How to get Motes of Light in Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Motes of Light are a mysterious currency in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, with a description that doesn’t shed much light on why you should seek them out. In reality, Motes of Light are very useful items in The Final Shape: You’ll need to collect all 17 of them if you want to get your hands on the Exotic Khvostov auto rifle.

In this Destiny 2 guide, I’ll walk you through where to find all Motes of Light so you can turn them into the Mote of Primordial Light.

What are Motes of Light in Destiny 2?

Motes of Light are one of the oldest currencies in Destiny, having played a major role in the first game’s economy. In The Final Shape, they act as more of a collectible item.

Motes of Light come from two sources: Overthrow in The Pale Heart area, and the Visions of the Traveler collectibles. Upon collecting your 17th Mote of Light, it’ll automatically transform into the Mote of Primordial Light, which you can take — along with your Legendary Khvostov — to the old Speaker area in the Tower (where you first meet Cayde-6 in Final Shape) and unlock the Exotic version of Khvostov.

That is all easier said than done, unfortunately, as you need to get each of them in a specific way, which does involve a bit of luck.

How to get Motes of Light in Destiny 2

Image: Bungie via Polygon

As mentioned, you’ll get Motes of Light from two sources:

• Eight Motes of Light come from finding Visions of the Traveler collectibles
• Nine Motes of Light come from Overthrow, the endgame activity in the Pale Heart

Each time you collect a Visions of the Traveler collectible item in The Pale Heart, you’ll get a Mote of Light automatically deposited into your inventory. When you have all eight Visions, you should have eight Motes of Light.

If you need help finding the Visions of the Traveler, walk up to their podiums in The Lost City — shown in the image above — for a hint on where in The Pale Heart you can find them. Deposit all eight Visions on their podiums to spawn the gold chest that holds Khvostov. Alternatively, this video from Esoterickk details specific locations.

Additionally, each time you defeat a new boss in Overthrow, you’ll get a Mote of Light. In theory, kill all nine Overthrow bosses and you’re done. It’s a bit more complicated in practice. There are three areas that spawn Overthrow, three bosses per area, and the boss who spawns at the end of an activity is completely random.

The best way to tackle this is to group up with some friends or like-minded players — the matchmaking node is only active for one area a day — to make the activity go faster. Once you clear an Overthrow, move to another in a different area of the map so you don’t waste time waiting for the activity to reset

Image: Bungie via Polygon

As of this writing, there are a number of bugs that have the potential to impact this quest.

First, the Triumphs displaying which bosses you’ve killed in each area are broken, and you can gain progress from repeatedly killing the same boss multiple times. So if you’re trying to figure out which single Mote you need, you need to try and remember which bosses you have and haven’t fought.

Also, after defeating the Taken Chimera Servitor in The Blooming, the Mote you’re supposed to get can get launched all over the map. If you can’t find it, keep searching the area for a pink triangle. Still can’t find it? Try leaving the destination and killing the Chimera again.

Once you’ve killed all three bosses in The Landing, The Blooming, and The Impasse, you should have the Mote of Primordial Light, and will be able to get the Exotic version of Khvostov.

All done? If you’re after other The Final Shape Exotics, then we have explainers on Ergo Sum, Still Hunt, and Microcosm.