Destiny 2 Oblation Bloodline: Cull's Shadow Guide

The Oblation: Bloodline exotic mission is not on the map. It has no quest marker. Bungie dropped it inside Monument of Triumph the same way they dropped the Whisper mission years ago: completely unannounced, for whoever bothers to look. The reward is Cull's Shadow, a kinetic fusion rifle that doubles as a glaive. It is, against all probability, good.

Hey, Guardian. We do not have specific offers for Momentum… and as our sorry, we provide you a CRINGEBLOG promocode, it works for every offer. And you can create your custom offer for Momentum almost free.

There are three missions chained together. You unlock the second by not leaving after the first boss. You unlock the third by not leaving after the second boss. Apparently trusting players to read the room is a design philosophy now.

Hard Requirement You need a Weapon of Sorrow to progress. This is non-negotiable. The runes will not appear without one equipped.

The Destiny 2 secret exotic weapon pipeline that Bungie has been running since Whisper of the Worm continues here. Hidden, lore-heavy, mechanically unique. Cull's Shadow belonged to a Hunter named Dredgen Cull. Bael wants it. You're going to get it first.

Phase 1: Unlock the Mission

This is the scavenger hunt. Four crystals across the Moon, found by following a trail of dead Cabal that smell faintly of bad decisions.

Step 1: Scarlet Keep Strike

1. Launch The Scarlet Keep strike from the Moon destination screen on any difficulty.
2. Run the strike normally. Nothing special happens until the boss room.
3. Kill Hashladun. Equip your Weapon of Sorrow. Three Hive runes appear around the arena walls.
4. Shoot the three runes matching the ones on the gate, from top to bottom, using your Weapon of Sorrow.
5. The gate opens. Go through, turn right, interact with the glowing Hive crystal.
6. Eris will speak. The text "Soulfire crystal resonates with others across the Moon" appears. Leave the strike.

Shortcut You only need the Weapon of Sorrow for the runes. Swap to whatever you want for the actual strike.

Step 2: Four Moon Crystal Locations

Back on the Moon patrol, four areas are marked as Suspicious Syndicate Activity. Each has a dead, glowing Cabal corpse that provides a cryptic hint about where to find a Soulfire crystal. There's also a frequency bar on screen that gets stronger as you approach. Ignore the bar. Use the table below.

The hive rune puzzle locations follow a consistent pattern: Cabal corpses trail the entrance, a locked door waits inside, your Weapon of Sorrow makes the matching runes visible. Read the door. Shoot the ones that match it, top to bottom. Repeat four times. You've done harder.

Fireteam Note If one player has completed all crystal steps, others in the fireteam can likely access the mission without finishing the prerequisites themselves. Unconfirmed for all scenarios: get a friend to test it for you.

Step 3: Start the Mission

Head to Sorrow's Harbor, near the Scarlet Keep entrance. Don't go through the main door. Drop to the path on the right side and go under the structure. Find the hidden tunnel. Interact with the door. The Oblation Bloodline exotic mission starts here.

Mission 1: Oblation: Bloodline

The mission opens on a massive laser drill operation that looks exactly like the Pit of Heresy starting area: because it is. Don't panic. It diverges fast.

Opening Encounter: Sabotage the Drill

1. Talk to Eris (referred to in-mission as Aerys) near the drill beam. Get the objective: sabotage the syndicate drilling operation.
2. Drop down the cliffside. Find the red building with a pipe and a lever console. Flip it: "Engage manual safety override."
3. Objective updates to "Destroy the cooling pillars." Find three pillars. Shoot the glowing orange vents on each: same mechanic as Cabal public events on Earth.
4. Destroying the first pillar activates a launcher at the platform edge. Jump through it to reach the next area.
5. On the second platform, find another lever console and activate it. Objective: destroy three cooling tower control fuses on three nearby pillars.
6. With fuses destroyed, shoot the orange vents on the remaining two pillars.
7. Objective becomes "Overload the laser." Find the building you came from, clear enemies, activate the main console lever.
8. Launcher fires you through the hole the drill was making. Best mission intro in years. You're inside the Moon now.

The path leads upward through a cavern. You want to go up, not down. Look for the lantern light. The hanging sarcophagus section requires some patience: jump across them to reach the hallway on the far side, then enter from the backside by dropping down.

The Soulfire barrier mechanic is introduced here. This is the main mechanic for the rest of the three-mission chain: find the appropriate enemy to melee for a buff, deposit it into a bowl, repeat the rune puzzle to proceed.

