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Activate The Security System
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Defeat Atraks, The Corrupted Puppeteer
Vesper’s Host takes Guardians to the ruins of a derelict Europa station that is being retooled for nightmarish purposes. This Destiny 2 dungeon is incredibly difficult and has plenty of mechanical puzzles that rival most raids. If you can best the challenges in Vesper Station, you’ll be awarded with some powerful weapons, armor, and a chance of earning the infamous Ice Breaker Exotic.

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Beating this mission won’t be easy, but nearly every encounter boils down to understanding this dungeon’s augment mechanic. This guide will walk you through every main encounter in the Vesper’s Host dungeon, covering everything from player roles to DPS strategies.
Recommended Loadouts
Subclasses |
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---|---|---|
Hunter |
Titan |
Warlock |
Nightstalker |
Sunbreaker |
Dawnblade |
Prismatic (Comb Blow) |
Prismatic (Consecration) |
Prismatic (Bleak Watcher) |
Weapons |
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Primary |
Special |
Heavy |
Hand Cannons |
Sniper Rifles |
Wave-Frame Grenade Launchers |
Incandescent Weapons |
Rocket Sidearms |
Parasite |
Riskrunner |
Glaives |
Grand Overture |
Vesper’s Host has incredibly high enemy density for a dungeon, comparable to most six-player activities and Echoes Battlegrounds. You’ll need a build and/or weapons that can kill dozens of Fallen in a couple of seconds. Classics like Graviton Forfeit, Sunshot, and Trinity Ghoul will thrive here. For Legendary picks, you can’t go wrong with Hand Cannons or any Solar weapons with Incandescent.
If you’re dying a lot, use Riskrunner. Arc Conductor gives you a massive DR buff against Arc damage, which most enemies deal in this dungeon.
For the second encounter specifically, bring Parasite, a Heavy Wave-Frame GL, or some build that deals excellent AoE damage—Consecration Titan, for example. The final boss is a more traditional fight that demands rapid repositioning, similar to the Witness. For that fight, a traditional Heavy GL or Rocket Launcher should work fine.
Hunters will want a Nightstalker tether build on standby. Shadowshot makes the combat portions of this dungeon fairly trivial. Prismatic Hunter specced for Combination Blow is also fairly powerful in this dungeon due to the claustrophobic arenas you’ll be in. Titans should have a Consecration build. It melts the first boss and makes the final encounter much easier. As for Warlocks, Dawnblade and Prismatic ‘buddy’ builds (Getaway Artist, Bleak Watcher, etc.) continue to excel.

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Mission Start
Your fireteam will be deployed on the outskirts of Vesper Station, an abandoned facility that has been overrun with Fallen enemies. The airlock is currently inoperable and corrupted by some strange device that ominously looms in the distance. To get inside, you’ll need to use Deep Stone Crypt augments to activate the correct panels. But unlike DSC and Seraph’s Shield, these augments have been corrupted.
Core Mechanic: Viral Augments
Certain enemies in this dungeon carry a floating symbol on their back, which is known as an augment.
Killing an augmented Fallen allows you to grab their augment.
These augments last for 60 seconds and allow you to interact with dungeon mechanics. You must deposit your buff at a nearby terminal before the timer expires, or else you’ll die.
Augment roles are slightly different in Vesper’s Host:
Augment |
Role |
Encounters |
---|---|---|
Scanner (Yellow) |
Modifies your minimap to showcase panels (appear as yellow hexagons). Walking near a panel will either make the hexagon white or remove it. Call out white hexagons. |
First, Last |
Operator (Red) |
Allows you to shoot panels. Damage the panel(s) your Scanner calls out. |
All |
Suppressor (Blue) |
Replaces your grenade with a hologram decoy, drawing enemy aggro. It explodes when damaged. Decoy explosions make boss units vulnerable. |
Second, Last |
You may have one augment active at a time.
Eliminate the nearby Fallen Vandas that are holding augments. You’ll want to pick up the Scanner (yellow) augment first. Glance at your minimap to find all nearby panels, then get close to them. If any of the yellow hexagons turn white, make a note of where they are. Once you’re done, deposit your Scanner buff into an augment station near the airlock (showcased above). This is your only method of swapping augments in the dungeon, so keep this in mind.
Now that you know which panels to shoot, use the Operator (red) buff to shoot the correct panels you marked earlier. There should be four panels you need to damage. If done correctly, the airlock will open and lead you inside.
The next room requires you to drop down to the lower floor and look for a gap in the wall. If you see a ton of tripmines, you’re in the right spot. Destroy the tripmines and follow the path to reach the first encounter.
Activate The Security System
Encounter Synopsis
- Deposit three nuclear cores in the AI unit.
- Kill the initial Brig to spawn the Scanner Vandal.
- Grab Scanner and enter one of the side rooms. Kill every enemy.
