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Destiny 2: Lightfall’scampaign features eight unique missions that span across Neomuna. The third mission in this campaign, Downfall, is a somewhat short mission that gets players accustomed to fighting Tormentors and using the Grapple grenade with Strand. Those attempting this on Master will face many Unstoppable Champions, but the mission itself is far from difficult.
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For those looking to complete this campaign on Legendary or the weekly variant of this on Master, this guide has you covered. This walkthrough will cover the best loadouts you can bring for Downfall, then we’ll give a step-by-step breakdown of each encounter, including enemy spawns, mechanics, and Champions present on Master.
1,650
Your effective Power is capped at 1,635
Heavily shielded and highly aggressive combatants appear in great numbers.
Combatants have more health and are more difficult to stun.
Multiplicity
Greater fireteam size scales combatant difficulty and adds limitations on revives.
1,840
Your effective Power is capped at 1,820
You will face Barrier and Unstoppable Champions.
25% increased damage to outgoing Strand damage.
Overcharged Weapons
Trace Rifles and weapons overcharged from the Seasonal Artifact deal 25% increased damage.
Kinetic weapons are overcharged if your subclass element matches an active surge.
Legendarylimits your Power Level to -15, causing enemies to deal much more damage. Enemies are generally tankier than your typical mission, but this can be countered by using hard-hitting Primaries like SMGs, Sidearms, Bows, or any Exotic Primary. We cover weapon recommendations further in the guide.
Mastercaps your Power Level to -20, adds Barrier and Unstoppable Champions throughout the mission, buffs the enemy’s Solar damage, and increases all melee damage taken. To compensate for these difficulty modifiers, you also get to benefit from Surges and Overcharge weapons. This mission has Void and Strand Surges, granting 25% more damage with all Void and Strand damage. Overcharge weapons include Trace Rifles and any weapons buffed through your Artifact perks.
The mission itself features many close and mid-range combat encounters, so bringing an SMG is recommended. A Tormentor is also present. Bring a subclass that can suppress, blind, or suspend to trivialize this fight.
Arcstrider or Threadrunner
Sentinel or Berserker
Warlock
Voidwalker or Shadebinder
Hunterscan do quite well with Arcstrider here. Beyond the drop pods in the first encounter, using a melee build is more than viable for this mission. Equip Assassin’s Cowl for added survivability, or use Liar’s Handshake for more damage. If you’re attempting this on Master and already have Strand unlocked, Threadrunner is a great pick here. The final encounter effectively gives you infinite Grapple charges due to the floating anchor points, and Ensnaring Slam can be used to counter both Champions types alongside the Tormentor miniboss.
Titansshould consider Sentinel for this mission. Access to Devour, Volatile Rounds, and Void Overshields should help with most of the combat encounters if you bring a good Machine Gun or Special GL. Sunbreaker is also an option if you prefer Restoration over Devour. For Master, Berserker is your best option. Suspend trivializes all Champions present in this mission, and you’ll have access to Woven Mail for a massive DR increase.
Warlocksshould be fine with Voidwalker here. So many adds are present in this mission that maintaining Devour should be trivial, effectively making you immortal when paired with 100 Resilience. If you’re attempting this on Master or don’t have enough firepower, Shadebinder is worth considering. Bleak Watcher turrets paired with Osmiomancy Gloves allow you to trivialize nearly every encounter. It’s also great for countering Champions on Master.
Weapons
Artifact Weapons (Master Only)
Any weapons boosted by the Artifact will deal more damage on Master difficulty. Some passives also give your guns anti-Champion properties.
Machine Guns
Great for killing adds, majors, and Champions. Spec for finders and scavenger mods.
Trivializes the Tormentor fight.
Leviathan’s Breath
Demolishes tougher foes, including Champions. Stuns Unstoppables for those attempting this on Master.
Witherhoard
Versatile Exotic that’s good at everything. Use this to spawn-kill enemies.
Wish-Ender
Great for killing enemies at a distance. Also counters Barriers on Master.
Artifact Weaponsrefer to any guns that are buffed through the Seasonal Artifact. These will count as Overcharged for Master difficulty, buffing their damage by 25%. If you’re playing on Normal or Legendary, this doesn’t apply. Any Legendary weapon will work for those difficulties.
