Salvager's Salvo, Messy Business quest - Destiny 2

Salvager's Salvo is a new Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2 and its quest to unlock it, Messy Business, is quite the grind.

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A new Season of Destiny 2 means new weapons to chase and the latest hot thing is Salvager’s Salvo. This Energy Grenade Launcher is a breech-loader that boasts a couple of extremely appealing perks. Players that want to add this to their loadout will need to complete a quest called Messy Business, which may give a lot of players some flashbacks of previous Seasons’ pinnacle quests.

Messy Business quest

Before we talk about Salvager’s Salvo, let’s cover everything you need to know about Messy Business, how it works, and the fastest way to get this massive grind finished. Get your Grenade Launchers ready, it’s a long one.

messy business quest destiny 2
Messy Business requires activity completions and Grenade Launcher kills.

Messy Business requires players use Grenade Launchers to complete the following tasks:

  • Earn 7,500 points
  • Complete matches

The points are earned by defeating combatants in Crucible, Gambit, or Strike playlists. More points are awarded for getting kills with Grenades and Grenade Launcher final blows.

For “complete matches”, players must completed Crucible, Gambit, or Strike playlist matches. More percentage is awarded for Crucible and Gambit wins and Nightfall Strike completions.

destiny 2 messy business mountain top
The quest for The Mountaintop was significantly worse than the quest for Salvager's Salvo.

Players should be familiar with this sort of task from acquiring The Mountaintop from Season of the Forge or even Wendigo GL3 from Season of Opulence. Thankfully, this isn’t nearly as grindy as those two Pinnacle weapons. But, it’s still pretty grindy.

What’s even better is that it’s up to you how you unlock Salvager’s Salvo. You can play some Strikes then switch to Crucible, then go do a Nightfall when Crucible inevitably gets frustrating. Just get your head down, listen to some music, and make sure you’re using Grenade Launchers.

Grenade Launchers to use for Messy Business

Now, the main part that will cause a bit of problems for players is what Grenade Launchers to use. Anyone that is joining Destiny 2 for the first time is going to find this tough. If this is you, use any Grenade Launcher you have. For veterans that have been around for a while, you should hopefully have a few more options.

Firstly, the ultimate loadout will obviously involve three Grenade Launchers, one in each slot. This is going to be all about personal preference, but here are some good options you might consider before you get started.

destiny 2 messy business witherhoard
Witherhoard is an excellent option for continual damage.

Witherhoard is a fantastic Exotic Grenade Launcher with a damage-over-time effect, but it does require you to reload manually. However, it means more enemies will be softened up by the DoT, allowing you to finish them off with you other GLs, like your Power weapon.

destiny 2 messy business fighting lion
Fighting Lion offers more shots to be fired in faster succession.

Fighting Lion is certainly one of the best options available. Most players will likely have this Exotic and maybe even its Exotic Catalyst, which boosts reload speed as well as handling and accuracy of your other two weapons after it’s fired. Plus, by firing this, then following up by getting a kill with another Grenade Launcher, Fighting Lion will be reloaded, granting you another shot. This allows you to keep the damage going.

For the Power weapon slot, this is going to be basically whatever you have on-hand. I happen to have a nice Interference VI with Grave Robber and Full Court. Depending what you’re playing, you might want to look for one with Proximity Grenades, Spike Grenades, or Rampage. At the end of the day, though, provided you’re using a Grenade Launcher in your Power slot, you’ll be doing just fine.

Salvager’s Salvo perks

salvager's salvo perks destiny 2
Salvager's Salvo has a great set of perks that synergize well.

When you do manage to finish Messy Business, you will be the proud owner of Salvager’s Salvo, a rather interesting Arc breech-loading Grenade Launcher that sits in your Energy slot. It’s got two locked-in perks and then two columns where you choose which perk you want:

  • Quick Launch – This weapon’s barrel provides faster projectiles and much faster aiming. Greatly increases handling speed and increases projectile speed.
  • Spike Grenades – Grenades fired from this weapon do increased damage on direct hits. Increased Stability
  • Perk Choice 1
    • Ambitious Assassin – Overflows the magazine based on the number of rapid kills before reloading.
    • Demolitionist – Kills with this weapon generate grenade energy. Activating your grenade ability reloads this weapon from reserves.
  • Perk Choice 2
    • Vorpal Weapon – Increased damage against bosses, vehicles, and Guardians with their Super active.
    • Chain Reaction – Each final blow with this weapon creates an elemental explosion.

Spike Grenades remains a fan-favorite perk for Grenade Launchers. Scoring a direct hit means increased damage, which is superb during boss fights. But the real power of this GL is in its perk combos.

It’s an interesting choice to have Ambitious Assassin on a breech-loading Grenade Launcher, but the mad lads at Bungie have done it. By scoring a multi-kill with one ‘nade, you’ll be getting more in the tube for your next attack. This could be tough to proc in endgame activities and highly unlikely to happen in Crucible. Everyone knows what Demolitionist is all about and it’s the safest of the two options – but you like to live dangerously, so see how Ambitious Assassin treats you.

For the second group, Vorpal Weapon is certainly ideal against boss fights. Coupled with a multi-kill and Ambitious Assassin, you might have yourself a lot of damage coming out very quickly. This could even be a good option for taking out Guardians in Crucible that are using their Super.

Then there’s Chain Reaction, a new weapon perk. This creates an elemental explosion when you get a kill with Salvager’s Salvo. Depending on the size of the explosion, and how much damage it does to nearby enemies, this could be an appealing option for clearing waves of enemies, especially when paired with Ambitious Assassin.

The perks on Salvager’s Salvo are some of the more interesting perk combinations in the game. Expect to spend more time switching back and forth between them compared to any other weapon, especially as you move from wave-clearing to boss DPS and then into Crucible.


Overall, Salvager’s Salvo is a pretty great Grenade Launcher with some synergizing perks. Unfortunately, the quest, Messy Business, stands between you and unlocking it. Throw on three Grenade Launchers and get to farming, because this GL might just be the next best thing. Stop by the Shacknews Destiny 2 guide for more weapon overviews and quest guides.

Guides Editor

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as a Guides Editor. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler 

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