Guardian Games 2023 is here and with it comes a returning Exotic that most players forget about 9/10 of the year. This is our Heir Apparent Destiny 2 guide. We’ll tell you what you need to know about getting the Exotic Machine Gun and how you can get the catalyst.
Unlike last year, you don’t need to talk to Commander Zavala in the Tower. All you need to do is to complete Eva Levante’s 2023 intro quest “Best in Class”. So, talk to her, equip the event Class Item, and do a couple of rounds of Supremacy.
Complete Eva Levante’s Intro Quest
After completing your matches, you’ll be asked to dunk your Medallions on the Podium at the center of the Tower Courtyard. You’ll also be able to gain access to your Event Card.
All you need to do now is to talk to Lord Shaxx for a little bit and then talk to Grandma Eva again. And now you have the next quest where you can actually get the Heir Apparent Machine Gun.
Top of Class Destiny 2
The quest’s name is “Top of Class”. It is a very short quest that you can get done very quickly. This is the quest that’ll reward you with the exotic machine gun.
Step 1: Earn a Medallion by completing activities with your class item equipped.
Just complete any Guardian Games-approved activity to the end to earn Medallions. Even a Bronze Medallion will count towards progression.
Step 2: Defeat targets with Machine Guns. Bonus progress granted for defeating Guardians. You basically need to defeat 100 enemies using a Machine Gun. We advise running rounds of Gambit. It’s even easier to do in Guardian Games: Competitive Playlist. Props to you should you decide to undertake this task in Supremacy.
You’re not restricted to any playlist activities. All you need is to score kills using a Machine Gun. Since you’re getting machine gun kills, you’ll need Heavy ammo. Guardian kills do give you bonus points, but Heavy ammo is much harder to come by in the Crucible. We recommend going into the sandbox planets and going all-out on the local enemies.
Once you get all 100 kills, you will instantly receive the Heir Apparent Machine Gun. We recommend you have free space in your inventory and Post Master.
Heir Apparent Exotic Machine Gun
The Hier Apparent Exotic Machine Gun is an interesting heavy weapon. The first thing to note is that the barrel needs to be fully revved before it can start firing rounds. Until then, you are vulnerable to anything from a fusion rifle to a pea shooter. But once it starts firing, you instantly feel like a Heavy from Team Fortress 2.
There are two noteworthy perks that you need to be familiar with:
Heavy Slug Thrower: Hold the aim button to spin up this weapon. This weapon can be fired only when fully spun up.
Armor of the Colossus: While at full health, spinning up this weapon protects you with an Arc shield.
How to Get Heir Apparent Destiny 2 Catalyst
Earning the Heir Apparent Catalyst is a simple matter in the year 2023. After you’ve played a little more of the Guardian Games. Go to the Podium and dunk more of your Medallions. This will make the “Competitive Catalyst” quest be added.
Step 1: Earn points by obtaining Medallions. Higher-tier Medallions are worth more points.
This step requires you to earn 50 Medal Points.
Medals have point values as follows:
- Bronze – 1 Point
- Silver – 2 Points
- Gold – 5 Points
- Platinum – 15 Points
If you’re looking to get this done quickly, we suggest getting Platinum Contender cards you’re most comfortable doing from Eva and repeating them for as long as needed. Our personal favorite is picking up the Neptune card and doing the Competitive Strike. If you’re quick with your kills, you can get this done in one go. There are other ways to farm Platinum Medallions but we’ll leave that part to you.
Step 2: Complete Contender Cards
Complete Contender Cards to distinguish yourself in a crowded field. The more impressive your accomplishment, the more recognition you’ll earn!
The next step is to complete three more contender cards from either PvP or PvE. You can get contender cards from Eva at the Tower for as long as the event is active. If you want to get this done really quickly, we suggest getting Gold contender cards for they generally are easier to do compared to Platinum cards.
Step 3: Collect Competitive Spirit
Defeat combatants with Machine Guns to collect Competitive Spirit. Precision final blows grant bonus progress.
The final step requires you to get 100 Competitive Spirits via Machine Gun kills. You don’t need to use the Heir Apparent for this one, but it is good to get used to how the gun performs. If you can get precision kills, that will count for two Competitive Spirits.
Congratulations, you now have a freshly minted Catalyst that you can apply to your gun.
Before you start celebrating your newly acquired Catalyst, you still need to activate it. From what we can tell, you still need to get around 500+ kills with the gun to activate the Catalyst.
With the Catalyst active, Heir Apparent will receive an improved Armor of the Colossus shield and kills with the weapon will increase the drop rate of Orbs of Power when using the weapon.
And that’s everything you need to know about getting the Heir Apparent and its Catalyst in 2023. Good luck to our respective classes for this year’s friendly games!
Check out this video from Youtuber Aztecross showing off the merits of using Heir Apparent and Void Titan in a game mode like Fortress Iron Banner.