Destiny 2: Tips for Completing the Presage Exotic Mission Solo
Presage is the newest repeatable exotic quest in Destiny 2, and allows players to farm for randomly-rolled version of the exotic Dead Man's Tale scout rifle. As with the other exotic quests, Presage does not feature matchmaking.
If players want to complete this quest to secure this powerful weapon, they will need to either solo the mission or seek out other people to play with. Thankfully, this Destiny 2 exotic quest can be taken on solo with relative ease with the right loadout and strategy.
Taking down Presage solo is a bit easier than the Harbinger mission for Hawkmoon. There are a lot fewer adds, and they are contained to two specific sections (with the exception of the random Screeb attacks). Any of the three classes can solo this mission, but certain subclasses will have a much easier time than others. When looking at Titans, there are two ways to go about it. The safest, and most obvious, subclass would be top-tree Sentinel for Ward of Dawn. Combining this subclass with the Helm of Saint-14 will consistently create a safe area for players to attack and defend from. Having an area that will blind and deter Screeb is a blessing.
Players can also play a little more aggressive and use Hammer of Sol bottom tree for Sunspots and Sol Invictus, which gives players health back whenever they defeat an enemy with Grenades, Melee Ability, or Sun Warrior. If players wanted to create an ability-spam build, then the exotic Hallowfire Heart chestpiece is a great place to start. By not using a super, abilities will regenerate incredibly fast, especially when standing in a Sunspot. This allows for a more aggressive, but still relatively safe, playstyle compared to Ward of Dawn.
For Warlocks, Well of Radiance is by far the safest and most reliable choice. Combining that with the Phoenix Protocol exotic chest piece allows for high up-time on the Wells, meaning more damage and healing boosts. At the time of writing, Xur is currently selling Phoenix Protocol, which will certainly come in handy for high-end PvE activities such as Presage. If players would rather pump out more damage, Devour Voidwalker is also a decent pick. Nova Bomb will deal great damage to large targets, while Devour will help with health sustain as long as they can keep it up.
Hunters have two main choices: survivability or damage. Starting with damage, Celestial Nighthawk Golden Gun is always the best choice for high boss damage. It'll make short work of DPS phases, but players will have to be a lot more careful with positioning as they have no way to really sustain their health. The safer, more reliable option is Nightstalker, specifically top tree for the invisibility on dodge. Having a long-reaching tether is a blessing, especially when running Orpheus Rigs, allowing for more uptime on tethers. It's great for add control, while allowing for more survivability in the long-run. Having an invisibility dodge is clutch, especially when enemies begin teleporting.
Weapon choice in Presage is entirely up to playstyle. A good balanced loadout would cover both close and long-range enemies, as the combat encounters in Presage feature both. For example, if players wanted to run something like the new Extraordinary Rendition SMG from Season of the Chosen, players will want to bring a Sniper or Scout Rifle to cover their Energy slot, as going strong close-range can actually be a detriment. Likewise, running a weapon like a Hand Cannon in the Kinetic slot allows for players to be a bit more aggressive with their Energy Slot. Things like the Salvager's Salvo Grenade Launcher will do wonders with add clear, especially if running Chain Reaction instead of Vorpal Weapon in the perk column. Trinity Ghoul (with the Catalyst) is one of the best add-clear weapons in the game, and will also serve as a great mid-to-long range weapon. The new Messenger Pulse Rifle is a great choice if players have the right perks and obtained it before.
The key to Presage's combat encounters is being able to deal with enemies both at range and up close, as the missions with throw both types in waves. In terms of dealing with large targets like the Locus of Communion or the Abominations, several weapons will do great. If players have already done Presage at least once, then Dead Man's Tale actually performs quite well in this mission. Hawkmoon as well does great against large targets, provided players can hit the precision shots. If players want to play very aggressive, The Lament exotic sword is still one of the best raw DPS weapons out there. Falling Guillotine is still incredibly powerful even after this season's sword nerf. Though these are best used in Ward of Dawn or Well of Radiance. Code Duello, this season's rocket launcher, can deal massive damage to bosses - especially with the Lasting Impression perk.
As always, if players have the Warmind Cell Mods, running any Ikelos or Seventh Seraph weapons can really dictate how they play. Having the Ikelos SMG with Warmind Cell mods is commonplace among veteran players, but since there isn't a reliable way to get Warmind Cell mods right now, it's entirely dependent on if you already have them, or if you've gotten lucky with Banshee.
