How to get the Touch of Malice Catalyst in Destiny 2’s King’s Fall raid (2024)

The Touch of Malice — the original King’s Fall Exotic in Destiny 1 — is back for the King’s Fall redux in Destiny 2. Unfortunately, the weapon is now a random drop, rather than a quest reward. But it does come with a secret puzzle to unlock its Catalyst once you’ve acquired it.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll walk you through how to unlock the Touch of Malice Catalyst and improve your already excellent raid weapon. If you want to learn what Touch of Malice does in Destiny 2, you can read about it here.

Note: You can only complete the below puzzle if you have a member in your Fireteam with a Touch of Malice who also doesn’t have the Catalyst yet. As long as one player fits that criteria, you’ll be able to do the puzzle as often as you want — even if you’ve already done it for yourself.

Puzzle 1 - The Dreadnaught opener

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Before starting the Relic encounter and opening the portal to the rest of the King’s Fall raid, run through the Court of Oryx and to where the portal will eventually appear. Look to your left and you’ll see a building with multiple doors. Go inside and look for the small barricade pictured above. Have one of your Guardians that has access to Touch of Malice stand on the plate with the weapon equipped. You’ll get a notification that Relics have appeared.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Spread your team out around the opening area of the Dreadnaught until you’ve found four Relics — not including the two that spawn on the lanterns at the entrance of the raid. They have multiple spawn locations, so you’ll just need to wander around until you’ve found some. Count down from three and then have four players grab the four Relics. This will begin a countdown timer.

You’ll have about a minute and a half to get from where you picked up the Relics back to the Thrall statue behind where the portal spawns in the Court of Oryx. Boogie back there as fast as you can, and have your allies not carrying Relics destroy the Shriekers that will attempt to shoot you down.

When all four players are at the Thrall statue, dunk them in and the statue will catch fire. You’ll get a notification that it hums with energy, which means you did it right. Now, proceed through the King’s Fall raid normally until you reach Golgoroth’s maze.

Puzzle 2 - Golgoroth’s Maze

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Once in Golgoroth’s maze, you’ll first need to open the second secret chest (which you can learn about in our guide). Once the door is open and you’ve grabbed your loot, look around the crystals near the chest. You’ll see another small plate, like the one in the Court of Oryx. Send your Touch of Malice player to stand on it, which will once again spawn Relics.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Just like before, send out four of your players to hunt down Relics. They can be anywhere in the maze, so just run around until you’ve found them. Once everyone is ready, countdown and pick the Relics up simultaneously.

Carry the Relics toward the exit of the maze, near the door to Golgoroth. However, before you walk down the final long hallway, look for a small hole just off to the left of the main path — much smaller than the usual death pits. Jump down it. Instead of your death, you’ll find another Thrall statue.

When everyone is in position, dunk the four Relics to activate this statue. Now go defeat Golgoroth and make your way to the Dick Wall room.

Puzzle 3 - The Dick Wall

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After defeating Golgoroth, you’ll find yourself in the beloved and infamous Dick Wall room. Proceed normally and activate the plates by sending one player in front of the other leapfrog style. Once you’ve locked all the platforms in place, the final plate will glow green. Have your Touch of Malice wielder step on it to spawn a bunch of Relics.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

This is definitely the trickiest of these puzzles, as the Relics can spawn in some truly inconvenient places. Once you’ve located all four, do another countdown and grab them.

This time you’ll need to make your way all the way back to where you entered the Dick Wall room. Thankfully, starting this puzzle spawns a ton of platforms that will help you get back up. Just make sure to watch out for the phallic pistons, as getting killed while carrying a relic will make completing the puzzle in time difficult. (If you fail any of these puzzles, you can reset them by having the Touch of Malice player return to the plate).

Send the non-Relic holders ahead to clear out the Shriekers and then make your way back to the entrance. Once you’ve arrived, climb the new platforms that have appeared by the entrance, which lead up to a mysterious door on the right side of the room. When everyone is ready, dunk your Relics in the Thrall statue to open the door to Oryx’s basketball court.

Puzzle 4 - Oryx’s basketball court

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Yes, the strange Easter egg from the original Destiny returns for the sequel. Inside the basketball court, you’ll see a bunch of jump pads and a big Thrall statue positioned like a basketball hoop.

When you walk in, a bunch of Relics will spawn and a timer will start ticking down. For this puzzle, you just need your entire team to grab and dunk as many Relics as possible into the hoop. It’s chaotic, but not too tough.

Once you’ve earned enough points (denoted by the glowing pillars on the left and right of the room) any Guardians who have the Touch of Malice in your group with get the Catalyst.

What does the Touch of Malice Catalyst do?

Image: Bungie via Polygon

The Touch of Malice Catalyst is very simple, and just gives the weapon Rapid Hit, which causes the gun to reload faster after several precision shots. This makes reloading while at low ammo (a crucial part of what makes Touch of Malice good) very quick. But it also makes activating its secondary perk, the Blight shot, much more convenient.