Vesper’s Host is a Destiny 2 dungeon arriving alongside Oct. 2024’s Revenant Act I.
Much like the Deep Stone Crypt, it involves exploring a Braytech facility above Europa, and players familiar with that raid will feel right at home with that location and its shared mechanics.
There are four encounters to tackle here, with two bosses that need squashing, and plenty of loot to grab — including the return of the Ice Breaker exotic sniper rifle.
Here are all the steps you need to follow to complete each encounter and conquer the Vesper’s Host dungeon with our walkthrough.
How to start Vesper’s Host in Destiny 2
This is the first hurdle of the dungeon, and an unnecessarily tricky one. Before you can start Vesper’s Host, you need to get the quest for it. However, the game doesn’t really tell you where you need to go to start this quest.
Head to the Last City social space. Talk to Spider in the bar on the left of Eido’s shop to grab the quest and get started.
Once you’ve picked up the quest, you can then launch the dungeon from the Europa map screen.
Rundown of the main mechanics
Vesper’s Host has some mechanics that appear throughout the dungeon, so it pays to be aware of them ahead of time. Let’s go through these here, so you’ll understand what’s to come and have a hand glossary to go back over if you’re unsure at any stage.
Scanner, Operator, and Suppressor augments
These are a carryover from Deep Stone Crypt, though there have been some tweaks to how they work. Operator is pretty much the same, you’ll need to equip the red Operator augment to shoot panels that the Scanner will indicate.
Scanner works quite differently here than it did before. You still need to use it to identify the correct panels for the Operator to shoot, but now you need to approach the panel to identify it. While you have the yellow Scanner augment, panels will appear on your radar as yellow icons. Approach a panel and the icon will either turn white or disappear. The white icons are the panels your Operator needs to shoot.
Suppressor is very different in this dungeon. While you have the blue Suppressor augment equipped, you can press your grenade button to drop a hologram. This is used during sections where you must deal with invulnerable enemies. Drop a hologram when they are nearby and they will flock to it. Shoot the hologram and it will detonate, and all nearby enemies will become vulnerable to your attacks.
Something else to bear in mind is these augments now come with timers. Once you pick up an augment, a timer will appear at the top of the screen. You’ll need to get rid of the augment before the timer runs out or you will die. Thankfully, you can still deposit augments into augment stations. If your timer is running low, pop your augment into a station and grab it again instantly to reset the timer.
Numbered panels and nuclear cores
Outside of fighting enemies, your objectives in this dungeon will revolve largely around transporting nuclear cores and shooting numbered panels.
Vesper’s Host involves numbered panels and core deposits a couple of times. We’ll explain as we go, but essentially you’ll either want a pen and paper nearby to jot down some numbers, or you can use the in-game text chat, whichever is easier.
The nuclear cores are pretty standard Destiny fare; you’ll need to pick them up when they appear and deposit them into their respective locations. While carrying nuclear cores, you will gain stacks of radiation. If you get to ten stacks, you’ll drop dead. Another player can grab a core from you to alleviate this, or you can drop the core manually by equipping a weapon.
Nuclear cores have timers, but the timer only relates to how long the core will remain active while no one is carrying it. Use that time to your advantage; you can drop a core at any stage to clear out some enemies, then grab it again to keep moving.
Entering Vesper’s Host – Embarkment encounter
You’ll load into the dungeon on a walkway outside the station. Head forward along the walkway and into the large room full of containers. Fallen enemies will begin to pour in from doors on either side of the room, two of which will have the Scanner and Operator augments.
There are four panels scattered around the room, so grab the Scanner augment to check them. Three of them will turn white on your radar, so another player with the Operator augment needs to shoot them. If you shoot the wrong one, your team will be wiped.
Once the Operator shoots the three correct panels, the door at the back of the room will open. Proceed through it, and follow the path ahead to reach the first encounter.
Vesper’s Host first encounter – Activation
You’ll find yourself in a large room with a strange circular structure ahead in the distance. There are four doors around the room and a large spherical object near the back. The back right door is the exit, so we needn’t concern ourselves with that just yet. The other three doors, front right, front left, and back left, lead to separate rooms that we’ll need to visit as part of the encounter.
