Destiny 2 Jotunn, Le Monarque, and Black Armory Forges explained

Destiny 2's Black Armory was an update that appeared in Destiny 2's second year, and debuted two new Exotics - Jotunn and Le Monarque - which are among the best weapons in the game.

After the release of Year 3's Shadowkeep expansion, most of the previously added content has drastically changed, either becoming simpler or more of a hassle to obtain - including these Forges and Exotic quests.

Back when it first released, the steps to obtain both Jotunn and Le Monarque were quite different. For starters, all four Forges - special wave-based missions where you can obtain such weapons - had to be opened individually, each with its own questline and requirements. At the same time, obtaining these weapons was purely dependent on luck as you completed them.

Now, the Shadowkeep expansion has simplified the first steps significantly, but turned the second half into much more of a grind. Both of these weapons will show up as quests now, which is great since there's no RNG involved, but it's going to take you a whilst to get your hands on them.

On this page, we'll explain the steps required to find them:

Where to start the Jotunn and Le Monarque quests

First things first, you're gonna want to talk to Ada in the Tower. If this is your first time playing Destiny 2 after Shadowkeep, it's not necessary to talk to Spider in order to obtain an emblem for Ada.

She will then offer you a mission upon meeting her called Black Armory Machine Gun Frame. It will task you to obtain 25 Compound Ether and 1 Weapon Core, the later found in a stolen Black Armory crate either on the Outskirts or the Gulch of the EDZ, but that's only the first step to follow.

Ada will also give you the Mysterious Box quest, and two more that will grant you the path towards the exotic weapons. A Giant's Might and Butterfly's Grace, each representing the Jotunn and Le Monarque weapons, respectively.

Easy, right? Well, the requirements for each are a bit time consuming, and will demand consistency if you want to get them done as soon as possible.

Requirements for A Giant's Might and Butterfly's Grace

Each one of the exotics will ask you to:

• Complete 10 Legendary Weapon Frames (they have a golden colour and dark background)
• Eliminate Vex (for A Giant's Might) and Fallen (for Butterfly's Grace)

The first can be obtained by picking them up from Ada directly, but there's a catch. You'll need a Ballistics Log to purchase each one of them, an item that is only available through two weekly bounties: Forging the Future and For the Armory.

The first is rather simple, as you only need to ignite a forge, eliminate the Warden, and successfully complete it. For the Amory, on the other hand, requires you to complete all seven bounties, which will take you considerably longer.

What's a shame is that you can't grind all the weapon frames continuously. You only get two Ballistic Logs per week, which means that the entire process can take up to five weeks to complete. It's not hard at any extent, and you can complete other bounties and missions alongside them, but it just takes a lot of time.

One key factor to keep in mind is that you must not repeat weapon frames until you get all first six done, otherwise the game will not count it towards the overall progress. Thanks to topperTS on reddit for discovering this.

How to forge frames from Black Armory Forges efficiently

The process to unlock weapon frames is a tad different from how we previously unlocked the Black Armory Machine Gun Frame, but the steps are the same.

Obtain 25 Compound Ether and 1 Weapon Core, the later found in a stolen Black Armory crate. Destinations may vary, but they're always outlined in the mission's info:

• 15 multikills and 50 kills against a type of enemy using Power weapons (public events are great for this)
• Defeating 25 Powerful Enemies
• Collect Radiant Seeds from Powerful Enemies
• Ignite the Forge

As for Weapon Cores, there's no need to hunt down specific enemies anymore. These new chests are different from the regular ones, mainly because they have a shield around them, patrolled by a couple of small drones.

They are really distinctive, carrying a black colour and the Black Armory symbol on a side. Once you destroy the drones, you'll be able to open and loot whatever's inside, along with the weapon core.

In addition, remember that Radiant Seeds used to be a rare item to drop in Destiny 2? Thankfully it's much easier to obtain them now, and you only need to hunt down Powerful Enemies until you collect them all, which should drop with every one of them.

It's gonna take a bit of a grind, but it's a great opportunity to take on Strikes. Always remember that these missions can be multi-tasked with many other activities, so definitely make the most of each.

The Season of the Deep is here alongside the Into the Depths quest. You can know go fishing too! Don't forget to keep an eye on the Lost Sector and King's Fall challenge rotation schedule!

How Forges work in Year 3 and what to keep in mind

After completing all the requirements for a weapon frame, you'll have to go to a forge and complete the event. In this post-Shadowkeep world, all four forges (Volundr, Gofannon, Izanami and Bergusia) are unlocked automatically and can be accessed from the lower left symbol in the Earth overview map from the Destinations menu.

The catch is that they're now tied to the daily resets, meaning that there's no way to switch between them manually. This means that, if you happened to miss Bergusia on Saturday, it won't show up again until Wednesday.

Which is important since, unless otherwise stated, Bergusia is the prefered forge for exotic drops, and where you'll have to go in order to obtain both Jotunn and Le Monarque, so make sure to plan ahead.

At their core, they remain fairly similar. Both you and two other guardians will have to survive two waves of enemies, whilst also collecting Radiant Batteries. These are only dropped by enemies that are highlighted in blue, which are easily recognizable.

The thing is, your ventures to the forges will only count if you successfully beat them, and it can get tricky towards the end if you don't coordinate with your teammates. Each wave will ask for 20 Radiant Batteries, but the event is also time limited.

Time will increase with each battery (which has to be thrown by a guardian into the flaming forger) but also decrease if you stop feeding the forge constantly.

And then comes the boss fight. You only get two minutes to defeat the Warden (which changes depending on the forge), but it also comes with several mobs that you'll have to deal with as well.

What we recommend is to have your ultimate ability for this encounter, along with any collected ammo for your Power Weapon. As soon as it appears, all three guardians should attack recklessly in that first time window before the mobs start to become troublesome.

It's all a matter of focusing aggro on the boss as much as possible whilst dodging projectiles. It might be difficult to coordinate these with random players (they're being shot at after all) so we advise to form a squad and jump into voice chat or this.

Also, if you happened to be matchmaked with just one other guardian, we highly recommend that you exit and find a new match. Forges can be hard, especially if you're not doing them with a full team, but if you follow our tips you'll be a proud owner of both Jotunn and Le Monarque in no time.