How to get the Destiny 2 Wicked Implement exotic weapon and catalyst

Looking for the Wicked Implement exotic and catalyst in Destiny 2? Bungie’s exotic scout rifle from Season of The Deep has established itself as a high power, high potential armament. The Wicked Implement is a coveted gun and has been available in game since July,, but it’s one that’s difficult to get, involving a multi-stage hidden quest.

We’ll outline how to get the Wicked Implement exotic scout rifle and Catalyst in Destiny 2 with a step by step breakdown of the exotic mission. We’ll also explain why the weapon is so good, what the Wicked Implement perks and exotic traits are, and whether it deserves a spot in our picks for the best Destiny 2 PvE weapons or best PvP weapons. Be warned that this isn’t an easy mission, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve optimised your Warlock build, Hunter build, or Titan build before taking it on.

How to get Wicked Implement in Destiny 2 – Our step-by-step guide

To get Wicked Implement, you need to complete the following quest steps to earn the triumph Wicked Depths:

1. Fish for the Aeonian Alpha-Betta exotic fish in the EDZ.
2. Fish for the Vexing Placoderm exotic fish on Nessus.
3. Fish for the Whispering Mothcarp exotic fish in Savathun’s Throne World
4. Deposit the three fish at the H.E.L.M to receive the Broken Blade of Strife, Broken Blade of Ambition, and Broken Blade of Cunning.
5. Enter a standard Deep Dive activity (preferably with a fireteam).
6. Offer the Broken Blade of Strife to the first Thrall statue in the first underwater cave section.
7. Offer the Broken Blade of Ambition to the second Thrall statue in the top story room off to the left at the end of the first Deep Dive level.
8. Offer the Broken Blade of Strife to the third Thrall statue in the second underwater cave section.
9. Enter the new path in the second level of the Deep Dive.
10. Interact with the Thrall statues to “Carve a Path of Violence”, starting the exotic quest.
11. Follow the path to enter the new Deep Dive Whetstone encounter.
12. Complete the timed mission to earn the Wicked Implement.

As typically expected of new exotic quests, this is a pretty complex one, but worth it. Keep in mind that while it’s no longer Season 22, Deep Dives, and thereby the quest, should remain available all the way up until the Final Shape release date. Let’s go through each step of the mission in more detail.

Catching exotic fish

The mission will start out like an exotic fish quest. You’ll need to catch one exotic fish for each fishing location, so three in total. You’ll need the Whispering Mothcarp from the Throne World, the Vexing Placoderm from Nessus, and the Aeonian Alpha-Betta from the EDZ. If you’re looking for tips on how to fish in Destiny 2, we’ve got you covered. If you’re doing this quest shortly after its release though you shouldn’t need to worry too much, as Bungie have temporarily boosted exotic fish drop rates to give players a helping hand.

Gathering the Broken Blades

Once you’ve collected the fish, head to the H.E.L.M. You need to deposit them all into your fish tank. Keep in mind that you can do this individually for each fish, so you don’t need to wait until you have all three to deposit them. What you will need all three of is the Broken Blades.

Upon depositing each exotic fish, you’ll gain the Broken Blade of Strife, Broken Blade of Ambition, and Broken Blade of Cunning, three powerful Hive relics that will enable you to carry out the exotic quest. Once you have all three artefacts, it’s time to head into a Deep Dive. Difficulty doesn’t matter, so you can simply queue up a normal Deep Dive if you want to.

Communing with the Thrall statues

During the Deep Dive, you’re going to encounter three different statues. These statues have popped up in a few different activities before, especially in and around Lucent Hive architecture and in the Ghosts of The Deep dungeon. They resemble Hive Thrall.

The first of these statues can be found in your first underwater section of the Deep Dive. Head through the underwater rooms until you come to the caves. On the large drop down, you’ll find an opening in the wall partway up. Drop, land on it, and head along the path to find the statue. Interact with it to offer up the Broken Blade of Strife, and it’ll light up. You’ll also get some dialogue from Xivu Arath, Hive God of War.

The second statue is found in a small second-story room at the left-hand side of the first depth encounter. After completing the encounter, exit the main chamber to the ‘outdoor’ section of the area, and go to the left. You’ll find an old red marine building, and the airlock on the second floor will be open. Head inside, and offer up the Broken Blade of Ambition to the second Thrall statue. Again, Xivu Arath will speak to you.

The third Thrall statue is located in the second underwater section. Head downwards, then take the path off to the left. You’ll need to follow the cave walls as they curve around, and you’ll find the Thrall statue tucked away in a back corner. Offer up the Broken Blade of Cunning to it. You’ll now be able to access the area you need to get to in order to begin the exotic Wicked Implement quest.

Keep in mind too that not all members of your fireteam need to make these offerings. As long as at least one fireteam member offers up the three Broken Blade artefacts, you’ll all be able to take part in the quest.

Starting the Whetstone Encounter

Once you’ve offered up all three Broken Blades, finish the second depth encounter of the Deep Dive. Instead of heading down to the Abyssal depth though, head off to the far right of the area. A large arcology door will have opened here.

Inside, you’ll find three more Thrall statues – one for each fireteam member. Interact with these when you approach and get the prompt “Carve a path of violence”. Doing so will open the other door in the airlock. It will also wipe any Ahsah’s Gift buffs that you may have picked up prior to this point.
Follow the path along to the first part of the encounter, and you’ll begin the exotic quest proper.

Completing the timed mission – The first encounter

To get your hands on Wicked Implement, you need to complete two boss encounters before a ten minute timer runs out. As soon as you enter through the pyramid architecture door at the first encounter, the timer will start. Failing to beat the encounter within the time will send the fireteam to orbit, meaning you’ll need to begin a fresh Deep Dive.