The Trash Compactor is the first "encounter" of Presage, where players will be tasked with destroying three fuses to stop the trash compactor from killing everyone inside. To add to this difficulty, Screeb will spawn in the center of the room, making for a truly chaotic encounter. If players have a way to stay high in the air, that may be the best bet for identifying the fuse locations. Otherwise, players will want to try to use the Screeb to their advantage, detonating them to uncover fuse grates. Large AoE weapons like Rockets and Grenade Launchers will make short-work of the packs of Screeb. Nightstalker Hunters will likely want to drop a tether right in the center of the room to keep the Screeb from advancing too far. The Ticcu's Divination, the new seasonal exotic bow, also is not a bad pick for this, as it can auto-aim to target the Screeb. The encounter itself only lasts a few seconds, because players either get the fuses quickly, or they die, but as long as players go aggressive against the Screeb (outside of blast radius) the encounter itself should be pretty easy.
For this encounter, players are tasked with clearing the enemies out of the Glykon's hanger. The main targets are two large Abominations, as enemies will continue to spawn until these two are dead. Positioning on this fight is key. Players will want to post up either by the entrance to the room, or on the far back corner of the room. These two spots have good cover to hide behind, while still maintaining decent sight-lines. Waves of Ravagers and Screeb will spawn periodically during the fight, and at certain health thresholds. Chieftans will also be present in the fight, and should be focused down quickly as their totems can really disrupt the fight. Players should always be aware of their surroundings as Screeb can quickly sneak up on unsuspecting players. Using a Rifle weapon with the powerful Sundering Glare mod can quickly dispatch the Abominations from a distance.
The ideal rotation would be to clear out the Chieftains, clean up any straggler adds, and then focus on the Abominations. They never go immune, so players can burn them down, but be warned that adds will continue to spawn as the Abominations take damage, so it's best to either fully-commit and delete the Abominations, or do it in waves. Even after the Abominations are killed, players will still need to kill any remaining enemies before the encounter is complete, so keep that in mind. This encounter is all about managing the waves of adds while dealing with the Abominations, so players should take a more careful, methodical approach to dispatching the adds before working on the Abominations.
The Locus of Communion is a hard-hitting, beefed up version of the Hangman fight from the Forsaken campaign. He wields his Flame Cauldron and will charge at the player to either slam them with a fiery overhead attack that sends flames shooting across the ground, or swipe them with the Cauldron to fling them into walls. It's very easy to be one-tapped by this boss, so positioning is crucial. The boss will start in the main room, and players will have to damage him enough to send him below into the heated chamber. It's best to deal as much damage as quick as possible, as being in enclosed quarters with the Locus is a dangerous game.
The trick here is to carefully deal damage to him after diffusing the heat below. The safest way to do this would be to use the holes in the ground on opposite sides of the room to bait the Locus of Communion back and forth. Using the two holes that are opposite gives the most lead-up time before the Locus gets to the player. Players can them jump up top, run to the opposite side of the room, and then drop down to continue dealing damage. Using things like a Code Duello with Lasting Impression allows for a lot of damage without having to actually be down there with the Locus. If players wanted to maximize damage, dropping down a hole and dropping Well or Ward of Dawn can help add damage quickly, as well as help deal with adds once they spawn underground. As long as players take this fight slow, or as slow as they can if on Master Mode, then it should be easy so long as players don't let the Locus get them in a corner. If player can get that down, those pinnacle rewards, which are now fixed for Presage, will be obtained.
For players seeking the Dead Man's Tale Exotic Catalyst, they will need to brave Presage on the Master Difficulty. For starters, this raises the power level floor to 1320 which is actually not a big deal as standard Presage scaled enemies above level if players were over 1230, so if someone is a little below 1320 then it may feel almost identical. In addition to the power level, it also supposedly added Champions, but at the time of writing this seems to be bugged as no Champions appear in the mission. Loadouts are also locked, Match Game is enabled, and there is a 25-minute mission timer. Chaff being enabled is funny as standard Presage had it enabled without specifying.
The real key here is to complete the encounters with speed. Players will have to play more aggressively than in standard mode, and use weapons that can really damage bosses quickly. Match Game is also a big factor as players will need to tailor their loadout (before loading in) to make sure that they have the elements covered. The Chieftains will have all three elemental shields, so be wary of that. Should players manage to do this flawlessly, they will also be awarded the "The Next Chapter" emblem for bragging rights.
Completing the Presage mission solo does not reward anything extra, though there are triumph for doing it solo flawless, for those really gunning for a challenge. Doing it solo (not on Master) is a fun and challenging experience and it gives players plenty of time to pour over the Glykon in search of clues to help unravel the dark lore of the ship. The mission evolves each week, so there's plenty of reason to dive back in to the Glykon, even after getting a god-roll Dead Man's Tale.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light and the new Season of the Chosen are available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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