The goal is very simple: there are three nuclear core deposits at the back of the room, so we need to get a nuclear core from each of the three side rooms. Approach the large sphere and interact with it to begin the encounter.
Clear the room and get the Scanner augment
A Brig will drop into the middle of the room. Destroy it and clear out the enemies around the room to grab the Scanner augment. Head into one of the three side rooms, these can be done in any order. There will be some tough enemies along the way that you’ll need to defeat to unblock your path, so be quick as you need to be mindful of the augment timer.
Once you enter the room, use one of the augment depots to refresh your Scanner. There are six panels in each room, so check your radar to see exactly where they are. The Scanner needs to check the panels and find out which four need to be shot. An enemy with the Operator augment will appear in the room, so take them out and use the Operator to hit the correct panels.
Use Operator to get the nuclear core
With this done, a nuclear core will appear in the room. Grab it and head back to the central area. Enemies will spawn to block you, including duskfield shanks that will slow you down. Coordinate with your team to clear the way, and remember you can drop the core for a few seconds if you need to.
Once you return to the main room, a new Brig will have spawned in the centre. The deposits for the nuclear cores will be covered by shields until the Brig is destroyed, so focus it down and deposit the core as soon as it’s gone.
Rinse and repeat
You simply need to repeat these steps in the other two rooms. The room on the right is the simplest, as there are no potentially deadly jumps to deal with. You should start with this room to get the swing of things, then tackle the two rooms on the left. The only change comes with the final core, as this time a gigantic Brig will appear. There’s nothing complicated here, just a bigger, tougher enemy to defeat.
Once you get rid of the last Brig, deposit the final core to complete the encounter and grab your first rewards from the dungeon. The door at the back right of the room will unlock, and you can proceed to encounter number two.
Vesper’s Host second encounter – Infiltration
This encounter tasks you with grabbing more nuclear cores, but this time you need to deposit them in a certain order. It starts with opening the first door, which introduces you to a mechanic unique to this encounter.
Power Reserves and how to use them
You’ll be manually opening and closing doors in this encounter, using your Power Reserves. Look at the bottom left of your screen, you’ll see the Power Reserves icon with four pips beneath it. It costs one pip to open a door, and you receive one for closing a door.
In practice, this simply means that whenever you open a door, you’ll want to close it after you to take the Power Reserve with you. This is just basic manners, but still a valuable lesson that Destiny is trying to teach us, so fair play.
There are shield generators around the area which you can grab extra Power Reserves from, but that only allows you to open doors without closing them, like some kind of monster.
Which path to take?
Aside from opening and closing doors, the real objective here is to grab five nuclear cores and deposit them in the correctly numbered location. You’ll get cores by defeating Captains, most of which will appear conveniently close whenever you deposit a core. However, the inconvenient part is the invincible boss Servitor who plagues you throughout this encounter.
To make your life easier, follow these instructions to get each core to the correct location quickly and efficiently:
First Core
- Once you enter the main corridor, go to the left and around the corner
- Take the first left, you’ll see the Captain straight in front of you
- Kill it and grab the core, then turn 180 degrees around
- Go through the door now directly in front of you
- Place the node into deposit “1”, then kill the Captain that spawns in the room
Second Core
- Exit through the door to the right of where you came in
- Turn right, and go through the door directly in front of you
- Box number “2” is here, deposit your core and grab the next one from the Captain
Third Core
- Go out through the door opposite where you came in and turn right
- Box number three “3” will be there beside where you found the first Captain
- Deposit your core and the large doors up the stairs will open
Fourth Core
- Go through those doors and kill the Captain inside
- Go out the door to the right, and turn off the shield blocking the next room
- Go through the door directly across the hall to find deposit “4”
- Pop your core in and take out the Captain that spawns behind you
Fifth Core
- Exit through the door you came in, turn right, then go through the door directly ahead
- Go up the stairs and through the two doors
- Head out the opening to your left, and go around the corner to the right
- Go through the door on the left, to find box number “5”
Once you deposit the fifth core, a large door beside you will open. The boss is just outside and will begin pouring explosives into your room. Stay back to avoid them, and wait for your break. You just need to run into this room a little to the left and drop down into a hole, so once the boss stops dropping bombs, make a run for it to complete this encounter.
