Destiny 2 Vesper’s Host Dungeon Guide | All Encounters Explained

With Episode: Revenant, a creepy new Dungeon has been added to Destiny 2 with Vesper’s Host. At the behest of the shady merchant The Spider, Vesper’s Host tasks you with infiltrating an abandoned Braytech space station, one that has been overrun with some kind of dire corruption. If that wasn’t all, a strange anomaly resides nearby and a fearsome foe from our past has risen from the dead to haunt us once more. Vesper’s Host promises some exciting new weapon combinations, a sick set of new armour for all three classes, and plenty of secrets to unearth. 

As always, though, Dungeons can be pretty tricky, especially this early on. What’s more, for the first time, Vesper’s Host has a 48-hour Contest Mode active similar to Day 1 Raids, upping the challenge level significantly while also promising a guaranteed Icebreaker for any who can best this tricky challenge. As such, we’re here to guide you through the entire thing. 

Here’s how to beat all encounters in the Vesper’s Host Dungeon in Destiny 2. 

If you’d like to read some other Destiny 2 content and guides, you can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. Destiny 2 Episode: Revenant | How It Works
2. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock and Farm the Exotic Class Items
3. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock the Legendary Khvostov 7G-02
4. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | How to Unlock the Exotic Khvostov 7G-0X
5. Destiny 2: The Final Shape | All Salvation’s Edge Secret Chest Locations

The Anomaly

Vesper’s Host Main Mechanic: Viral Augments

First things first, let’s go over the main mechanic you’ll be contending with in each of the Vesper’s Host encounters in Destiny 2. Vesper’s Host takes place on an abandoned, corrupted Braytech Space Station, which means that the Augments from Beyond Light’s Deepstone Crypt Raid make their return. However, unlike in the Raid, these new Augments have been slightly altered, becoming Viral Augments instead. 

While the role of each Viral Augment is the same in theory as their Deepstone Crypt counterpart, they act quite differently in practice. The main difference between normal Augments and Viral Augments is that Virals have a one-minute timer: if you still have the Augment when the timer ends, you die. Additionally, unlike in DSC, banking a Viral Augment into a terminal won’t give you a debuff, meaning that you can pick it up again immediately, which also resets the minute timer. 

Viral Augment Timer

Now, as for what each Augment does, let’s start with Viral Operator. This is the Augment most similar to its DSC counterpart. Just like in the Raid, while you have a Viral Operator, special panels in each encounter will glow red, indicating that you can shoot them. However, shooting them at random is just liable to get you killed as some panels are safe and others are not. 

It’s mainly the job of the Viral Scanner to determine which of these panels are safe. While in possession of Viral Scanner, the location of all the panels in a given location will appear on the mini-map as yellow hexagons. If you walk directly up to each of these panels, they will either disappear from the mini-map – indicating that they are unsafe – or they will turn white – indicating that they are safe. As the Scanner, you need to check all of the panels and relay that information to your Operator. 

Lastly, we have Viral Supressor, which starts dropping in encounter two. While in possession of Viral Supressor, your grenade ability will be replaced with a close-range decoy. If you place this decoy next to a target which can be Suppressed (such as the encounter two boss) and then destroy the decoy, it will suppress anything within its AoE. This is required for certain mechanics in the second and third encounters.

Encounter 1: Reboot the Station

The first main encounter in Vesper’s Host is a puzzle encounter where you need to reboot the power in the abandoned space station. Before beginning the encounter, have a look around and take note of the locked rooms on either side of the main chamber: there will be two on the left-hand side and one on the right. 

After choosing to reboot the system, get as far back from the white sphere in the middle of the room as possible because, soon after, a Brig will descend from the sky. You need to defeat this Brig as quickly as you can as it will cause a Scanner Vandal to appear shortly after. Defeat the Vandal, have one player pick up Scanner, and then choose one of the three open rooms to start with.

Three Room Entrances

Eventually, after battling your way through a wave of enemies – including large, invisible Vandals called Tech Priests – you’ll arrive at a big room covered in Operator panels. Nearby, there should be a wave of continually respawning Shanks which also spawn in an Operator Vandal. Before you go any further, remember to have your Scanner player deposit their buff into a terminal to reset their timer, ensuring that they won’t die midway through the process. 

