How to get the Hierarchy of Needs catalyst in Destiny 2

Is this weapon's catalyst on your hierarchy of needs?

Image via Bungle

Tired of your boring old weapons in Destiny 2? Well, the new dungeon added into the game through Season of the Seraph—Spire of the Watcher—adds in a new Exotic bow to the game: Hierarchy of Needs.

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The Hierarchy of Needs is an energy-slot Solar bow possessing an intrinsic perk that lets its arrows track enemies when firing the weapon through a ‘Guidance Ring,’ which is created by pulling off final strikes on Guardians and combatants, and through landing precision hits.

If you want to take this bow to all new heights, however, you will need its catalyst, and getting it is no easy feat. That’s where we come in.

How to get the Hierarchy of Needs catalyst in Destiny 2

Image via Bungle

Apart from the bow, the Spire of the Watcher dungeon can also reward players with the catalyst needed to upgrade the Hierarchy of Needs bow.

The catalyst for the Hierarchy of Needs significantly reduces the reload speed and draw time of the bow for a limited period of time when you strike the enemy with one of the bow’s seeking projectiles or when deploying a Guidance Ring.

All the catalysts in Destiny 2 drop only if you happen to own the weapon that it is for. This means that if you want to unlock the catalyst for the Hierarchy of Needs bow, you will need to drop the Exotic bow itself and own it first.

Once you do have the bow, all you need to do is finish the Spire of the Watcher on Master difficulty, which is a drastically tougher version of the original dungeon, which should be accessible to you if you own the dungeon.

The Master difficulty of the dungeon will have you facing off against Conduit Minotaurs—the Overload Champions for the dungeon—as well as various enemies with much more durable shields than usual.

Since the Minotaurs are now Champions, they will no longer possess Void shields, while the Harpies in the dungeon will now gain Arc Shields.

The Catalyst in the Triumphs page can only be seen by players that own the Hierarchy of Needs itself. While the item does not state that completing Spire of the Watcher on Master difficulty guarantees you a Catalyst drop, the majority of players online have reported that it has been a guarantee on their first completed Master difficulty dungeon run.

You would be wise to take on Spire of the Watcher’s Master difficulty with an entire group. If you are a true gamer, however, and want a real challenge, then you can take on the dungeon with increased difficulty solo. Don’t say we didn’t warn you though!

While we have let you in on the method of getting the Exotic bow’s Catalyst, getting the Hierarchy of Needs itself can be quite the task itself. Since you compulsorily need the bow before you can drop its catalyst from the dungeon, we’ve explained just how you can drop the Hierarchy of Needs below.

How to get the Hierarchy of Needs bow in Destiny 2

Screengrab via Bungle

The Hierarchy of Needs bow can be acquired as a possible drop upon completing the Spire of the Watcher dungeon. This means that you need to look out for the drop after completing the last encounter in the dungeon, which is, again, not guaranteed. It is completely based on your luck whether or not you acquire the Hierarchy of Needs as a drop.

While it is not clear whether your chances of dropping the weapon increase with every failed attempt of acquiring the weapon or not, there are a couple of confirmed methods that you can use to boost your chances of acquiring the Hierarchy of Needs.

How to increase Hierarchy of Needs drop rates in Destiny 2

Fortunately, unlike raids, you will be able to acquire loot each time you run the Spire of the Watcher dungeon. This means that any of the cool drops that you want from the dungeon can be awarded to you if you have enough determination to play the dungeon over and over again within a week until they drop. 

The only exception to this is the Hierarchy of Needs bow, unfortunately. Players will only be able to get the bow from Persys—the final boss of the Spire of the Watcher dungeon—the first time they defeat it each week. This means that if you have three characters, you will have a total of three chances each reset.

There are only a limited amount of runs that you can complete between right now and the release of Destiny 2’s newest expansion, Lightfall, which might give you a reason to worry about getting the elusive Hierarchy of Needs. But even when it seems like the odds are stacked against you, you do have decent chances of getting the bow by completing the following Triumphs:

  • Mind the Vexplosion – Complete all encounters in the Spire of the Watcher dungeon without dying
  • The Magnificent One – Complete all encounters in the Spire of the Watcher dungeon solo
  • Untarnished Grit – Complete all encounters in the Spire of the Watcher dungeon solo without dying
  • Resident Vexpert – Complete the Spire of the Watcher dungeon on Master difficulty
  • Devil in the Details – Find and listen to each devilish recording throughout the Spire of the Watcher dungeon

A lot of these Triumphs for Spire of the Watcher grant Triumph score while some of them give you additional rewards such as the “Into the Sunset’ Sparrow—awarded by completing the Resident Vexpert Triumph—and the ‘Flight of Soteria‘ emblem—awarded by completing the Triumph ‘Untarnished Grit.’

A couple of the available Triumphs also conveniently reward you with a permanently increased drop rate for the Exotic.

While most of these Triumphs might be a little challenging for a lot of players, the ‘Devilish Recordings’ Triumph proves to be the easiest among the lot, so you can finish this one off quickly before tackling the tougher ones. Make sure that you claim the Triumph in your inventory before facing off against the final boss, though, as that’s how you can increase your chances for the Hierarchy of Needs drop.

Author
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Yash Nair
Yash is a freelance writer based in the tropical state of Goa, India. With a focus on competitive Pokémon, he also writes general guides on your favorite video games. Yash has written for sites like Dot Esports and TouchTapPlay, and has a distinct love for indie video game titles.