How to unlock The Last Word hand cannon in Destiny 2

Alec Mullins
The Last Word Hand Cannon in Destiny 2

There are many powerful weapons out across the galaxy and this hand cannon sits at the very top of the hierarchy, so stick around as we break down how to unlock The Last Word in Destiny 2. 

Long-time Destiny players know how important it is to be properly geared up before going into battle, and for a large chunk of the player base, there is simply no way to feel safe leaving The Tower without The Last Word in tow.

Featuring a full-auto fire rate and increased hipfire capabilities, this gun mixes the high impact damage of a hand cannon with the devastating speed of its rifle-based counterparts.

This Exotic first arrived in the Forsaken DLC, and its original quest had players hunting down specific objectives before being able to claim it for their own. After the Beyond Light update though, the process for claiming older Exotic weapons changed, and The Last Word was amongst the weapons affected.

Here is what you’ll need to do if you want to unlock it.

How to unlock The Last Word in Destiny 2?

Destiny 2 Monument to Lost Lights

Like all of the older exotics, you can only get The Last Word from the Monument to Lost Lights weapon vault in the Tower.

This vendor is located on the far right side of the Courtyard landing zone. You’ll find it on the same wall, but a little beyond, Banshee-44’s gunsmith station, right in-between the Tower’s two Vaults.

In order to craft the weapon, you’ll need to bring a hefty list of materials:

  • 1x Exotic Cipher
  • 125,000 Glimmer
  • 200 Etheric Spiral
  • 1x Ascendant Shard

While the Glimmer and Etheric Spirals aren’t difficult to find, both the Exotic Ciphers and the Ascendant Shards prevent more of a challenge.

For Etheric Spirals, simply head to The Tangled Shore and accept some bounties from Spider. Each one you complete should reward you with five Spirals, and you’ll likely find more while completing those tasks anyway.

The Exotic Ciphers and Ascendant Shards are a different story though.

How to collect Exotic Ciphers

There are two ways to approach Exotic Ciphers. Either reach rank 55 in the current Season Pass, or turn to Xur, Destiny’s rare-arms dealer for help.

Even if you haven’t bought the Season Pass you will still receive an Exotic Cipher as a reward for your seasonal rank, but be careful when claiming it – you can only hold one of these in your inventory at a time, so claiming this cipher while you already have one could cause you to lose it entirely.

Destiny 2 Xur Tower
Destiny 2’s Agent of the Nine can hook you up with an exotic cipher — for a price.

For players who’ve already claimed their seasonal cipher, you’ll have to make do with completing Xur’s Xenology quest to earn another. The traveling merchant only sticks around for a few days at a time though, so you’ll have to move fast if you want to get this done.

Xenology asks you to complete 21 Strikes, or win matches in the Crucible or Gambit. While that might sound like a lot, we have a guide that can help you get through it as fast as possible.

For Ascendant Shards, the process is equally complicated.

How to collect Ascendant Shards

If you own the paid Season Pass, you can earn three Ascendant Shards at season ranks 80, 85, and 94. You can also buy Shards from either Banshee-44 or Ada-1, but the planetary materials they require are random and change depending on the day.

The general cost for each Shard is:

  • 10 Enhancement Prisms
  • 100 planetary materials
  • 50,000 Glimmer

If you’re still on the hunt, you’ll either need to complete platinum runs of Grandmaster Nightfall Strikes, make a flawless run in Trials of Osiris, or reach 10,000 reputation with one of either Zavala, Lord Shaxx, the Drifter, or Saint-14.

Once you’ve collected all the items you need, venture back to The Monument to Lost Lights to reap your reward.


That’s our guide on how to unlock The Last Word in Destiny 2. If you found this helpful, check out our other Destiny content and guides.

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About The Author

Alec Mullins is an FPS writer focusing on Call of Duty and Apex Legends and their respective esports scenes. He worked at TheGamer before joining Dexerto. On the weekends, you'll find him watching the CDL and jamming to The Mountain Goats. You can find Alec on Twitter @LifeAsAlec