Once both your Scanner and Operator are ready, enter the room with the panels and have the Scanner check which ones are safe to shoot. There will be four safe panels and two unsafe panels and, once the Operator has shot the four safe ones, a Nuke will begin arming at the back of the chamber. When that happens, have your two Augmented players dunk their buffs into the two separate terminals before picking up the Nuke. Now, you just need to walk it back to the main chamber, although watch your Radiation stacks.

Scan to Find the Safe Panels Then Have Operator Shoot Them

Upon reaching the main room, a new Brig will have spawned which you must defeat to unlock the Nuke deposit boxes at the back of the room. Destroy the Brig, dunk the Nuke, and then enter one of the two remaining rooms. Don’t worry about recollecting Scanner or Operator as they’ll be waiting for you in terminals near the next Nuke Arming room. 

After this, you just need to repeat the process with the last two rooms, each of which has its own Nuke locked behind an array of Operator panels. Grab the Scanner, check the safety of each panel, have the Operator shoot the right ones, and then haul the Nuke back to the main room. The only difference is that the final Brig will be a much bigger, much tankier enemy than the three before it so make sure to have Heavy Ammo and Supers ready to get rid of it quickly. Once you have deposited the final Nuke, the encounter will come to a close. 

Nuke Deposit Boxes

Reboot the Station Step-by-Step Guide

Here’s a simpler step-by-step guide to the first encounter in Vesper’s Host in Destiny 2 for those who want it:

1. Reboot the system and then quickly take care of the Brig which drops from the sky. 
2. After the Brig is defeated, a Scanner Vanadal will come in from an airship. 
3. Have one player grab the Scanner, and then your entire team quickly make its way into one of the open rooms. On the way, the Scanner should put their Augment into a terminal to reset their timer.
4. Continue fighting enemies until you reach the Nuke Arming room covered in Operator panels. The Scanner must walk up and check each of the six panels and tell the Operator which ones are safe to shoot.
5. Once the four safe panels have been shot, the Nuke will develop in the back of the room. At this point, have the Scanner and Operator bank their Augments and then start carrying the bomb back to the main room. 
6. Defeat the newly-spawned Brig in the main chamber to unlock the Nuke deposit boxes at the back of the room. 
7. Dunk the Nuke and then move into one of the two remaining rooms to continue the process again. 
8. The Brig which spawns to defend the third Nuke is much stronger so stay on your toes.
9. Dunk all three Nukes to complete the encounter. 

Gatekeeping Brigs

Encounter 2: Raneiks Unified

The second encounter of Vesper’s Host in Destiny 2 is Raneiks Unified, the first major boss of the Dungeon. This is the same adversary who chased you through the maze in the previous section of the Dungeon. The main thing to take note of with this encounter is the Operator panels near the rally flag as, unlike the ones in the first encounter, these are each marked with a number from one to nine. 

The start of the encounter is quite simple. Once you enter the room, a legion of adds will begin spawning while Raneiks assault you from above. The most important enemy to defeat is the Operator Vandal which spawns in the middle of the room. Defeat it and then dunk the Operator into the nearby terminal as you’ll need it later. From here, just keep slaying out until Raneiks spawns in a Machine Tech Priest, a massive Captain that you’ll need to defeat. 

Once the Tech Priest is defeated, Raneiks will teleport your entire team to a new part of the arena. Instead of regular Vandals or Dregs, the main adversaries here are waves of Exploder Shanks which can kill you incredibly quickly if don’t keep on top of them. Survive the wave of enemies, as well as Raneiks’ onslaught of exploding Servitor cores, and a Supressor Shank will eventually spawn at the back of the room.

Raneiks Unified

Defeat the Shank, grab the Suppressor, and then use its special grenade ability near Raneiks to destabilise it. This will cause Raneiks to split into nine smaller Servitors, each of which has a number in its name (Raneiks-1 to Raneiks-10). One of the Servitors will go off on their own but the remaining eight will split into two groups of four. Next, you need to find two Servitors which are glowing blue and have dots on their face plates. Once you’ve found the correct Servitors, call out which numbers their names end in.

Now, go down the open doorway back to where you started but don’t pick up Operator. Go through the previous few steps again until you suppress Raneiks again. This will cause it to split once more, marking two new Servitors. Just like before, find them and take note of the numbers at the end of their name. At this point, you’ll have four different numbers to keep track of so we recommend putting them in the text chat to keep track of them.

