Destiny 2 A Rising Chorus Act II walkthrough: All steps, explained

The Conductor is weaving his web throughout Nessus, and Failsafe is ready to continue their research. So let’s drop onto the planet and look at our Destiny 2 A Rising Chorus Act II walkthrough, providing weekly updates with every step of the story.

Week 1 — A Distant Reply

After you complete A Rising Chorus Act I, Ikora will ask to speak with you in the tower, starting the first pseudo-mission: A Distant Reply. A cutscene will play out, showing the Conductor with their waves of altered Vex. Ikora gives us her theory of where this menacing mechanoid came from and prompts us to descend into Nessus once again, officially starting A Rising Chorus: Act II.

Step 1: Complete Battleground Delve on Nessus

Load into the activity with a premade party or allow the game to match you with other Guardians. You’re tasked with investigating the Well of Flame on Nessus, but before you can enter the structure some friends from House Dusk have come to greet us. You must recover 9 pieces of Fallen Data from the enemies before progressing.

Recover Fallen Data

Once you get close enough to the entrance, an enemy ship will spawn enemies that you’ll need to dispatch, along with a beefy yellow bar named Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk. Take them out and continue dealing with any stragglers until two sniper Shanks and a yellow bar Servitor named Data Safeguard spawn, and defeat them.

They’ll all drop a piece of the Fallen Data, and from here you’ll just need to keep defeating normal enemies until more sniper Shanks and Servitors spawn. After reaching six of nine Fallen Data, the next time Data Safeguards spawn, it will come in the form of one giant Servitor and two smaller yellow bar enemies. Defeat them to collect your final Fallen Data, and make your way up to the entrance of the Well of Flame.

Breach the Well of Flame

Move forward into the building and make your way to a large open room, but not before smashing your Planetary Piston Hammer and collecting some Radiolite on the way there. Take care of the Vex in this room until you see two Cyclopses spawn on the left and right side of the room.

If you look above the Cyclopses in the middle of the room, you’ll see two lines leading to small rooms behind each of them. Have one or more people go and defeat all the Vex in these rooms. You’ll know when the room is completed when the lines change their color to green and more enemies spawn.

Back in the main room once both lines have been completed, two yellow-bared Minotaurs will spawn and will need to be defeated before moving on. Do this a few times and then Kalliks will spawn in.

Eliminate Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk

Once you head into the portal, you end up in the same room that Act I of the story ended on, except this time you get to go further. Make your way further down, ensuring you dodge the tripwires and smash your Planetary Piston once again.

Follow the trail of enemies forward until you reach a place to flag up. Jumping into the next arena, you’ll come face-to-face with Kalliks standing atop a Hydra, who needs to be put down for good this time. Deal a small amount of damage, and the boss will become invulnerable and three Servitors will spawn in separate parts of the room.

Take care of them quickly and the boss will be damageable again. It doesn’t take that much time to deplete their health bar, and once you do, you’ll have to eliminate that pesky Hydra that was in the middle of the room.

Eliminate Hypolydron, Captive Mind

The Hydra will spawn at the opposite side of the arena, but much like Kalliks, you can easily nuke this boss with no issues at all. This completes the mission, and you can even deposit any Radiolite you recently collected.

Step 2: Extract Vex code mutations from Radiolite Incubators

The next step in a long storyline of quests, asks you to find Vex code mutations by collecting Radiolite from Radiolite Incubators in Episode: Echoes activities. While it can seem confusing at first, the process is fairly simple as I was able to get all my code mutations from one run of Breach Executable. Use your Planetary Piston, collect the samples, and you’re ready for the next steps.

Steps 3, 4, & 5: Upgrade Failsafe and unlock a new research bay

Return to Failsafe in the H.E.L.M. after grabbing all seven Vex code mutations. You’ll get a prompt when walking up to Failsafe, allowing you to upgrade to Failsafe V2.1. Not only will the area around Failsafe change slightly, but you’ll also receive a Tuned Radiolite Sampler. Make sure you’re ready to go on another combat excursion as our next step takes us back to Nessus.

