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Destiny 2 guide: Exodus Crash Nightfall

Timewarp: Anomalies and Attrition

Bungie/Activision
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.

The Exodus Crash Nightfall is one of the simplest and most difficult Strikes in Destiny 2. Taking place on Nessus and pitting you against waves of Fallen, you will have to fight your way through the Exodus Black crash site and into the belly of the ship. Here you will face Destiny 2’s most obnoxious strike boss: Thaviks, the Depraved.

Nightfall Modifiers

Modifiers are unique challenges added to the Nightfall every week. So far, there has been one that modifies how quickly you can kill things or how easy it is to kill you, and another that adds time to the Nightfall timer. These change each week and require you to adapt for each new Nightfall.

Timewarp: Anomalies

The gallery above shows the locations of around half of the Exodus Crash Anomalies, which was more than enough for our Fireteam to finish the fight. Destroying all 15 of these shown will add seven and a half minutes to your timer.

The Anomalies are easy to spot. These are located in two main areas: the starting zone and subsequent pre-Ghost hallway, the dark room before Thaviks. Look for the blue glow signifying an Anomaly and shoot it until it explodes. This will add 30 seconds to your Nightfall timer. Look over cliffs and always be turning around. If you shoot a lot of them, you should be able to enter the boss room with 10+ minutes remaining.

Attrition

Attrition, which reduces your health regeneration by a significant degree, is really only noticeable in two sections for this Nightfall.

The first is during the defend Ghost section. Depending on how you look at it, this may actually be made easier with Attrition, as you are killing enemies close to you all the time. Run over the wells they leave behind to start regenerating your health instantly.

The second difficult part is during the boss fight. Kill the Exploding Shanks and use them for health recovery. Just know that if you are not aggressive enough you will spend a lot of time dead in this Nightfall Strike.

Track Fallen through Arc Pulses

Bungie/Activision

When Exodus Crash first begins, you will find yourself on the eastern side of Nessus. Jump on your Sparrow, or grab a Pike from below and begin making your way through the area. You are looking for giant pillars of blue light, called Arc Pulses. Walk or drive through these to fill the percent to 100.

Once you have claimed all the Arc Pulses, head to the front of the area where the Fallen and Vex are fighting. Clear out all the enemies until a Fallen Captain emerges. Kill him and go through the barrier that drops.

You will now need to fight your way through a narrow corridor. Defeat all of the Fallen and keep moving forward. Once you are through the corridor, you will see a orange pylon looking device in the center of a plate. Put Ghost there and prepare yourself.

Defending Ghost

Bungie/Activision

Aside from the final boss, this will be the most difficult encounter in the Strike. Waves and waves of Fallen, including Heavy Shanks and large Servitors, will begin filling the room. You must stand by Ghost make the progress bar tick up. Use Titan Barricades or Warlock Healing Rifts to ease your way through the fight.

As the Majors begin piling up, use Power weapons or Supers to deal with them. There will also be Overcharge Shanks, which behave similarly to Exploder Shanks in that they explode when they get close to you, that are constantly making their way toward you and your Fireteam. Even better, these Overcharge Shanks emit a kind of electric pulse that damages you while also slowing your jump and movement. Make the Overcharge Shanks your priority, and be sure that you are not next to them when they explode.

It is worth noting here that the Exotic submachine gun, Riskrunner, is extremely good in both this section and the final boss, as you will be taking Arc damage constantly. Riskrunner gains a special perk when taking Arc Damage that allows you to fire bullets that chain lightning to enemies. Even better, this perk is refreshed when you kill something and fires without consuming ammo or needing you to reload.

Track Fallen through Arc Pulses, Part 2

Bungie/Activision

Once Ghost finishes his work and the Fallen are all dead, progress through the doorway and move down the hall. You will now be in a very familiar are: Failsafe and the Exodus Black. Make your way through, picking up Arc Pulses just as you did when the Nightfall began.

Once you are at 100 percent again, get on your Sparrow and ride through the wreckage into the next area. A Fallen Walker and two Heavy Shanks will be waiting for you. Defeat them both using a Pike or your own weapons. Once they are gone, make your way into the belly of the ship.

Fight your way through the flaming wreckage of the Exodus Black, defeating the Fallen that stand in your way. You will be in a dark room under the ship, making visibility pretty difficult. Look for lights on the sides of platforms to make your way up the dark room and into the boss arena. Before you enter the final room of the strike, don’t forget to shoot out the Anomalies in the dark room, assuming they are the active Timewarp modifier of the week.

Boss fight: Thaviks, the Depraved

Bungie/Activision

Thaviks is by far the most obnoxious boss in all of Destiny 2, and the Nightfall only makes him worse.

The arena is a grouping of platforms all tied together and suspended by cables. Little electric boxes that spawn the electrified Overcharge Shanks live on these platforms, making things even more difficult.

Thaviks is cloaked 90 percent of the time. Look for him and try not to get rushed by his melee attack/shotgun combo. Stand with your allies and shoot as soon as you see a cloaked enemy. As soon as he staggers and becomes uncloaked, whale on him immediately with everything you have. The raid shotgun, Legend of Acrius, is very good here, as are swords of any kind.

Once he has taken damage for a few seconds, he will disappear and teleport away. Repeat the above process over and over and over again until the boss dies. Unfortunately, there is no quick-kill strategy for this boss yet.

However, it is worth noting that some players have been able to find Thaviks post-teleport climbing on the walls of the encounter. If you spot him and shoot him, he will fall to his death, ending the Strike. This seems to be an odd kind of bug and is not particularly frequent or consistent.

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