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In the Shadow of the Mountain quest - Destiny 2

Each step for the quest, In the Shadow of the Mountain, including where to find Hefnd's Cairn in Destiny 2.

Sam Chandler

May 12, 2024 11:45 PM

Bungie

1

In the Shadow of the Mountain is a rather long quest in Destiny 2 that’s attached to the Warlord’s Ruin dungeon. This quest has you finding Ahamkara bones and collecting an outrageous amount of Dark Ether Tinctures and Blighted Wishing Glass. Finishing this quest is a requirement if you want to unlock the Exotic catalyst for Buried Bloodlines (this catalyst has its own quest).

In the Shadow of the Mountain quest steps

There are nine steps for the quest, In the Shadow of the Mountain, and basically all of them take place in the Warlord’s Ruin dungeon. While the steps are all easy to understand, steps 3 through 7 are a grind. Here’s quick look at the steps:

1. Complete Warlord’s Ruin dungeon in the EDZ
2. Collect a corrupted Ahamkara Bone
3. Collect 5 Dark Ether Tinctures
4. Collect bones of Hefnd, Dark Ether Tinctures, and Blighted Wishing Glass
5. Collect more bones of Hefnd, Dark Ether Tinctures, and Blighted Wishing Glass
6. Collect even more bones of Hefnd, Dark Ether Tinctures, and Blighted Wishing Glass
7. Collect Dark Ether Tinctures and Blighted Wishing Glass
8. Return to Hefnd’s Cairn and claim his bones
9. Return to Ikora

The main hurdles will be finding the Ahamkara bones and farming Dark Ether Tincture. The bones are gated behind progress through the quest. As you go through each step, you will be able to unlock the Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 doors to access the bones; this requires multiple runs of the dungeon. You can shortcut this process by having someone who can unlock Tier 3 doors open them all up for you. If you do this method, whenever you get to a new step the “collect bones” part will already be done.

As for the Dark Ether Tinctures, you can farm them by completing encounters and damaging or defeating the Thieving Wretch. Check out our guide that’s linked above for more detail. The essence of it is that you can find the Screeb at the first rope bridge, damage it a bit, and then jump off the bridge to refresh the checkpoint. Keep doing this

Where to find Hefnd’s Cairn

Hefnd’s Cairn is found right before the final boss fight through a portal at the double helix stairwell. You might have noticed the Toland orb floating there each time you reach the stairs. This time, interact with the orb and then jump through the portal. On the other side, interact with the skull of Hefnd. You’ll get a random piece of Exotic armor for your class for doing this quest. The last step is to go and speak with Ikora.

With In the Shadow of the Mountain completed, you can now get on with unlocking the Buried Bloodlines Exotic catalyst. This is it's own separate thing, requiring you to solve totem puzzles and defeat a secret boss in Warlord's Ruin. Check out our guide for unlocking the Buried Bloodline catalyst for more help and our Destiny 2 Strategy Guide for other dungeon guides.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

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 Head of Guides. 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