Destiny 2 Hierarchy of Needs & How to Get it (2023)

Hierarchy of Needs Guide Featured Image

The Hierarchy of Needs Combat Bow is the latest exotic to be added to Destiny 2. It is part of the Tower of the Watcher dungeon as a chance drop after completing the dungeon. What sets the bow apart is its ability to create floating guide rings that zero in on the closest enemy relative to the center of the screen.

A stationary Guidance Ring is summoned after shooting an arrow from the hip after building up enough energy from defeating enemies.

How to get the Hierarchy of Needs Combat Bow

The Hierarchy of Needs Exotic Combat Bow is a drop chance after defeating the final boss of the Tower of the Watcher dungeon. This is completely RNG and Guardians usually take more than a few tries to get actually get it. Though some are blessed by getting it blindly on their completion of the dungeon.

How to improve your odds of getting Hierarchy of Needs

There are certain things you can do to improve your chances of getting the bow. You can activate all the messages Eramis left behind for you to find. This will improve the odds of the bow dropping. Repeated completions of the dungeon also improve the odds of getting the bow.

Destiny 2 Hierarchy of Needs Weapon Stats

The Hierarchy of Needs is no different than any other bow during the start of engagements. The bow starts to shine once the energy bar is full and you can start placing guidance rings in strategic locations.

In most cases, the guided arrows will not outright kill Guardians, only bringing them really close to death. With the right fragments, however, you can cross the killing threshold after becoming Radiant. The bump in Solar damage for this Solar bow should be enough to get the ball rolling. In most PvE content, it should do ok, especially if you already use bows a lot of the time. Bows are the go-to weapon for end-game content, after all.

  • Impact: 92
  • Accuracy: 80
  • Stability: 77
  • Handling: 33
  • Reload Speed: 30
  • Aim Assistance: 86
  • Airborne Effectiveness: 21
  • Zoom: 20
  • Draw Time: 828
  • Bowstring: Elastic String – Excellent snapback. Decreases accuracy, faster draw time, and slightly increases handling speed.
  • Arrow: Fiberglass Arrow Shaft – Heavy and consistent. Greatly increases accuracy and slightly decreases stability.
  • Intrinsic Trait: Guidance Ring – Precision hits and final blows build Guidance Ring energy. Opposing Guardians grant additional energy. At full charge, hip firing creates a Guidance Ring.
  • Trait: Apollonic Tangent – Arrow fired through a Guidance Ring release seeking projectiles, which do more damage based on distance traveled.

How to Get the Hierarchy of Needs Catalyst

The Hierarchy of Needs Catalyst is also a chance drop after finishing the Spire of the Watchers dungeon on Master. Again, this might take a few tries even with all the boosters active.

How to Upgrade the Hierarchy of Needs in Destiny 2

Protocol: Emergency Scramble – Deploying a Guidance Ring or striking a target with a seeking projectile improves draw time and reload speed for a moderate duration.

This Catalyst practically gives this bow the Archer’s Tempo perk, which it desperately needs if it wants to hang with the other outstanding Exotic bows. To unlock this Catalyst after acquiring it, you’ll need to defeat a certain number of targets in order to unlock. If it’s a typical Exotic Catalyst, that number might be close to around 400 individual low-level enemies.

Destiny 2 Hierarchy of Needs Synergies

Hierarchy of Needs is a decent bow for PvE. Based on what it can do and its archetype, it can clear encounters with ease thanks to a well-placed Guidance Ring. It’s also not bad against bosses if you build into it.

If you’re going to bring this in PvP, I will default you to my response to anyone bringing a 900 charge Combat Bow into Crucible; “Good luck”. Guardians in the Crucible are conditioned to back off should they get even a little bit hurt. And with a slow-firing bow, you won’t be able to guarantee kills unless they’re dead set on running into you.

Hunters, you finally might have a reason to bring out Oathkeeper. Realistically speaking, you’re better off treating it like any other bow with a neat gimmick.


And that’s all there is to talk about with regard to the Hierarchy of Needs. Best of luck overcoming RNG to obtain it. Hopefully, it’s something you can get some use out of. But then again, Destiny’s full of RNG end-game exotics that don’t live up to the hype.

Also, check out this video from Youtuber Aztecross where he breaks down all the nitty-gritty details you need to know about the Hierarchy of Needs and its catalyst.