'Destiny 2: The Witch Queen': How To Get the Osteo Striga and Dead Messenger Weapons

The Witch Queen expansion for Destiny 2 adds plenty of fresh content to the first-person shooter, including original quests, player versus player arenas and some exotic gear.

In terms of the latter, guardians can equip tantalizing new armor pieces and craft weapons that will serve them throughout the rest of the season. Particular highlights include the Osteo Striga SMG and the Dead Messenger grenade launcher, both of which can be incredibly handy in a firefight.

Much like the Forerunner sidearm, however, neither of these guns are easy to acquire and you will need to jump through a few hoops to unlock them. Here is everything you need to know.

How To Get the Osteo Striga SMG in 'Destiny 2'

The Osteo Striga is a unique addition to Destiny 2's armory, as it fires sentient projectiles that track enemies and discharge bursts of toxic gas.

The SMG was offered as a bonus item for customers who purchased a deluxe edition copy of The Witch Queen, which itself costs $79.99.

Those who forked out for this expensive version of the game might be concerned that they don't see the Osteo Striga anywhere in their inventory at first. That is because it's not an instant-unlock item and you still have to go through the steps of manually crafting it.

To forge this weapon, you must visit the Enclave destination and open up the "Shape" menu. From here, you can then navigate to the submachine gun tab, at which point you should see an option for crafting the Osteo Striga appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

Yet, before you can go any further, you will first need to unlock the weapon's "pattern" (essentially a schematic). The bad news is that this crafting blueprint is granted as the final reward for completing the entirety of The Witch Queen campaign—which is estimated to be around six-to-eight hours long—so you're really going to have to put in some legwork.

Not only that, but you'll need to harvest a lot of resources to be able to afford the Osteo Striga at the end of all this. In terms of crafting components, you'll need 7 Resonant Alloys, 15,000 Glimmer, 2,375 Neutral Elements, 1 Ascendant Alloy and 70 Ruinous Elements.

To summarize, the steps for acquiring the Osteo Striga SMG in Destiny 2 are as follows:

• Purchase the deluxe edition of Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
• Finish all of The Witch Queen campaign
• Head to the Enclave destination, open up the shape menu and find the Osteo Striga pattern
• Spend the necessary components to craft the gun itself.

How To Get the Dead Messenger Grenade Launcher in 'Destiny 2'

The Dead Messenger is a new exotic grenade launcher in Destiny 2 that is capable of unleashing 72 rounds per minute. Upon contact with the ground, its projectiles will produce three energy waves that inflict either Solar, Arc, or Void damage (you can cycle between these at will).

Unlocking this weapon is comparatively straightforward as you don't need to craft it from scratch or make any separate purchases.

Instead, it is offered as a standard reward for completing the "Vox Obscura" questline which has been added as part of the recent Season 16 update to Destiny 2.

The starting point for this mission can be found in The Barrens region of Mars. Here, you will get a call from Zavala asking you to investigate some propaganda transmissions.

At the end of the questline, you will be directed to a treasure room where you can open a golden chest as your final objective. The Dead Messenger grenade launcher is contained within this box.

Destiny 2 is available now. It is free to download on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PC. The Witch Queen expansion is sold separately.