Destiny 2 Nightfall Solo Guide: The Inverted Spire

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(Last updated: 2018/02/27)

The strike takes place on Nessus. It has multiple areas that can be traversed by sparrow, including some where maybe you weren't supposed to be able to. This is a great strike for people who enjoy finding the most efficient way to run past groups of hostiles.

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.

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The composition of hostiles is significantly different for TW:Rings vs. TW:Killing Time, but doesn't seem to be affected by Momentum vs. Prism.

Recommended Loadout

Equip standard loadout. The boss moves a lot, so configure your rocket launcher for velocity. The Site Security mini-boss fight and first stage of the boss fight benefit from Wardcliff Coil, but the last two boss stages work best with Curtain Call because you really want to keep your distance.

You will want to run past a few groups of enemies, so stealth is useful but not really essential.

You take a lot of arc damage from dead Fanatics and in the last stage of the fight (from the boss and the radiolarian pool). This makes Riskrunner an interesting choice when coupled with healing from Devour, because it has a perk that gives you ammo when you take arc damage.

Modifiers: Attrition + Timewarp: Killing Time

You start with 12 minutes in normal, 8 minutes in Prestige.

• The modifiers make this one of the harder strikes to finish in time.
• Voidwalker Warlock is a great choice for this strike, since you can use Devour and healing rifts to counteract Attrition.
• Titans may benefit from the overshield provided by Mk. 44 Stand Asides when running past groups of hostiles.

Modifiers: Momentum + Timewarp: Rings

You start with 12 minutes for normal, 8 minutes for Prestige. There are three sets of 10 rings, each of which adds 30 seconds, providing a maximum extension of 15 minutes.

Modifiers: Prism + Timewarp: Rings

You start with 11 minutes for normal, 7 minutes for Prestige. Same configuration of rings as the Momentum version.

Walkthrough

Starting Area

• The first checkpoint is in a public area. Sometimes you seem to get a recycled instance where the entire first area is cleared, all the way to the Vex barricade area. The first part has a lot of low-level enemies, so for TW:KT you may want to restart in a new instance, as you can net about +30 seconds if you kill them quickly. (Also, your run is not entirely legitimate if you're getting help from random people. For reference, it took me about 2 minutes to get to the second launch hoop on an "unassisted" run where I paused to kill the Centurion.)
• Stick to the right side of the road as you travel to the first set of hostiles, or a Cabal drop pod will bullseye you on the way in. (This is surprisingly reproducible.)
• Kill the enemies, hack the pillar, get on your sparrow. As soon as the blocks start to rez (or even slightly before they rez), gun it. Angle right on the second block and drive off the corner, letting go of the thrust button as you clear the edge. Turn right while airborne (so you're pointing toward the launch hoop), and dodge to the right after you land to counteract your momentum. Hit the accelerator to drive across the floating blocks to the hoop. With a lot of practice you can do this without stopping. With substantially less practice you can land on the block, then take a couple of seconds to line up your sparrow before accelerating across the narrow bridge. (See e.g. Esoterickk's Voidwalker video, linked below, to see it done smoothly.)
• Get off your sparrow before jumping through the launch hoop.
• With a fast-transmat sparrow, if you summon it just right, you can arrive at the far end still mounted. You want to jump into the ring and summon just before the launch starts, without moving your mouse or joystick at all. If you don't get it just right, you'll fall off of your sparrow mid-flight and sink to your death. (This is tricky. See Esoterickk's Voidwalker video for an example.) If you do pull this off, you should be able to speed through without killing anything. Hold down the accelerator as soon as you arrive, or your sparrow will flip and dump you. Drive down the right side, cut left at the break then back right, drive to the end, jump off, and run through the launcher.
• The next launch hoop is active immediately. Killing the nearby enemies will reduce your odds of dying en route, but you don't need to kill anything here.
• TW:R: The Centurion will probably kill you, so snipe him, and perhaps the Psions next to him. Run down the right side to get cover from the cluster of Cabal units, then jump-run to the launcher.
• TW:KT: You've got some trash mobs and a couple of Cyclopes. Running past a Cyclops is easy if you listen for their shots charging and jump just before they fire.
• Immediately after launching through the next hoop, summon your sparrow. You don't need a fast-transmat sparrow, but you do need to summon it in the first half of the fling, as the second half is a no-summon zone. Every so often the summon will go weird and you'll fall off, but both you and your sparrow will arrive safely. You can usually jump back on.
• Trivia: You can bypass the opening sequence and activate the first launcher on your sparrow if you go over the Vex milk waterfall. See Modern Tryhard's 3-person speed run for an example. However, the barrier to the next section won't open, so you can't use this solo.
• If you want to practice your sparrow-hopping, there's a teleporter you can use. After being flung by the last hoop, turn right instead of continuing forward. This takes you all the way back to where you hacked the pillar.

