The second week of Destiny 2’s Rite of the Nine event introduced Ritual Initiation, a quest that guarantees one of two rare Exotics, but which one should you choose?
Introduced with the Ghosts of the Deep and Spire of the Watcher dungeons, Navigator and Hierarchy of Needs usually only have a small chance to drop from their respective dungeons‘ final encounter.
Ritual Initiation, however, gives Guardians the option of picking one as a guaranteed reward after completing its requirements. As they’re normally locked behind a lengthy grind (unless you’re lucky), picking the right Exotic for your playstyle and build is important.
Here’s everything you need to know about both weapons and their respective Catalysts, which provide additional functionality through unique Perks.
Ritual Initiation Quest
Ritual Initiation is a quest acquired from Rite of the Nine’s vendor, The Emissary, located in the Third Spire event hub. If the quest doesn’t appear for you, make sure you’ve completed all previous week one quests first.
Once you’ve picked it up, Ritual Initiation requires you to complete any Rite of the Nine dungeon from start to finish on any of its three difficulties. If you don’t care about other loot, Explorer, a mode intended for beginners that has reduced enemy strength, less loot, and fewer mechanics, is your best bet.
Hierarchy of Needs or Navigator – Meta analysis
With the dungeon completed, returning to The Emissary will present you with the choice between the aforementioned Exotics. See below for a breakdown of what each does and where they perform best in the sandbox.
Hierarchy of Needs
- Archetype: Solar Bow
- Exotic Perks: Guidance Ring, Apollonic Tangent
Like many older Exotics, Hierarchy of Needs has fallen foul of power creep since its introduction in 2022’s Season of the Seraph, but you definitely shouldn’t dismiss it right off the bat.
The gameplay loop here is simple. Land precision hits and kills to build Hierarchy’s Guidance Ring meter. Once full, hip-firing the bow will conjure an energy ring that causes arrows fired through it to release seeking projectiles.
While that process admittedly takes some prep, once Apollonic Tangent is online, Hierarchy becomes a monster add-clear weapon. It’s especially effective in endgame content like Grandmasters, where long-ranged combat is a must for survival.
If clearing packs of enemies with a single arrow sounds like your jam, pick Hierarchy.
Navigator
- Archetype: Strand Trace Rifle
- Exotic Perks: Protective Weave, Weft Cutter
The Navigator once held the title of being the only Strand-element Trace rifle in Destiny 2. That’s no longer true with the addition of Incisor and Unsworn, but Navigator still retains its novel support perks.
Protective Weave allows the user to apply Woven Mail – a damage resistance buff – to themselves and allies, while Weft Cutter provides an offensive bump by Severing enemies on sustained damge.
With Episode Heresy’s Artifact granting massive buffs to Strand and Trace Rifles, Navigator double dips to benefit from both. Likewise, unlike Hierarchy, Navigator’s perks synergize incredibly well with matching elemental builds.
It’s also worth nothing that Ghosts of the Deep is considered to be a much tougher dungeon than Spire of the Watcher. If you like Strand and supporting teammates but hate Ghosts, Navigator is the natural choice.
How to get both Catalysts & what they do
Regardless of your weapon choice, your next port of call will be to unlock its respective catalyst. Here’s how to get them and what they do.
- Hierarchy of Needs Catalyst: Complete Spire of the Watcher on Master difficulty.
- Panoptic Tessellation: Deploying a Guidance Ring or striking a target with a seeking projectile improves draw time and reload speed for a moderate duration.
- The Navigator Catalyst: Defeat a secret boss in Ghost of the Deep by locating three Vestiges of Light depositing them in statues.
- Gordian Knot: Special reload then fire to create a Grapple Tangle at the targeted point.
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