How to complete the Winter Night quest for Destiny 2’s Dawning Memento

Destiny 2‘s The Dawning holiday event returns to the game, and with it comes a new Memento for Guardians to farm. Like the Festival of the Lost’s Lost Memento, this new event-specific cosmetic is the only way for players to get their hands on a cool new weapon shader. This time, the path to initially acquiring the Memento is through the new Winter Night quest.

The Dawning is Destiny 2‘s yearly wintertime holiday-themed event. The Tower gets dressed up, Eva Levante comes around, and Guardians everywhere use jerry-rigged ovens to cook treats for NPCs. Of course, after years of baking the same treats for the same NPCs, the event needed something new to excite players. That’s where the new Memento comes in, offering an icy-tipped, blueish metallic shader. But before players start thinking about which weapons they’ll want to use the Memento on, they must get it first.

How to start and complete the Winter Night quest

Players can embark upon the Winter Night quest after completing the initial quest for The Dawning. That said, the quest may not appear readily available, and players may need to reload into the Tower or swap characters before Eva offers the task. Once players receive a notice that Eva wants to speak to them, they can head to Eva and accept Winter Night from her.

The quest has only two steps, but one requires players to work a few other Dawning mechanics before progressing. Winter Night’s first step asks for:

• 75 Snowball final blows
• 25 upgraded snowball final blows
• 1 Classic Butter Cookie delivered to Eva Levante

At first glance, it seems pretty straightforward. Snowballs are everywhere, or mostly everywhere, during The Dawning. Snowballs can form out in the wild of patrol zones or in certain playlist activities. Guardians can pick up snowballs and hurl them for Stasis damage. Snowballs don’t do all that much damage, but it’s enough to take out most Minor (red bar) enemies. Of course, as some veteran players already know, it’s possible to upgrade snowballs. This trivializes the first task, allowing Guardians to mop up waves of enemies with a single snowball. However, it also complicates the second ask at this quest stage.

The 25 “upgraded” snowball final blows are a bit particular. Any old upgrade won’t do, and neither will just one of the requested options. The quest notes that Guardians must make final blows with snowballs upgraded with the Long Winter and Stay Frosty upgrades. This means players must purchase both upgrades from Eva before “upgraded” snowball final blows start counting. Complicating matters, snowball upgrades require Dawning Spirit, an event currency that can be hard to come by.

How to earn Dawning Spirit to upgrade snowballs

Since Guardians need to upgrade their snowballs for the Winter Night quest, they’ll need to get intimately familiar with Dawning Spirit. The currency is exclusive to The Dawning and can only be earned through a few means. Players can gain Dawning Spirit via The Dawning Event Card, Eva Levante Bounties, or by delivering Dawning treats to NPCs. While it isn’t all too much, players will have to invest a little time to earn enough Dawning Spirit.

Players can earn enough Dawning Spirit through Bounties alone, but that will take a few days. Another option is to supplement the daily Bounty gain with a few less demanding Dawning Event Challenges. But those can still take quite a bit of time. Then there’s baking Dawning treats for NPCs. The problem is that baking requires yet another resource, Essence of Dawning. 

It’s best to dip into all three categories while trying to do as many playlist activities as possible. The playlist activities ensure a steady flow of Essence of Dawning and materials for Eva’s Holiday Oven. All the while, if players do some loadout planning, work will be in progress for Bounties and Event Challenges. 

How to farm the Dawning Memento

After players have obtained their first Dawning Memento from the Winter Night quest, the possibility for additional opens up. Successive Dawning Mementos come from A Gift In Return. This item is a package given as thanks by NPCs players visited for The Dawning. While it’s not guaranteed for every delivered treat, they’re common enough that players will likely have a few by the time they earn their first Dawning Memento. 

While nothing stops someone from rolling the dice with their Gifts In Return, players can only hold one Dawning Memento at a time. Each Memento must be applied to a crafted weapon via The Enclave before players can receive another. So there’s no point rushing to open Gifts In Return as soon as they’re earned, at least not if players still have a Dawning Memento.