Vex Barricade

• Convention: you enter from the south, the exit is to the north.
• All Vex must die to drop the barrier, but it's okay to leave Cabal alive.

Timewarp: Killing Time

• Jump down to the first set of Goblins and kill them, then down to the main area where the bulk of the Vex are. Hang back near where you came down, using the pointy rock for cover. Use rockets on the Quantum Hydras.
• You can snipe from the ledge as in Rings, but it may actually expose you to a larger volume of fire. The longer range makes your hand cannon less effective.
• When most of the enemies are dead, a second group spawns in. Kill them, collect power ammo, move onward.

Timewarp: Rings

• Snipe the four Psions from above. Drop down and jump across to the NE platform where the 4th Psion was standing. (There's a small outcropping on the east side about halfway across that you can bounce off of.)
• Knock the shields off of the Blood Guard Centurion so the Vex can start doing damage to it. Don't kill it, as we want the Vex to focus on that rather than us. Do the same for the Minotaur. If you play this right, the Vex will kill the Centurion for you and come away damaged.
• Kill the Hobgoblins and Goblins at the north end, checking in on the heavies occasionally to see if they've got their shields back.
• When most of the Vex are dead, a second group spawns in.
• Use rockets to take out the shielded Minotaurs, and your scout rifle for everything else. (If you started with a half-empty magazine, shoot no more than two rockets.)
• When all above-ground enemies are dead, jump back to the starting area with the trigger ring.
• If you fall off the platform, or you jump down out of habit when the Vex are gone, it's possible to get back to the top. Above the top of the ramp you descend to ring #9 there's a slanting fissure in the wall. Jump up to it, run north to the highest point, then jump straight up and push south. This will place you at the northern end of the eastern platform. (See this video.)
• When you jump through the trigger ring, you get +30 seconds, and nine additional rings appear. You have about 45 seconds to grab them all, with a "rings destabilizing" warning appearing when there are about 10 seconds left. You can jump through them or just bump into them.

Here's one approach that gets all rings, using a counter-clockwise spiral that doesn't require fancy skills (but you do have to be quick):

1. (trigger; jump from south to north)
2. Run north, then walk off onto the south edge of the ring. You want to move somewhat diagonally, headed northwest, so you don't slip off if you overshoot. Immediately jump back up.
3. Run to the SW ring, and single-jump onto it, so you're standing on the bottom part of it. Jump backward back off.
4. Jump all the way east, to the platform you were shooting from earlier, and jump through the SE ring. Try to land in front of it. If you land on top of it you might bounce off to your death.
5. Run north and through the ring at the end of the platform.
6. After falling to the platform below, jump through the ring at the bottom.
7. Run west, then jump south, up and through the upper NW ring.
8. Turn a bit left and jump through the ring in front of you.
9. Continue forward, down the ramp. Ignore the Phalanx, and jump onto the bottom part of the ring. (It's close to the edge of a ledge, so don't jump through it unless you want to start from the other side.) It's slightly faster to jump directly down to this from above, but you have little margin for error at the cliff edge.
10. Run north along the left side of the room. Use the launcher to move back up; it sends you through the last one. IMPORTANT: don't jump at the launcher dome, just run straight at it. The nearby Incendiors often give you a pop as you run past them that will knock you off the map if you are airborne.

Take a few seconds to gather up all available power ammo. You want to leave with a full set.

Descent to Battlefield

• Jump between "islands", dodging the enemies, jumping over melee units. You can avoid the first island by running farther to the left up top, across the gap (this is much more useful with Attrition than Momentum because you will get hit a couple of times). You want to run off the second island to land on a pillar, then jump off of that directly to the landing zone. (You can also do a second short jump to the pillar that sometimes has a Legionary or Goblin on it, and from there to the ground, but you'll get hit. As an alternative plan, jump from the left side of the upper area to the top area of the second island, which is unoccupied on TW:KT.)
• Get on your sparrow and drive down the right side, aiming directly toward the objective marker. There's a thin high ledge on the right that you can drive across. When you reach the edge, turn a little to the right to dodge the lip of the crater at the bottom. Stay right, driving toward the outside wall of the bunker on the right.

