Destiny The Dawning Event Guide: All Exotics, Quests, Rewards, and More

Destiny The Dawning Step One: New Quests and Items

Items

Treasures of the Dawning: These are the loot boxes of Destiny’s holiday event. It drops infusable 3 Light Level armor, and other rewards like consumables, Sparrows, and Exotic Ornaments. For more on how to get and what’s inside Treasures of the Dawning, check here.

Felwinter Souvenir: This cosmetic consumable is an engram that turns your helm into a giant snowglobe. You can get one from the In the Presents of Friends quest or from Treasures of the Dawning loot boxes. For more details on Felwinter Souvenirs, check here.

Snow Dreg: Similar to the Felwinter Souvenir, the Snow Dreg also gives you a creepy yet festive appearance. It turns your head into that of a snowman, and you can get a Snow Dreg also from the Presents of Friends quest and loot boxes. For more details, check here.

Lanterns: One of the lesser, yet more amusing secrets hidden in Destiny actually has to do with the laterns floating about The Tower. Players can actually grab one of these and run around with them much like giant ball Guardians can kick around. If you want to learn more about how to get yourself a lantern, check here.

Big Gifts and Tags: In the Tower, by the large doors that used to lead to the Iron Banner, you’ll find a set of gifts large and small. The small gifts you’ll need for the In the Presents of Friends quest, and the big gifts will not open just yet. You’ll need to earn Xur, Amanda, and Saladin Tags to open their respective boxes, which hold special engrams and quests. Earn these tags by leveling up in your Record Book.

Destiny The Dawning: In the Presents of Friends

One of the first quests you’ll obtain in Destiny: The Dawning is from Eva, and it’s titled “In the Presents of Friends,” which requires you to find a few presents for the Vanguard representatives in the Tower. The three presents you’ll collect are:

Books for Ikora
Scarf for Zavala
Dice for Cayde-6

They can all be found right in front of the big door that used to lead to the Iron Banner, directly above where the Vanguard representatives are found. Simply walk up and open all the smaller boxes (hold Square/X), and then take the items to their corresponding giftee.

When that’s done head back to Eva to complete the quest and she’ll a Snow Dreg and a Felwinter Souvenir.

That’s all there is to the quest, once you’ve turned it in you’re free to move on to the next…

Destiny The Dawning: Variations on a Theme

This is the questline you’ll obtain from Zavala in Destiny: The Dawning. It will take you on a tour of the new strikes starting with the brand new Shadow Thief iteration, which features SIVA installments and a renewed Taniks. After completing that strike, you’ll then be tasked with completing the Nexus Strike for Ikora Rey, followed by the Omnigul Strike for Cayde-6.

For completing these strikes he will give you a Skeleton Key then send you on your way.

Destiny The Dawning: New Sparrows

S-41 Poison Apple Sparrow – Speed Kills

After you rank up once in the Sparrow Racing League, you can obtain the Speed Kills quest from Amanda Holliday in The Tower hangar. The quest line will require you kill Devil Splicers, beat bosses in the Challenge of the Elders, as well as complete two missions on a timer. For a more in-depth walkthrough of the Speed Kills quest, check here.

Lysander’s Cry Sparrow – For One Who Stood at Bannerfall

This sparrow is fairly easy to miss. You’ll need to find a Ghost hidden on a shelf near capture point C of the Crucible’s Bannerfall map. After that, you need to collect the reward from a hidden gift in the hangar. For details on where to find the Ghost and the gift, check here.

Destiny The Dawning: New Exotics and Armor

Exotics

Destiny: The Dawning also introduces some new weapons as well to really make everything worth it (we hope you’ve been a good Guardian this year). The three new weapons are the Ice Breaker (upgraded to Year Three Light), Abaddon (the “Solarlord”), and Nova Mortis (the “Voidlord”).

For walkthroughs on how to get each of these exotics, check out the guides below:

Armor

Four special armor sets have arrived with The Dawning: Sparrow Racing League Sets, Winter Themed Set, Alternative The Dawning Set, and Strike Scoring Set. You can check out all of the new pieces and how to unlock these sets here.

