The Destiny 2 Preservation quest and symbol puzzle are now available as part of The Witch Queen expansion. Once the world’s first completion race of the new Student Vow of the Disciple Raid is over, all owners of Destiny 2 The Witch Queen can jump into this mission and infiltrate the Dark Pyramid Ship located in the swamps of Savathun’s Throne World. Here’s what you need to do to complete the Destiny 2 Preservation quest and solve the symbol puzzle inside to get the lore entries and the Raid Exotic Ghost Shell.
How to unlock guard mission
Destiny 2 Preservation is only accessible if you have a special mission from the Evidence Board in the Mars Enclave. Go there and take the quest ‘Report: Pyramid-Inspect’, which will take on the quest to complete the Protection quest. Also, the recommended Power level for this quest is 1540.
Now, open the Objectives page, select the Throne World of Savathun, and then proceed towards the Student Raid Vow node. Just below you will notice the Guard task node. Select this and then you will be loaded into the task. This quest takes place in the same areas as the new Raid, so it serves as a great introduction for players to understand some of the very basic mechanics and become acquainted with the myriad symbols that appear in all of the Raid’s encounters.
Conservation Approach step by step
When you’re loaded into the Destiny 2 Preservation mission, the first thing you need to do is destroy the Savathun’s Projection blocking the gateway. When the projection is over and the door opens, head through the swamp to an area in your Sparrow called Disciple’s Bog. Finally, you’ll find a large, suspended, black slab with a spiral, drill-like mechanism on it – we’ll refer to it as the Load.
When you first get to the load, it won’t be able to move and you’ll see a message in your text stream that says “Drown in the Deep…” This causes Scorn to appear, including a great Abomination called the Knowledge Carrier.
Note that moving away from the Charge when a Mocking Knowledge Carrier is around will cause you to receive a stack of debuffs called ‘Pervading Darkness’. Each stack further limits your view, but once you reach 10 stacks it’s instant death. You can remove the Spreading Darkness by standing inside the orange ring surrounding the Charge. Pervading Darkness also stops accumulating when a Knowledge Bearer Abomination is killed and the “Ascension from the Deep…” message appears, saying it’s safe to roam.
Eliminate Scorn enemies and the Knowledge Carrier, causing nine Spikes of Knowledge to appear around your current area – these are small black spikes with a bright orange aura, so they’re usually pretty easy to spot. You just have to collect them all by walking through them and then take them to the Load to deposit automatically. Unfortunately, you can only carry three at a time, so you’ll have to run a lot.
Once the charge has received all nine spikes it will automatically start moving and simply drive it or follow it on your Sparrow until the next stop where you will have to kill another Knowledge Carrier and place more spikes. In total, you will need to defeat six Knowledge Carriers and collect 54 Knowledge Mosquitoes – pretty boring for solo players. Eventually Payload will enter a small room at the Pyramid entrance and unlock the main entrance door for you.
Protection mission puzzle
Now that you are inside the Pyramid, you need to reach the Destiny 2 Preservation quest puzzle. Keep going through the Pyramid until you reach a large chamber partially filled with swamp water. You need to go to the rear right corner, where you will find a deep pit illuminated by a low ceiling lamp. Jump down, then continue to follow the main road until you reach a room filled with vertical tablets with symbols on them.
This is the puzzle room and you will interact with these symbols to solve the puzzle. As you zoom in on each icon, you can see its name below your motion tracker in the top left corner of your screen. This puzzle can also be solved in The Vow of the Student Raid, but it’s obviously a bit easier in the Destiny 2 Protection quest.
To solve the puzzle, you must first find the code. On the wall to the right of the puzzle room’s entrance, you’ll notice some tall windows, all but one of which are barred. Jump through the transparent window to enter a small room with a wall with four columns of three symbols on it.
Think of each column as a command you must follow to complete the puzzle. The top symbol in each column is always the Guardian symbol (the black figure with a Ghost above its head) and can be ignored. The middle symbol in each column is also always the same and tells you how to interact with the symbols in the main puzzle room – the Enter symbol (the gray triangle with a red semicircle below) means you have to zoom in on the Commune symbol. (dark triangle with expanding green lines on it) means you have to follow the ‘Enable’ button prompt in front of a symbol and Kill (white triangle stabbing a red circle) means you have to hit the symbol.
Finally, the bottom symbol in each column is always random and indicates which symbol you need to interact with in the main puzzle room. You’ll know you’ve successfully interacted when a symbol sounds and is briefly covered in black smoke after doing what the code tells you.
Here is an example of what each column from left to right might look like and what they mean. Note that only the last symbol in each column changes and they are random:
- Column 1: Guardian, Enter, Drink = Melee with the drink symbol.
- Column 2: Fight melee with the Guardian, Enter, Ascending Plane = Ascending Plane symbol.
- Column 3: Guardian, Commune, Grieve = Follow the ‘enable’ button on the Don’t be upset symbol.
- 4th column: Guardian, Kill, Guardian = Hit the Guardian symbol.
If you followed the commands of each column correctly, you will receive an information entry and all symbol tablets will be closed. But sometimes nothing happens, but you can fix it by re-entering the first command. If you mess up the code, you can go back through the window to the secret room and reset the puzzle to start over.
To repeat the puzzle to help you get the Imperious Sun Ghost Shell, you’ll need to restart the Destiny 2 Preservation mission each time, as the puzzle can only be completed once at a time. To obtain the Ghost Shell, you must collect all five secret lore entries found at the end of this quest, and below is information about them.
Getting Protection step by step
After exiting the puzzle room and going through some corridors, you will come to a huge area with many doors with symbols above them and some Scorn enemies around them. To clear this section, all you have to do is beat Scorn but prioritize the Chieftain with the Gift symbol (red hands and a black triangle) on his door and the Disgusting in the room with the Stop symbol (a red square). ) on your door.
Turn left as you exit the stopping room and you will see the Knowledge (multicolored brain) and Drink symbols (white figure pouring water on the bowl head) on the wall with a door between them. Start and you’ll come out to a room with two big statues of horses with many, many butts. At the far end of this room are the three great Fanatic’s Chosen Scorn enemies that must be defeated.
Protection confidential information entries
When they die, the Destiny 2 Preservation quest will end, but you’re left with a 25-minute timer to freely explore the Acquisition for secrets. There are five lore entries that will contribute to the ‘Student’s Oath’ Lore Book Unlocks’ Victory that you can obtain and will help you obtain the Imperious Sun Exotic Ghost Shell. You can find each of the hidden information entries at the end of the quest here:
- Information entry 1: At the far end of the platform where the Three Fanatics’ Chosen enemies are.
- Information entry 2: Towards the rear right corner of the stop room.
- Information Entry 3: Right in front of the mural in the gift room.
- Information Entry 4: On top of the small hut just below the main Acquisition room’s entrance door.
- Information Entry 5: On the edge of a platform to the right of the Main Acquisition room, facing the huge dead worm.
Once you have these five secret information entries, you will need to complete the previous symbol puzzle five times to get five more to complete the victory and get the Ghost Shell.
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