Destiny 2: How to start the “Eyes on the Moon” quest for the Vex Offensive

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep has a couple of new activities for Guardians everywhere. The first is the Garden of Salvation raid. The second one is the Vex Offensive. In both cases, these bloodthirsty robots will be out to get you. Our focus in this mini-guide is the latter — most especially, it’s how to start the darned thing. It’s because you need to complete and objective called “Eyes on the Moon,” because it can be a little annoying.

Note: If you want to know more about the actual activity, head over to our Vex Offensive guide. For everything else that you need to know about Destiny 2: New Light and the Shadowkeep expansion, head over to our guides and features hub.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep – The Vex Offensive’s starting point

When you start Destiny 2: Shadowkeep for the first time this reset, you’ll be treated to a short cinematic showing that the Vex have awakened from the Black Garden. They’re now invading the moon. Given this new threat, you’ll have to speak to Ikora at the Tower. She’ll give you the starting quest for the Vex Offensive called, err, “Vex Invasion.”

At the same time, mousing over to the moon’s map tells you that the Vex Offensive activity is, indeed, available. However, you need to complete the “Eyes on the Moon” quest first. It’s not even in your Quest tab because it’s the second part of the quest chain after “Vex Invasion.”

If you thought that was already evidence of poor implementation, wait ’til you find out what you actually need to do. You’re asked to kill 100 Vex and three Gate Lords on the moon. But, these fellas are quite hard to find. This is even though the moon’s map tells you that there are Vex invasion points in three areas: Archer’s Line, Anchor of Light, and the Hellmouth.

The problem is that you don’t actually see where these invasions are taking place. There’s no indicator on the map be it a timer or a flashing icon.

Vex Invasion/Eyes on the Moon – Finding those robots

Yes, you can see some Vex wandering about in groups or three or more, like below:

Unfortunately, these are not the droids you’re looking for. Heck, you could try to wait, but that’s going to take a while.

So, you might actually end up roaming around the moon. Make the loop from Archer’s Line to the Hellmouth and then to Anchor of Light. It can take you forever, but you might spot one.

Waiting in vain? Just wait for public events

Is there something that might guarantee its spawn, though? Well, just look at the map and wait for a public event. The gateway doesn’t spawn while a public event is active. This means that it should spawn after the event is over.

Yes, it’s that simple — look for a public event marker, wait for it to end, watch the Vex Invasion gateway spawn. You can’t miss it since the sky will open up and lightning will wreathe the atmosphere.

Once you do see a gateway, pray that there are other Destiny 2: Shadowkeep players with you since the it’ll spawn dozens of Vex around. Your main target would be the Gate Lord, a “spiky” Minotaur and the leader of the pack. If you manage to kill it, the gateway will move around in the same zone. Just follow where it pops up and kill the mobs and the Gate Lord that spawn there.

The Vex Overlord – Powerful drops

There’s benefit to sticking with a group (or at least finding other Destiny 2: Shadowkeep players that are patrolling the moon). That’s because if you manage to kill the Gate Lord three times, a fourth gateway will open. This one will spawn a Vex Overlord (a hydra that takes a million bullets to kill).

You won’t be able to solo it, at least not before it runs off. But, if you do find a group of Guardians with you, then wail away on it with everything that you have. Why? Because killing this Vex Overlord will drop powerful gear. The armors will be from the Vex set seen in your Season Rank panel and the weapons will be the ones from Ikora’s vendor panel.

How to make the Vex Overlord spawn: When you’re fighting the Gate Lords, you’ll notice at least three hydras that accompany it. Kill these every single time a Gate Lord spawns. The Vex Overlord appears as the fourth and final event boss.

That does it for our mini-guide on how to complete the Eyes on the Moon quest in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Head over to our Vex Offensive guide to find out how to beat the activity itself.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available on Steam. We’ll also have a full Vex Offensive guide available shortly. For everything you need to know about Destiny 2: New Light and the Shadowkeep expansion, head over to our guides and features hub.