Step 6: Complete Battleground Conduit on Nessus

Start the Battleground: Conduit mission from the surface map of Nessus, and you continue right where you left off in the Well of Flames. Move through a tube downward and keep running forward until you reach yet another large area with enemies to slaughter. Dispatch the waves of Vex and Cabal until a yellow bar Minotaur spawns. Defeat the Minotaur and the path forward will open.

The further down you go, you’ll notice there is a significant stream of Radiolaria (aka Vex milk) that’s traveling further down. Follow the Radiolaria until you reach a conflux of data that you’ll need to protect while your Ghost does some hacking.

Hack the Conflux

Have you or one of the Guardians in your party start the hack in the middle of the room and get ready to defend. This will spawn continuous waves of Vex until the hack is complete, and there isn’t much else you need to do in this section besides rip and tear any Vex in your path.

Periodically during the hack, a couple of yellow bar Harpies will spawn close to the conflux. You must defeat these Harpies quickly, as they will stop the hack until they are dead if they get too close. The enemies despawn once the hack is complete, and you can move on and continue to follow the Radiolaria.

Eliminate Kamarian, Radial Overseer

Past some parkour sections and more Radiolite Incubators to loot, you come face to face with the minotaur controlling the Radiolite. The beginning of the fight already has the boss invulnerable to damage, along with two Hyrdas that spawn on two platforms on each side of the room. Defeat these Hydras along with any other enemies, and once you do wait for the platforms they were hovering above to not be red.

Once both platforms are ready, have two people stand on them, and they will give off a bright flash of white light. You may have noticed three shielded squares behind the boss when you entered the arena. Once you activate both platforms, shoot all three cubes to start the boss’s damage phase.

You get about 50 seconds to do damage while their shield is down, which should be more than enough time to completely eviscerate its health bar. But if you’re attempting a low-man or just can’t get the damage, the encounter should just repeat, requiring you to defeat two more Hydras, stand on the platforms, and shoot the cubes. Defeating the minotaur will complete the Battleground Conduit mission and you can listen to the after-action dialogue, or return to orbit.

Step 7: A message awaits you on the holoprojector in the H.E.L.M.

Head on back to the H.E.L.M. and interact with Failsafe to receive a message from Saint-14 regarding your recent endeavors. He doesn’t sound too happy about the situation, especially after what transpired at the end of Act I, so he ends the call to think about all that has recently happened. For completing the first week of missions, you’ll receive a nifty Episode Echoes weapon from Act II. Make sure to start farming toward the Aberrant Action God Roll.

Week 2 — Steps 8, 9, 10, & 11: Failsafe wishes to speak with you in the H.E.L.M.

Moving on to the second week of content for Act II of A Rising Chorus, Failsafe calls you back to the H.E.L.M. once again to get an update on the Conductor’s location. She’ll want to create tracking nanomachines and requires your help in gathering the materials.

Harvest 10 Radiolite to gather the materials Failsafe requires

This step is relatively easy and only requires you to harvest 10 Radiolite samples wherever you can find them in seasonal Echoes activities. This can be done easiest by simply heading into yet another Breach Executable.

You should be able to grab all the samples you need before you even reach the halfway point of the activity, just make sure to finish out the mission for those extra rewards and rank progress. Either way, once you have them all head back to H.E.L.M. and give the samples to Failsafe.

Step 12: Deploy 5 nanobots at the specified coordinates

After producing the necessary items, Failsafe gives you the nanobots and instructs you to plant them in areas on Nessus. This might sound harder than it is, but thankfully the game gives you the area location of where you need to place the machines.

For these little guys, you’ll need to head to the Chamber of Stone where you’ll find some very exciting Vex eager to meet you. Around them, however, will be the locations you’ll need to place the nanobots. Take out as many enemies as possible before trying to plant the devices, as any damage will stop the progress bar from reaching 100.

