Destiny 2‘s Ascendant Challenges are among several moving parts involving the Dreaming City’s intricate Curse, which envelops the area in a three-week time loop.
The curse ranges from weak to strong to strongest, and each cycle brings a ton of treasure to hunt for—if you’re brave enough to dive into the Ascendant Plane in search of riches. Destiny 2 has six Ascendant Challenges that rotate every week. They’re a surefire source of Dreaming City gear, including reissued versions of Waking Vigil, Tigerspite, and Twilight Oath.
Finishing an Ascendant Challenge grants a piece of Legendary gear, but you can get your hands on an extra drop if you have Petra Venj’s weekly bounty. These weekly objectives are also a prime target for stacking bounties since you can have up to six weeklies total—one for each Ascendant Challenge.
Ascendant Challenges yield one piece of gear each week, plus another from Petra’s bounties. Those objectives are character-based, meaning you can get six pieces of Dreaming City gear from Ascendant Challenges alone.
To find the entrance to the Ascendant Challenge, consume an item called Tincture of Queensfoil, available from Petra Venj or found in Dreaming City chests.
Each Ascendant Challenge has a special entrance, and though the challenge changes, its entrance remains the same location whenever it pops up.
What is this week’s Ascendant Challenge in Destiny 2? (Oct. 22 to 29)
- Challenge: Shattered Ruins
- Entrance: Spine of Keres
How to find and complete the Shattered Ruins Ascendant Challenge in Destiny 2
The Shattered Ruins Ascendant Challenge starts in the Spine of Keres, located just by the Divalian Mists landing zone. Hug the left of the zone until you find a path leading to a different area and the name changes. Head into the actual Spine of Keres area, with the Oracle Engine in front of you, and pop a Tincture of Queensfoil to find an invisible walkway on the right side of the main bridge. Follow the platforms, then keep heading to the far end of the area to spot an Ascendant Portal in the distance.
Once you’re inside the Shattered Ruins, your goal is to get to the hole in the ceiling. Keep climbing platforms to get there while watching the Taken snipers and/or bombs. It’s a bit of a roundabout path, but you can get to the top somewhat easily. Once you do, a weak miniboss will appear alongside some Thrall. Take it down and loot the chest to check this Ascendant Challenge off your list.
How to get Dreaming City gear in Destiny 2
Dreaming City gear got another revamp with Season of the Wish, making those weapons even more relevant. While they still performed decently, perks like Voltshot on Waking Vigil can give them even more of a fighting chance. Blind Well continues to be a good source of the new gear (though its new power delta makes it more of a slog than before).
Petra offers a weekly bounty for completing the Ascendant Challenge if you want to earn Dreaming City gear from exploration, awarding you an extra piece of gear for your trouble. Each week, she also offers a bounty that costs Dark Fragments and yields an Offering to the Oracle. Taking the reward to the Oracle in the Spine of Keres gives you an extra drop and, on weeks where the Curse is strongest, lets you visit Queen Mara Sov’s throne room. You can also find an Ahamkara Bone there if you’re hunting for Cursebreaker.
In addition, check out Petra’s bounties every day for a daily objective that awards gear, as seen in its tooltip. Finishing eight daily bounties and doing Petra’s weekly quest will yield Dreaming City gear if you purchase the objectives. Like Ascendant Challenges, these are on a weekly lockout per character. You can accomplish them more than once a week as long as you’re not on the same Guardian.