We highly recommend bringing a Machine Gunto this mission. The only boss fight here is a Tormentor encounter partway through the mission, but you can trivialize this fight by using Suppression, Blind, or Suspend keywords found on Void, Arc, and Strand, respectively. Machine Guns will let you chew through the adds on Legendary difficulty with ease. On Master, this is still recommended since they can quickly melt through Champions if your MG has a damage perk.
Osteo Strigais what we recommend if you don’t have a good Machine Gun. This weapon dishes out some serious damage and, with its Exotic Catalyst, never has to reload. If you don’t own Witch Queen, you can also run Huckleberry, Trinity Ghoul, or Outbreak Perfected.
Tractor Cannonis worth mentioning here since it inflicts Suppression. This keyword completely nullifies the Tormentor’s powers, making this encounter a breeze.
Leviathan’s Breathis a great pick for Master. It stuns Unstoppable Champions, deals massive damage, and is quite ammo efficient. Be sure you have its Catalyst to lower its otherwise lengthy draw time.
Witherhoardis always a good pick for those looking to run an Exotic Special. Lob a grenade at spawn points to instantly kill enemies, or stick it onto a target to deal passive damage.
Wish-Enderis a solid option if you’re severely underleveled and wish to play from a distance. It deals great damage, has infinite ammo, and can pierce Barrier Champion shields on Master. It’s slow but gets the job done.
Champions (Master Only)
Barrier, Unstoppable
Right after you start this mission, you’ll be tasked with infiltrating Calus' ship. It’s heavily guarded by Shadow Legion troops, so be sure you use the rally flag before starting the encounter. A Machine Gun or any add-clearing Exotic works wonders here. When ready, walk closer to the ship to start the encounter.
Multiple drop pods are going to spawn Cabal on the streets. You’ll want to look to your left and immediately kill the Psions that spawn. You can use this part of the street as cover. Clear out the small wave of Cabal soldiers and War Beasts before proceeding. Shoot the turret overlooking the street, then make your way to the ship itself.
The entrance to the ship will be guarded by aCenturion minibossand many Cabal soldiers. A good add-clearing weapon should mow through these enemies, but if you’re severely underleveled, take this part slowly. ABarrier ChampionandUnstoppable Championwill spawn alongside the boss on Master, so be sure you have Champion counters ready to go. Both Champions tend to bunch up near the boss. Use your Heavy weapon alongside your Super to clear out the enemies. Killing all the Cabal will end the encounter.
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Navigate Through The Ship
Shoot the floating Darkness shard beside the ship’s entrance to remove the forcefield, allowing you to enter Calus' fortress. The path forward is mostly linear and is marked on your HUD. When you drop further into the ship, you’ll reach a combat encounter with three War Beasts and, in the following room, a small group of Cabal. These enemies shouldn’t pose much of a threat on Legendary if you have an ability charged, but this room is considerably tougher on Master. ABarrier Championwill block your path, so you’ll want to immediately stun this Champion through some means. you may take cover in the corner of the room while doing this.
In the next room, you’ll fight another small group of Cabal, this time consisting of a turret, War Beasts, and a Colossus miniboss. On Master, you’ll also find anUnstoppable IncendiorandBarrier Colossus.The Incendior spawns right away. Use an ability or your dedicated Unstoppable counter to stun this Champion before melting it from a safe distance. Do the same with the Barrier Champion. When finished, follow the waypoint to reach the next encounter.
(PC Users) Gravity Lift Bug
If your game is running above 60FPS, the gravity lifts in this mission will fling you around and eventually stop working. Either limit your FPS to 60 or alt-tab upon entering a lift to avoid this bug.
Deposit Dark Resonance and defeat the Tormentor
Barrier
As you drop down into the arena, a group of Cabal will spawn beside a capture plate. You mustdefeat these Cabal and stand on the plate.Enemies will spawn when the plate is 50% captured and again once it’s fully captured. The first group consists of mostly Phalanx and Psion units, nothing a good Primary can’t handle.
