How to complete Destiny 2: Whispers of the Taken 1 quest

With Destiny 2: Into the Light, players can once again experience the fan-favorite Exotic mission, The Whisper. Along the way, Guardians will likely pick up the Whispers of the Taken 1 quest, offering a chance to empowerer the newly craftable Whisper of the Worm Exotic sniper rifle. The first week of Whispers of the Taken demands a delve into Legend difficulty to hunt Blights and complete the challenging endeavor within its time limit.

The Whisper is one of two Exotic missions returning for the Into the Light content update. The Exotic mission was the origin of the Whisper of the Worm Exotic, and the redux pays homage as the source of the new craftable version of the weapon and as the means to empower it. After players complete The Whisper and craft Whisper of the Worm, they can complete Whispers of the Taken quests as they become available to strengthen the gun.

How to start Whispers of the Taken 1

While Guardians may be itching to start earning options for Whisper of the Worm, there are a few quick steps before the quest becomes available. First, players will need to visit Eris Morn on the Moon to receive the Whispers of the Past quest. This task is simple: head into The Whisper Exotic mission and complete it on any difficulty.

Once players finish The Whisper, they’ll complete Whispers of the Past and earn a crafted Whisper Exotic. As an important side note, players should ensure they extract the ability to Shape or Reshape Whisper of the Worm by interacting with the Deepsight slot on the Exotic received. This will sidestep any confusion when trying to Shape or Reshape later if forgotten. With the ability to craft Whisper of the Worm, players can revisit Eris on the Moon for Whispers of the Taken 1.

Taken Essence and Blights

The first step of the Whispers of the Taken 1 quest asks Guardians to collect Taken Essence. The quest step asks for ten specifically, and players can acquire them from any Taken enemy kill. While any Taken foe can drop the Essence, it isn’t a guaranteed drop. That said, the drop rate is pretty generous, so players shouldn’t have any issue nabbing the ten in a Taken enemy-rich environment like The Whisper.

The second step in Whispers of the Taken 1 revolves around Taken Blights hidden within The Whisper Exotic mission. Thankfully, the Blights for Whispers of the Taken 1 are easy to spot and located close to where Guardians arrive for the mission. After spawning in, run straight ahead until you get to the edge of an alcove with a drop-down to an area with several trees. The first Blight should be visible from this vantage point, straight ahead. The second Blight is a bit off to the right, blending in with the blue on the wall. The third Blight will require players jumping down and facing toward the trees on the right. The Blight will be above the river, in between tree branches. All Blights must be destroyed with the Whisper of the Worm Exotic sniper rifle.

Complete Legend difficulty

With the Taken Essence collected and the Blights destroyed, all that remains for Whispers of the Taken 1 is to complete The Whisper on Legend difficulty. This shouldn’t pose too much of a hurdle with a coordinated Fireteam, but keep in mind that Legend difficulty only provides 20 minutes to complete the Exotic mission as opposed to 40 minutes on Normal difficulty. 

With time in mind, it’s more efficient to load into The Whisper, destroy the Blights, and then reload the mission for a speedier Legend run. This eliminates the possibility of spending too much time locating the Blights and failing to finish the full mission.

With the Legend clear under your belt, Guardians can make a return trip to Eris Morn. She’ll reward players with the Field Prep Perk as an option to craft onto the Whisper of the Worm. Of course, it doesn’t end there. Eris will have a new quest in the Whispers of the Taken line each week offering Perk options for Whisper of the Worm. In total, there will be three Whispers of the Taken quests, so the sooner Guardians complete the first one, the sooner they can move on to the next unlockable Perk.