For week 2 of Destiny 2: Lightfall and Season of Defiance, Bungie has dropped a secret Exotic Mission on us. If Guardians choose to accept it, they can venture deep into the Vex network in search of an old acquaintance and a shiny new weapon: the mythical and powerful Vexcalibur Exotic Glaive. Knowing where to go to start the mission can be kind of tricky.
Here’s how to start the NODE.OVRD.AVALON Exotic Mission and unlock the Vexcalibur Exotic Glaive in Destiny 2: Lightfall.
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How to Start the Secret Quest
To begin this secret quest, head to the Gulch in the EDZ.
Around this area are six blue Vex holograms that, when collected, give you one piece of code. You need to find the entire line of code to progress onto the next phase, which means finding all six cubes before time runs out. You have 25 seconds to find the next one after picking one up, so be quick.
Vex Cubes
You’ll find the Vex code in the following locations:
- Under the bridge leading into the Gulch.
- In a tree on the side of the path into the Gulch.
- Atop a slope where the Cabal like the patrol.
- In the middle of the flooded area.
- By the cliff walls in the flooded main area.
- On top of a road sign leading into the Sludge.
Vex Hologram Locations
Once all 6 have been collected, the line of code will be complete. You’ll be granted permission into a secret simulated cave: you can learn the location of the cave by simply looking at the sky and following the Vex effects.
Enter the cave and you will find yourself in front of a familiar-looking Harpy. Speak to it to begin the NODE.OVRD.AVALON quest.
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- Vex Marks the Spot
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- Mission Begin
NODE.OVRD.AVALON Quest Guide
When you spawn into the mission, you’ll find yourself deep within the Vex network. Mithraax will be contacting you over comms and, just like so many famous Exotic missions in the past, you’ll have to do some jumping to proceed.
Continue finding your way around the strange Vex installations until you come across a large group of Vex and a Rally Flag. This is where the first major mechanic of this mission comes into play. In the middle of the area is a large Vex structure, one which will bring several destructible Vex objects into being around it: one is shaped like a diamond, another a triangle and the last one is a square.
Somewhere around the arena will be a holographic code telling you which order you need to destroy the objects in. For example, if the code is Square, Square, Diamond, you would destroy two squares in a row and then end on a Diamond. The code will grow longer the further your go. Once you’ve done all three, you will be shuttled onto the next area and be asked to repeat the process another time, with more enemies to contend with.
Clear the adds, punch in the code and you can move on to the next part of the mission.
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- Vex Shape Code
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- Vex Shapes
Deletion Protocol
After some more jumping and platforming, you’ll come before the next part of the secret mission.
You’ll be in a large cylindrical arena with a locked Vex Hydra at the back of the room. As soon as the encounter begins, you’re placed on a time limit. You have about 30 seconds to “collect data” or face deletion.
What you have to do is kill the Fantics that begin to spawn around the room. These are Data Carries and, upon death, they will drop purple motes that contain the data you need. Collect as much of this data as you can and then head to the centre of the arena, where a Vex construct will be waiting. Interacting with it takes away all of your data and, when you hit the required amount, it will cause the floor to disappear.
Wait in this hollow on the floor until the timer hits zero. Instead of being deleted, you’ll be teleported back into the arena, safe and sound. From this point on, you’ll be repeating this process several times until Hydra decides to make itself known. You’ll have to go through the process of collecting data about four times before the boss is defeated, so keep an eye on that timer and the rest is a cakewalk.
Once you’ve beaten the Hydra, continue. Your encounter with a familiar face draws near.
Collect Data
Good Old Brakion
As you near the end of the mission, you’ll find yourself descending into a multi-tiered boss arena. To Destiny 2 Veterans, some of it may look familiar.
When you reach the bottom and approach, you’ll be met by the Variant Stalker Brakion, Repurposed Mind. This boss plays relatively the same as how it did back in the Pyramidion Strike all those years ago. It’ll try and snipe you from afar while blasting you with void fire that coats the ground. You’ll also be dealing with a lot of adds – Goblins, Hobgoblins, Minotaurs and more – so be prepared.
An Old Friend Is Here
Once you take down enough of Brakion’s health, it will disappear and leave behind a portal at the back of the room. Enter this portal to go up a floor in the arena and begin the next phase of the fight. Now, Brakion will be behind an impenetrable wall that you must use your decoding skills to open. This is just like the very first part of the mission and you’ll have to find the code at the corners of the arena. Punch in the specific code two times and you’ll be onto the final part of the fight.
Brakion will disappear again and, upon teleporting, you’ll be in a much smaller space with a much angrier Brakion. The boss will then begin charging around the room with reckless abandon and, to make matters worse, a constant spawning wave of Fanatics will accompany it. And just like back in the Pyramidion, dealing enough damage blows off Brakion’s head, which will make it even more aggressive as it chases you around the room.
Survive the onslaught, push past all the adds and slay Brakion once more to earn yourself a brand-new Exotic. Return to the H.E.L.M. after the mission to be gifted the Vexcalibur.
Claim Your Prize
Vexcalibur Exotic Overview
The Vexcalibur is an Exotic Void Glaive with an incredible perk that synergises with Void and Void Overshields extremely well.
The main Exotic perk is M1R Distribution Matrix. Instead of a normal Glaive projectile, Vexcalibur fires a spread shot similar to that of a Wyvern. In addition, it comes with a unique quick-draining shield that, while it has less charge than most other Glaives, will generate a Void Overshield for you and your allies while you’re blocking.
The other Exotic perk is Perpetual Loophole. This weapon deals additional melee damage while projected by an Overshield. Defeating targets with melee final blows while an Overshield is active will refresh it.
The Vexcalibur
On its own, this is an incredibly strong tool in hands of a Void Guardian. That’s not all, though. Just like Revision Zero, Vexcalibur can be reshaped and has multiple Catalysts. It has three different Catalysts which can be acquired by doing additional quests upon acquiring the Vexcalibur:
- Immovable Refit: Dealing ranged damage grants increased weapon energy while you’re stationary with your shield raised.
- Robber Refit: Melee final blows reload this weapon’s magazine from reserves.
- Feedback Refit: Blocking damage partially reloads this weapon from reserves.
Looking at the weapon as a whole, Vexaclibur has incredible potential in the hands of Guardian using a Void subclass. The ability to generate a Void Overshield by simply blocking is very strong and it synergises well with various parts of the Void kit. In particular, Vexcalibur is going to work amazingly with Sentinel Titans, especially those running Offensive Bulwark as you’ll be able to generate grenade energy with insane ease.
The fact that it has multiple Catalysts is another great addition. All three augment the weapon’s playstyle in very slight but meaningful ways. You can either become more of a tank focused on pure Overshields and defence, become more aggressive thanks to those same defences or have a mixture of both at your disposal. Vexaclibur has a lot of options and a lot of potentials if used correctly.
Strong Stabs
Head to the EDZ, pick up those holograms and get yourself a nice new Vex toy courtesy of Asher Mir!
That was how to get the Vexcalibur Exotic Glaive and unlock the secret NODE.OVRD.AVALON Exotic Mission in Destiny 2: Lightfall.