Normal Servitor vs Glowing Servitor | Image from Fallout Plays

When you’re ready, head back down into the main room and have one player pick up the Operator from the terminal. From here, the Operator needs to shoot the panels which correspond to the numbers called out earlier. For example, if the marked Servitors were Raneiks-3, Raneiks-4, Raneiks-7, and  Raneiks-9, you need to shoot the 3, 4, 7, and 9 panels. Doing this correctly will spawn a Supressor Shank in the main room.

Defeat it, grab the Supressor, and use the grenade ability to split Raneiks apart again, which will begin the damage phase. Weapons and abilities with wide AoEs, such as Grenade Launchers and Consecration, are excellent here as you can spread your damage across multiple targets at once. When damage ends, Raneiks will reunify and you need to rinse and repeat the process until you destroy it.

The Op Panels Have Numbers

Raneiks Unified Step-by-Step Guide

If you’d like a simplified explanation of how to defeat Raneiks Unified in Destiny 2: 

1. Start the encounter by defeating the Operator Vandal in the middle of the room. Then dunk it into the nearby Augment terminal. 
2. From here, keep slaying out until Raneiks spawns in a Machine Tech Priest. 
3. Defeating the Tech Priest will have Raneiks teleport you to a different arena covered in explosives and Exploder Shanks. Survive the onslaught and then have one player grab the Suppressor Augment from a Sniper Shank near Raneiks’ position. 
4. Use the Suppressor’s grenade ability to suppress Raneiks, causing it to split into multiple mini-Servitors. 
5. The mini-Servitors will split into two groups of four. In each group, there will be one Servitor glowing blue. Find these Servitors and then check which version of Raneiks they are (Raneiks-2, Raneiks-4, etc.) and mark down the two numbers. 
6. Go back to the main room and repeat steps one to five. This time, a different pair of Servitors will have glowing dots on them and you’ll need to call out these Servitors as well.
7. Once you have all four Servitor’s numbers, all players return to the main chamber and one grabs Operator. This player should then shoot the panels that correspond to the numbers called out earlier. 
8. Raneiks will return to the main room and spawn another Suppressor Shank when the four correct panels have been shot. Defeat the Shank, grab Supressor, use the grenade ability on Raneiks, and then the damage phase begins. 
9. Once damage ends, rinse and repeat unit Raneiks falls. 

Suppress Raneiks to Destabilize It

Encounter 3: The Corrupted Puppeteer

The final encounter of Vesper’s Host is a boss battle against a familiar Destiny 2 foe, albeit one who has been turned and corrupted beyond repair. The Corrupted Puppeteer, otherwise known as Atraks-1, one of Eramis’ lieutenants back in the Beyond Light days, has infiltrated the station and you need to take her down. If you’re familiar with Deepstone Crypt, the Puppeteer still can clone herself but, aside from that, this fight is very different to the one in the Raid. 

The start of the encounter is very similar to the previous one. You simply need to slay out and kill adds until a Supressor Shank appears. However, be wary of the Radiated Clones which will chase you around the arena: these Atraks clones have a wide AoE around them which will quickly build up Radiation if you’re within the vicinity, eventually killing you if you reach ten stacks. To get rid of them, you need to use the Suppressor’s grenade ability.

Clear the clones and keep going until the Scanner and Operator have also appeared. The Scanner player then needs to run around the room checking the yellow symbols on their map like in the first encounter. However, unlike there, the Scanner isn’t checking for safe panels but, instead, which number pillar is correct. There are four pillars around the room, each marked with a different blue number, and only one of them will be safe.

Once the Scanner finds the correct pillar, call out the number on it so that the Operator knows which panels to shoot. Around the room, there are a large number of panels marked with numbers one to four and the Operator’s job is to shoot the panels marked with the number called out by the Scanner. There will be four panels to shoot in total. 

Use Scanner to Find the Right Numbered Panel | Image from Datto

When the last panel has been shot, all players should immediately dunk their Augments into the nearby terminals. Then, look around the room for a set of elevator shafts marked by flashing red lights. Jumping down this elevator shaft will take you to a lower floor and you should continue to follow the red lights until you arrive at another wide room filled with terminals. 