- Read panels as a Scanner.
- Use Operator to damage the scanned panels. This will spawn a nuclear core.
- Escort the core to the middle room.
- Kill the brig, then dunk the core.
- Repeat until all three cores are deposited.
You’ll need to kill four Brigs in this encounter. Plan accordingly.
Start the encounter by interacting with the AI orb in the middle of the room. This will spawn dozens of Fallen and a Brig miniboss. Focus on the Brig. Destroying it will spawn a Scanner Vandal shortly thereafter. Grabbing the Scanner buff will open up the doors in each corner of the room. You’ll want to enter any three of the side rooms; order doesn’t matter here.
Each side area will have two Vandal bosses guarding an active energy field. Kill both of them and any nearby adds to drop the field. The next room is where you’ll need to repeat the panel activation puzzle from earlier. But before you do, dunk your Scanner buff the second you enter the room. This will reset your 60-second timer. Grab it again and start looking for the right panels. One of the Vandals will drop Operator. Use that buff to shoot the correct panels.
If done correctly, a nuclear core should spawn in the room. Deposit your Scanner and Operator buffs, then escort the nuclear core back to the spawn room. Both deposited buffs will appear in the other side rooms, so don’t worry about losing them. You’ll passively build up Radiation stacks as you carry the nuclear core, killing you outright if it reaches ten stacks. Drop the ball whenever your stacks get high, kill some adds, then resume backtracking.
A Brig respawns whenever a nuclear core spawns. You’ll need to destroy it before you can dunk the core.
You’re simply repeating this process until all three cores are dunked. Since you dunked your Scanner and Operator buffs, they’ll already be in the augment terminals in the other side rooms. Grab them, do the mechanic, deposit them, and then escort the ball. Do this a total of three times to finish the encounter.

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Escape The Maze
After you dunk the third nuclear core, exit through the top-right door and follow the path. You’ll eventually enter a labyrinth of sorts that’s guarded by Raneiks Unified, an amalgamation of multiple Servitors. It will aggressively track you through the winding corridors, so you’ll need to find shelter in nearby locked rooms.
You’ll have a buff on your HUD called “Power Reserves.” This denotes how many rooms you can open. Walk up to a locked room and interact with it to unlock it, consuming one Power Reserve stack. You can lock the door at any time to gain a charge again.
Some rooms will have a nuclear deposit station with a number above it. This is the dunk order for exiting the maze. You’ll find nuclear cores on slain Fallen Captains. Kill one, grab a core, then look for the right dunking station to proceed. Each successful dunk gives you an extra energy pip, letting you progress further in the maze.
As for the deposit locations:
- In the locked room directly across from spawn.
- Run towards the end of the hall where dunk station #3 is and turn left. Kill the massive Fallen Captain, then open the door on your left.
- Follow the hall from spawn.
- After you drop the forcefield blocking the path, go straight ahead and open the door.
- End of the maze where Raneiks is guarding.
Destroy Raneiks Unified
Encounter Synopsis
- Destroy Raneiks Unified by splitting it into multiple Servitors.
- Kill a Fallen Captain boss to teleport.
- Use the Suppressor augment’s decoy to split Raneiks apart.
- Write down which two Servitors have visible markings.
- Repeat.
- Use the Operator augment to shoot four panels.
- DPS: damage the boss by splitting it apart and damaging the marked Servitors.
This encounter is a fairly strange boss fight we haven’t seen in Destiny before. Before you start, equip a good AoE Heavy weapon or subclass build. The boss is actually made up of ten Servitors, so any weapons that deal a ton of splash damage excel here. Parasite is a fairly popular option, as are Wave-Frame Heavy GLs like Dimensional Hypotrochoid. If you’re playing a Titan, Consecration and Thundercrash are fantastic here.
You’ll start the encounter with an add-slaying gauntlet. Dozens of Fallen will pour into the arena from all sides. Use a strong add clear build to melt through them. During this part, two things will happen:
- A Shank with the Operator buff will spawn.
- A Fallen Captain boss will appear.
For the Shank, simply kill it and dunk the Operator buff into a nearby augment terminal—we’ll need it later. Killing the Fallen Captain will teleport everyone to the second floor. Make sure everyone’s ready.
Figuring Out Panel Numbers
The upper floor will be guarded by Raneiks itself and a handful of Shanks. One of them near the back of the room will be carrying the Suppressor augment, a new pickup that replaces your grenade with a hologram. Place it near Raneiks and shoot it to trigger a detonation. This will cause the boss to split into ten different Servitors.
Out of the ten Servitors, two of them will have markings on their chassis. You’ll need to record the Servitor’s name. This tells you which panels you need to damage on the lower floor. For example, if Servitors 3 and 9 have markings, then you’d shoot panels 3 and 9 on the lower floor. You’ll need four numbers to start DPS, so you’ll need to repeat this process again.
