So, here we are in 2026, and Bungie just dropped the weekly reset alongside Update 8.1.0.3. You know what that means—Festival of the Lost is back in the Tower! Honestly, it’s a perfect way to fill the quiet gap before Act 2 of Episode: Revenant kicks off. The place is decked out in spooky decorations, Eva Levante is handing out masks, and there’s a whole new vibe to the Halloween fun this year.

Now, let’s talk about the biggest news for everyone, whether you’re a raid veteran or just starting out. For the first time since The Final Shape expansion, exotic class items are available to all players. That’s right, you don’t need to have completed the Dual Destiny mission anymore. If you own The Final Shape, you just need to gather 1 Eerie Engram and 2,500 pieces of candy to trade with Eva. Do that, and you’ll unlock these powerful items not just at Xur, but also in Overthrow chests out in the Pale Heart. It’s a huge change that opens up a lot of build possibilities for more Guardians.

What's New in the Festival?

This year's event brings back the Haunted Sectors and the Book of the Forgotten, but Bungie has made some tweaks to make the grind feel better.

• Spectral Pages: They've simplified the loop. Spectral pages are gone, making it easier to focus on restoring your Forgotten Book during the event.

• Manifested Pages: You get these from playing any activity while wearing a Festival mask, or directly from Haunted Sectors. Want extra? Defeat up to ten Headless Ones in a single Haunted Sector run.

• Masks Got a Buff: To make these temporary items more exciting, the masks from the introductory quest and Expert Haunted Sectors now drop with spikey high stats and are Masterwork level 7 (up from level 3). Even the masks from regular Haunted Sectors now drop with high stats. The ones you buy from Eva? They’re still a static high-stat roll.

Weapon Loot Pool - What Can You Earn?

The weapon rewards are a mix of returning favorites with new perk possibilities and one brand-new heavy hitter. Here’s the breakdown:

Weapon	Type	Element	Status
Arcane Embrace	Heavy Burst Arc Shotgun	Arc	NEW
Mechabre	Aggressive Sniper Rifle	Arc	Reprised with new perks
Jurassic Green	Rapid-Fire Pulse Rifle	Solar	Reprised with new perks
Braytech Werewolf	Precision Auto Rifle	Kinetic	Reprised with new perks
Acosmic	Rapid-Fire Grenade Launcher	Void	Reprised with new perks

That new Arcane Embrace is a 2-shot burst Arc shotgun in the heavy slot. I’m already thinking about the chaos that could cause in a crowd!

The Memento & Focusing Changes

Bungie brought back the Twilight Memento Triumph, but with new hidden objectives to earn the Memento itself. Even better, you can now hold up to three Festival of the Lost Mementos at once, up from just one.

• Focusing Updates: Any focusing option that costs an Eerie Engram now has a chance to drop the Memento—it’s not just the basic engram focus anymore. Oh, and there are new focusing options for those exotic class items we talked about.

Expert Difficulty & Other Tweaks

For the hardcore players tackling Expert Haunted Sectors, there are some key changes:

• Matchmaking Removed: You’ll need to use the Fireteam Finder to team up now.

• Quest Requirement Gone: The quest to complete each Expert sector has been removed. Instead, the Horrific Haunts event challenge is sweeter, rewarding an extra 500 candy.

• The Forgotten Book progression has been streamlined with the Spectral page change.

Game Fixes & Adjustments in 8.1.0.3

Beyond the festival, this update tackled a bunch of lingering issues. It’s not just about new loot; it’s about smoothing out the experience.

General Fixes:

• Fixed Warlock masks from vendors dropping with random stats (now they’re consistent).

• Fixed onscreen tutorials for Fieldworks that couldn’t be closed.

• Fixed out-of-order voiceovers for Major Fieldworks and Eramis being too loud (we can hear our Ghost again!).

• Fixed the H.E.L.M. landing zone sometimes dumping players into The Last City hub. That was a weird commute.

Activity-Specific Fixes:

• Onslaught: Fixed the Class Warfare and Shot Caller modifiers not activating in Expert difficulty.

• Vesper's Host & Salvation's Edge: Implemented a fix for the Memento not dropping for non-fireteam leaders.

• Encore: Fixed a nasty bug where players could respawn in the Ancillary Transit Nexus during the final boss and get stuck. Also fixed instances of the curated Deadlock dropping with incorrect perks.

Weapon Perk & Mod Corrections:

This is where it gets technical. The update fixed specific perk issues on certain weapons:

• For the curated Deadlock: Specific perks were swapped (e.g., Hammer-Forged → Rifled Barrel, Killing Wind → Lone Wolf). If the original perks were enhanced, they were swapped for the enhanced version of the new perk.

• For Vantage Point Pulse Rifle: This gun had a couple of... quirks. It was incorrectly able to equip Rocket Launcher mods instead of Pulse Rifle mods. Also, it could roll with Voltshot instead of its intended new perk, Jolting Feedback. Both issues are now resolved.

• Fixed an issue where the Desperate Measures perk had its damage bonus reduced unintentionally.

• Fixed the Seasonal Artifact power not being granted by the Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel unless you had the Hunter’s Journal.

One Thing Still on the Radar

Now, there’s one notable community-discovered bug that wasn’t fixed in this patch: the "Perk Proximity Theory." Players found that weapon perks are more likely to drop with perks that are closer together on the column table, making some god-roll combinations nearly impossible. Bungie has confirmed this is a real issue and is targeting a fix for November 5th. As a thank you to the community for their detective work, they’re planning to reward players with unique emblems and opportunities to earn weapons with those rare perk combos. So, keep an eye out for that update!

All in all, this 2026 Festival of the Lost update is a solid package. It gives us a fun, refreshed event to grind through, makes exotic class items accessible to all, and polishes a lot of rough edges that have been bothering players. It shows Bungie is listening, even during the quieter periods between major episodes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Headless Ones to hunt and a new Arc shotgun to try out. See you in the Haunted Sectors!