Mastering Destiny 2‘s Arduous "A Weapon of Hope" Exotic Quest

As a long-time Destiny player with over 2500 hours sunk into the hobby, exotic questlines always catch my attention–especially lengthy, multi-step journeys that culminate in powerful gear rewards. The latest such quest, "A Weapon of Hope," definitely fits that bill while offering a few unique twists. Today, I‘ll leverage my deep Destiny expertise to walk you through unlocking Lumina, an Exotic support hand cannon with team-focused perks.

Where to Kick Off This Epic Quest

Like previous Exotics tied to the Shadows of Yor lore, "A Weapon of Hope" begins similarly to the Thorn quest in the Salt Mines area of the EDZ. Look for a hidden chest near the initial Thorn quest starter (references image below).

Opening this chest awards an item called the System Positioning Device along with the first quest step, "A Fateful Gift." This handy tool will point players toward a randomized Lost Sector elsewhere in the system to locate another hidden chest. More on navigating that shortly!

TIP: If you already began the Thorn quest, abandoned it, and now can‘t interact with the intro chest, try completing a quick EDZ patrol to reset the area.

Seeking Out the Corrupted Thorn‘s Location

The System Positioning Device provides a waypoint on the EDZ director leading to a random Lost Sector. Make your way there and clear out the enemies and boss within in order to spawn a quest chest.

Based on community reports, possible locations include:

• Scavenger‘s Den
• Skydock IV
• The Weep
• Excavation Site XII

The Excavation Site Lost Sectortook me only a couple minutes to clear out solo. Take advantage of the unlimited Super regen during this activity!

After locating and looting the quest chest within the designated Lost Sector, you‘ll receive a Rose hand cannon frame along with the next step, "Bearer of Evils Past."

Step 2: Vanquishing 250 "Evils" with Light

This quest objective tasks players with the following:

Neutralize the Thorn‘s darkness with your intrinsic Light.

More specifically, we must now generate 250 Orbs of Light to purify the Thorn artifact claimed in the prior Lost Sector excursion.

The most efficient way I‘ve found to grind out this goal is via the Blind Well activity in the Dreaming City. Here are the best methods:

• Team up with 1-2 allies at minimum, but ideally a full instance of 6 Guardians
• Have at least one Well of Radiance Warlock to maximize Orb output
• Use Masterworked weapons like machine guns, Bad Juju, or Telesto for supplementary Orbs
• Activate Harmony buffs whenever possible for faster Super recharge

Chaining our Supers alongside my fireteam‘s, I reached the required 250 Orbs in just two Blind Well runs. If you don‘t have a pre-made group, utilize local instance matchmaking!

Pro Tip: Warlocks should run Phoenix Protocol chest armor for bonus Super energy returns whenever your Well of Radiance pools empower allies! Lets you cast Wells nonstop.

Upgrading Rose with Challenging Objectives

Fulfilling the prior Orb generation goal rewards three additional quest steps focused on improving the Rose hand cannon itself:

1. Completing a High-Score Nightfall Strike

• Target a 50,000+ score to progress quest
• Use recommended burn + modifiers like Momentum and Attrition
• Higher difficulties multiply score faster!

I‘d highly recommend The Inverted Spire or The Arms Dealer strikes for efficiently achieving the score. Just be 10-20 levels under max Power.

2. Finishing Blind Well, Escalation Protocol, and Forge Encounters

• Blind Well and Escalation Protocol offer bulk completions
• Forge completions tally slower at 4% each but work too
• Heroic Public Events also grant progress if needed

With a skilled fireteam, farming Wave 7 completions of Escalation Protocol proves very fast. The final Forge boss also melt extremely quickly.

3. Rapid Multi-Kills Without Reloading

• Equip machine guns or Sweet Business exotic auto rifle
• Launch Altars of Sorrow in Sorrows Harbor locale
• Mow down waves of Hive and Taken with ease

I used Thunderlord paired with ammo finder perks to effortlessly clinch this objective.

