Exotic Catalysts Guide

Borealis Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Reload Speed
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies; keep killing until you find it.
• How to Upgrade: 150 Arc Kills, Solar Kills, and Void Kills.

Coldheart Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Stability and Reload Speed
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Heroic Strike and Nightfall Bosses
• How to Upgrade: 300 Kills.

Colony Catalyst

• Perk: Increased ammo reserves (+10 Magazine)
• How to Get: Randomly dropped in Crucible Matches
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills.

Crimson Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Range
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies
• How to Upgrade: 300 Precision Kills

A.R.C.I Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Stability
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies
• How to Upgrade: 300 Precision Kills

Fighting Lion Catalyst

• Perk: +30 Reload Speed
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies
• How to Upgrade: Many Kills

Graviton Lance Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Range, +15 Aim Assist, and greater Target Acquisition
• How to Get: Faction Rallies, or randomly dropped by PvE or PVP Enemies
• How to Upgrade: 1000 Kills with the Cosmology Perk

Huckleberry Catalyst

• Perk: Ambitious Assassin’s Perk
• How to Get: Randomly dropped in Heroic Adventures
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills

Izanagi’s Burden Catalyst

• Perk: Holding down reload consumes more ammo, setting up a powerful, single fire shot
• How to Get: Upgrade Chalice of Opulence, and complete Heroic Menagerie – the Catalyst will randomly drop
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills

Jade Rabbit Catalyst

• Perk: +30 Stability
• How to Get: Randomly dropped after Crucible victories
• How to Upgrade: 250 Kills in Crucible

Legend of Acrius Catalyst

• Perk: Ammo Reserves increased; +40 Reload Speed
• How to Get: Randomly dropped in Prestige Leviathan Raid
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills

Merciless Catalyst

• Perk: +40 Range and Stability
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by defeating Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills

MIDA Multi-Tool Catalyst

• Perk: Reload Speed increased, contingent to Precision Kills
• How to Get: Randomly dropped after Competitive Crucible victories
• How to Upgrade: Precision Kills in Crucible

Outbreak Perfected Catalyst

• Perk: Additional Nanite Damage; enemies who die because of SIV A Nanites will spread it to other enemies
• How to Get: Complete Heroic Zero Hour Mission
• How to Upgrade: Farm up 500 SIV A Particulate, and get precision kills with them

Polaris Lance Catalyst

• Perk: Precision Kills cause an Elemental damage explosion
• How to Get: Complete Nascent Dawn Quest
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills total, 50 of which must be with the Perfect Fifth Perk

Prometheus Lens Catalyst

• Perk: 20+ Stability and Handling
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: 300 Kills

Riskrunner Catalyst

• Perk: +30 Range
• How to Get: Pain and Gain Exotic Quest
• How to Upgrade: 300 Kills, and 300 Chain Lightning Kills

Skyburner’s Oath Catalyst

• Perk: +30 Range
• How to Get: Randomly dropped after completing Leviathan Raid
• How to Upgrade: 1000 Cabal Kills

Sleeper Simulant Catalyst

• Perk: +75 Charge Time
• How to Get: Randomly dropped in Prestige Spire of Stars Raid Lair
• How to Upgrade: Used all Escalation Protocol Weapons to have 4000 combined Kills

Sturm Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Range, +40 Handling
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by enemies on Nessus
• How to Upgrade: Equip Sturm and Drang, and get 500 Kills with each weapon.

Sunshot Catalyst

• Perk: +20 Range and Stability
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE and PvP enemies
• How to Upgrade: 1000 Kills with Sun Blast Perk

Sweet Business Catalyst

• Perk: Flinch from incoming damage is reduced when weapon is fully spun up
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE and PvP enemies
• How to Upgrade: 250 multi-kills

Telesto Catalyst

• Perk: Increased ammo reserves (+60 Magazine)
• How to Get: Prestige Eater of Worlds Raid Lair
• How to Upgrade: On Mercury, complete all Verses for Brother Vance in the Lighthouse

Tractor Cannon Catalyst

• Perk: Increased ammo reserves (+60 Magazine)
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies
• How to Upgrade: 300 Kills

Vigilance Wing Catalyst

• Perk: Full Auto-Trigger System
• How to Get: Randomly dropped after Crucible victories
• How to Upgrade: 250 Crucible Kills, and 5 Blood for Blood medals

Wardcliff Coil Catalyst

• Perk: Improved tracking on projectiles
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: 500 Kills

Whisper of the Worm Catalyst

• Perk: Zooming in but not firing will increase the range and precision damage
• How to Get: Awarded for completing the Whisper Mission
• How to Upgrade: Complete the Whisper Mission again, and open chests to collect Blighted Essence

Worldline Zero Catalyst

• Perk: Activation time for Tesserect Perk is reduced
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by PvE Enemies if killed with a sword
• How to Upgrade: Using Worldline Zero, reach Level 7 of each Escalation Boss Protocol

Prospector Catalyst

• Perk: Blast radius increased
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: Defeat enemies

Rat King Catalyst

• Perk: Increased Aim Assist, Recoil decreased
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: Defeat Enemies

Hard Light Catalyst

• Perk: Increased Stability
• How to Get: Randomly dropped by Nightfall and Heroic Strike Bosses
• How to Upgrade: Defeat Enemies

SUROS Regime Catalyst

• Perk: Gain health after every kill, and improved recoil
• How to Get: Randomly dropped after Crucible victories
• How to Upgrade: Defeat Enemies

And if you were wondering, here is the list of Best Exotic Catalysts, ones we believe will buff your weapons up the most!

Huckleberry: After the Well and Rally Barricade nerfs, this Catalyst will be one of the only few to make mob clearing an easy task rather than a fervent chore.

Sweet Business: You can reload by walking over the ammo, and without firing. Its PvE damage is staggering as well.

Crimson: Getting a damage boost, and you restore health with each kill, win-win.

Sunshot: With the increased magazine size, and the perks mentioned above, this is a dangerous Catalyst.

SUROS Regime: The Auto Rifle buffs, when in conjunction with this Catalyst, will have you regaining health with each kill.

Le Monarque: Powerful Bow buffs makes this a powerful weapon.

DARCI: Perfect for taking down bosses due to the 20% increase in damage.

Jade Rabbit: Based on enemy ranks, Scout Rifles get an 18-36% increase in damage.

Bad Juju: This, like Huckleberry, gets around the Well and Rally Barricade nerfs, and its String of Curses Perk makes it invaluable on top of it.