Each Destiny 2 Ascendant Challenge shows off some of the most interesting new content in Forsaken. They’re found in the expansion’s best new location, the Dreaming City, which is home to all sorts of mysteries and wonder. It’s full of a things to discover, more loot to earn, and of course, a horrible case of Taken corruption.
Each week, the Dreaming City is host to a single Ascendant Challenge. Completing one will earn you Powerful Gear and potentially exclusive Dreaming City cosmetics. You’ll want to enter the Ascendant Realm each week to take these challenges down.
Before You Start…
Before you can access any Ascendant Challenge, you need to drink a Tincture of Queensfoil. These items are rewarded randomly for a variety of activities in the Dreaming City: like completing public events, opening chests, and participating in the Blind Well.
Drinking a Tincture will make you Ascendant for a short time and provide access to secrets hidden throughout the city—most notably portals that transport you to the Ascendant realm, where the challenges are held.
It’s easy to tell when you’re close to a portal. A message will pop up on the bottom-left of the screen, notifying you that “the seam between realities grows weaker.” This is how you know you’re in the right location.
There are six Ascendant Challenges in total. Although only one is available at a time. They’re on a weekly rotation and, on the Tuesday of every seventh week, the challenges start over from the beginning.
Keep of Honed Edges
This week’s challenge portal is a bit tricky to reach. It’s found in the secluded undercity area called, appropriately enough, Harbinger’s Seclude. Go to Rheasilvia and move to the northern section of the zone—the big entry hall. Enter here, follow the hallway, and take a right.
Keep going down the hallway until you find a wide open area with a bridge at the end. Head to the end of the bridge and pop your Tincture of Queensfoil. The portal is above you, on top of a statue that’s well out of reach. While facing the statue, turn to your right to reveal a normally invisible series of platforms. Follow them to reach the portal.
Once inside, head towards the well-lit main area. You will find three wizards and three knights surrounding a sword. Kill the wizards to release the sword. You can grab it as soon as the wizards are dead, but get ready to move. More Taken will continuously spawn. It’s best to have a friend or two deal with them while the sword-bearer focuses on the knights. Although killing weaker enemies with the sword charges its super faster.
Circle the room, using the sword’s heavy attack to stagger and damage the knights, while trying to isolate them from one another. Once they’re all dead a new message will appear on the bottom-left of your screen, saying “Toland beckons you.” Toland is the (mostly) disembodied voice that guides you in the Ascendant Realm. Now you can find him in the middle of the room as a floating white spark.
Toland wants the sword-bearer to follow him through a jumping puzzle. So make your way across the large chasm while jumping from platform to platform. Time your jumps to avoid the floating debris. It will knock you down to your death. Enemies will also on various spawn on various platforms. Kill them quickly, or have your fireteam snipe them, so you can keep moving quickly. Some of the platforms will disintegrate after you touch them. Once you make it to the end, loot the chest and get the hell out of there.
And that’s it! Check back next Tuesday for our guide to the next challenge. In the meantime, you can read our Destiny 2: Forsaken review for more thoughts on the expansion. Take care!