Traversal Tip Look for trails of dead Cabal as directional cues throughout. When you see the greenish glow, you're on the right path. When you see nothing, you've taken a wrong turn at the Hellmouth.

Final Boss: Trig

The boss mechanics for the Oblation Bloodline final boss work as follows:

• Wizards spawn above the boss arena: follow them to locate a sealed Thrall room.
• Kill the wizard, finish the Thrall, grab the Soulfire charge, and deposit it into the bowl nearest the boss.
• Trig's overshield drops: deal damage until he hits half health.
• Repeat the wizard-Thrall-bowl sequence a second time.
• Finish him off. Receive Cull's Shadow.

Do Not Leave Do not end the mission after the boss dies. Walk away from the "End Mission" prompt like it personally offended you.

After the boss: backtrack into the arena. New enemies spawn. Climb to the high platforms to find a floating book: interact with it. Then head to the back-right of the boss room. Find the large rune-covered door. Equip Weapon of Sorrow, shoot the runes in the correct order, unlock the door. This grants Catalyst 1: Soulfire Sukor and access to Mission 2.

Mission 2: Oblation: Soul Fett

The second mission introduces worm-throwing. That sentence is accurate.

Worm Crystal Mechanic

This is the new wrinkle introduced by the Oblation Soul Fett secret mission:

• Find a Soulfire Vessel knight: melee it to get the Soulfire charge buff.
• Deposit the buff into a nearby bowl. This spawns worms.
• Pick up a worm. You have ~19 seconds before it expires.
• Throw the worm at a nearby green crystal to activate it.
• Activated crystals lower platforms, open doors, and generally make the world slightly less hostile.

Navigation Tip Follow where ads are spawning. Dead ends don't have enemies in them. This is the closest this game gets to a tutorial.

Boss Encounter: Nazug (Nazuk?)

Three bosses. One ogre, one wizard, one knight. Each requires the same worm-crystal sequence to drop shields before you can deal damage. Hit the bowl, grab the worm, throw at the crystal above the platform, open fire. Two bosses fight at once in the second phase: drop both crystals or they stay immune.

After all three die: a book spawns at the top of the stairs. Grab it. Interact with the floating podium behind the hive statues over the water pit to unlock the deep passage. This leads to a chest containing Catalyst 2: Soulfire Rancor and a ghost shell.

Equip the exotic. The outside of the arena now has hive runes spawning on the walls. Look at your weapon: the rune order you need to shoot is listed on the side of the gun itself. Read the weapon. Shoot those runes in that order. This unlocks Catalyst 3: Soulfire Zeal. A glowing podium teleports you to Mission 3.

Mission 3: Oblation: Emulation

Moving platforms. Fire blasts. A boss knight named Soulfed Bellow Stroker who teleports rather than dying on schedule. Standard.

Opening Traversal

Ride moving platforms across the gap. Jump to enemies. Clear them. Find the crack in the wall, progress forward. Shoot the debris above to reveal a green-shielded door. Kill the Forgebound Sentry ogre in the side room: the passage opens.

Boss: Soulfed Bellow Stroker

Three-phase fight. The plate mechanic here resembles old Menagerie encounters:

1. Deal damage until roughly one-third health. Boss goes immune and teleports.
2. Locate the plate with a wizard hovering above it. Kill the wizard, stand on the plate to redirect Soulfire. Stand on the edges: the fire blasts from the center and will evaporate you.
3. Boss reappears. Repeat for the second third. Find another wizard, another plate.
4. After the second redirect, boss is vulnerable for the final damage phase. Burn him down.
5. Stand on one last plate. A hole opens in the wall where the hellfire comes from. Go through it.

More traversal follows: swinging traps, fire, a large Soulfed Outgard Shrieker in the air that must die before you proceed.

Final Boss: Igo, Forger of Sorrow

The Igo Forger of Sorrow boss fight opens on something genuinely unsettling: a dredging Lightbearer being repeatedly killed and revived in the center of the arena. Whether or not that bothers you, it does change the tone.

• Three pathways lead to wizards. Kill all three wizards to drop the boss's immunity and deal damage.
• At roughly 25% health, the boss goes immune again. Three bowls alternate glowing: kill the knight near the active bowl to spawn worms.
• Throw worms at the two crystals on the side platforms. Both crystals active = damage window opens.
• Repeat if needed. The damage phases are long enough to be forgiving.

Upon death, examine the Lightbearer in the center. She disappears. A chest spawns. Inside: Catalyst 4: Soulfire Skewer and the exotic sparrow.

The full Cull's Shadow catalyst guide in one place. Don't leave any mission early.