Each location is marked on your HUD once you get inside the quest area and should be fairly easy to complete once all the enemies have been taken care of. And I hope you enjoyed doing that mission because we have one more location to go.

Step 13: Deploy 3 nanobots at the specified coordinates

Next, Failsafe will mark an area inside The Conflux Lost Sector and you’ll have to place three more nanobots in this area. Thankfully, instead of the Vex roaming around here, you’ll get an overwhelming amount of Cabal to take care of. Dispatch the new enemies as they spawn, or go invisible if you have an invis build and stealthily plant the nanobots.

Either way, it shouldn’t take you much time to complete this step, which gets you primed and ready for another Battleground mission.

Step 14: Complete Battleground Core on Nessus

The third and unfortunately last battleground of the Act is here in the form of Battleground: Core, and it can be started once you complete the placement of all nanobots on Nessus.

Eliminate the Taken Blights

Start the mission with a premade team of Guardians, or have the game matchmake you with two other people and head into the mission. Walk through the previous final area of the last battleground and you’ll make your way to a room with large Blight balls. You must defeat the large yellow bar enemies named Essence Bearers, pick up the balls they drop, and throw them at the Blights.

You’ll have to do this two distinct times in between dealing with normal enemies, but the final time should grant you access to a large bright tube that funnels you further down into the planet.

Continue forward and you’ll come to another blocked off area next to a Planetary Piston. Take care of the incoming Vex, then dispatch the two yellow bar Wyverns that spawn right after to gain access to the boss of the battleground.

Eliminate Antioptes, Hypogean Sentinel

Drop down into the large boss arena, and you’ll be face to face with the largest Vex Cyclops you’ve ever seen. This boss fight was the quickest part of the entire battleground for me and my two randoms, since all you need to do is defeat Antioptes as fast as possible.

When entering the room, you might have noticed the large red walls on either side of you. Once you start dealing damage, these walls will start to move together. Just make sure you’re keeping an eye on where the wall is, and you shouldn’t have a problem avoiding it. The boss will even teleport to the next platform when the wall gets too close to it, so just move closer to the boss whenever it teleports.

I was able to defeat the boss before he was able to teleport to the third platform, marking the completion of the Battleground Core on Nessus.

Step 15: Study the nanobots’ progress with Failsafe in the H.E.L.M.

Our next step takes us back to our favorite seasonal location, the H.E.L.M. to speak with Failsafe. She’s delighted to have discovered a brand-new research specimen and marks a location on Nessus for you to investigate.

Steps 16, 17, & 18: Search the coordinates for a new research specimen and collect it

Travel to the Watcher’s Grave on Nessus, and take a short little stroll until you see a marker to interact with, scanning the area for our specimen. Failsafe’s initial location might not have been precise, but the real location is thankfully not too far.

Continue forward past the first scan location, and you’ll find a second scan location on top of a fallen Vex. Interact with the location once, and then a second time to collect the specimen (which happens to be a frog).

Steps 19 & 20: Analyze the research specimen and talk to Failsafe in the H.E.L.M.

Return to Failsafe for the last time in Act II Part 2 to discuss our new froggy friend and what it means for tracking down the Conductor. She’ll tell you that Ikora knows of a way to get us to the Conductor, but it horrified her at the thought of it. With no more information to go off of, we set our sights for the Tower, and hope to get some answers.

Step 21: Speak with Ikora in the Tower

Fly to the Tower and head straight to Ikora for some clarification on this method of procuring the Conductors location. We’ll omit what was said from the article due to spoilers, but once we know what must be done, it’s not an easy task.

Week 3 — Steps 22 & 23: Meet with Failsafe in the H.E.L.M. to discuss her theory

The beginning of the end for A Rising Chorus Act 2 starts as almost every other week, by heading to the H.E.L.M. and talking to our favorite digital personalities. Failsafe postulates her theory on what’s going on with Saint-14 and how it connects with the Conductor and their Vex. But Failsafe requires one last code you must grab on Nessus before going on a ride with Saint.

