeat Xol with the Rose equipped. There’s also another twist. There will be Hive crystals that you’ll spot during the strike. You’ll need to destroy these as well while making your way to the boss fight so you can complete this step.

Once you’re done, congratulations! You now have the brand new Lumina exotic hand cannon. That old Rose you had before? Well, you can still grab it from your collections if you want to.

Don’t forget to check out our Destiny 2 Season of Opulence guides and features hub as well if you need help with other content.

Are you excited about the Lumina exotic handcannon in Destiny 2? Do you think it will become an exotic that’s a must-have for PvE or the PvP meta? Let us know.