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How to obtain Ager’s Scepter, Destiny 2’s new Exotic trace rifle

Ager’s Scepter is the brand new Exotic trace rifle fresh to Destiny 2, and the game’s second stasis Exotic overall. Here’s how to complete the Exotic quest A Hollow Coronation and get your hands on it.

September 2021 marks week four of Season of the Lost in Destiny 2, and Guardians are finally able to chase Ager’s Scepter, the brand new Exotic trace rifle capable of slowing, freezing, and shattering your opponents.

However like other Exotics, the quest to claim this weapon is lengthy, so here’s how to complete A Hollow Coronation and claim the Scepter for yourself.

Ager's Sceptre A Hollow Coronation
Image: Destiny 2 / Bungie

Ager’s Scepter requirements

First things first, only players who have purchased the current Destiny 2 Season Pass are able to access the Ager’s Scepter Exotic quest. Sorry New Light players… you’ll have to sit this one out for now.

You’ll also need to be at least Light level 1250 to get started, so prepare to grind up if you’re not quite there yet, or you’re jumping back into Season of the Lost after some time away from Destiny 2.

With those basics covered, you’re ready to start the Exotic quest.

Tracing the Stars

The first three steps to the Ager’s Scepter Exotic quest have actually been made available over the first three weeks of Season of the Lost – these are Tracing the Stars I, II, and III.

Each quest sees Guardians collecting a number of Atlas Skews – small collectibles hidden throughout the Dreaming City – and depositing them into an Atlas Terminal for a bit of lore surrounding Queen Mara Sov, Uldren Sov (now The Crow), and Ager’s Scepter itself.

The Tracing the Stars quests require a little bit of searching, but altogether the Atlas Skews aren’t as tough to track down as other collectibles such as Ahamkara Bones or Corrupted Eggs.

If you’ve been completing each Tracing the Stars quest in the first three weeks of Season of the Lost, you’ve already done most of the hard work towards obtaining Ager’s Scepter. I do have some bad news though – there’s still five more Atlas Skews to track down.

How to start A Hollow Coronation

Once you’ve completed Tracing the Stars I, II, and III, you’ll need to return to H.E.L.M., where the Wayfinder’s compass will offer up the Ager’s Scepter Exotic quest, A Hollow Coronation. The first step is easy – just step through the portal in that same room and speak to Mara Sov.

After that, it’s time to hunt down five more Atlas Skew locations, this time in the Confluence area of the Dreaming City. As this area doesn’t appear on your map, it can be a little tricky to make sense of, but generally these Atlas Skews aren’t as hidden as some of the previous ones.

I’d recommend starting from the Garden of Esila entrance to the Confluence, but you should be able to find the Atlas Skews from any of the other entrances. The Confluence is based around four branching paths from a central area, with each holding one fairly obvious Atlas Skew, and the fifth at the Garden of Esila Entrance.

Check out our video below to find these.

  • Garden Entry Statue: Starting from the balcony overlooking The Strand from its south-west corner, progress through the Garden of Esila patrol area until you reach the portal to the Confluence. Immediately after entering the portal, walk forward and find the Garden Entry Statue Atlas Skew.
  • Confluence Tree Triad: From the Garden Entry Statue, walk towards the central area of the Confluence and you should pass a twisting tree with three trunks. The Atlas Skew is here, but I had to backtrack from the central area of the Confluence to make it appear – watch the video below to see how it works.
  • Confluence Giant Crystal: From the central area of the Confluence, look for the path that leads to a massive, light blue crystal. The Confluence Giant Crystal Atlas Skew is in the room with said crystal.
  • Harbinger Cathedral: From the central area of the Confluence, look for the path marked by a large, hooded statue. Follow this path to a cathedral area, and you’ll find the Atlas Skew at what looks like the altar.
  • Confluence Throne Portal: From the central area of the Confluence, look for the only path that leads downwards. Continue straight through the large circular area filled with Taken overgrowth, and you’ll find the Atlas Skew at the end of the chamber.

A Hollow Coronation guide, continued

Once you’ve collected the final set of Atlas Skews, you’ll need to return to H.E.L.M. in your Director and select A Hollow Coronation. This will take you to the same quest area you’ve visited before. Deposit the Atlas Skews, and you’ll be treated to another intermission from Uldren Sov.

Once he’s finished speaking, a portal will open, leading you to a vault where you’ll catch your first glimpse of Ager’s Scepter. It’s not that easy, unfortunately, and Mara Sov will tell you that there’s some extra work to be done before it’s yours.

