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Destiny 2 Machine Gun Frame quest steps: Weapon Core locations, Black Armory Crates and Powerful Enemies explained

How to complete the Machine Gun Frame as part of the Black Armory DLC - including Weapon Core locations.

Destiny 2's Machine Gun Frame quest is given to you at the start of the Machine Gun Frame DLC, the first expansion in Destiny 2's second year of content.

The list of steps have you build a Frame for Ada-1, and have you track down a Weapon Core and Black Armory crate, some Powerful Enemies and more.

All the steps to access the Volundr Forge are below, as well as advice on how to get through them as fast as possible.

Every step of Destiny 2's Machine Gun Frame quest

In brief, here's every step of the Machine Gun Frame quest:

  1. Visit Spider in the Tangled Shore
  2. Enter the Annex area of the Tower and talk to Ada-1
  3. Get a Weapon Core from a Black Armory Crate, and collect 25 Compound Ether from Fallen enemies
  4. Get multikills and Hive kills using a Power Weapon
  5. Defeat 25 Powerful Enemies
  6. Collect Radiant Seeds from Powerful Enemies
  7. Return to Ada-1 and visit the Volundr Forge

Though some steps can be completed through playing other activities, others require you to specific places - which we can help with below.

Where to find Destiny 2 Weapon Core and Black Armory Crate locations

First, head to Spider in the Tangled Shore. He'll give you the 'Black Armory Badge', which allows you to access the Annex, a newly added area of the Tower. Head to the west side and follow the waypoints to find the door you need to open. Once done, talk to Ada-1 to get the first step of the questline.

This is in two parts - finding a Weapon Core from a Black Armory Crate, and collecting Compound Ether.

The Weapon Core part is most confusing. Head to the EDZ, and within the two mentioned areas - Outskirts and Gulch - look out for a special shielded enemy with 'Forge Saboteur' in the name. It'll also be surrounded by orbs, making it stand out.

Defeat it, and the message 'A Forge Saboteur has been defeated' will appear at the bottom of the screen. Now search for a crate in the area nearby. Scan it, and you'll receive the Weapon Core.

With that done, you need to find 25 Compound Ether, which is much easier - simply find and kill Fallen enemies. We assume this has to be in the EDZ, but simply complete a few Public Events with Fallen in - of which there are many in the EDZ - to complete this step.

After that is 15 multikills and 50 Hive kills using Power weapons. There are plenty of destinations to do this in, but one of the easiest is on Mars completing Escalation Protocol. The waves of enemies it produces means Hive will bunch together, and if you have a weapon like the Thunderlord, you'll clear them easily and get multikills as you go.


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!


Where to Powerful Enemies in Destiny 2

Next is defeating 25 powerful enemies. These are yellow bar enemies - such as bosses - and you'll find these in activities across the game. However, if you want to speed this up, then visit the Leviathan raid.

At the start are eight yellow bar enemies that will work towards this objective. You can do these solo, and once they are cleared, head to orbit and return to make them reappear. It's a bit of a grind, but much faster than working on other activities.

The final step is collecting Radiant Seeds. These are a drop from powerful enemies - the same foes from the previous steps. However, the drops are uncommon, so you will have to kill more than 20 to get all the Radiant Seeds you need. Again, visiting the Leviathan's opening is the fastest way to do this - but some runs will give you a handful seeds, others just one.

Once done, visit Ada-1 again, who will instruct you to visit the Volundr Forge in the EDZ. Locate it on the map, set it as your objective, go to the nearest fast travel point, and the on-screen waypoints will lead the way. Don't forget to pick up the Mysterious Box quest as you go, too.

Note the encounter is a very high level - over 600 power - but you'll be matchmade to make things a little easier. Good luck!

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