Encounter One will see you fight a Taken boss who will teach you the main mechanic of the two encounters. You’ll do almost no damage conventionally to him. What you need to do is defeat Taken Minotaurs. Each one you defeat will give you a temporary buff called Deathly Sharp, which can stack. The more stacks of Deathly sharp you have, the more damage you can do to the boss. After an initial introductory engagement, follow the first Taken boss into the next chamber, fighting through other enemies as you do so.

You’ll encounter a few shielded entrances along the way. Just shoot the darkness crystals to open them. The second one is hidden under a staircase. Similarly, a couple of the minotaurs inside the first boss’ main arena will be behind shields. Defeat the first unshielded one and new crystals will appear on the pillars near the central dais in the room. You can shoot these in order to drop the shields and grab the additional buffs from the other minotaurs. After defeating the first boss, the path will open up into a maze.

Completing the timed mission – The second encounter

Once you enter the maze you’ll need to bring down a Tormentor named Omen, Blade of The Black Terrace. You need to once more find and kill Taken Minotaurs to gain and stack the buff. The maze is quite large, so it’s best to split up in order to do this. After some time icons will appear to indicate the location of the minotaurs if you haven’t already found them.

Head to the centre of the maze, as this is the best place to do damage. It’s open, and you can move freely to avoid Omen’s grab attacks. Be wary though – even with the buffs, he still has an enormous health pool. We’d recommend optimising your builds before trying this encounter. Focus on precision damage weapons for the boss, and high-firerate or AOE weapons like Destiny 2 Centrifuse or Destiny 2 Ex Diris for clearing out adds and the minotaurs efficiently. Running a build that takes advantage of Divinity alongside one or more Thunderlord machine guns is recommended due to the balance between high damage output and ease of use. Alternative machine guns like a Retrofit Escapade void machine gun with destabilizing rounds on it is one good alternative choice to boost fireteam damage.

Once you’ve defeated Omen, a door at the far side of the maze will open. Head inside and you’ll find a large, golden statue typical of Pyramid Ship architecture. At the base of the statue is a table. Approach and interact with it when you see the “Commune” prompt. Doing so will begin dialogue from Xivu Arath, congratulating you on your ferocity and destructive nature. She’ll then award you Wicked Implement.

Earning the weapon will also complete the final secret triumph for the Destiny 2 Aquanaut title.

You may also notice a number of crystals spread out across the maze after completing the encounter. You can use the long timer before the mission end to explore and destroy all of them, then return to the commune table to listen to additional dialogue from Xivu. Doing so will complete an extra triumph called “Words and Actions”.

What is Wicked Implement?

Wicked Implement is an exotic Stasis scout rifle. It’s got a magazine of 15 rounds, a good rate of fire, and exceptional airborne effectiveness. The weapon has minimal recoil and very little damage falloff, making precision damage hits fairly easy.

What makes the weapon particularly effective though is its exotic and special perk. The exotic trait is called Creeping Attrition. Rapidly landing precision hits on on enemies causes targets to become Slowed. Similarly to the ‘Scorched’ debuff, applying Slowed multiple times will eventually freeze targets. It takes six direct shots in most cases to reach this build-up. Boosting the power of the exotic trait is the trait “Tithing Harvest”. Landing precision final blows while the Creeping Attrition buff is active will create a Stasis Shard. Picking up one of these shards will refill the magazine to full.

Combined with its excellent stats, it’s probably clear why this weapon is rapidly growing in popularity. Expect to see it creeping into PvP activities as a contender to scout rifle builds like Jade Rabbit. The weapon’s also got lots going for it in PvE activities. The freeze ability means that it’s a great way to deal with Barrier, Overload and Unstoppable Destiny champion enemies in high-level activities like the Destiny 2 weekly Nightfall. It’s also going to be a good choice for dealing with higher level enemies and minibosses.

How to get the Wicked Implement Catalyst

To get the Wicked Implement catalyst, you need to run Deep Dives. The catalyst has a random chance to drop during the Deep Dive activities once you own the weapon. You’ll then just need to get kills with the weapon in order to unlock the catalyst.

What does the Wicked Implement Catalyst do?

Like all catalysts, this one will make your gun stronger. In this instance, the Wicked Implement exotic catalyst boosts the capabilities of the weapon traits. Once integrated, picking up stasis shards with Creeping Attrition active will be able to overflow the magazine, meaning even more shots before you need to reload.

That covers everything you need to know about the Destiny 2 Wicked Implement exotic, mission and catalyst. There are plenty of other powerful exotics to pick up in-game, from the Wish-Keeper exotic and its Starcrossed exotic mission, to class specific armour. We’ve got guides for you on the best Hunter exotics, best Titan exotics and best Warlock exotics. Alternatively, if you’re still looking to get your hands on other Season of The Deep weapons instead, like Destiny 2 Epochal Integration, want the latest gear like the Season of the Wish weapons, or want a more retrospective piece like our feature on 10 ways Deestiny 2 can solve its biggest problems, we’ve got you covered.

What is Wicked Implement in Destiny 2?

Wicked Implement is an exotic stasis scout rifle.

How do I get Wicked Implement in Destiny 2?

To get Wicked Implement, players need to earn the ‘Wicked Depths’ triumph by catching exotic fish, gathering the Broken Blade artifacts, lighting the Thrall statues in a Deep Dive, and following the Whetstone timed quest path.

How to get the Wicked Implement catalyst?

To get the Wicked Implement catalyst, players need to complete Deep Dive activities, with a random chance of earning it.