The Drowning Labyrinth quest dives deeper into the lore surrounding Sundered Doctrine, arguably one of the most significant dungeons for Destiny 2‘s narrative. Completing each step opens up new areas inside Rhulk’s Pyramid, and the huge door behind Kerrev, the Erased should be the quest’s final secret.
Each week, the game brings you three sets of worm collectibles spread out around the Sundered Doctrine dungeon, which are located between encounters. Each quest step culminates in the Guardian beating Kerrev, the Erased, the dungeon’s final boss, when you’ll receive some more intel.
Here’s what you need to complete the Drowning Labyrinth quest in Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 The Drowning Labyrinth quest guide
The Sundered Doctrine dungeon uses the Vow of the Disciple glyphs, but the Drowning Labyrinth quest borrows elements from the dungeon quests in Warlord’s Ruin and Vesper’s Host. This means you must find collectibles hidden in specific spots to progress further. Unlike these two, however, Sundered Doctrine’s Exotic quest brings another obstacle and some of the community’s least favorite words: it’s time-gated.
We’ve broken down all The Drowning Labyrinth quest steps and how to complete them below.
Pick up the Hidden report and become initiated
After clearing the dungeon for the first time, you must go back to the Hidden base camp at the start of the dungeon, just by the bridge leading deeper into the Pyramid. Pick up the Hidden report in the stand to the right and interact with the dial wheel at the end of the room. Input the code Savathûn Enter Pyramid and activate the dial to start the quest.
This will give you the First-Tier Initiate buff and ask you to find three Laboratory Worms.
First-Tier Initiate Worm locations (week one)
- First worm: Intro area, below the bridge (Witness)
- Second worm: Between the first and second encounter (Give)
- Third worm: After the second encounter (Darkness)
The first Laboratory Worm is just by the bridge past the base camp, before you even do the first encounter. Look for a set of stairs to the right of the bridge, then call up your Ghost to see the outline of some platforms. Follow them to a room below, which has the first worm and the Witness symbol behind it.
The second Laboratory Worm for week one is after you solve the riddle, in the wide room filled with Grims. Instead of going through the door on the right side, head to the far left of the area and find a door that opens when you shoot at it, just like in the third encounter.
After you kill the Zoetic Lockset, the final Laboratory Worm with the First-Tier Initiate buff is in the room with the Worm and Enter glyphs, where you need to shine a light on both to open the gate. Enter the hole on the left of the Worm symbol to find the last worm (on the nose, we know). Before you head back, climb onto the calcified worm body on the right of the symbol to grab a secret chest.
After you’ve found all three worms, the game tells you to steal Dread knowledge, which is a far more cryptic hint than it should be. Load up a new instance of the dungeon and enter the code you got from the worms in the dial: Witness, Give, and Darkness. Then, head to the area with the first secret passage and look around to see some Shriekers, which means you’ve done it correctly. (We wouldn’t have figured out this step without watching content creator Skarrow9)
Kill the enemies that spawn and bring the Knowledge crystals to the plate at the back of the room. Once you’ve deposited enough, the door will open and lead you to another room. Interact with the display to obtain the Pyramid Data and advance the quest further. After that, take down Kerrev, the Erased to wrap up this section of the quest. Mind the symbols that appear upon the boss’ defeat.
Second-Tier Initiate Worm locations (week two)
After you’ve completed the first part of the Drowning Labyrinth, launch into Sundered Doctrine and return to the Hidden base camp. Pick up another Hidden research (this time on a crate across the dial) to get the Second-Tier Initiate buff and open up another wave of Worm spawns.
- First worm: Before the first encounter, in the room where you drop down. (Hive)
- Second worm: In the traversal part after the first encounter, before the room with the spiked balls. (Grief)
- Third worm: After the second encounter, in the room with the giant Worm glyph. (Worm)
For the first worm in the second tier, get past the secret passage near the Subjugators and drop down. You can find this worm during the drop, but the simplest way is to jump all the way down. Instead of following the main path, climb up the rock, then jump to the ledge across from you. After that, jump to the next ledge ahead of you, just above the first red light. This should show you an interact prompt. Open the door to unlock the room with the Hive glyph.
The second Laboratory Worm is in the room with a dangerous gap in the middle, the one that sends you flying straight to the bottom if you’re not careful. Break your fall, then look to the right to find a piece of the wall you can stand on, which opens another door with a Worm inside and the Grief symbol in the back.
The final Laboratory Worm for week two of The Drowning Labyrinth is after the second encounter, in the room where you first spot the large Worm symbol on the wall. Clear the enemies, then look for a spot two levels above the door on the left side. The light shows you where you should go to find the last worm and the Worm symbol.
How to discover the Hive secrets in the Drowning Labyrinth quest
Once you’ve found all three Labyrinth Worms, you have another oddly phrased objective in your hands: discover Hive secrets. Just like before, relaunch the dungeon, return to the Hidden base camp, and input the new code: Hive, Grief, Worm.
This will cause the Pyramid to respond to your actions and open another secret spot like in the first step—this time, in the same room as the last worm. We only got this to work when we entered the code on that same instance beforehand, so we had to redo the first two encounters.
Reach the same room as the last worm and you’ll spot four Shriekers in that area. Two are lined up by the entrance, one is on the left side, and the final one is by the building ahead, on a hallway to your left. There’s a hole in the wall behind the Shrieker, which is important for this part.
Clear enemies to give you some room and take down as many Shriekers as you can to make it easier on you. After that, look for a Wormcradle Knight on the ground, near the door with the stairwell. Kill it so it drops a glowing worm. Pick it up to start a one-minute countdown.
Take the worm to the wall behind the last Shrieker before the time runs out. This blows up the wall to open another secret room with the second Pyramid Data. Beat up Kerrev, The Erased again to clear this step and watch the new symbols appear to form more of the message. And that’s about all you can do for this week.
Is Drowning Labyrinth time-gated?
The Drowning Labyrinth quest is time-gated if you’re exploring it just after launch. You can get the first set of three collectibles during week one, with the reset on Feb. 11 bringing another three worms. Once you do, though, the quest will tell you to “wait for the Hidden researchers to complete their study of the information you brought them from inside the Pyramid.” That’s Destiny 2 speak for “see you in the next weekly reset,” and we’ll update this article once next week rolls around.