Completing these three pursuit gives Rose three permanent perks preparing it for the next major quest phase…

4. Shepherding Your Fireteam to Victory

With your Rose fully upgraded, the quest now tasks you with completing activities throughout the system alongside allies also wielding Rose. Specifically, the "Fireteam Leader" objective states:

Fighting in a fireteam with other Rose wielders grants most efficient progress.

While any activity technically works, those with higher enemy density prove optimal for speeding through this quest phase. Based on extensive testing, I recommend:

• The Menagerie with a full 6-player fireteam (fastest progress)
• Vanguard Strike playlists using Rose frequently
• Crucible activities if you enjoy competitive modes

Lean activities you can swiftly complete on repeat to maximize quest progress. Make sure your allies actively utilize Rose too!

5. Thwarting Invaders in Gambit

Now we turn our attention back to the Crucible in the quest step dubbed "Strength in Numbers" with these stipulations:

• Earn Guardian defeats with any hand cannon
• Generate Orbs of Light with Rose equipped
• Kill Invaders in Gambit before they defeat allies

I first hopped into Momentum Control with my Trusty Lucky Pants + Malfeasance setup to quickly notch multiple hand cannon takedowns.

For Orbs, a Well-locked with Rose can easily fill this objective chaining Supers mid-match. Just remember to have Rose equipped and rally your team!

Finally, escaping back to Gambit to halt Invaders. Make sure at least one fireteam member focuses on intercepting the enemy team immediately on Invasion notification. Supers and heavy ammo work wonders here too.

The Final Showdown with Xol

We‘ve nearly purified Rose completely to unlock its pinnacle Evolution. But first, one last trial:

Enter strike ‘Will of the Thousands‘ with Rose equipped to reclaim lost light from Hive crystals and defeat Xol.

Yup, we‘re going toe-to-toe with the Worm God himself. The catch? All objectives must be completed in a single run.

To prep for this climatic showdown, I recommend:

• Attune Void subclass to shatter crystals easier
• Use Blinding grenades to control dangerous Hive crowds
• Pack Anarchy or Witherhoard exotic for passive boss damage

Throughout the strike, destroy any Blighted Light crystals you see to recieve Harmony buffs that quicken ability regeneration. This lets you chain Supers and better tackle the final fight.

When facing Xol proper, make sure to take out the attending Hive Wizards first. Their ranged attacks prove lethal if not handled promptly! Use Rose to clear out adds, and reserve heavy/special ammo for concentrating fire on the boss.

Hide behind cover when Xol prepares his deadly DoT area attack. Patience here prevents a frustrating wipe/restart! Coordinate supers with allies and keep plinking away at him to finally clinch victory.

Claiming Your Reward – the Exotic Lumina!

With Xol banished once more, players can claim the powerful support cannon that caused all this trouble in the first place – Lumina!

Let‘s examine why this impressve new Exotic proves so valuable:

Noble Rounds – Critical hits load noble rounds that heal allies.

Blessing of the Sky – Noble rounds buff ally damage for 10 seconds.

This combination provides tremendous utility both offensively through damage buffs and defensively via clutch healing.

Pairing Lumina with middle-tree Dawnblade turns you into an aerial combat medic! Throw down empowering rifts then rain noble rounds down onto your fireteam. I‘ve found this works wonders in difficult Nightfall strikes and raid encounters.

The quest itself serves almost as a meta introduction to Lumina‘s support-focus. It constantly pushes players to tackle objectives alongside allies, which this weapon amplifies phenomenally.

So if you enjoy bolstering your fireteam, I couldn‘t recommend chasing Lumina more highly. Just be prepared for quite the journey before earning its game-changing capabilities!

Whether tackling solo or in a pre-made group, this guide should fully prepare you to complete the A Weapon of Hope quest efficiently. Gut through the arduous grind, and you‘ll emerge wielding one of Destiny‘s most uniquely powerful Exotics in Lumina. Now get out there and support those Guardians!