Destiny 2 is out with another Expunge mission this week, and this time, it takes place on Europa. This one is pretty short and isn’t quite as complicated as the previous two, which lends itself well to speedrunning. As such, Bungie would now like you to beat Expunge: Tartarus in under 6 minutes in order to claim one of the new Weekly Challenges.
Wondering how you’re going to do that, especially if you’re solo? The process is pretty straightforward. There are some Splicer Gauntlet unlocks you’ll need to take advantage of the shortcuts. From there, you just rush to the end and pound the boss.
And would you look at that — there’s video this time! But for those who need some text, keep on reading.
To start, make sure you have these Splicer Gauntlet perks
There are two upgrades you’re going to want to make on your Splicer Gauntlet before you jump into this and try to finish it under 6 minutes. The first is Wirewalker, which opens up some shortcuts in the Expunge: Tartarus mission. The second is Deletion Exclusion II, which will help you survive the various security lasers floating around in the mission.
You’ll see why Deletion Exclusion II is especially important in a bit.
From there, hit the two Wirewalker switches toward the beginning
The first Wirewalker switch you’ll encounter almost right away. This opens an alternate pathway in the beginning stages of Expunge that lets you skip right to the hallway with the portal at the end.
The second is right after you exit the portal. This activates some platforms in the mission (the green ones), and also gives you a gravity cannon to use a few platforms after the switch on the left hand side. This lets you skip shooting the first cube to take down the first shield.
Hack confluxes, shoot boxes
The way to progress through Expunge: Tartarus in under 6 minutes is to activate the Vex conflux at the start of a space and shoot the boxes you find within. You may need to take a tourist run or two to learn where they all are (or you can watch my video and see me also struggle to find them at times).
Standing in the space where you activated the conflux gives you a buff called “Stabilized Security Access.” You need this buff so the boxes are no longer immune to you. This stacks up to x32 and counts down once you leave the conflux space, so you should try really hard to hit all of an area’s boxes in one go. If you have to go back and re-up on that Security Access, that is lost time.
In the room with five boxes, take the shortcut on the left
After you clear the five boxes out, you could continue on what I presume is the designated path. That leads you into a space with two shielded Minotaurs, who you have to beat in order to unlock the two boxes in this area. But you can actually skip this and save yourself some time.
On the left side of that larger space is a small tunnel you can jump into in order to bypass the Minotaurs. And this right here is why you need Deletion Exclusion II — because the laser still comes through, and will kill you if you can’t withstand it.
If you can survive this little hallway, you’ll come out on the other side of the Minotaur room and enter the second-to-last space with the one box blocking the boss arena. So all you need to do is smoke that, skip past all the enemies, and get ready for a fight.
Bring your best heavy for the boss
This boss you’re pretty much going to have to three phase. The good news is, if you hammer him with a super and some heavy (One Thousand Voices, Leviathan’s Breath, etc.), you’ll get through those phases pretty quickly.
When the boss goes immune, two boxes will show up on the backside of the left and right platforms that you need to shoot. During his first immunity phase, you can shoot these down without much hassle. During his second, there are two Void-shield Minotaurs you’ll need to kill. Carry a Void weapon on you and you’ll tear through them in no time.
Just rinse and repeat that process three times, and you should beat Expunge: Tartarus in under 6 minutes with time to spare.