Vesper’s Host third encounter – Raneiks Unified boss fight
Now it’s time to take down the boss that bothered us throughout the previous encounter, Raneiks Unified. This giant conglomeration of Servitors needs to be taken apart, literally.
Once you enter this boss room, you’ll be met with many numbered panels, running from 0 to 9. You’ll need to hit the correct panels to weaken the boss, and here’s how to do it.
Defeat the Machine Priest
The room begins to fill with enemies, and your first job is to clear them out. After taking out enough of them, a Machine Priest will appear near the back of the room. Focus your fire on the priest and take it down to be transported to the upper level where the boss is.
During this phase, a Shank with the Operator augment will appear. Take it down when you have a chance, then pop the Operator into the nearby depot– you’ll need that later.
Finding the right numbers
As soon as you appear upstairs you’ll be swarmed with Shanks. Clear them out and one will appear carrying the Suppressor augment. Take that one out and grab the Suppressor augment, you need to use it on the boss.
To do so, press your grenade button near the boss to drop a hologram. Shoot the hologram, and the boss will disintegrate into several smaller Servitors. Each one will be named Raneiks, with a different number assigned to each. You need to do some quick detective work here, as two of the Servitors will be different from the others.
These Servitors will have a stronger glow, and a couple of red orbs attached to them. You need to identify these Servitors and take note of their assigned numbers.
Repeat steps to DPS
Once you have the first two numbers, go through the tunnel beside the boss and drop back down into the lower room. Defeat another Machine Priest to be transported up and repeat the process. This will get you two more numbers, four in total.
Once you jump back down to the main room, grab the Operator augment and shoot the four panels with the numbers you got from the Servitors. The boss will descend and become vulnerable to your damage, but there is one more step involved.
A Shank with the Suppressor augment will appear. Grab it and use it on the boss to once again turn it into several smaller Servitors. Now you can deal some real damage to the boss, but you’ll need to spread it out. As you now have multiple targets, weapons and abilities that hit many enemies are the way to go here. Single-target burst damage options like Golden Gun are useable but not very effective. Focus on grenade launchers, rocket launchers, and supers that have a wide area of effect.
Raneiks will reform and become immune again pretty quickly, so you just need to repeat the steps until you take it down. Something to be aware of, once you get it down to a small fraction of its health, it may appear like the boss stops taking damage, but also it doesn’t retreat. When this happens, you’ve pretty much won, and just need to finish off the remnants of Raneiks de-Unified.
The Corrupted Puppeteer boss fight guide
We’re on to the final boss of Vesper’s Host, The Corrupted Puppeteer. As is often the case, the final fight tests everything we have learned so far in one final challenge. This fight comprises multiple stages of using the augments, moving cores, and a fun new wrinkle: dodging deadly lightning. Let’s get after it!
Starting the fight
This encounter begins in the main room with the boss at the back, four numbered pillars in the middle, doors on either side, and numbered panels all over the walls and ceiling. The first thing you need to be concerned about is the irradiated enemies. These are puppets of the boss that chase after you, with a visible aura around them. While you are inside this aura, you begin to stack up levels of radiation. Like with the cores, 10 levels mean death.
To defeat these enemies, you’ll need to use the Suppressor augment to make them vulnerable. Thankfully, they are drawn to the hologram, so drop it and wait until both irradiated enemies are close to it. Pop the hologram, then take down the puppets. You’ll need to take out two pairs of puppets: the first will spawn in the Scanner augment, and the second will spawn in the Operator augment.
Once you have the augments, you’ll need to use the Scanner to check the pillars. Whichever one is marked on your radar, is the number that the Operator needs to shoot. For example, if the Scanner gets a positive read on the pillar marked with a “2”, the Operator then needs to shoot the four panels with the number “2” around the room.
