Destiny 2 Nightfall Solo Guide: A Garden World

[dendron]

(Last updated: 2018/02/27)

The strike takes place on Mercury. It was introduced in the Curse of Osiris expansion. This is the most straightforward strike in the Nightfall set, and one of the easiest to solo.

Due to a problem with clan engrams, the strike was replaced about 32 hours after it was introduced in week 18. It returned in week 23.

Patch 1.1.3 and later: Kill everything before the boss. When fighting the boss, snipe the adds from cover, and don't die. Original guide is below.

Recommended Loadout

Equip standard loadout.

Pulse grenades seem to do crit damage to the boss, making them even more effective.
The void grenades, notably Vortex, don't seem to do any damage to the boss beyond the initial impact. This makes Nightstalker and Voidwalker much harder to finish with.
Nightstalker invisibility is less useful than you might expect, as most of the things that you can sneak past can easily be run past while visible.
Wardcliff Coil is excellent against the Shielded Minotaurs, but its short effective range makes it risky to use against the boss itself (and it doesn't seem to do all that much damage). It can be used during the boss fight to sweep the floor of adds.
Stormcaller Warlocks with Crown of Tempests will recharge their super frequently, making it useful for damage avoidance when running through pre-boss areas. Throw grenades at the hostiles you're running past to charge it up faster.
The boss takes randomly reduced damage from the explosive part of Explosive Payload shots. Shooting the boss from the cover of a nearby spawn portal, on the level 270 Nightfall, Better Devils does 101 crit + 60-216 explosive; Nameless Midnight does 173 crit + 51-121 explosive; Mannanan SR4 does 148 crit + 34-93 explosive; The Old Fashioned does 212 crit.

Modifiers: Torrent + Timewarp: Zero Hour

You get 22 minutes for normal, 18 for Prestige.

Starting Area

Run past the Vex, into the Infinite Forest gate.
Use standard Infinite Forest parkour to get to the next gate. Most things can be run past, some things will kill you quickly if you try. If you die here, restart.
As with other interactive objects, you can hold the activation key down as you approach the gates to activate them as soon as you are in range. You can trigger the gates from fairly far away.
There's a pair of Quantum Cyclopes at the end. When you get near them a cluster of four Goblins will spawn. It's important to stun or kill the Goblins, as their concentrated fire can kill you quickly. It's usually possible to dodge the Cyclops Blasts if they're the only things you have to worry about, but your odds will improve greatly if you take out at least one Cyclops. Bear in mind that they take aim at the start of their charge cycle, so you just need to be far away from where you were when the charge-up started. Keep dodging after you're past them, as one of them can usually shoot down the triangular hallway.
You should reach Mercury Past within 2.5 to 3 minutes.

Mercury Past

Head a little to the right, run past everything. No need to engage enemies. Launch up.
Run straight through, just to the right of the hanging cylinder. Destroy the cube, launch up.
A bunch of Cabal and Vex shooting each other on the next island. Throw a grenade as you're landing to stun the enemies on the right side. Run past on the right and jump to the elevated bit of the next island. Run past everything, toeing it down the left side. Throw grenades as you go to kill or stun hostiles. Ignore the Hydra. Destroy the cube, launch up.
It's possible to run down the narrow strip on the left edge, which provides cover from the nearby hostiles. If you're not careful though it's easy to get bounced out into space.

First Shielded Minotaur

There are two Cabal gladiators next to where you land, in addition to a pile of Vex, so don't lurk. Immediately sprint down the left side and shoot the cube. The Minotaur will move to attack the nearby Cabal, so use rockets or your super to kill him (with their help).
Gunslinger Hunter: One Celestial Nighthawk shot should leave the Minotaur dead or with just a sliver of life.
Run forward, shoot the cube. The barrier takes a second or two to drop, and there's a bunch of enemies at the entrance, so either hang back briefly or barricade/rift/invis while you wait. Run through.
Run through the room, dodging actively. Running along the far left side seems to work well, as the Cabal are engaged with the Vex. When you get to the top of the stars, dodge-run down the right side of the room to avoid the big fight in the middle. Shoot the cube, run through.