From here, the Exotic quest breaks into a set of steps that involve playing rounds of Astral Alignment, the Season of the Lost co-op activity, plus a few other bits and pieces.

Step 6: Parallax Trajectory and Rifle Kills

By now, you’ll be up to step 6 in the Ager’s Scepter Exotic Quest, A Hollow Coronation. This step’s objectives are:

  • Earn 100 Parallax Trajectory
  • Defeat enemies in Astral Alignment with Rifles

100 Parallax Trajectory is easy enough – simply complete any playlist activity such as a round of Crucible, Gambit, or Strikes. For the Rifle kills, you can use any weapon with ‘Rifle’ in the classification, which include trace rifles, auto rifles, fusion rifles, linear fusion rifles, scout rifles, sniper rifles, and pulse rifles.

Your best bet is a primary rifle for the unlimited ammo, and something with excellent add clear such as Gravitron Lance or Vex Mythoclast. Remember, you’ll need to be in Astral Alignment for these kills to count towards the Ager’s Scepter quest progress.

Destiny 2 Astral Alignment Map
Image: Destiny 2 / Bungie

Step 7: Astral Alignment Champions and Super Kills

For step 7, you’ll want to stay in the Astral Alignment activity. This time you’ll need to:

  • Defeat 18 Champions in Astral Alignment
  • Defeat combatants with Super final blows in Astral Alignment

Thankfully, progress on the Champion kills is shared – you’ll just need to damage the Champion before it’s killed to progress this step of A Hollow Coronation. For Super kills, you’ll need final blows, so load up your most devastating super (think Thundercrash, Nova Bomb, or Blade Barrage), and do some damage.

Step 8: Strands of Nobility

By now you’re probably getting a little sick of Astral Alignment, so thankfully, it’s time to change up the activity. For step 8 of A Hollow Coronation you’ll need to collect Strands of Nobility from three strikes:

  • Lake of Shadows
  • The Disgraced
  • The Glassway

Each Strand of Nobility will drop from the final boss chest in each of these strikes, meaning you’ll have to complete a three full runs. Grab a few mates and hit them individually rather than hoping to catch them through your Strike playlist if you want to save some time.

Steps 9-12: Ager’s Scepter is yours

With all the peskier bits of A Hollow Coronation dusted, it’s time for you to grab that shiny trace rifle. Return to Mara Sov in H.E.L.M. to earn the Noble Seal, an item that sits in your Kinetic weapon slot. Hit up A Hollow Coronation in your Director again, and make your way to Ager’s Scepter once more. And like that, it’s yours.

From here you’ll easily finish the mission by destroying some rocks with your new weapon, then clearing out a few Hive enemies. Once you’ve followed through with the remaining quest objectives, you can speak to Mara Sov again to finish the quest.

Ager's Sceptre Exotic trace rifle perks
Image: Destiny 2 / Bungie

So, what does Ager’s Scepter actually do?

Now that Ager’s Scepter is yours, you can finally find out just what it’s capable of. As Destiny 2’s only Stasis trace rifle Exotic, and one of the two currently available Stasis Exotics altogether, it’s pretty damn unique.

The two Exotic perks on this weapon are:

  • Ager’s Call: Final blows with this weapon generate a slowing burst around the defeated target.
  • Rega’s Refrain: Stasis final blows transfer ammo to this weapon’s magazine from reserves.

There’s a few things that are important to mention here – mostly due to the fact that Ager’s Scepter interacts beautifully with existing Stasis abilities, Aspects, and more. First, the Ager’s Call burst can freeze rank-and-file enemies, meaning they can be shattered, chain shattered, and these shatters can benefit from any Aspects increasing shatter damage or providing buffs such as increased ability regeneration.

Second, Rega’s Refrain triggers on any Stasis final blow – including abilities. Be smart with your ability usage, and you’ll barely be reloading this weapon.

Third, Ager’s Scepter can break the glittering rocks you may have noticed around the Shattered Realm activity, meaning you’ll be able to track down even more Secrets, chests, and Ascendent Anchors.

Where’s the Ager’s Scepter Catalyst?

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for the next weekly reset on September 21st to obtain the Ager’s Scepter Catalyst. According to Bungie, you’ll be able to loot it from opened Wayfinder’s Troves in the Astral Alignment activity.

Once we know the exact details, we’ll update this article for you. Until then, enjoy Ager’s Scepter, Guardians!