Mass Effect: Andromeda guide: Taming a Desert Heleus assignment walkthrough

The desert planet of Elaaden is a rough place to live — which is probably why the krogan like it so much. You’ve got a lot of work to do to make it hospitable for everyone else. Activating the vault on Elaaden is a huge step in that direction.

Grid View

• Activate Elaaden’s monoliths. Once again, the monoliths are in a vague triangle-shaped arrangement. We’re going to start with the northern one again.
• The console is around the back of the monolith. Climb the rocks to get to the first two glyphs on top of the tall pillars. The third one is on top of a stubby pillar back by the rocks. Just follow the power conduits to them.
• Solve the remnant sudoku and head for the next monolith.

Grid View

• The monolith in the south takes a bit more work to scan the glyphs, but there’s no puzzle to solve.
• Turn around from the main console and face directly away from it. There are three more consoles here. Activate all three to raise the remnant pillars, and use them to climb up to the first glyph on your left. Jump across to the second glyph, then use the pillar to get back to the third one.

Grid View

• The monolith in the west is close to the remnant derelict ship (so you’ll have to ignore all the distracting dialogue to stay focused).
• The glyphs are much more simple this time. Turn away from the main console and use the console behind you. This will raise some pillars for you to climb. Get to the top and jump to the pillar on your left for the first glyph.
• Climb back down to the middle remnant pillar and jump to the other monolith pillar. You can climb it to the top for the second and third glyphs.
• There’s no puzzle at this monolith either, so you’re ready to head for the vault.

Grid View

• Investigate the vault’s entrance. Follow your map and HUD to the vault, which will rise out of the sand when you arrive. Head down the ramp and use the gravity well inside.
• Activate emergency power. Turn on the power with the console that’s on the balcony behind you when you land. This activates five new consoles in front of the door you’re trying to get through.

• This puzzle is baffling because each console activates (or deactivates) not one, but three connections to the door. Check the image above for some help understanding (and for a cheat sheet to figure out a solution).
• When the puzzle starts, the first console should be off and the rest are on. To solve it from here, activate the first console, then the third, then the fourth (counting from the left).
• If the puzzle doesn’t start like that for you (or you’ve messed with it and you can’t get back), use the image above to help you sort through it to get a solution.

Grid View

• Head into the next room and handle the remnant you find there.
• Turn right and go through the door. The console in front of you raises more cover for you to hide behind, but turns the force fields from safe points to shield-damaging points. So, it’s up to you if you want to use it. Shoot your way through the remnant, and follow the hallway around to the left.
• Hit the ammo crate, and go through the door at the end of the hall. Clear the remnant out of this room.
• Head to the right side of the platform you’re on. There are two consoles here that raise some pillars. Activate the one on the right.
• Hop across the pillars it raises, and activate the console at the top of the pillars.
• Go back to where you started, and turn the right console back off. Turn on the left console, and repeat the processes.
• This will raise a new pillar in the middle with a new console. Hop over and activate it to unlock the door.

Grid View

• Run straight into the hallway, and hack the turret from the console in the back right corner. Then handle the remnant bots you find as you continue through the hallway.
• When you exit the hallway, activate the console in front of you. This opens a door you can’t get to yet, but you’ll get there eventually.
• From the console, turn to your left, and hop across the pillars back to the central platform.
• Continue straight across the platform and head for the tree you can see off the left side.
• You can continue straight past the tree for a bonus puzzle, but the controls you need to activate the bridge are off to your right.
• Turn to the right from the tree, and hop across the pillars to the side of the room. Fight your way through the nullifiers you find there.
• Boost your way past the force fields, and activate the console at the end of the walkway.
• Backtrack to the central platform to find the bridge you just activated.

Grid View

• Fight through the remnant bots, and then sweep the room for any remains and the container in the back on the right.
• Remove the vault’s lockdown.
• Escape the purification field and exit the vault.
• As you sprint away, watch for the vents in the floor.
• On the other side of the bridge, watch for the gap between the ramps up and out — there’s a special container in that gap.
• Keep sprinting toward your HUD marker. The console to shut down the purification field is on the opposite side of a tree.