Drill Site Security

• Convention: you enter from the south, and the drill site is to the north.
• For all modifiers, the plan is to snipe the Honored Psions and Honored Colossus, then move around the east edge to the northern entrance and hit the Blood Guard Legionary with your super. For weaker supers (e.g. Voidwalker) you may need to shoot a couple of rockets through the windows as you head over. Jumping up while reloading is relatively safe, as the narrow windows limit the field of fire of the enemies inside. Try to land between windows, and slide out on the other side of the wall segment since they may be applying suppression fire to the place you just were.
• If you're having trouble figuring out which of the big red blobs is the mini-boss, fire a few energy rounds through the window to light up his shields.

Timewarp: Killing Time

• Get off your sparrow behind the jagged rock SE of the bunker, and shoot the Honored Psions.
• An Honored Colossus will drop on top of the first Honored Psion. Shoot it as well, crouching behind the rock when it fires.
• The second Blood Guard Legionary is down by the eastern launcher. Arcstriders with Raiden Flux can kill the first Legionary and reach the second with enough in the tank to blast the nearby Minotaurs and knock the mini-boss off the edge for a one-hit kill (see Esoterickk's Arcstrider video). For other classes, kill the first Blood Guard Legionary through the window with rockets and guns, then super the second one and the nearby mobs.
• It's not worth going out of your way to kill the bunched-up mobs south of the bunkers. You can net yourself a few seconds if you have a cluster rocket to spare.
• Remember to grab power ammo from the orange-bar enemies, especially the two that were on top of the bunker.

Timewarp: Rings

• Get off your sparrow at the eastern wall of the bunker. Jump up on the roof and kill the nearby Honored Psion, then move up just enough to where you can see the Honored Colossus. You should be able to shoot it without receiving any return fire. When it's down, snipe the far Honored Psion.
• Drop down, and kill the Blood Guard Legionary with rockets and your super. (Arcstrider with Raiden Flux will have enough juice left afterward to kill the Colossus if you didn't kill it earlier, or even knock most of the health off the mini-boss in the other bunker.)
• Jump on your sparrow and drive west to the other bunker, heading across the north side. Fire rockets at the other Blood Guard Legionary until dead. The bunker has some exploding barrels inside that can make this a bit easier if he's in the right position.
• After the second mini-boss dies, and you move south of the bunkers, all of the mobs near the trigger ring will disappear. Sparrow over to the south side of the ring, and jump through heading north.
• Remember to grab power ammo from the orange-bar enemies (the rooftop Psions, the Colossus, and the two mini-bosses) as you go. You want a full set for the boss and you may not get more.

Nine additional rings appear for about 45 seconds. This is a tougher set to get, but it's possible to get all 10 if you have good jumping skills. The pattern runs generally west to east:

1. (trigger)
2. As you run north, a ring will appear in front and above you.
3. Turn left, jump through.
4. Run across the top of the bunker; the ring is just outside the northern entrance.
5. Straight ahead and a bit to the right. Ideally you land on the bottom part of the ring, and launch off of that to the next one to the east.
6. Either land on the pillar and jump into the the ring, or ideally land inside the ring directly. You have to double-jump, as a single-jump will just chest-bump it (which is enough to trigger it, but it's slower than jumping off of it). Either way, don't linger, or the enemies north of you will kill you.
7. Head north to the platform where the Honored Colossus was standing, jump up onto the cylinder, then onto the bottom part of the ring. Turn SE and jump toward the next closest ring.
8. Ideally land inside the ring, then jump eastward toward the next ring.
9. Jump through the one above the bunker.
10. Run across the top of the bunker and jump through.

When complete, sparrow down to the eastern jump area and throw the switch.

Transit System

• Convention: you enter from the south, the launcher sends you north.
• Kill everything at the top. Sometimes there's an explosive barrel beyond the console on the right side, so if you throw a grenade toward that corner when you land you'll either get good results or great results.
• Momentum: you can just sprint/slide past and let Momentum heal you -- they Cabal are usually facing away from you when you land, so if you move quickly you won't take much damage.
• Drop down, hit the switch. You don't need to be on the raised area, as you can activate the switch from the back side if you jump up. Sometimes there's an explosive barrel next to the back of the switch that can help clear enemies.
• The transit system takes about 65 seconds to "reset", regardless of what you do next.
• Once the system has reset, run through the launcher. DO NOT double-jump through, as that can result in you fatally smacking into the top of the landing zone entrance. Jump before you land to break your fall.

