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Destiny 2 guide: Payback walkthrough

Take the fight to the Cabal.

Ryan Gilliam (he/him) has worked at Polygon for nearly seven years. He primarily spends his time writing guides for massively popular games like Diablo 4 & Destiny 2.

After meeting with the Vanguard back at the Farm, it is finally time to hit the Cabal’s base of operations in the Destiny 2 campaign mission “Payback.” Return to the EDZ and run or ride to the Red War icon. There are only a few missions left, so make sure you have the weapons you want equipped.

Through the Tunnel

When the mission begins, you will find yourself in the Gulch, a giant tunnel in the EDZ. Jump on your Sparrow (or run if you don’t have one) and start heading through the tunnel. At the end, you will eventually end up in the Tunnels proper, where a small base of Cabal is located. Take them out and push through the bunker, taking two rights and a left.

Once you are on the other side of the base, Amanda Holliday will drop in a nice gift for you. The small bulldozer that you drove in the Utopia mission has been reconfigured into a fully functioning tank. Hop inside and prepare to rampage through the tunnels.

Just like last time, you will accelerate with the left stick and steer with the right. But this time you have weapons to think about as well. The right trigger will fire a explosive from the barrel of the tank and holding the left bumper will paint targets for your mini missiles. If your tank gets too low on health or explodes, you can retrieve another from any of the silver circles on the ground. Simply walk up and interact with them.

Rolling through the tunnel is easy enough: Simply crush or explode everything in your way, replacing your tank whenever it starts smoking. Eventually, you will make your way to a locked door on your left and a small bunker right in front of you. Hop out of your tank and fight your way through, taking the left door to move behind the locked vault door. Interact with the small Cabal symbol behind the door and it will open. Retrieve your tank and proceed through.

After just a moment of driving you will run into a Goliath tank. Shoot the tank until it explodes, but be aware of how much damage you take in the process, careful to jump out before your own tank is blown to bits. Before you can continue, you need to extend the bridge. Jump out of your tank once again and climb the ramp to your right. Fight through the base and turn left. Go through the door once it unlocks and take out the dogs and the difficult Cabal. Once everything is dead, set Ghost up on the monitor to extend the bridge. Return to your tank and roll across.

Keep going through the tunnel, making it across another set of bridges and defeating any Cabal in your way. Eventually, you will see the light of day and find yourself in the Sunken Isles.

Taking down the ship

The first thing that you will probably notice here is the gigantic Cabal ship in the sky. We need to remove its shield and ground it before it can take off. Take your tank and head to the right. There will be a bunch of Cabal protecting a giant shield generator. Shoot the white barrier protecting the inner area of the generator until it breaks, then shoot the turbine itself. Once the first generator is down, head over to the left side of the ship and repeat the process.

Once the shield generators are both gone, a Goliath tank will spawn. Grab a fresh tank and kill the Goliath. To end the mission, look up at the back of the Cabal ship and shoot the glowing blue section between the jets. Hop out of your tanks and watch the fireworks Guardian. Time to take out Thumos the Unbroken.

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