Step 24: Explore the Sunken Cavern on Nessus and defeat the Vex who holds the code

Navigate over to the Destinations tab and select the planet Nessus. Teleport to the Watcher’s Grave landing point, and ride your vehicle to the left of where you spawn towards the objective marker.

Head down into the planet until you come across a rocky platforming section leading to a group of Vex. Dispatch the small fries, and traverse a bit further to take care of the yellow bar Compelled Minotaur. You get the Vex Simulation Access Code and can return to the H.E.L.M. for one final talk.

Step 25: A message awaits you in the H.E.L.M.

Heading back to the H.E.L.M. and approaching Failsafe triggers some dialogue between Saint-14 and Osiris. Saint divulges the plan he and Ikora concocted, leaving Osiris questioning if this is the only way forward. Regardless of what he thinks, Saint has made up his mind and asks that you both accompany him inside the Vex network for one final mission.

Step 26: Enter the Vex network with Saint-14 in Mission: Shell on Nessus

You start this mission through the activity marker on the far right side of the Nessus map. The mission does not have matchmaking, so make sure to bring some buddies in beforehand if you don’t want to go at it alone.

You start right where you left off in the final battleground, only this time you can enter a small hole in the middle of the room to transport yourself inside the Vex network. You find yourself in a large room with a pool of radiolaria at the bottom.

Breach Archive Security

Head down until you see a beam of data surrounded by three Minotaurs that you need to take care of. Interact with the beam of data, and defend your Ghost from a few waves of Vex while they breach the archive security.

You mostly have to take care of a few hordes of Harpies in the north, before turning around the taking care of the yellow bar Archived Hydra spawning in the south. Getting rid of the subsequent waves of Harpies in the south will spawn a group of exploding Archive Fanatics to the east.

Finally, a pair of yellow bar Archived Wyverns spawn east, and defeating them will open a portal for you to enter behind them.

Enter the portal and approach the tomb

Go through the portal and after a short walk, you’ll come face to face with a legendary Guardian’s tomb. This is a heavy story section with a lot of exposition and dialogue, but once it’s all over, a rejuvenated Saint-14 demands to be taken to the Conductor’s coordinates. Return through the portal, and don’t forget to plant your flag before going up against this mission’s main boss.

Defeat Agioktis, Archived Mind

The last combat section of Episode 1 Act II pits you against an archived version of a Minotaur Supernumeros. This can become an overwhelming fight if you’re by yourself depending on the build you choose to run. But thankfully, my Hunter Prismatic build got me safely through this fight with minimal issues.

Disappearing platforms spawn around the main circular area so you can catch your breath in between doing damage, but other than that the fight is pretty straightforward. There’s a small invulnerable moment when the boss has 1/5th of their health, and it will teleport back to where it spawned. So make sure you’re dealing with the adds around you while dealing damage, and you should get through this fight with very few issues.

Descend into Nessus

After dispatching the Vex boss, descend further into Nessus, and you can finally confront the Conductor, and get a glimpse at who this mysterious figure truly is. The mission will finish, and a pretty stellar cutscene will play. A familiar face will show itself, but who they are perceived as versus who they are is the real question.

After listening to the Conductor’s plan, we escape Nessus and return to the Tower to try and comprehend all that has recently occurred.

Step 27: Speak to Saint-14 in the Tower Hangar

You return to the tower and can head over to the Hangar to speak with Saint-14. He talks of what has happened, and what he plans to do once we know more about the new big bad. Saint vows to be ready once Failsafe finds the enemy stronghold, and until then we bide our time and prepare for the next fight.

This concludes Episode 1 Echoes: Part II. Like many players, I was a bit skeptical of where Bungie was taking the story of Destiny 2 post-TFS, and the first part of Echoes didn’t instill a lot of hope in me. Thankfully, part II turned out to be a bit more positive, with a great reveal at the end but still lacking a bit in some combat-focused sections. I’m just thankful that we’ll be seeing a change in how the Episodic story releases, following the start of Episode 2.

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