Timewarp: Killing Time

• You're stuck waiting on the timer, so the goal is to kill as many enemies as possible before the transit system resets.
• The bottom area has four Goblins and a Minotaur.
• 5 seconds after hitting the switch, a bunch of Goblins and two Quantum Goblins start to spawn in the NW.
• When most of those are dead, a few Goblins and a Quantum Minotaur start to spawn in the NW.
• When most of those are dead, half a dozen Harpies will start to spawn outside to the north.
• When some of those are dead, more Goblins spawn in the middle.
• The best strategy seems to be to peek out around the brace in the SE corner. Kill the unshielded units quickly with a hand cannon. When the Quantum Minotaur comes round the bend, start working your way north. Kill the Harpies when they appear, moving fully north and staying in cover from the units behind you. Focus on killing the "cheap" units quickly for the time bonus they provide.
• A Warlock with Winter's Guile and Devour can clear the first couple rounds pretty quickly, and in style.

Timewarp: Rings

• The bottom area has two Honored Gladiators and a Legionary, with more jumping in a few seconds after the switch is hit. When most of them have been killed, additional enemies will drop in.
• The simplest way to deal with this section is to die. You will rez at the top, either directly above or back at the Security Site. Sit quietly and wait for the transit system to do its thing. Jump down at 95% and run through. (Not recommended, as that's 25 seconds where your abilities won't be regenerating.)
• The best approach is to run around the outside of the circle, letting Momentum heal any damage.

Chasm and Grinders

• Get on your sparrow after you land, and drive toward the left side. Stay away from the right-hand path, as it has more enemies, and the Psion snipers across the chasm hit hard. Aim past the shielded Incendior and gun it, pivoting right after the second wall section. You want to drive off just to the left of the broken wall chunk where the floor drops off in the corner -- don't run into the protruding edge piece or you'll stop dead -- and then aim at the right edge of the scarred section of wall on the far side of the canyon.
• TW:KT: There's a fairly heavy enemy presence at the first landing, with a bunch of Harpies added to the Incendiors, so you may want to take a little time to clear them out first. With an arc energy weapon you can clear bunched-up Harpies quickly, making this roughly time-neutral.
• Dodge just before you land on the platform to mitigate damage. If you're going to miss the platform entirely, jump off on the appropriate side.
• Some people like to aim well to the left, jump off the sparrow, and sail in farther along.
• Drive your sparrow down the left side of the corridor. This gives you a little cover from the Incendiors and heavy on the right. If you get hit hard enough to ignite the sparrow, jump off before the first grinder channel and summon a new one.

Timewarp: Killing Time

• Drive straight to the boss.
• Sometimes a pair of Hobgoblins will hit you hard enough to kill you. In the last stretch before the boss, look for a Hobgoblin charging its weapon above and to the right. Drive on the left side of the path, and when the Hobgoblin is about to fire, dodge your sparrow to the right.

Timewarp: Rings

• Get off your sparrow just before the first grinder channel, and jump up to the ledge on the right. The enemies you just passed won't pursue, and you have a pretty good angle on the units below.
• There's a place on the upper path where enemies come out of a gap in the rocks. Good place for a pulse or vortex grenade.
• Snipe every enemy unit you can see on the upper and middle levels. When the grinding wheel passes, pull back from the edge a bit. Take note of where the Honored Psions drop if you need power ammo.
• Jump down to the path with the trigger ring, wait for the grinder to pass if necessary, and jump through.

Once again, nine rings appear. They're fairly spread out, and there are still numerous enemies, so it doesn't make sense to try for the full set. One simple path that collects 7 out of 10 focuses on the ones that are along the top:

1. (trigger)
2. Run straight ahead on the same level where the trigger ring appeared.
3. Turn right and jump uphill. Do the jump in two parts, one to the grinder channel, one to the ledge. Check for incoming grinders before jumping.
4. Run along the narrow ridge toward the boss entrance. Jump onto the one that's directly ahead. Don't jump through or you might fall into the gap where the dogs are. (Chest-bumping the front of the ring works too).
5. To your left is a ring at the same level but over the gap. Wait for the upper grinder to pass, then jump onto the ring. You want to come at it at a shallow angle -- aim for the vertical part on the far side so you'll stop if you overshoot. Turn right and drop straight down onto the path.
6. Run down the path, then up and to the right to the upper ring. The ledge has a couple of dogs that you can ignore. Jump through.
7. Turn slightly left. Check the upper grinder position, then jump through the ring and fall down to the boss entrance area, breaking your fall at the bottom.
8. (ignore)
9. (ignore)
10. (ignore)

Get on your sparrow and drive to the boss.

Boss Fight: Protheon, Modular Mind

• Weapons used:
  • Torch Hammer (right arm). Fires ballistic projectiles that do AoE void damage, typically in bursts of three. Only used in the first area. (Minotaurs use a weapon with the same name.)
  • Slap Rifle (right arm). Arc machine gun, used in the second and third areas. (Goblins use a weapon with the same name.)
  • Slap Grenade launcher (left arm). Only used in the third area.
  • Temporal Shockwave (stomp attack).

