The Destiny 2 Wicked Implement scout rifle is the newest Exotic weapon to arrive in Season of the Deep, and as expected, it’s tied to the seasonal Deep Dive activity. The Wicked Implement perks are pretty cool as scout rifles go; it slows enemies with rapid precision hits and creates stasis shards that reload the gun if you kill an enemy while doing it.
The way you get Wicked Implement is a little different compared with previous Exotic missions like Seraph’s Shield and Avalon. The whole thing is a time trial of encounters that you’ve first got to unlock by doing a whole lot of fishing. That said, here’s how to unlock and complete the Whetstone encounter to get the new Destiny 2 Wicked Implement scout rifle.
How to activate the Whetstone encounter
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The Whetstone encounter is part of the Deep Dive activity, but there are a few conditions you’ve got to fulfil before you can activate it. Though I detail the process in-depth in my Exotic fish guide, here’s a quick recap of what you need to do:
- Catch the unique Exotic fish from Nessus, Savathun’s Throne World, and the EDZ.
- Dunk them in the HELM tank to get the Broken Blades.
- Use the Broken Blades to activate the three Hive statues in the Deep Dive activity.
The good news is that only one person in your fireteam needs to have caught the fish and gotten the blades. They can activate the statues, which will open up the Whetstone encounter. To access Whetstone, you have to complete the first two Deep Dive encounters, then look for an open door in the side of the second encounter’s room. Inside, there are three Hive statues that each fireteam member must activate to lower the barrier so you can start the encounter.
If you don’t have DIM or a way to get weapons from your vault in an activity, make sure to bring the Divinity trace rifle if you’ve got it, a Well of Radiance, and a crit spot DPS weapon like a linear fusion rifle, since they all make the second boss a lot easier.
Khul, Executioner Knight
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After running through a couple of underwater sections—watch out for the slow mines—and fighting a few enemies, you’ll drop down into a room where Khul, Executioner Knight spawns alongside some Taken minotaurs. The central mechanic of the Whetstone encounter is the Deadly Sharp buff, and each time you kill one of these Honed Minotaurs, your whole fireteam gets a stack of it. When you have three stacks of the buff listed on the left side of your screen, you’ll be able to deal damage to the boss.
After he disappears, head up the stairs into The Drowning area and defeat the enemies until the boss spawns in the next room. To open the barrier to the boss, you have to shoot the darkness node in the centre of the room, then a second node hidden under the stairs directly ahead of you. Once in the room, it’s the same deal as before, except the Honed Minotaurs are now protected by barriers. Behind the first pillar on the right, you’ll find a third darkness node you can shoot to lower these, letting you kill the minotaurs and defeat the boss.
Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace
As mentioned earlier, both the Divinity trace rifle and a Well of Radiance are very useful to have for Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace. Omen is a Tormenter whose only crit spot is his chest, making him very annoying to damage without a Divinity bubble to shoot instead. If you don’t have Divinity, then at least bring a Well and a crit spot DPS weapon like a linear fusion rifle so you can shoot his chest.
This encounter works the same as the previous one in terms of killing Honed Minotaurs and getting stacks of the Deadly Sharp buff—the tricky part is that the boss arena is a bit of a maze and he’s chasing you. The minotaurs usually spawn in three of the four corners in the arena, so as soon as you drop down, head left and right under the doors to look for them. If you take long enough, they’ll be highlighted with a marker so you can find them easier.
When you’ve killed three, head back to the centre, use your Well, and deal damage until your buff runs out. If you’ve damaged Omen enough, the Honed Minotaurs will now spawn in the central part of the arena around you. Acquire the Deadly Sharp buff from the minotaurs again, and kill Omen before the time runs out or before he kills all of you, otherwise you’ll be booted back to orbit and have to start the whole Deep Dive again.
Once Omen is defeated, you can head through into the next room and commune with the darkness statue to get your Wicked Implement scout rifle.
Wicked Implement catalyst
The new Exotic scout rifle has a slot for a catalyst, but players are still trying to work out how to get it. Usually, an Exotic mission would have a higher difficulty that rewards the catalyst, but completing Deep Dives on max tier with the weapon doesn’t seem to drop it. There is a chance that it’s a random drop like a lot of other catalysts, or that there is a secret challenge we don’t know about yet, such as completing Whetstone in a certain amount of time. It might also not be available right now, or something Bungie is going to add in a future reset.