Destiny 2’s Inverted Spire strike takes place on Nessus, a lush Vex world where you’ll fight through Cabal and their drill site. Once that mission is complete, you will descend into the Inverted Spire to defeat Protheon, Modular Mind.

Inverted Spire Nightfall modifiers

Modifiers are unique challenges added to the Nightfall every week. So far, one modified how quickly you can kill things or how easy it is to kill you, and another impacted the Nightfall timer. These change each week and require you to adapt for each new Nightfall.

Timewarp: Killing Time modifier

Killing Time is one of the more fun Nightfall modifiers. For each enemy you kill, you’re awarded time. For most grunt enemies, you will get two seconds per kill. For majors and big enemies, you will get about seven.

This requires some mental math and prediction. For example, a Vex kill will add two seconds to your timer. If you can kill a Vex in one second, then you net one second from the kill while also removing one enemy from the fight.

To succeed here, grab a subclass and a power weapon that deal area of effect (AOE) damage. There are quite a few places in this strike where enemies bunch up close together. A good rocket or grenade could save and earn you extra time.

The general idea of Killing Time is that you should be skipping very few enemies. Kill quickly and efficiently and stay together as a crew. The faster you take enemies down, the easier the Nightfall will be.

Attrition modifier

With this modifier active, your health or shields will regenerate much slower than normal. However, enemies will drop small pools of light that you can collect. Doing so will give you a buff, granting you some Super energy and instantly starting your health regeneration. Protheon, Modular Mind, the final boss, summons quite a few adds, so locating pools is rarely difficult in the final fight.

For this Nightfall, Attrition hurts in a few places:

• In the great Vex cave before you descend into the battlefield, Attrition can save your life here with the instant regeneration, or you could get stuck sniping Vex for ages with extremely low health. Be aggressive and quick.
• In the “eliminate drill security” section, if you run the strategy where only one player jumps into the drill to activate it, you won’t notice Attrition much.
• Because of the slowed regeneration and depending on your enemies’ accuracy, running through the drill toward the end of the Nightfall can be very difficult. Run quickly as a team and skip as many enemies as possible. If you lose one or two teammates, they should be pulled to your group once the surviving teammates starts the boss fight.

Inverted Spire Nightfall walkthrough

Investigate the Cabal

Grid View

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To start, make your way down the slope and interrupt a battle between the Vex and Cabal. After sending Ghost to investigate an anomaly, there is some familiar Destiny platforming across some floating rocks. From here, leap into a massive cannon that will fling you across a cavern. The Cabal shows up, and you will see another cannon in the distance.

After the landing, it is time to head farther down into the Inverted Spire. Guardians will run into an all-out Vex versus Cabal war. You’ll crash their party and continue through the caverns. Once on the other side, there’s more Cabal to fight. You’ll make your way down the platforming section and into the heart of the drilling site.

Eliminate drill site security and repel all attackers

Grid View

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Cross the giant battlefield on your Sparrow, ignoring the enemies that spawn. Once you reach the Cabal beachhead, a large grouping of them will leap out at you. If you have any kind of roaming Super (Striker Titan, Arcstrider Hunter, Stormcaller Warlock), use it.

To the left and the right of the battlefield will be two small Cabal bunkers. Fight your way into each and kill the drill officer inside. (It is possible that they may be fighting on the catwalks behind the bunkers.) Once the officers are dead, leap into the flaming cannons to find your way onto the drill. Clear out the enemies with grenades.

Inside the drill is a switch that you need to flip. Instead of fighting through the encounter as it was designed to be played, you have an opportunity to effectively ski the fight and save time.

Have one brave soul jump to their doom and activate the switch while the rest of the Fireteam stays up top.

The switch activates a timer. The player who jumped down will be swarmed with all kinds of enemies. Fight through or die and wait to respawn. When the timer reaches 100, the rest of the party is free to jump down and through the flaming cannon.

Get clear of the drill

Grid View

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After you’ve reset Transit System, you’ll take flaming cannon into more caverns. There will be some stronger enemies ahead of you. Run past them if you can and jump onto the platforms below, even if Killing Time is the active Timewarp. Before reaching the next area, you will find a grouping of Vex or Cabal Majors.

Since this is a large, tight grouping of enemies you could spend some Power ammo here and clear them without worry. This is especially great on Killing Time weeks. If you want to save that ammo for the boss, jump around to the left side of the blocks and bypass them altogether. If the Majors are Cabal, watch out for their shield attacks, as they can push you into the pit and kill you instantly.

You’ll approach the new drill, but be careful to avoid the dangerous, spinning arms by sticking to the paths. This is harder than it sounds, as the aforementioned paths are full of enemies.

Move slowly and be careful not to jump too often, as you may collide with a drill. The top path is actually easy to navigate and has very few enemies to deal with. Jump up as soon as you can and follow the path all the way until you reach Protheon’s inner sanctum.

Protheon, Modular Mind boss fight

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The arena will explode with lasers and gunfire from all kinds of Vex. Dance around the arena, prioritizing safety over damage. When you can, try and get a shot onto the boss’ head. Once its health has fallen by about one-third it will dissolve the floor, plummeting you to a new, smaller arena.

The first phase of the fight is far easier than the second. The boss will start making part of the arena explode. This is very difficult to avoid, so make sure you are jumping around the arena, as to not get shot into the air.

While this section may seem difficult, there is a way to avoid moving. Around the arena are small pylons, each with a round wall jutting out of them. Most of the pylons are very tall. However two of them are short enough to shoot over. Jump onto the wall behind these pylons and stand to attack the boss. When you need to reload or heal up, simply crouch and wait.

If any member of your Fireteam has a Super, now is an excellent time to use it. While a Golden Gun or Nova Bomb is ideal, even having your Titan use Fists of Havoc will distract the boss long enough to phase him. Push him out of this phase fast or you will lose a lot of time to fiery death. Keep an eye out for Vex on either side, and the boss will drop to the third phase.

When about half of Protheon’s health remains, the floor will disappear for a final time and your Fireteam, along with the boss, will fall. This arena is smaller than before and the boss will now spend most of its time in the lava-like pool (made of Arc) around you.

This last section can get a little hectic. Hide behind the limited cover and keep attacking the boss. If you have the Riskrunner, dip into the Arc pool to activate its passive, allowing you to do a lot of damage very quickly. If not, use your rockets or roaming Supers to take on the smaller foes. Keep the room clear so that you can focus on the boss.

When the boss’ health gets very low, its head will explode and the weak spot in its stomach will be exposed. It will now start wondering the map. Stay away from it by jumping to the other side of the island or to the even smaller island in the Arc pool. At this point, the fight becomes a damage race. Can you kill the boss before he kills all of you?

Stay at a distance long enough to attack the boss’ gut for a while, and watch the fireworks as it explodes into a flurry of loot.