Destiny The Dawning: Sparrow Racing

Talking to Amanda Holiday will get you started on the SRL questline. Just like last year there are a bunch of challenges that you need to complete in order to earn your licenses, which is simple enough. Destiny: The Dawning also throws in some Record Book challenges which will help you fill out your book and earn some sweet rewards.

Here are all the challenges.

In it to the Finish – Finish 25 Sparrow Races

Precision Racing – Hit 1000 Gates

Tricky – Land 100 Tricks.

Speed Bumps – Kill 50 Enemies

Red Racer – Beat the “Campus Martius” Course Par Time.

Maximum Velocity – Beat the “Infinite Decent” Course Par Time.

Sand Speeder – Beat the “Shining Sands” Course Par Time.

Slalom – Beat the “Haakon Precipice” Course Par Time.

Destiny The Dawning: Vanguard Elite

Talking to Zavala in the Tower will grant you access to new Weekly Elite Bounties. Completing the bounties can earn you great rewards while you progress through the event.

All of the Strike specific challenges are listed below:

Heroic High Score – Beat the par score in the Heroic SIVA Crisis Playlist (40,ooo)

Champion of the Night – Beat the par score in Nightfall Strikes (55,000)

Scores of Scores – Earn a cumulative score of 500,000 in Rise of Iron Strike Playlists.

Bounty Hunter – Complete 20 Vanguard Bounties.

Pot of Gold – Earn five Rainbow Medals while in Strike Playlists.

Killing Spree – Earn 250 Killing Spree Medals in Rise of Iron Strike Playlists.

Super Hero – Earn Super Medals in Rise of Iron Strike Playlists.

All the Medals – Earn 20 Completion Medals in Rise of Iron Strike Playlists.

Destiny The Dawning: Strike Playlist Updates

Part of the event actually changes up the Destiny: Rise of Iron Strike Playlists as well. These changes bring about a scoring system to the activity which allows you to earn medals for your efforts.

The scoring system works a lot like the Challenge of the Elders. You’ll earn a varying degree of points based on how you tackle the Strike. Some examples on how you earn points are:

Multiple kills with a specific weapon type.
Grenade Kills
Melee Kills
Super Kills
Creating Orbs
Headshots
Revives
Killstreaks

As you rack up points you’ll earn one of three ratings for the Strike: Bronze, Silver, Gold. Many bounties are tied to the medals you earn, so make sure to bring your A-game.

There are also new Medals to earn during strikes. These achievements, earned after completing a specific task, will add points to your score. You can check out a full list of Strike medals and how to get them here.

Some Medals are requirements in certain bounties, as well. The Make a Rainbow bounty is a difficult one in particular, as it demands you earn Rainbow Medals. These are awarded once a Guardian has killed three enemies with a primary weapon, three enemies with a secondary weapon, and three enemies with a heavy weapon – all in quick succession. If you’re having a hard time with these, check out our guide here, which includes a trick for easy Rainbow Medal farming that will work this week.

Destiny The Dawning: Rewards for Your Efforts

As you complete challenges in your new Record Book, ranging from Sparrow Racing League feats to Strike achievements, you can level up and earn some sweet rewards. There are ten rewards in total, each of which adds a new cosmetic item such as a Shader, Emblem, or Ornament, or keys to the large gifts you couldn’t open during the In the Presents of Friends quest.

Level 2 – Signet of Speed Emblem
Level 3 – 3x SRL Champions Ornament
Level 4 – Hoarfrost Shader
Level 5 – Amanda’s Tag
Level 6 – Good Game Emote
Level 7 – Xur’s Tag
Level 8 – EV-31 Nightbird Sparrow
Level 9 – Saladin’s Tag
Level 10 – Dawn’s Return Shader
Level 11 – Star of Dawn Emblem

About the author

Ishmael Romero

Just a wandering character from Brooklyn, NY. Fan of horrible Spider-Man games, anime, and corny jokes.