Ask any veteran Guardian about their favorite look, and they’ll probably mention that weird, ethereal glow. You know the one. It looks like you’ve been dipped in the literal void of the Ascendant Plane. We call it Destiny 2 Taken armor, though technically, it’s a bit more complicated than just clicking an "equip" button.
It’s iconic.
Back in the Taken King days of the original game, we had the Desolate set. It was simple. You wore the gear, you looked like a Taken. In the sequel, Bungie decided to make us work for it. They didn't just give us a suit; they gave us a chemical reaction. If you’ve spent any time in the Dreaming City, you’ve seen it. That swirling, black-and-white ink effect that makes your Guardian look less like a soldier and more like a hole in reality.
It's honestly kind of a pain to get sometimes. But that’s why people love it.
The Secret to the Taken Look
Most people looking for Destiny 2 Taken armor are actually looking for a specific consumable called the Tincture of Queensfoil.
It’s a bit of a workaround. Bungie hasn’t released a dedicated, 24/7 "Taken" armor set in the same vein as the old D1 styles for quite some time. Instead, they tied the visual effect to the Reverie Dawn armor set. This gear drops from activities all over the Dreaming City—think Blind Well, the Shattered Throne dungeon, or even just opening those cat statues hidden in the cliffs.
When you’re just walking around Divalian Mists, the Reverie Dawn set looks like standard Awoken royalty gear. It's purple. It’s got some gold trim. It’s fine. But the second you pop a Tincture of Queensfoil, you become "Ascendant." For 30 minutes, your armor transforms. It gains that shimmering, Taken blight effect that everyone wants.
Here is the kicker: the effect only stays if you are Ascendant. Once that timer hits zero, you go back to being a regular-looking Guardian. It’s a temporary flex.
However, there is a way to make it more permanent, or at least feel that way. If you’re running the Shattered Throne dungeon, the armor stays Taken-ified for the duration of certain encounters. It’s also worth noting that the Curse week in the Dreaming City used to affect how these things looked, but since the game has evolved through the Lightfall and The Final Shape eras, the mechanics have smoothed out a bit.
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People often get confused and think there's a specific shader that does this. There isn't. I wish there was. We’ve been asking for a "Taken Shader" for years, but Bungie seems to think it would break the game’s silhouette recognition in PvP. They might be right. Imagine trying to hit a headshot on a guy who is literally a shifting cloud of dark matter.
Why We Can't Have a Permanent Taken Shader
It’s a technical nightmare. Honestly.
The Taken effect isn't just a color swap. It’s an animated texture overlay. In game dev terms, it’s a "shader" in the literal sense—a piece of code that tells the GPU how to render light on a surface. The Taken effect ignores the standard lighting of the room. It’s "unlit," meaning it glows just as bright in a dark cave as it does under the sun of Mercury.
If Bungie released a universal Taken shader, they’d have to manually test it on every single piece of armor in the game to ensure it didn't cause massive frame rate drops or visual glitches.
Think about the sheer volume of assets.
Thousands of helmets.
Thousands of gauntlets.
Each one has different geometry.
When you apply the Taken effect to the Reverie Dawn set, it’s easy because that armor was designed specifically to hold that texture. Applying it to, say, the bulky armor of a Titan wearing the Citan’s Ramparts? That’s how you get clipping issues that make the game look like it’s melting.
The Malfeasance Connection
If you really want to lean into the Taken aesthetic without relying on a 30-minute timer, you have to look at your weapons.
The Malfeasance Hand Cannon is the king of this. Specifically, if you can grab the "Aim to Misbehave" ornament. It turns the gun into a pulsing chunk of Taken energy. When you pair that with the Reverie Dawn armor and a dark shader like Erebos Glance or Abyssinian Gold on your non-Dreaming City pieces, you can get pretty close to that "Primeval" look Drifter is always raving about.
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Some players also swear by the Witherhoard with its "Drown in Strife" ornament. It spits out Taken blight. It looks the part. It feels the part.
How to Farm the Set Right Now
If you're starting from scratch, don't just wander around the Dreaming City aimlessly. That’s a waste of time.
- Visit Petra Venj. Grab every bounty she has. Especially the "War for the Dreaming City" weekly.
- Run the Blind Well. It’s old content, but it’s still the fastest way to get high-volume drops of Reverie Dawn gear. Tier 3 completions almost always guarantee something.
- The Shattered Throne. This is the big one. The encounters here drop "high-stat" versions of the gear. If you want Destiny 2 Taken armor that actually helps you survive a Grandmaster Nightfall, you need the stats from the dungeon.
- Ascendant Challenges. There are six of them on a weekly rotation. You’ll need a Tincture of Queensfoil just to see the portal.
Interestingly, many players forget about the Wish-Ender quest line. While you're in the Shattered Throne chasing your armor, you might as well finish the bow. The bow itself doesn't have a Taken skin by default, but it’s so lore-heavy regarding the Taken war that it fits the "vibe" perfectly.
The Misconception About "Taken Ornaments"
You’ll occasionally see people in the Tower who look completely Taken, and they aren't wearing Reverie Dawn gear.
What’s happening there?
Usually, it’s a clever use of shaders that mimic the look. Shaders like Blueshift Dreams actually have a slight movement to them. It’s not a full Taken effect, but the texture shifts and ripples like water. If you put that on armor with a lot of flat surfaces, it gives off a "pseudo-Taken" energy.
Then there’s the Star-Farer set or certain pieces from the Season of the Deep. These have "glow" channels that can be manipulated. If you use a very dark shader with a bright white or cyan glow, you can trick the eye. But it’s a fake. It’s a cosplay of a Taken, not the real thing.
The real Destiny 2 Taken armor effect—the one that actually replaces your texture with the void—is strictly tied to that Reverie Dawn/Tincture combo.
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Actionable Steps for the Ultimate Taken Look
If you want to maximize this aesthetic today, here is your path.
First, go to the Dreaming City and farm a full set of Reverie Dawn armor with decent stats. Don't settle for a 48-stat roll just for the look. Focus your Umbral Engrams (or the current seasonal equivalent at the HELM) if Dreaming City focusing is available in the current rotation.
Next, stock up on Tincture of Queensfoil. You can carry a maximum of five. You get them from regional chests, public events, or you can buy them from the skulls (Huginn and Muninn) hidden in the Harbinger’s Seclusion area for legendary shards (or whatever the current currency exchange is—Bungie loves changing those).
Once you have the gear and the juice, head into a dark environment. The effect looks best in low-light areas like the Moon or the Enclave. Pop the tincture. Watch the ink spread across your plate mail.
Finally, pair it with the Taken Sparrow (the Harbinger's Echo). To get that, you have to destroy all 40 Corrupted Eggs in the Dreaming City using the Wish-Ender bow. It is a grueling grind. It takes weeks because the eggs are locked behind rotating Ascendant Challenges. But once you have that sparrow, the full Taken look is complete.
The Dreaming City remains one of the most beautiful, haunting locations in the franchise. Even years after its release, the Destiny 2 Taken armor effect is the gold standard for "prestige" fashion. It tells other players you’ve spent time in the dirt of the Shattered Throne. It says you know the secrets of the Awoken.
Go get your Tinctures. Start the farm. The blight is calling.