The Heir Apparent has returned to Destiny 2 and some of you may be wondering if tracking down the Heir Apparent Catalyst is worth it. The Heir Apparent weapon was a strong Heavy Weapon that made waves when released thanks to its controversial Arc shield.
The Heir Apparent Catalyst has changed the weapon a bit and as a result, should be on player's minds going into this year's Guardian Games. Here’s everything you need to know about what the Heir Apparent Catalyst does and how to find it for yourself.
What It Does
The Heir Apparent Catalyst provides a single perk to the weapon:
- Legion’s Bulwark — Increase Arc Shield durability & reload part of the magazine when the shield shatters.
The first element of the Legion’s Bulwark is big. Having a stronger shield makes the player more resilient to damage and allows them to tank more hits before going down. This is assuming, of course, the shield is active, which requires the player to have full health.
The second element of the perk is a nice touch as well. The player can gain some valuable ammo by timing a weapon swap just before their Shield shatters. In theory, a player can have their Shield drop, reload part of a magazine for one of their better weapons, and come out guns blazing.
How To Get It
Getting the Heir Apparent Catalyst isn’t too difficult. It’s a random reward whenever the player turns over a Gold or Platinum Medal. These can be obtained for completing Contender Cards for Strike, Gambit, Crucible, Trials, and Nightfall matches. The player must have the Heir Apparent weapon for it to appear, however.
Upgrading the Heir Apparent Catalyst is a different story. If you found obtaining the Heir Apparent weapon through the last Guardian Games event tedious, then this year will be no different for the Catalyst. It’s a four-part quest that directly correlates to the event.
Step 1 – Medals
For the first part players will need to earn 50 Medal Points. Eva has seven medal quests for players to chase down and earn Medal Points. They come in different tiers such as Bronze and Gold with more difficult challenges worth more value. One example of a Bronze Medal challenge is killing 50 Guardians in Crucible.
Step 2 – Contender Cards
The second thing players need to do is complete three Contender Cards. Contender Cards are a new feature in this year’s Guardian Games. Players can buy them with Laurels and they’re essentially their own challenges. Some Cards will require players to get a certain amount of kills in Gambit or complete certain Strikes.
Only one Contender Card can be active at a time so players will need to be certain of their choice to avoid wasting time. This also counts towards the overall competition of Guardian Games as activities are centered around earning Medals and Laurels.
Step 3 – Competitive Spirit
The third step to upgrading the Heir Apparent Catalyst is collecting 90 Competitive Spirit. This is done through the Daily Focus playlist and involves killing others with a Machine Gun. The Heir Apparent isn’t recommended for this task and something like the Commemoration will be better as it can land precision final blows which net more Competitive Spirit.
Step 4 – Killing Spree
The last thing that needs to be done to fully upgrade the Heir Apparent Catalyst is to achieve 700 kills with the Heir Apparent. These kills are retroactive so if the player achieved kills with the weapon in the prior steps it’ll count here.
Tips
The Heir Apparent can be purchased from Eva for 25 thousand Glimmer after completing the Class Act Triumph. This is a guide in and of itself, but essentially players will need to complete the seven Guardian Games Triumphs. These range from collecting Laurels in Strike matches to collecting 30 Gold Medals. This will take a few weeks and that’s before chasing down the Heir Apparent Catalyst. It’s important to start soon and get to work.
The other thing to keep in mind is that all quests related to the Heir Apparent and the Heir Apparent Catalyst are only obtainable during the Guardian Games event. This event starts April 20th with Closing Ceremonies on May 7th. Players must complete all the above during that window or miss out on getting the Heir Apparent weapon, the Heir Apparent Catalyst, or fully upgrading it.
The one exception is the 700 kills. Those can be completed at any time after the Guardian Games. Players may consider putting it off till after the Games to focus on other more time-sensitive matters like Contender Cards, Triumphs, or chasing down an Exotic Sparrow.