First and foremost, once you arrive, have one player grab Operator. Their job is to run around the room and shoot four hidden red panels. Once they do that, the Corrupted Puppeteer will spawn several clones to chase down the player. At this point, someone needs to grab Scanner and walk up to each of the clones to find out which one is safe. The safe clone will drop a Nuke upon death, which you and your team need to carry into a nearby bunker. When all three of you are in the bunker, dunk the Nuke.

After this, exit the bunker and you’ll discover that a new door has opened, leading to a tight corridor. This corridor is filled with trip mines and you’ll be stalked by several of the Puppeteer’s Radiated Clones so keep on your guard and make sure not to die. Eventually, you’ll arrive at a room which is similar to the last one and you’ll need to repeat the process once again: Operator, Scanner, and dunk the Nuke in the bunker.  

Destroy the Right Clone to Drop a Core for the Bunker | Image from Datto

With both Nukes dunked, you can begin the damage phase. Leave the bunker and go back through the main set of corridors to where you jumped down earlier. Now, there will be a teleporter which will take you back up to the starting room where a large elevator shaft at the back of the room has become active. This elevator shaft will shoot you up to the top of the space station where the Corrupted Puppeteer awaits you. 

The real body of Atraks will be on one of three floating platforms at the back of the arena. She’s a bit bigger than the rest of her clones so it is relatively easy to tell which body is real. Speaking of, she will continually spawn clones throughout the fight who will try to engage you in close-range combat. Additionally, you need to keep moving in this fight as staying still for too long will summon a yellow lightning strike from the sky. As such, prioritise mobile weapons and Supers compared to defensive ones.

After a while, one of the Puppeteer’s clones will drop a Nuke upon death and a message will pop up in the feed stating that, “The Corrupted Puppeteer communes with the anomaly.” At this point, grab the Nuke and have your entire team funnel into the bunker on the left side of the arena and, just like before, dunk it to stave off the anomaly’s corrupting influence. Once it dies down, jump back out and continue damaging the Puppeteer for a few moments longer. Eventually, Atraks will disappear below and you’ll need to follow suit and rinse and repeat these steps until Atraks-1 is dead for good. 

The Corrupted Puppeteer

The Corrupted Puppeteer Step-by-Step Guide

Here is the simplified step-by-step guide to the final encounter of Vesper’s Host.

1. Begin the encounter by slaying adds and avoiding the Puppeteer’s Radiated Clones. Once the Supressor Augment appears, have one player grab it and then use their grenade ability on the Radiated Clones. This will clear them from the field. 
2. Keep killing adds until both Operator and Scanner have spawned. The Scanner player should run around the room checking the symbols on their mini-map and calling out the numbered pillar which turns white. Once you find the right pillar, call out the number on it and the Operator player should then shoot the panels marked with that number.
3. When all four panels have been shot, all players should bank their Augments into the terminals and then move down to the floor below. Follow the flashing lights until you reach a wide room with the Corrupted Puppeteer.
4. One player picks up the Operator buff and shoots the four red panels hidden around the room. Then, the Scanner player needs to run up to the clones spawned by the Puppeteer and call out which one glows white on the mini-map.
5. This clone drops a Nuke on death which you must carry into a nearby bunker. Have all three players go into the bunker and then dunk the Nuke to close it off. 
6. After this, exit the bunker and proceed through the newly opened room into a tight corridor filled with trip mines. This will, eventually, take you to another room where you must repeat steps six and seven. 

Complete these steps successfully and you’ll be able to start the damage phase. 

1. Exit the bunker and then go back down the main path to where you jumped down the elevator shaft. Hop into the nearby teleporter and then jump into a large elevator shaft at the back of the room which will take you to the boss arena. 
2. The Corrupted Puppeteer will be at the back of the room, continually spawning clones to hunt you down in CQC or raining electric death from above. 
3. Eventually, one of the clones will drop a Nuke upon death and a message will appear on the feed. Once you see this, all players should move into the nearby bunker and deposit the Nuke to remain safe. 
4. Pop back out, do some more damage to the Puppeteer and, when she disappears, go back down the elevator shaft.
5. Rinse and repeat until the boss is dead.

Which One Is Real?

That was how to complete all of the encounters in Vesper’s Host, the newest Dungeon in Destiny 2.