So, you're staring at the H.E.L.M. or looking through your quest log and wondering why on earth you haven't managed to unlock the Court of Blades in Destiny 2 yet. Honestly, it’s understandable. Bungie loves a good cryptic menu, and the way they structured the Season of the Witch—which is where this particular piece of content lives—can feel like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in the dark.
You need those cards. You need the Deck of Whispers to actually mean something.
But here’s the thing: people often overcomplicate it. They think there's some secret hidden boss or a 1% drop rate item they missed. Usually, it's just a matter of following the specific, somewhat annoying, "Major Arcana" questline that the game doesn't always do a great job of highlighting.
What the Court of Blades Actually Is (And Why You Care)
Let's get the basics out of the way. The Court of Blades isn't a physical place you go to like the Tower. It’s a wing of the Athenaeum. Specifically, it's that spooky Hive-themed library hidden behind the portal in the H.E.L.M.
When you’re trying to unlock the Court of Blades, what you’re really doing is progressing your rank with the Deck of Whispers. Each "Court" represents a different set of buffs and seasonal perks. If you want to be efficient in Savathûn’s Spire or the Altars of Summoning, you need these cards active. Without them, you're basically playing on hard mode for no reason.
The Court of Blades specifically focuses on aggressive, combat-oriented buffs. We’re talking about things that reward you for sword kills, melee energy, and generally being in the face of a Hive Knight.
The Step-by-Step Path to Unlock the Court of Blades
First, check your seasonal quest: The Bladed Path. If you aren't caught up on the weekly story beats, the game literally won't let you progress the deck. It’s a gate. A big, glowing, Hive-magic gate.
You have to reach a certain point in the weekly narrative—usually around Week 3 or 4 of the seasonal content—before the specific Major Arcana card for the Court of Blades becomes available for "attunement."
🔗 Read more: Blox Fruit Current Stock: What Most People Get Wrong
- Collect the Opaque Cards. You get these from doing literally anything. Strikes, Crucible, Gambit, or the seasonal activities.
- Visit the Lectern of Divination. This is the floating stone table in the Athenaeum.
- Identify the Quest Card. Look for the card labeled "The Blades." If it's still a silhouette, you haven't done enough seasonal activities yet. Go run another Altar of Summoning. Seriously.
- Complete the Attunement Quest. Once you claim the card, it becomes a quest in your log.
This quest usually involves a "Trial of Blades." It’s not just flavor text. You’ll be sent to a specific lost sector or a designated area in the Savathûn’s Throne World. You'll have to kill enemies using specific methods—mostly melee or sword kills—to prove you're "worthy" of the blade.
It's a bit of a grind. But once that quest is turned in at the Lectern, the Court of Blades officially opens up in your Deck of Whispers.
The Problem with "The Bladed Path" Progress
A lot of players get stuck because they think they can just grind cards. You can't. Bungie time-gated this stuff. If you’re a returning player trying to burn through the Season of the Witch content in 2024 or later, you might find yourself hitting a wall where no new cards drop.
Check your quest tab. Is there a step that says "Wait for Eris Morn to contact you" or "Complete further experiments"? That’s the game telling you to slow down. Usually, completing one or two runs of Savathûn’s Spire triggers the next dialogue sequence.
The Major Arcana vs. Minor Arcana Confusion
Don't waste your time hunting for the Court of Blades in the Minor Arcana. Those are just small boosts—extra engrams, some keys, maybe a bit of extra reputation.
The Major Arcana are the big players. These are the cards that actually form your deck. You need at least five Major Arcana cards to even "activate" your deck during seasonal activities. If you only have four, the Court of Blades won't help you because your deck isn't technically "legal" in the game's eyes.
Why People Struggle with the Attunement Missions
The attunement missions for the Court of Blades can be surprisingly tricky if you aren't geared for them. They often require you to get kills in the Throne World.
💡 You might also like: Why the Yakuza 0 Miracle in Maharaja Quest is the Peak of Sega Storytelling
Pro tip: Don't just wander around the Quagmire. Head into the Extraction or Sepulcher Lost Sectors. The enemy density is higher, and you can finish the "Defeat combatants with Swords or Melee" requirements in about five minutes.
If you try to do it in the open world, you’re competing with other Guardians for kills. It’s frustrating. It’s slow. Just go into a Lost Sector.
Maximizing Your Court of Blades Buffs
Once you unlock the Court of Blades, you need to actually put the cards in your deck. Go back to the Athenaeum. Look at the pillars surrounding the Lectern.
Each pillar represents a card. You can toggle them on or off.
For a "Blades" focused build, you want to prioritize cards like:
- The Lie: Reduces the cooldown of your class ability when you deal damage.
- The Blades: Your melee hits deal significantly more damage and can trigger health regeneration.
If you’re a Titan running Banner of War? This is your bread and butter. You will be essentially unkillable in the Altars of Summoning if you have a fully active Court of Blades deck.
Common Bugs and How to Fix Them
Destiny 2 is a massive game, and sometimes things just... break.
📖 Related: Minecraft Cool and Easy Houses: Why Most Players Build the Wrong Way
If the card isn't appearing at the Lectern even though you’ve finished the story, check your Quest Archive in the Tower. Sometimes, if your quest inventory was full when you "earned" the card, it gets kicked to the archive. It’s a weird system, but it happens more often than you'd think.
Also, make sure you’ve actually claimed the rewards from the Ritual Table. Sometimes the quest progression is tied to your seasonal rank. If you haven't picked up the "Introduction to Arcana" package, the rest of the cards might stay locked.
Is It Still Worth It?
You might be asking if it's worth the hassle. Honestly, yeah. Even if you're just doing it for the "Haruspex" title or trying to wrap up your collections, the Court of Blades offers some of the most fun power fantasies in the game.
There’s nothing quite like having a deck that lets you spam infinite melee abilities while exploding everything in a shower of Hive soulfire.
Final Steps for Your Loadout
To get the most out of your newly unlocked court, stop using scout rifles for a minute. The Court of Blades is designed for the bold.
- Equip a Sword: Preferably something with Incandescent or Chain Reaction.
- Focus on Strength: Lower that melee cooldown.
- Run Altars of Summoning: This is the best place to see the deck actually work. The density of enemies is high enough that the buffs never fall off.
Go to the H.E.L.M. now. Check that Lectern. If you have Opaque Cards sitting in your inventory, turn them in. Your "The Blades" quest is likely sitting right there waiting for you to stop ignoring it. Once you finish that quick trip to the Throne World to stab some Acolytes, you're golden.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Open your Quest Log and look for "The Bladed Path." Complete any outstanding steps.
- Travel to the Athenaeum via the H.E.L.M. portal and check the Lectern of Divination.
- Locate the "The Blades" Major Arcana card; if it's not there, grind Savathûn’s Spire until it drops.
- Head to the Throne World (specifically a Lost Sector) to complete the attunement requirements.
- Return to the Athenaeum to activate the card on the physical pillars surrounding the ritual area.
By following this sequence, you’ll stop wondering why the buffs aren't proccing and start actually dominating the seasonal loop. The Court of Blades isn't just a menu item—it’s the difference between struggling through an Altar of Summoning Tier 3 and absolutely breezing through it.