What Initial Calibration is
- Quest giver: Ada‑1, in the Shooting Range activity in the Tower.
- Event: Part of Arms Week (Ash & Iron / Edge of Fate era).
- Purpose:
- Gives you a prototype weapon (e.g., Phoneutria Fera or that week’s featured shotgun/bow).
- Makes you “calibrate” it through several mini‑quests.
- Shows how to spend Arms Week currency/telemetry.
- Gives and forces you to equip the Volatile Weapon mod.
All of this is wrapped inside the multi‑step quest Initial Calibration.
Full Initial Calibration walkthrough (step‑by‑step)
Step 1 - Talk to Ada‑1 in the Shooting Range
- Open the Tower map and select the Shooting Range node.
- Enter the space and find Ada‑1.
- Pick up the Initial Calibration quest - she will also give you a prototype weapon tied to the current Arms Week rotation.
Step 2 - Complete the three Prototype Tuning quests
Ada then asks you to help her calibrate the weapon through three side quests:
- Prototype Tuning: Barrel
- Prototype Tuning: Magazine
- Prototype Tuning: Traits
Important:
- Open Ada’s menu and accept all three Prototype Tuning quests.
- Objectives are simple, typically things like:
- get a certain number of kills with the prototype;
- land a number of precision hits;
- sometimes do weapon‑specific or activity‑specific kills.
- Progress counts in parallel: just use the prototype weapon in activities (Arms Week playlist, Strikes, Crucible, general PvE) and all three Tuning quests will fill together.
When all three show 100%, go back to Ada‑1 and turn them in.
Step 3 - Speak to Ada‑1 again
- After turning in the three Tuning quests, speak to Ada again.
- This finishes the calibration phase and advances Initial Calibration to the currency step.
Step 4 - Turn in Combat Telemetry
- Ada now asks you to hand in Combat Telemetry for an Arms Week reward.
- In her vendor menu, use the option to exchange Combat Telemetry — you’ll receive an Arms Week Engram or similar event loot.
- This teaches you how spending Arms Week currency/focusing weapons works.
Step 5 - Claim the Volatile Weapon mod
- Once you’ve turned in the telemetry, Ada gives you the Volatile Weapon event mod.
- Take it from her menu; it appears in your mods inventory.
Step 6 - Equip Volatile Weapon on the prototype
This is where a lot of players get stuck.
- Open your character and weapon screen.
- Find the exact prototype weapon you were given at the start of the quest.
- Open its mod slot and equip the Volatile Weapon mod on that weapon, not just any Arms Week gun.
- Close the menu so the game registers the change.
If you put Volatile Weapon on some other Arms Week weapon, the objective often does not complete - the quest is checking that it’s on the original prototype.
Step 7 - Talk to Ada‑1 one last time
- With Volatile Weapon equipped on the prototype, return to Ada‑1 in the Shooting Range.
- Speak to her to complete Initial Calibration.
- At this point you’re fully “onboarded” into Arms Week:
- you have a tuned prototype weapon,
- Volatile Weapon is unlocked and usable,
- Arms Week progression/modifiers are properly enabled for that character.
