The Path of Ambition is an entirely new reputation track in Destiny 2, one that can help you unlock the the Barrow-Dyad Exotic’s ultimate potential.
Unfortunately, the path to unlock this feature is hidden inside the Dreadnaught, and you’ll need to locate a Taken Worm. You’ll also need to have completed “The Taken Path” Exotic quest and the “Derealize” Exotic mission to unlock the Path of Ambition.
In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through what the Path of Ambition is, how it impacts the Barrow-Dyad Exotic, and how to find and finish the “Writ: Path of Ambition” quest.
What is the Path of Ambition in Destiny 2?
The Path of Ambition is the mirror of the Path of Resolve, which is the reputation track you start the episode with. Each path has its own reputation meter — which you’ll need to level up separately by doing seasonal activities — and Artifact perk enhancements for your Tome of Want.
As you level up along the Path of Ambition, you’ll also unlock new passives that will help you deal with the Suffocating Terror mechanic in Heresy in a different way than the Path of Resolve’s passives do. Certain boons and bonuses will also work differently depending on which path you have active, like the various enhancements in the Mysterium.
How to start ‘Writ: Path of Ambition’ in Destiny 2
To start the “Writ: Path of Ambition” quest and begin your journey toward unlocking the Path of Ambition, launch a private instance of The Nether in Explore mode. Progress through the activity until you reach the Hall of Souls (where the Court of Blades is located). Alternatively, you can leave and re-launch the activity until it spawns you into the right area.
Once in the Hall of Souls, make your way to the Court of Blades with all the Thrall statues. From the portal/boss arena, walk past the statues until you reach the room with the weapon canister, the bridge, and the two doorways on either side. Go under the bridge.
When you drop down, you’ll instantly see a Taken Worm. Pick it up and you’ll receive the “Writ: Path of Ambition” quest. You can now safely leave The Nether.
You’ll now have access to a new story mission (which you can access via The Last City) called “Writ: Path of Ambition.” Once you load in, follow the path — mirroring much of what you did in “Derealize.” Eventually, you’ll reach the big door that you sealed at the end of that quest, and it’ll be covered in Taken goop. Defeat the Wizard, stand on the platform, push forward until you’re teleported to the Shaping Slab, and then interact with it to fight some Taken.
With the mission complete, head back to Eris’ apartment and the Shaping Slab. To the right of the slab you’ll find a new pillar with a big Taken ball on it. Interact with it to “Embrace your Ambition.” This will turn the Taken ball white, complete the quest, and give you full access to the Path of Ambition — including the new Exotic perk function for your Barrow-Dyad.
Path of Ambition or Path of Resolve?
More important than a new rep track or rewards is how your the path you choose will impact your Barrow-Dyad’s secondary perk, Taken Divergence.
The perk says “this weapon resonates with your choices,” but if you look under that, you’ll see a tooltip that tells you an effect that’s being provided to you based on your currently selected path. Here’s how the Barrow-Dyad changes depending on which path you’re on:
- Path of Resolve: Hitting three different targets generates a large amount of blight. Blighted Seekers bore through targets.
- Path of Ambition: Blight generated increases the longer this weapon remains on a target. Blighted Seekers burrow into targets and explode.
These two modes change the type of content that Barrow-Dyad is good for.
The Path of Ambition makes Barrow-Dyad hit much harder against single or priority targets, and is what we’d recommend using most of the time. We recommend the Path of Resolve when you’ll be in an encounter full of enemies and need to kill them all as quickly as possible — like the early rounds of Onslaught or Court of Blades. But while using the Path of Resolve, Barrow-Dyad acts as a poor man’s Osteo Striga (from the Witch Queen expansion), so you should just use Osteo if you have it.
The Taken Divergence perk is unlike anything Bungie has really done with an Exotic in the past — making a reputation track impact an individual gun. With that in mind, it’s currently unclear what will happen to this perk once the episodic content from Heresy is retired after Destiny 2: Codename Apollo launches this summer.