Second Shielded Minotaur

Run in and jump across the radiolarian pool on the left of the block. Shoot the cube. Throw grenades at the Minotaur. Don't kill any Cabal first -- they will help you kill the Minotaur.
If you immediately run to the stairs near the launcher, you can stand back and throw grenades at the Minotaur in relative safety.
Shoot the cube. Launch up.
Kill or jump over the first group. (Note: the Precursor Axis Goblin drops power ammo.)
There are two sets of enemies fighting on the ramp. The first set is low-level Vex and Cabal fighting each other. The second set is all Vex, including a Minotaur and a pair of nasty Hobgoblin.
Aggressive approach: as you near the first set of enemies, you can jump onto the medium-high block in front of you, and from there directly to the first landing, in relative safety. Throw a grenade at the Vex, aiming for the Hobgoblins, then jump up on the tall block on the right side. Jump from there to the launcher. (The enemies disappear as you work your way through the next section, so even if you die a bit later you won't have to fight them.)
Conservative approach: clear the first set, kill the Hobgoblins, then jump over the rest using the tall block on the right. This is recommended for Prestige.

Third Shielded Minotaur

It's best to clear the first part of the room (Legionaries, Harpies, Hobgoblins on the pillars) unless you're a stealth Hunter.
When you get near the first of the Hobgoblin pillars, a bunch of Cabal will leap in, and some Vex will spawn, so stay near the first set of stairs until the initial enemies are dead. Sprint down the left side to avoid the fracas. Shoot the cube to unshield the Minotaur.
Aggressive approach: immediately activate super to kill the Shielded Minotaur and anything nearby, and continue moving up the stairs. The barrier shielding the launcher leaves a small area in the back where you can stand, so you can run up the right side, jump across, and stand in the back in safety. Shoot the cube, launch up. (Warning: don't touch the barrier at the halfway point along the right side. It can launch you up into the ceiling or kill you instantly. Run wide right and jump on a slight diagonal to the grassy area in back rather than sliding down the side.)
Conservative approach: retreat back to the middle of the room and snipe the Minotaur. Shoot the cube, then jump up along the right side (to avoid the enemies fighting on the stairs) to get to the launcher.
In the next area, which features lots of mobs and a Hydra, you don't need to kill anything. You want to stun some enemies that spawn in, though, so as you land throw a grenade a bit ahead of you (on the main floor, not the raised area).
The fastest way through is to jump up on the tall block on the left side, and immediately from there to the launcher, but you're fairly exposed. A slightly slower but safer route is to glide-jump across the open space behind the tall block, and just run to the launcher.

Boss Fight: Dendron, Root Mind

Weapons used:
- Chronology Rifle. Purple beam that fires every few seconds.
- Time Distortion launcher. Large purple orbs with AoE damage and slowing effects. This comes into play after the first pair of Shielded Minotaurs is killed.

Phases:

Convention: Dendron starts in the north. If you lose track, the spawn portals on the west side are connected to the roof.
Shoot the cube to start the fight. About 8 seconds later, the shield drops, and Dendron starts firing. Two Goblins spawn in at each of the nearby portals (NW and NE).
At 95% health, four Goblins spawn in at each of the nearby portals.
At 90% health, Dendron moves counter-clockwise 180 degrees, stopping in the south. Shortly after it starts moving, two Hobgoblins spawn in at each of the western portals.
At 80% health, two Goblins spawn in at each of the southern portals. Two Hogboblins spawn in at the SE portal.
At 70% health, Dendron moves counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the east. It raises an impenetrable force field, and releases the eastern Shielded Minotaurs. Three Goblins spawn from each eastern portal and move to guard the shield cubes. Five seconds later, two orange-bar Axis Goblins spawn from the SE portal, and take up position in front of the boss.
Kill both Shielded Minotaurs to advance.
About ten seconds after the second Minotaur is killed, the boss moves counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the north. It will start to fire purple Time Distortion orbs that do AoE damage and have a slowing effect.
At 65% health, two Goblins spawn from each of the southern portals. About five seconds later, two Fanatics spawn from each of the southern portals.
At 50% health, Dendron moves counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the west. It raises an impenetrable force field, and releases the western Shielded Minotaurs. Two Harpies spawn from each western portal and move to guard the shield cubes. Five seconds later, two orange-bar Axis Harpies spawn from the SW portal, and take up position in front of the boss.
Kill both Shielded Minotaurs to advance.
About ten seconds after the second Minotaur is killed, the boss moves counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the south.
At 40% health, two Goblins spawn from each of the southern portals. A few seconds later, two Fanatics will spawn from the southern portals. Then two more Goblins. The boss will move counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the east.
After a few seconds, the boss will move clockwise 270 degrees, stopping in the north.
After a few seconds, the boss moves counter-clockwise 90 degrees, stopping in the west. More adds spawn from the western portals.
From here on the boss is in near-constant motion. When it stops, expect adds to appear from the nearby portals. Lots of Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Fanatics. This seems to be based primarily on time rather than damage. The final set of adds will be two Minotaurs from each portal.
The boss does not skip phases, but will progress through them quickly if damaged severely. So if you do a lot of damage to the boss, you'll get a bunch of adds spawning all at once. The only gating factor is the boss has to be in a specific position to spawn the adds.

General notes:

Fighting adds while dodging the boss death beam ("Chronology Rifle") is tricky, especially since the cover elements shift and the boss is in motion for much of the battle. When adds spawn, they come out of the two portals closest to the boss' current position, so staying on the far side of the arena will help you avoid getting flanked.
Generally speaking, it's best to be at least halfway across the arena from the boss (as far as you can get and still hit with a grenade).
You can pre-grenade spawn points, but you have to throw early. The Vex units tend to teleport into the middle of the arena almost immediately.
Prioritize killing adds over the boss until you get to the sub-40% phase. The boss moves a great deal after that point, so when it does stop you want to hit it with a bunch of Pulse grenades so that they can get all the damage ticks in. At that point the Shielded Minotaurs are dead, so use your rocket launcher or Wardcliff Coil to clear adds.

Fight strategy:

