How to get the Refracting Prismatic Key in Destiny 2

This one’s going to be frustrating.

refraction prismatic key destiny 2

After you’ve completed Destiny 2: The Final Shape‘s main campaign and unlocked The Pale Heart, you’ll find all sorts of strange new puzzles you’ve got to solve if you want to see everything the location offers. Getting a Refracting Prismatic Key in The Refraction is one of the most challenging.

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You’ll find this puzzle while exploring The Refraction, most likely on your way to start the Dual Destiny Exotic Quest. It’s in the crystal cave room that resembles the old Vanguard office, with a view overlooking the location where you find Ikora in Exegesis. The puzzle is a Prismatic Chest you can’t open and a lock on a door you want to get through. You’ve got to remove the lock to open the chest, but it requires using a mechanic you have never used before in the game until this point.

How to get the Refracting Prismatic Key in Destiny 2

To get the Refracting Prismatic Key in Destiny 2, you must pick up the large orange crystal above the lock near the Prismatic Chest and place it into the correct receptacles around the room. The big rock is a Solar Crystal, and it’s heavy. It’ll slow you down and force you to walk painfully slowly. Runes will appear around the room when you pick it up, but they’re facing in. If you jump down or drop the Solar Crystal, they disappear. See the problem?

What you need to do is take this Rune by Rune. Look at the three Runes on your lock, remember it, or write it down, then pick up the Solar Crystal. You can edge out as you walk around the top balcony in the room and see the Runes around it. Find the one that correlates to the top Rune, walk over to it, and deposit the Solar Crystal in the receptacle behind it.

You must do this in order from top to bottom. Trust me, I tried it out of order and reverse order first. When you correctly deposit the Solar Crystal, you’ll see a notification saying, “It draws closer,” which means you got it right. However, this is also going to spawn enemies who rush you and try to kill you.

After the first Rune, you’ll be attacked by enemies while trying to deposit the Solar Crystal for the second and third Runes as you walk. Drop the Solar Crystal to kill these enemies, but pick it up quickly after so it doesn’t reset.

Once you’ve deposited the Solar Crystal three times, a swarm of enemies, including two Subjugators, will spawn. Kill every enemy and try not to die too many times. The second Subjugator will drop your Refracting Prismatic Key and allow you to open the Prismatic Chest.

This particular chest gives you the Facet of Justice Prismatic Fragment, unlocking new abilities in your Prismatic Subclass to mess around with. It’s worth the work you need to put in because it enables you to tweak this Subclass to be even more useful in various encounters thanks to the additional combinations you can pull together.

About The Author
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp
Jamie is a Staff Writer on Destructoid who has been playing video games for the better part of the last three decades. He adores indie titles with unique and interesting mechanics and stories, but is also a sucker for big name franchises, especially if they happen to lean into the horror genre.
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