Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
There are now a handful of Crucible Pinnacle weapons in Destiny 2, and none are as frustrating to unlock as The Mountaintop. The journey to acquiring this Grenade Launcher is lengthy, requires a specific playstyle, and is otherwise a pain in the neck. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to make the process of finishing In Pursuit of Honor a bit easier. Read on to learn more about how to get The Mountaintop.
Last updated on June 3, 2021 at 11:45 p.m. PT.
The Mountaintop can now be purchased from the Monuments to Lost Light in the Tower. Head to the kiosk by the Vault and interact with it. Select the Legacy tile and then purchase The Mountaintop for 150,000 Glimmer, 250 Legendary Shards, 7 Enhancement Prisms, and 2 Ascendant Shards. Be aware, the gun is now a legacy weapon, meaning its Power cannot be increased. The rest of this guide has been left as a record of Destiny 2's history.
To get The Mountaintop in Destiny 2, players must complete the Pursuit, The Ascent. This quest can be purchased from Lord Shaxx in the Tower. There are four main parts to this questline:
The two hurdles will be The Third Wave and No Second Chances. Thankfully, you can technically complete these out of order. If you reach Fabled first, it will still count even if you’re on the second step, The Third Wave. However, if the season resets and you’re still on The Third Wave, you may need to reach the Fabled Glory Rank again.
Check out the Glory Ranks and Point Requirements guide for a breakdown of each rank and the points needed to move between them.
The Third Wave is going to be where most players stumble. This step asks players to complete the Triumph, In Pursuit of Honor, which requires some pretty ridiculous feats in Crucible. But thankfully, a recent update has reduced the values required to something more reasonable:
There is a small glimmer of hope with this step: you earn more points when accomplishing these in Competitive Crucible. The downside is that you’ll be in Competitive and likely facing some sweaty players, making it difficult to achieve these. You can expect the following bonuses when playing in a specific playlist:
But as for how you should go about getting all of these Grenade Launcher kills, I have some tips and strategies for you that ought to make the process easier.
Let’s get this out of the way first: you will need to become the annoying team member. You will be the player that camps Heavy ammo. You will be the player snaking final hits. You will be looking for the cheapest, dirtiest kills you can find. You will win no friends by trying to complete the quest for Mountaintop.
As for actually getting kills, you need to begin by equipping a Grenade Launcher in every slot. This will ensure you always have ammo and that any weapon kill will count towards In Pursuit of Honor. Try and use the following launchers:
Militia’s Birthright is one of the Nightfall exclusive weapons and is earned via the Lake of Shadow. If you don’t have the launcher, keep an eye out for when Lake of Shadow is in the Nightfall rotation and then farm one that’s got some descent perks.
Fighting Lion is an Exotic Grenade Launcher, so hopefully you’ve already got one. By upgrading the Exotic catalyst, your other weapon will reload automatically when Fighting Lion kills a grenade-damaged enemy. Keep in mind you can choose when it explodes by holding fire when you shoot and then releasing the button when you want it to detonate. This small difference should see you netting more kills.
Finally, your Power weapon should be a Grenade Launcher with Proximity Grenades. This will help you score some kills with greater ease, as a single hit from one will earn you a kill. If you’ve got a Year 1 Play of the Game laying around, it will do well.
When you don’t have Heavy ammo, your typical attack should be: Militia’s Birthright, Fighting Lion, Militia’s Birthright. Three grenades should be more than enough to kill a player. The reason Fighting Lion is fired second is that its Exotic catalyst will reload Militia’s Birthright.
If you don’t have a primary slot Grenade Launcher, soften up your targets with a tap from a Hand Cannon and then follow up with Fighting Lion.
For your Exotic armor, that will depend entirely on your class. Warlocks should try and use Transversive Steps for the reload function. By constantly running, your single-shot launchers will reload, cutting down on time expenditure.
An alternative might be either Lunafaction Boots for the faster reloads when in a Rift or Well or even Starfire Protocol and middle tree Dawnblade. You can have two Fusion Grenades that will heal you, keeping you fighting for longer. A Fusion Grenade will also take an enemy down to where they can die in a single Grenade Launcher shot, too.
For Hunters, using Tether in Mayhem should be your primary focus. Killing a tethered enemy with a launcher will cause anyone else that is tethered to be killed by the same effect, meaning multiple Grenade Launcher kills for one shot. This should make it a bit easier to get Mountaintop or at the very least finish the second step of The Ascent.
While Mayhem might be a good choice, it can be difficult to kill enemies or control the Heavy. Consider playing in Quickplay or even standard Rumble. A Rumble match might pair you with AFK players using a macro or highly skilled players, it’s a flip of the coin.
As for the 25 Calculated Projectile medals you need to earn, this one is slightly easier. If you can manage double kills and triple kills, you should be getting these passively. However, if you want to focus on these, your main goal will be staying alive and cleaning up kills. Flee from conflicts and try to be sneaky.
The other two requirements (reach Brave and Fabled Glory Ranks) are going to be up to you and your team. It will require using the current meta, playing to win, and focusing on getting better as a unit. Keep your cool and if you lose a match, stop playing or practice in Quickplay.
There are some unconfirmed reports concerning the double kill portion of the quest. The rumor is that for a double kill to count, only the second kill needs to be with the Grenade Launcher. However, I have been unable to confirm this.
What makes The Mountaintop so appealing is its perks. First off, it’s a Lightweight Frame, which means you can manually detonate the grenade by holding fire and releasing it. However the main attraction is Spike Grenades and Micro-Missile.
Spike Grenades is currently one of the most highly sought-after perks on the best Grenade Launchers in Destiny 2. The reason for this being the huge damage they can deal against raid bosses. Micro-Missile is just the icing on top: grenades travel in a straight line and have increased projectile speed. They will zip straight to the target, no need for weird arcing shots.
Overall, the quest to get Mountaintop is extremely frustrating. The main problem is In Pursuit of Honor, which ironically requires playing Crucible with practically no honor. If you can equip three Grenade Launchers and camp Heavy ammo, you should be able to move through this at a decent pace. For more Pinnacle weapon guides, check out the Shacknews Destiny 2 complete strategy guide.