During your new Destiny 2 adventures in The Witch Queen, you may stumble upon the “Of Queens and Worms” exotic quest. This is the nearly 20-step journey through which you’ll put together everything you need to unlock the new Parasite Grenade Launcher. While Bungie has certainly made it easier to follow along via the quest inspection interface, you still can’t see what’s coming up. In this guide, we explain what the newest exotic heavy does and walk you through each of the quest steps.
Parasite Grenade Launcher
- Worm’s Hunger: This weapon fires Hive worms that explode on impact. The size and damage of the explosion scale with the number of enemies you’ve defeated just before firing this weapon.
- Worm Byproduct: Taking damage from your own worm projectile detonation empowers your weapons for a short time.
- RPM: 120
- Magazine: 1
Of Queens and Worms Quest Steps – Parasite Unlock
This quest will unlock once you complete The Witch Queen campaign on any difficulty. Upon finishing the quest, go speak to Ikora Rey on Mars and pick up the Of Queen and Worms exotic quest.
Step 1: Visit Mara Sov on Mars
Your first step is to speak to Mara Sov, who is actually in the room with the weapon crafter. Head into this massive room and go to the other side of the machine in the center. You should see a descending staircase down to a firing range where a worm is sitting on a table. Approaching the room will trigger a cutscene with Mara Sov. This will progress the quest once the cutscene is finished.
Step 2: Complete Birthplace of the Vile Strike
To kick things off, it’s time to do one of the new strikes: Birthplace of the Vile. Open up Savathun’s Throne World’s destination map to find the Strike’s node in the top left corner. This is a pretty simple strike that has some very basic mechanics and a generally unassuming boss fight. You can complete this either with friends or via random matchmaking when you load up the strike. Upon killing the final boss, do not leave the strike. Instead, approach the altar near the back of the room and place the worm down. A brief dialogue exchange will take place before the quest progresses.
Step 3: Visit Fynch on Mars
After completing the strike, go the Throne World and speak to Fynch to progress the exotic quest.
Step 4: Locate a Cryptoglyph Rune
The next step of the quest requires you to kill a boss Scorn hidden deep within Savathun’s Throne World. Normally this might be tricky to find, but you can actually highlight the exotic quest symbol on your destination map by moving your cursor over it and pressing A (Xbox) / X (PlayStation). Doing so places a waypoint on your HUD, making finding this enemy much easier.
Follow the path through the various temples until you reach the massive bridge from the campaign. Near the end of the bridge, a bunch of Scorn will begin spawning. Killing all of them will force the boss to spawn, allowing you to bring it down. Once it’s killed, you will obtain the rune and move onto the next step.
Step 5: Defeat 100 Scorn in the Throne World
You will now need to defeat 100 Scorn in the Throne World. This is simple enough and the easiest place to farm these enemies is the Extraction Lost Sector in the Quagmire patrol zone. This location has over 100 Scorn and can be completed in about 10 minutes. There are also some Hive enemies, but the Lost Sector is primarily Scorn. You can also do some Public Events, but this is a bit slower so I recommend just running the Lost Sector shown above.
Steps 6 & 7: Complete the Sepulcher Lost Sector
After killing all the Scorn, go to the Florescent Canal patrol zone and complete the Sepulcher Lost Sector there. This one is entirely Hive focused and will have two Hive Guardians in it. When you reach the end, open up the chest and then interact with the Deepsight darkness orb. Once you gain the ability to see hidden paths, go to the statue behind the chest and climb up to the hidden door. Inside the small room you will find a podium where you can place the parasite. Put it down and enjoy an, uh, enlightening conversation with the bug.
Step 8: Complete Three Patrols in the Florescent Canal
Go back out to the Florescent Canal and do some quick patrols. If you don’t want to travel, do simple kill bounties. Just make sure to check if they require precision or ability kills to progress!
Step 9: Find A Cryptoglyph Rune in Queen’s Bailey
Similar to step 4, you will need to find a rune in the Queen’s Bailey. So make sure to track your quest to make a waypoint appear and follow it through Savanthuns palace. You will eventually reach a nice garden that’s full of Hive. Approaching the exotic quest symbol causes a bunch of enemies to spawn, so do what you always do and kill them all. Once every foe is dead, you will earn the second Cryptoglyph Rune.
Step 10 & 11: Complete the Metamorphosis Lost Sector
Another Lost Sector to conquer. You can find this Lost Sector in the trenches of the Miasma patrol zone. You shouldn’t have any trouble completing this activity, just make sure to use the Deepsight darkness orb next to the chest. Using this will open up a path along the wall where you will find another altar room. Place the parasite down and speak to it a second time to complete this step.
Step 12: Find A Cryptoglyph Rune in Alluring Curtain
One last Cryptoglyph Rune! This time in the Alluring Curtain. Highlight your exotic quest and follow the waypoint until you are walking along the ramparts of Savathun’s palace. You need to use Deepsight to progress, so approach the one near the statue and activate it. Now follow the floating platforms up the pillar to the next courtyard full of enemies. Once they’re dead, grab the second Deepsight and follow the platforms to an area with a large fountain. If you’re having trouble finding the Deepsight orbs, I marked them on the image above with blue Xs. Wiping out all the enemies that spawn will cause no rune to spawn! Whoops! It looks like a pesky Hive hid it in a Deepsight Cache somewhere.
Step 13: Find A Deepsight Cache
After you learn that the rune is hidden, turn around and activate the Deepsight orb. You need to shoot the three torches that appear on floating platforms. You can see their locations in the photo above. Once all three torches are ignited, the chest will appear so jump down and open it up.
Step 14 & 15: Uncover the Extraction Lost Sector
The last of the Lost Sectors! This one can be found in the Quagmire patrol zone. Unsurprisingly, you will need to fight your way through the entire Lost Sector, activate a Deepsight orb, and use the buff to find the hidden door behind the chest. Place the parasite down on the altar to have another conversation with it and get ready to be left on “Read” by Mara Sov.
Step 16: Head Back to Fynch
Now that we’ve done all that, head back to Fynch to see what we can do with Savathun’s worm.
Visit Fynch and see if he can help Savathûn’s worm.
Step 17: Complete Parasitic Pilgrimage
You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you? Select the Parasitic Pilgrimage mission on your navigation and complete it to unlock Parasite.
Complete the “Parasitic Pilgrimage” mission.