After shooting the block to start the fight, throw some grenades at the boss while taking cover next to one of the northern spawn portals. When you see hostiles start to spawn in next to you, throw a grenade immediately.
Conservative approach: move to the NE portal (to the right of the boss). You'll get two rounds of adds from the nearby portal, the rest will have to come at you across the arena. When the boss starts to move, move away from the portal and use blocks for cover.
Aggressive approach: move to the NW portal (to the left of the boss). You'll get three rounds of adds, and will have to flip around to the other side of the portal when the boss moves behind you. This position lets you grenade three spawns from the nearby portal, and gives you an easy angle on the NE and SW spawns.
Key mechanic: When the Shielded Minotaurs are activated, make sure all free-roaming adds are dead, including the two orange-bar Goblins or Harpies that will hang out near the boss. Kill one Minotaur and all associated adds, then the other. Nothing especially interesting happens when the first Minotaur is killed, but when the second Minotaur's shield cube is broken, the boss will go into spasms for about ten seconds, and then resume shooting. You don't want to fight Dendron and the Minotaur at the same time, and you definitely don't want any adds in the mix. After killing the first Shielded Minotaur, take a few seconds to check for stray mobs, and choose a position where you can see both Minotaur and Dendron. Shoot the cube, fire a rocket, throw a grenade, finish with guns if needed, but kill that Minotaur quickly, and do so while moving away from the boss.
Stormcaller Warlock: If you have the Crown of Tempests, do the following in quick succession to kill a Shielded Minotaurs: (1) kill the adds under the shield with a grenade, (2) shoot the cube, (3) grenade the Minotaur, (4) shoot it with the Coil, (5) throw another grenade or two while jumping up high. By killing the adds right before you attack the Minotaur, you proc Arc Tines, and boost your grenade regeneration speed. This will give you enough DPS to kill the Minotaur very quickly.
Striker Titan: to kill a Shielded Minotaur, shoot the cube, throw a grenade, fire the Coil, throw a grenade. Don't pre-throw the grenade or you'll lose half the pulses. (Yes, this works in Prestige.) If you're not using the Coil, create a Towering Barricade and stand right behind it. Wait for the Minotaur to stomp. When he does, jump up and throw a grenade at it. Keep throwing until it's dead. You must not move after placing the shield, or the stomp will get you.
The purple Time Distortion orbs do AoE damage and have a slowing effect. They don't pass through cover elements, but can slightly penetrate a Towering Barricade.
Exploit: after you unlock the second Shielded Minotaur, Dendron drops its shield but doesn't move. So long as one Shielded Minotaur is alive, Dendron doesn't move or summon adds, making it an easy target for Pulse grenades if you can stay alive. Titans can pop a Towering Barricade and just throw grenades over the top, killing the boss in under a minute if all goes well. See this video for a demonstration of the proper position near a spawn portal. Warlocks can jump up near the top of the far side of the spawn portal, crouch to avoid Dendron's attack, and use a healing rift to counteract the Minotaur damage.

Additional notes...

If you die, you will rez in an exposed position, often in the middle of enemies. The most common spot in the later stages of the fight is directly in front of the boss, which will be behind you. The mobs won't engage for a few seconds, but the boss will target you immediately. This can very easily turn into a "death chain", especially if there are a lot of adds in the field. As soon as you spawn in, run to the first bit of cover, wait out the boss laser (hopefully it's the laser and not the Time Distortion ball), then run to cover farther from the boss before engaging. If you start shooting immediately, the adds will target you, and you'll probably die. If you're a Titan, turn right and take cover behind the wall of the nearby spawn portal, then create a barricade to block fire from the adds.
The Minotaurs can't shoot through the shield domes, and they won't pursue you inside, so before shooting the cubes you can take a second to reload your weapons and get your bearings.
The Shielded Minotaurs have a surprisingly powerful stomp. If you're anywhere near the edge you will get knocked into space. Towering Barricades will usually block it, but only if you're standing squarely behind it. Do not back away from the Barricade or the Minotaur will walk through and nail you.
The first set of Shielded Minotaurs are accompanied by a pair of Precursor Axis Goblins. For the second set, a pair of Precursor Axis Harpies spawn. These drop power ammo, as do the Minotaurs themselves. They take up position in front of the boss, and don't move very far, which can make them easy to overlook when dodging shots from the Minotaurs.
During the Dawning event you can throw snowballs. You can't injure the Shielded Minotaurs while their shields are up, but you can stun them, which is mildly useful on the boss fight.

Titan

Class abilities recharge quickly, allowing you to have 3 barriers up at the same time. When in doubt, make a cave, and throw grenades over the top.
The boss is a large target, and doesn't become invulnerable or teleport when it takes damage, so a rally-barricade rocket barrage is viable.

Warlock

Always position yourself with a block between you and the boss. This will expose you to fire from the adds, but a little dodging and a healing rift should handle that.
The Stormcaller super is great for wiping out adds, and should regenerate quickly with the Crown of Tempests.
Voidwalker grenades work poorly against the boss.

Hunter

Gunslinger with Celestial Nighthawk works well, removing about a sixth of the boss's health with each shot. With Torrent you'll be able to fire it every couple of minutes.
Nightstalker grenades work poorly against the boss.