Destiny 2 – How to get Ruinous Effigy (Exotic Trace Rifle)

Ruinous Effigy is a new exotic Trace Rifle that’s been put into the game today and is one of the most unique weapons in the game. There’s a short exotic quest to run through before you can get your hands on the weapon, but it’s not too long and this guide aims to help you get through those steps as soon as possible. The following is a guide for how to get Ruinous Effigy in Destiny 2.

Ruinous Effigy certainly looks to be one of the most unique weapons in the game. It sounds like the Darkness are trying to tempt us over to them by offering us gifts, and if that means sweet loot then sign me up. This is an exotic trace rifle that essentially collapses enemies down into spheres, which can then be picked up and used as weapons. Together with the already unique Witherhoard, it looks like Bungie’s Weapon designers are certainly flexing their creativity this season.

Before we look into the quest and what we need to complete before we get out hands on this weapon, let’s check out some of the details of this unique trace rifle.

Ruinous Effigy Perks

This exotic trace rifle has some really interesting perks making it a very unique weapon.

• Transmutation: Final blows with this weapons collapse victims into void transmutation spheres.
  
• Evolution: Transmutation spheres you create can be picked up and wielded as weapons by you or your allies. They have light attacks, heavy attacks, and can guard/drain nearby combatants.

It’s also has Hammer Forged Rifling for that increase in range, Particle Repeater for an increase in stability and Composite Stock for more stability and handling improvements.

The stats on this weapon are very interesting too. We have 8 for impact, 41 for range, 66 for stability, 53 for handling with a reload speed of 39. It blasts out at 1000 rounds per minute and we have 94 in the magazine.

Ruinous Effigy Quest Steps

To acquire Ruinous Effigy there’s a reasonable short quest called Missive and to get things going we need to head on down to the Prismatic Recaster in the Annex next to Drifter.

Missive

First up, check out the Prismatic Recaster next to Drifter to get things going.

“Thing’s making some weird noises. Internal gravity’s all… wrong. Never done that before. Bunch of Dark energy sloshing around… linking up with something on Io. Probably none too safe. Come take a look before it explodes.” – The Drifter

Gift

The next step of the quest is to complete the weekly Interference mission. This has been a weekly fixture since the start of the season which includes some Contact public events, gathering materials by taking part in activities (which rotate each week) and then completing the weekly mission in the Ascendant Realm and the Court of Savathun.

This week we’re getting a new location for Contact, having been on Io for the past 4 weeks. This week the Darkness has arrived at Titan as they’re slowly making their way round the to-be-sunset locations.

“Savathun will not hesitate to disrupt our progress. I call upon your strength once again, Guardian. Lay waste to Savathun’s forces in the Cradle and open the way.” – Transmission from Eris Morn

Pendulum

Once you’ve completed the weekly Interference mission its time to head on over to all the locations that are planned to go into the Destiny Content Vault in September. We’re going to need to use our Ghost to find 25 Calcified Light Fragments and also defeat 15 Savathun’s Marionettes

First of all there’s the 25 Calcified Light Fragments. These are found on Io, Mars, Titan and Mercury. My best advice here is drive around on your sparrow with your ghost out. All of the Calcified Light Fragments are out in the open in public spaces, I didn’t find any in lost sectors or anything like that. There’s 5 on Titan, 5 on Mercury, 5 on Mars and 10 on Io. Go to each spawn location, get your ghost out and run around. Its going to take a little bit of searching, especially the ones on Io. I’ll have a video out covering the exact locations later in the week. I found by knowing how many were on each location that helped.

Next up, we’re going to need to defeat 15 of Savathun’s Marionettes. These do appear during the contact public event, however, I found the best method of farming these was to go to the opposite side of the map to where the contact public event was. This week the contact public event is on Titan, so I went to the rig and ran around and killed taken. The Marionettes would spawn fairly regularly, kill 15 then its onto the next step of the quest.

Eris believes the Pyramids offer a gift in a form we will understand: weaponry. But the branch seethes with an unstable Darkness.

“Hidden chatter tells of ancient Light bubbling to the surface, coaxed forth by the Pyramid’s reshaping of our worlds. Furthermore, Savathun’s scouts chase the Pyramid like hungry dogs. She chains their will with ritual and spell-craft. Destroy them. Let the branch consume the Marionettes’ bound essence and stabilize it by consuming calcified fragments. My incantations will coopt Savathun’s binding ritual and link the Pyramid’s gift to you.” – Transmission from Eris Morn

Feed

For the next step, we’re going to need to complete a multipart activity to power up the weapon. This includes 25 precision multi-kills, 100 void kills and 18 completion points from Gambit or Reckoning. These steps should be possible to complete at the same time and I recommend going through tier 3 reckoning runs to get this done as fast as possible. Gnawing Hunger, Recluse or Hammerhead would be good void weapons and The Reckoning will throw hundreds of enemies at you to help you complete this asap. If you haven’t unlocked Reckoning then head into Gambit as invader kills or kills while invading will also grant progress.

I found that 3 runs of tier 3 reckoning did the job for me. I finished up the void kills in altars of sorrow and then I went to the whisper room for thrall farming to finish off the multi-kills. I found in Gambit other people were killing at the same time as me, so it wasn’t so easy to get the multi-kills. It’s much more efficient to go somewhere on your own, and the Whisper room on Io is perfect.

The branch, though tempered and bound, still has a ravenous emptiness at its core. Find power on which it can feed.

“We cannot deny the Pyramid’s power encased within this branch. With it bound through Savathun’s magic and tempered in Calcified Light, we may safely unleash its potential. Exploit this. Let the branch feed upon the Taken, upon those linked to Darkness by Worm or desperate promise, upon those with hearts of malice. From their ruin, we will cast a new weapon.” –Transmission from Eris Morn

Shape

For the final step of the quest head back to the Prismatic Recaster to claim your new Exotic Trace Rifle.

“Touch of Malice serves as a blueprint for this weapon. It was crude, vicious, but what I have made for you here is a thing of beauty. It is a catalyst of change, and nothing it graces will ever remain the same.” –Transmission from Eris Morn

Now you’ve got the weapon, it’s time to go and check it out. I went into a PVE activity and gave it a go and it’s a whole lot of fun and pretty unique.

Ruinous Effigy Catalyst

There’s also a catalyst available, which can be obtained by killing 5000 enemies with the weapon or by destroying a number of Savathun’s Eyes, which are dotted around the solar system. You may have seen these strange eyes popping up in the game since the start of Season of Arrivals. Now we know that Ruinous Effigy can destroy them. I’ll do my best to get a video out ASAP for the location of the 50 eyes of Savanthun.

Let me know what you think of the weapon down in the comments.

That’s it for this guide for how to get Ruinous Effigy. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out the Shadowkeep Guide or check out the YouTube Channel.