The most evil hand cannon in the Destiny universe is finally back, the cannon that was once held by Dredgen Yor, and one of the most well-known weapons of sorrow. The Thorn has returned in Destiny 2! As of yesterday the gun is available as an exotic quest, and what a quest it is.
Now this quest is a quite a long one, to start it head to the EDZ and go to the “Salt Mines” which is the zone directly behind the church. After going inside the mines go near the elevator, and you will find a transmat beacon. Take that beacon will take you to atop the elevator, and from there run up to the top of the hill. Up by the giant blue door there is another path. The one you need is hidden along the edge, just walk as close as you can to the left side of the path and jump up a bit. 
Once you jump in and find the little camp you are basically good to go. What you need is in the old fire pit on the ground.
NOTE: There is no step that will tell you to go to this place for the Thorn quest!
the full quest step list is this!
- Visit Banshee-44
- Complete bounties on IO (Asher Mir) , defeat Warlocks in the crucible, or complete Nightfalls
- Complete bounties on Titan (Sloan) , defeat Titans in the Crucible, or complete Heroic Blind Well runs.
- Complete bounties on Mars (Ana Bray) , defeat Hunters in the Crucible, or complete Escalation Protocol tiers.
- Defeat Guardians in the Crucible using Hand Cannons, or Void Abilities
- Talk to Tyra Karn at The Farm
- Complete a new version of the Savathun’s Song strike
Then Done!
When it comes to these quest steps it is easy to see that this is a VERY pvp related quest, but don’t let that set you back most of these step are totally do able in pve. While me and a friend did do every pve activity to get through the first three steps, it did take us a little bit longer to get to that completely pvp portion. I can recommend what I think will be the best for pve players
- 4 nightfalls (this week Tree of Probabilities) and 1 bounty
- 4 heroic Blind Well runs, and 2 bounties
- 7 waves of Escalation, and Ana’s bounties while you are doing them.
This is basically exactly what my group did, and we got trough the first 3 steps in just under two hours. Of course you can mix in some crucible to not get too burnt out. Now let’s get on to the real doozy of the quest.
Now that crucible part. The crucible section of this quest is not horrible, in Destiny 1 you lost progress for dying, you don’t here. So take advantage of that, you do not have to the most spotless record in crucible to acquire this gun. The best way to do the crucible section is a bit tough. Void hand cannon kills grant extra percentage, and playing in the competitive playlist (or Iron Banner Playlist) will also grant you extra points. So if you want to double down on points, that is the way to go. After you get these kills in crucible, you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Talking to Tyra Karn is simple go to the Farm and get your next step, and head over to Titan for the hardest version of Savathun’s song we have seen yet. The modifiers for this strike are..
- Harsh Elements (incoming damage from arc, solar, and void sources is greatly increased.)
- Iron (Enemies have more health and are not staggered by damage.)
- Blackout (Enemy melee attacks are significantly more powerful, and radar is disabled.)
This strike is honestly a little tough, but it’s not horrible just play it smart. Make sure to use cover and you’ll make it through just fine. As soon as you defeat this boss you will have gotten the long-lost Thorn.
What makes the Thorn scary to play against is, Mark of the Devourer the exotic perk to the thorn. What this does is a type of poison or damage over time that slow steals the health of who every you shoot with the weapon. Thorn has been GREAT as a pvp gun, and feels awesome to use in pve. You make yellow bar enemies look not so worthy of that yellow bar of health. All in all my grind to this weapon took a solid 12 hours to get. From beginning of quest to Thorn drop. My biggest problem is that im a below average Crucible player. Having friends, and stream chat in this quest made it fly by though.
Now it’s your turn, go pick up this cursed weapon!
FrankenCulture 