Completing the Harbinger mission in Destiny 2 gets more than different versions of the Exotic hand cannon Hawkmoon. It can also earn you a special Exotic ship called Radiant Accipiter–but only if you put in the time for multiple runs of the mission. To get the ship, which doesn’t show up anywhere else in the game, you need to complete a special quest from The Crow called Bird of Prey. Finishing it requires you to search through the Harbinger mission each week to find special collectibles called Paracausal Feathers.
Once you’ve earned 100 feathers by defeating bosses in Harbinger and finding feathers hidden in the mission, you’ll complete the Bird of Prey mission. But you don’t get Radiant Accipiter automatically–you have to head back out into the EDZ and find it, hidden inside the dam where Harbinger takes place. It’s a confusing path, but we’re here to help.
Here’s how to navigate the dam and unlock the Radiant Accipiter.
Complete Bird Of Prey
You’ll need to run Harbinger probably three times, across three separate weeks, to earn enough feathers to complete Bird of Prey. Each week, the mission changes slightly, with Paracausal Feathers appearing in different locations. There are five feathers to find in the mission, and you’ll earn more for completing a big fight in the middle of the mission and for beating the end boss.
Check out our guide for finding this week’s Paracausal Feathers.
Head Back To The EDZ
With 100 feathers, Bird of Prey will be completed, but you’ll need to seek out the hawk made of Light from the Harbinger mission in order to proceed. Return to the EDZ and spawn in at Trostland. You want to head to the same building on the east side of the map where you first entered Harbinger through the broken fireplace. Look for the golden hawk, perched on a piece of debris, on its facade.
Take The Path At The Top Of The Building
The good news is that you don’t have to take the tight platforming pathway from Harbinger to return to the reservoir. Instead, climb to the top of the building where you see the hawk and push to the back of the building, where you’ll find an open door. Follow that path, which will take you to the start of the jumping portion to reach the dam in Harbinger. From here, you can now enter the rusted pipe just ahead, which during Harbinger is normally sealed.
Through The Reservoir
The pipe will eventually lead you into the reservoir. From here, the path is fairly straight, although expect to fight some Taken enemies along the way. Proceed until you hit the room with the fence in the middle and hang a right, then follow the hallway. You’ll cross a few more rooms, including a cylindrical one with catwalks, but the only path is pretty straight. Exit into a big room with an A on the wall; fight through and drop down to exit through a doorway that’s normally blocked, which will take you to the arena room where you usually fight the Harbinger mid-boss.
Fight Ishrasek, Lightbinder of Savathun
In the arena room, you’ll face a boss Taken character who sports a white shield. This guy is immune to damage until you take the shield down, but this is a mechanic you’ve seen before. Ishrasek is ringed by minions called Lightseeker Taken Acolytes, and if you kill them, they drop orbs (or “relics”) you can throw at the boss.
Clean out the Lightseekers and huck the orbs at the boss until its shield drops. With everyone else dead, you should be able to just pour on damage with whatever weapons you like. Once it takes enough hits, Ishrasek will disappear, summoning a bunch more enemies to fight you, including new Taken Knight bosses named Teorax, Lightseeker of Savathun and Velox, Lightseeker of Savathun. No special mechanics here, you just need to kill everything in the room, including those two bosses.
The tough part of this fight is really just how many enemies you have to deal with, so keep moving. Eliminating the Taken Wizards will help your survivability significantly, but really, this isn’t too hard a fight, especially if you’re quick about knocking out targets.
When everything is dead, jump up to the doorway on the third floor of this room, where the golden hawk will be waiting. You’ll get a prompt that says “Commune with the Traveler,” which will open the door to leave the room.
Find The Ship
Follow the hallway until you can make a right turn to enter the hangar where the Radiant Accipiter is parked. You’ll unlock it when you approach its left wing and, again, Commune with the Traveler.
With that done, you no longer need to worry about finding Paracausal Feathers, but you can continue to replay Harbinger each week for additional Hawkmoon rolls.
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