If you’re looking for an edge in Gambit, look no further than the Exotic hand cannon, Malfeasance. This sexy-looking gun has an awesome perk called Explosive Shadow. It shoots slugs that burrow inside the enemy and explode after five rounds. Basically, for every five shots you hit, it causes a high-damage explosion.
Not only that, but Malfeasance deals bonus damage against both Taken and Gambit invaders. So it’s a very strong weapon for the game mode. There’s a quest to unlock it, however, and we’ve outlined the steps on how to beat it down below.
Step 1: Get Lucky
Sadly, the Malfeasance quest takes some RNG (on top of skill) to finish. The randomness starts with acquiring the quest in the first place. The only way to earn the quest is to play Gambit matches and hope for a special boss to spawn. That’s it!
It’s frustrating, but eventually an “Ascendant Primeval Servitor” boss will spawn as the Primeval in your game. That’s assuming you manage to summon a Primeval, of course. You also have to take it down. If you do kill the special enemy, which is an exact copy of the final boss from Forsaken‘s campaign, you will receive an Exotic item called A Seething Heart. This kicks off the quest. Take the Seething Heart to the Drifter in the Tower and the quest will really begin.
Step 2: City of Secrets
For the first real step of the quest, you need to kill 25 Taken bosses or mini-bosses in the Dreaming City. This can be accomplished in public events, Lost Sectors, or grinding out waves of enemies at the Blind Well.
Basically, you just have to kill a bunch of orange health bar enemies. This step shouldn’t take too long and can be ground out with some persistence. Thes mini-boss enemies are found in a variety of places throughout the Dreaming City.
Step 3: Darkness in the Light
Once you’ve finished off the required kills, the next step takes you to a special variant of the Strike “The Corrupted” in the Dreaming City.
This special version of the Strike features some pretty cool lore about the Drifter and his past, too. So make sure to enjoy the dialogue. Finish the Strike and you will earn a Depleted Weapon Core. Return to the Drifter once again for the next quest step.
Step 4: Business as Usual
Now it’s time to head back to Gambit. This step in the quest has two requirements, and they’re going to take some time. So get ready to grind the PvE/PvP hybrid mode.
The first step in the quest is to win ten Gambit matches. Just grab some friends (and your bounties to kill two birds with one stone) and work together for a bunch of victories. The usual Gambit tips apply: save supers and power ammo for invasions and the Primeval, wait for the enemy team to damage its Primeval before invading, and hide behind cover to draw invaders out into the open.
The second requirement for this step is tougher. It requires you to bank a bunch of motes (about 500) and there’s a pretty serious catch. If you lose motes, you will lose progress of double that much progress. So if you’re at 400 motes and die while carrying 10, your total progress will drop to 380. It’s brutal—especially if invaders catch you out in the open.
Play cautiously. If you have motes, bank them ASAP (you should do that anyway) and you’ll be okay. Once this step is finished, it’s time for even more Gambit in the final step of the quest.
Step 5: Lights Out
If you’ve ignored the PvP aspect of Gambit and just slay Dregs all day, this step might be a problem for you.
The first part of the final stage is to kill 25 opposing Guardians. This will also just come with time. One positive note, however, is that you get credit every time your teammates kill an opposing invader. You’d be surprised how quickly those add up!
The next part is to get four kills in one invasion or have a teammate get four kills in an invasion three times. This is why playing with friends (assuming you know any good Gambit players) is so helpful. If you’re not a good invader, your buddy who has One Thousand Voices and can wipe a team with one shot will become your new best friend.
The best way to get four kills in one invasion is with a powerful roaming super, like the Warlock’s Dawnblade, or by picking off enemies from a distance with a sniper rifle or a linear fusion rifle.
Once all of the requisite kills are achieved, return to the Drifter. Malfeasance is yours!
How to Get the Malfeasance Catalyst
You can obtain the Malfeasance catalyst by completing playlist activities. That means strikes (Nightfall or otherwise) and Gambit or Crucible matches. It basically comes down to sheer luck, sadly. Keep in mind, you need to actually own the weapon itself to cause the catalyst to drop. It seems like unlocking catalysts for older weapons has mostly been relegated to this method which is good or bad news depending on how you look at it. On one hand, it’s not hard to unlock, but on the other it’s entirely random chance.
What Does the Malfeasance Catalyst Do?
The Malfeasance catalyst gives you an extra 20 Range which does help the gun perform a bit better. It also tacks on the Vorpal Weapon perk, giving the exotic increased damage against bosses, vehicles, and Guardians with their Super active. Considering this weapon comes from Gambit, it makes sense that the biggest bonuses it has are centered around other Guardians.
How to Level up the Malfeasance Catalyst
You can level up the Malfeasance catalyst by eliminating 700 foes.
There are many places where you can complete this catalyst, but you should note that the old Thrall hallway in the Shattered Throne dungeon has been patched to no longer grant any kind of XP or catalyst progress. You’ll need to find another location if that was something you frequently did. You can use the beginning of the Shuro Chi encounter or Grasp of Avarice as an alternative.
Now we recommend activities like the Blind Well and Altars of Sorrow as terrific alternatives. The latter throws huge numbers of weak Hive enemies at you, making it easy to complete this catalyst. At least with the new primary infinite ammo addition, you can literally just stand in one place as lines of enemies run at you.