Capturing the plate will spawn a group of enemies at the opposite end of the arena, two of which are Colossi guarding a Dark Resonance orb. If you’re playing on Master, these Colossi areBarrier Champions.You’ll want to clear out the fodder enemies first, using your Heavy Weapon or Exotic Primary to quickly kill them. The Colossi enemies tend to bunch up here, so now is a great time to use any crowd-control tools. Those on Master should focus on killing one Barrier Champion at a time. When slain, grab the Dark Resonance orb, then immediately drop it. More adds are going to spawn at the plate you just captured. Kill them, then grab the ball and dunk.
ATormentorboss will spawn at the center of the arena shortly after the dunk.This Tormentor is a lower-tier miniboss and is susceptible to CC effects.Immediately Suspend,Suppress, or Blind them. A few Taken Psions will spawn beside the capture plate shortly after the miniboss spawns. You’ll want to kill these Psions quickly before they start duplicating. With the adds dealt with, focus all of your attention on the Tormentor.Break its shoulders to expose its chest, then damage its chest with everything you have.Killing the Tormentor will finish the encounter.
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Continue Infiltrating The Ship
This is a short platforming section that occurs before the final encounter. Two more gravity lifts are present here, so PC users will want to either cap their framerate or be ready to alt-tab to avoid dying. Beyond that, there’s a room before the final encounter that contains a few Cabal War Beasts, an Incendior, and a Colossus. These enemies are upgraded toUnstoppableandBarrierChampions on Master. As before, use any Champion counters you have to deal with them. If you didn’t use your Super in the last encounter, now is a great time. It’ll be replenished in the next encounter.
Deposit two Dark Resonance orbs and embrace Strand
Use a rally flag to stock up on ammo before starting the encounter.We highly recommend equipping a Machine Gunfor this part, as you’ll be swarmed by dozens of adds throughout the fight. When ready, walk to your right to find a capture plate. A bunch of Cabal units are going to spawn beside the plate. Now is a great time to use an ability to stun or otherwise kill these enemies. Be wary of Gladiators and theUnstoppable Incendior(Master only) that spawn during this part. Clear the adds before capturing the plate.
Once the plate is captured, Taken will begin to spawn on the lower level of the arena. Kill the Taken Phalanx enemies immediately, as their Axiom Darts can deal some serious damage if you aren’t careful. These Taken will be protecting a Colossus miniboss unit and an Incendior, upgraded to aBarrier ChampionandUnstoppableon Master, respectively. Stay on elevated terrain for easy cover while fighting these enemies. You’ll notice that a Dark Resonance orb spawned from capturing that plate.Do not grab the orb yet.You’ll want to capture the second plate first and deal with adds.
Make your way to the opposite end of the arena to find a second capture plate that’s guarded by more Cabal units and yet anotherUnstoppableon Master. Once again, find a safe location and kill the units from a distance. If it becomes too much, use your Super. Machine Guns do wonders here. Capturing the second plate will spawn even more enemies on the ground level, including two moreUnstoppable Championsfor those on Master. Repeat what you did last time. Stay on elevated ground, destroy any floating projectiles, and kill the Taken Psions as soon as possible.
Now that the coast is clear, now is the time to dunk the orbs. Grab one of the Darkness Resonance orbs and deposit it at the opposite corner of the arena. Doing so will spawn an Incendior enemy (Unstoppableon Master) alongside more Taken. Get up to elevated terrain and clear them out. Grab the second orb when you’re done and repeat the process. Now is a great time to use your Super if you’ve been holding onto it.
Using Strand
Clearing the arena will spawn a Strand fragment for you to interact with. This will force you intousing your Strand subclass, even if you’re attempting this on Master. Run to the generators right behind you for a safe vantage point. If you’re feeling more adventurous,you can use the anchor points around the arena to grapple around freely.Most of these enemies are complete fodder and shouldn’t pose much of a threat. Spam your abilities and Super to finish this part. Run up to the plate on your left when you’re done to start the escape sequence.
Find A Way Out
Caiatl will blast the generators you were just using as cover, opening a way out of Calus' ship.Hop on your Sparrow and follow the path.If you stick to the right side, you should avoid most of the environmental hazards and missiles dotting the arena. Make your way to the end of the zone before Pervading Darkness reaches ten stacks to finish the mission.