Once you shoot all four designated panels, the boss will flee to the lower levels. The doors on either side of the room lead to holes that drop down to the lower levels. Look for the flashing red lights, one side will have them. Whichever side does, that’s where you need to drop down. Before you do, be sure to drop all three of the augments into the depots. You will need them later.
The lower levels
This section can get a bit difficult to keep track of, but once you understand the layout you’ll have no trouble with it. Essentially, the lower levels are a mirrored area that consists of two central rooms leading to two main combat rooms, and trap-laden side corridors connecting them.
After you drop down the hole, follow the red lights to get to the first combat room you need to go to. The two rooms are laid out differently, but function identically. To get to the room, go through the door with the flashing red lights, down the main corridor and to the left. You’ll likely run into some of those irradiated puppets, let them follow you into the room.
Here, you’ll find the Puppeteer on one side of the room, some irradiated enemies, and three depots where you can grab the augments you stored earlier. Your main goal here is to use Operator to shoot the four panels around the room, and then use Scanner to identify the correct puppet. If you can, it would help a lot to grab the Suppressor augment to take out the puppets first.
Once you shoot the four panels with the Operator, the doors will close and no more enemies can come in. The boss will create four puppet clones that appear around the room, and a timer will start counting down. With the Scanner, you can identify which puppet you need to defeat to get a nuclear core. Take it down, then bring the core to the middle of the room to seal yourselves in the little bunker before the time runs out.
The ensuing explosion will take down half of the boss’s shield, causing it to flee. Now you need to go through the door behind where the boss was standing to access the other combat room. This will take you through a side corridor laced with traps and mines. Be careful but don’t take too much time, as irradiated enemies will spawn into the corridor with you.
When you emerge, you’ll be in the corridor on the opposite side of the lower level, leading to the other combat room. Head into the room, and repeat the steps you performed in the first to take down the rest of its shield.
This sends the Puppeteer to the roof, where we can finally do some damage to the boss. To get there, go back through the main corridor to the central room where you dropped down, you’ll find a teleporter there that will bring you back up to the main level. The door at the back of the room will be open, head in there and you’ll be sent to the roof.
DPS time
If you were hoping the awkward mechanics were over, we have some unfortunate news for you. Thankfully, the boss is now in the open and free to attack. However, so are you. All around the combat arena, yellow lightning strikes will be happening constantly that can kill you instantly. You’ll have encountered some of this earlier while travelling through the dungeon, so you should be somewhat familiar.
On top of that, the Puppeteer creates several more puppet clones of itself that you’ll need to deal with. The boss starts the fight on a pedestal at the back of the room, with puppets on either side. You will be in a large open area with very little cover, and lightning striking everywhere around you.
Your main objective here should be to keep moving and stay alive. Heavy weapons that don’t require much accuracy like rockets and grenade launchers are a great way to deal damage to the boss while you stay on your toes. It’s incredibly easy to die to the lightning here if you’re not careful, so you should be more concerned with keeping yourself alive than dealing optimal damage to the boss.
Before long, the puppets will start to jump over to your area and charge at you. This is annoying, but also very important, as one of them is carrying a nuclear core. Keep an eye out for a glowing puppet, that’s the one you need to take down.
After some time, you’ll get a pop-up that says “”Corrupted Puppeteer communes with the Anomaly.” When this happens, you only have a few seconds before an explosion will wipe you out. To avoid this, grab the nuclear core and bring it into the bunker on the left side of the arena. Deposit it to seal the room and avoid the wipe mechanic.
When the door opens, you can continue dealing damage to the boss until the pop-up appears again. When that happens, stand on the hatch you came up through. It will open just before the explosion goes off, dropping you back into the main room.
Repeat all of the above as many times as it takes to bring down The Corrupted Puppeteer, and complete the Vesper’s Host dungeon. If you’re lucky, you might just snag yourself an Ice Breaker. If not, you’ll have to run this final encounter again with the same character following the next weekly reset to roll the dice and attempt another drop.
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