The order in which you shoot the panels doesn’t matter. As long as you shoot the correct panels, the DPS phase will begin.
You must also use the Operator augment to damage the panels. Grab it from the augment station.
DPS Phase
With all four panels active, Raneiks Unified will drop down from its perch and begin attacking you. It will technically receive damage during this point, but it has so much damage resistance that you won’t budge its health bar. You need to kill a nearby Shank to gain the Suppressor buff, then use the decoy grenade to split Raneiks apart.
Like before, the boss will split into ten Servitors, four of which will be marked. The marked Servitors receive full damage. Use Parasite, Wave-Frame Grenade Launchers, or AoE abilities like Consecration to pump out as much damage as possible. You have roughly 15 seconds to damage the boss; make them count. DPS ends when the Servitors reassemble and teleport to their perch, resetting the encounter. Repeat this process until the giant Servitor is destroyed.
Jumping Section
The exit to this encounter is on the second floor directly across from Raneiks’ perch. Follow the walkway to the exterior of the space station. You’ll be caught in the middle of a magnetic storm that’s destroying Vesper Station. Use the magnetic strikes as a guideline for where to go. You’ll need to reach the other side of the station to reach the final boss: a nightmarish recreation of Atraks-1.
Defeat Atraks, The Corrupted Puppeteer
Encounter Synopsis
- Deposit two nuclear cores in the lower floor to make Atraks-1 vulnerable.
- Scanner: Find panels for Operator to shoot.
- Bottom floor: call out the correct Atraks clone to kill.
- Operator: Shoot panels to unlock the lower floor or bunker room.
- Suppressor: Kill Atraks’ clones. On the lower floor, coordinate with Scanner to kill the correct clone.
- Lower Floor: Grab the nuclear bomb from the correct Atraks clone and deposit it into a bunker. Repeat.
- DPS: Damage Atraks and her clones while avoiding the magnetic storm.
Atraks-1 has morphed into a nightmarish figure that’s seemingly ripping Vesper Station apart. Descend into the lower levels and prepare for a claustrophobic fight. Before you start, make sure you have 100 Resilience and some defensive keyword in your build—Restoration, Devour, Woven Mail, etc.
Right as the encounter begins, Atraks will summon two clones of herself that are impervious to incoming damage, emitting Radiation if you get near them. You’ll need to use the Suppressor’s decoy grenade to strip the clones of their immunity. Clones will receive damage from all sources once they’ve been tagged by a decoy.
Clones will keep spawning until all three augments have spawned. Have someone keep Suppressor active to deal with them.
You can always deposit the Suppressor augment and immediately grab it to reset its duration.
Scanner will need to look at the four pillars in the room to figure out which number to call out, but there’s a twist in this callout: call out the blue number on the pillar, not the red panels. For example, for the pillar listed above, I’d call out “Panel 1” since that’s the blue number at the base of the pillar. Operator will then shoot four panels with the stated number. If you do that correctly, Atraks will retreat to the lower levels, opening tubes in each corner of the arena. Deposit your buffs before you descend.
You’ll enter a confusing network of tunnels that lead to two isolated bunkers, one for each side. Follow the red lights on the wall to reach the correct room. These bunker rooms contain your dunked augments. You’ll need to grab them and complete a short sequence of puzzles that mimic what you did earlier:
- Scanner: Scan the panels to see which ones are legitimate. Kill whichever one has a white hexagon.
- This clone will drop a nuclear core when slain. Pick it up.
- Suppressor: Keep the Atraks clones distracted.
- Operator: Shoot the four panels Scanner calls out to open the bunker.
- You need to enter the bunker before the security protocol debuff hits zero.
Dunking the nuclear core inside the bunker will remove half of Atraks’ immunity shield. Repeat the process in the other room, then return to the middle room to find a teleporter. Use it to reach the start of the encounter. Ascend to the top floor when you’re ready.
DPS Phase
Atraks’ DPS phase is similar to the Witness fight in Excision. She is vulnerable to all incoming damage, but you’ll need to avoid incoming magnetic strikes and clones throughout the entire phase. Weapons that deal high burst DPS are highly recommended. She’ll stay on floating platforms near the back of the arena, occasionally moving to a different platform to fight alongside a clone. Deal as much damage as you can before another magnetic storm occurs.
The station debris on the back-left corner of the arena can be used to avoid most of Atraks’ clones and the magnetic storm mechanic. Bring long-range weapons (notably Grand Overture) if you plan on fighting here.
Towards the end of the DPS phase, one of the Atraks clones will drop a nuclear core . You need to take this core into either nearby bunker to survive the incoming wipe mechanic. This will extend the DPS phase for a few more seconds. Empty the rest of your Heavy weapon, then jump down the middle hatch before the storm kills your squad. Repeat the encounter steps until you kill The Corrupted Puppeteer.

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