The fight with Protheon has several phases, gated by health.

1. Kill the three Harpies to summon the boss. Protheon moves around the center part of the north ledge, firing his Torch Hammer.
2. At 95% health, four Harpies spawn near him.
3. At 90% health, Protheon teleports to the SW or SE corner. Shortly thereafter, five Harpies spawn near him. Protheon will tend to stay in the corner.
4. At 80% health, Protheon teleports to the center of the south platform. Shortly thereafter, five Harpies and one Quantum Harpy spawn in the center. Protheon will move around the southern platform.
5. At 75% health, Protheon becomes invulnerable then despawns. The floor dissolves, dropping everyone into the next room. When Protheon reappears, he will have a Slap Rifle in his right arm, and a ground-pound weapon in his left.
6. At 65% health, three Hobgoblins and nine Goblins appear. The Hobgoblins don't move (but do throw Slap Grenades).
7. At 60% health, three Hobgoblins, eight Goblins, and one Quantum Goblin appear.
8. At 50% health, Protheon becomes invulnerable then despawns. The floor dissolves, dropping everyone into the next room.
9. Protheon appears when the five Goblins are killed, or after 30 seconds have passed since he despawned. He now carries a Slap Grenade launcher in his left arm. He will stand in the west and shift around a little.
10. At 40% health, Protheon will move counter-clockwise to the southeast. Two Goblins appear in the west, and four Goblins plus two shielded Harpies appear in the east. He moves very little in this phase.
11. At 30% health, Protheon will move northward. Several Goblins, two shielded Harpies, and a Quantum Goblin appear (in the east and north for TW:R, in the west and south for TW:KT).
12. At 20% health, Protheon's head pops off, moving the crit zone to his torso. Several Fanatics and an orange-bar Finalizer spawn in, appearing on all sides. Protheon will march onto the island and try to stomp you.
13. [10% health?] More Fanatics appear.

First Room

• Convention: you enter from the south, boss appears in the north.
• Drive your sparrow into the boss chamber. Jump off as you cross the edge, and drop down in the center of the south side.
• Kill the Harpies, using the pillar for cover, to call Protheon.
• One of the Harpies drops power ammo. If you're full up, you can "preserve" the drop by shooting it to move it out of the area where the boss arrives (e.g. toward the back wall; see Esoterickk's videos for an example).
• The key to a successful phase 1 is to make it as short as possible. You need to deal a lot of damage to Protheon quickly, or you'll end up spending a lot of time being chased around by shielded Harpies. (An energy hand cannon or SMG, configured for arc damage, can knock the Harpies out quickly, but it's better not to deal with it at all. For Attrition you will likely need to kill a few Harpies to heal, but the goal is to avoid this.)
• Prism: kill two Harpies and damage the 3rd. Wait for the rotation to change to the element matching your class, then kill the last one. After he teleports and summons adds, if you hit Protheon with an arc rocket while he's surrounded by Harpies, the elemental burst from the Harpy shields can do substantial damage.
• You can jump up on one of the pillars near the center to get a better angle if you have a ranged super, or stand to the side of the northern area if you have a melee super.
• Voidwalker: throw a vortex grenade as he's finishing walking up, then super, then fire a rocket.
• Arcstrider: throw a grenade, super, hit his feet. You will have to chase him around as he teleports.
• Striker: throw both grenades, then super his feet. Stand between Protheon and the wall so you don't get stomped into the void.
• Ideally you want to enter the next phase with 4 rockets in the magazine.
• Don't try to hit the boss with two rockets in his initial position unless you're using the Rally Barricade. He will likely go invulnerable and teleport right before the rocket hits.
• The boss will move to the NW or NE corner, shoot a few times, and summon a large wave of Harpies (including one Quantum Harpy). From there he teleports south, then teleports to the middle, then starts stomping after you. Don't use grenades or a power weapon unless you're sure he's not about to teleport away.
• You can increase the effectiveness of Pulse and Vortex grenades by "baiting a stomp". Jump-run toward Protheon (off-angle, not straight on), and throw a grenade at his feet when you get close. Continue running past him. If you do this correctly, he will initiate the stomp when you get close, but won't finish it until you're past. The stomp ensures that he doesn't walk out of the grenade pulses.
• At 75% health, the next major phase starts. You don't have to wait for the floor to dissolve. Just drop through the gap when the enemies disappear and you no longer see fog below.

Second Room

• Looking down from phase 1, the field is a circular arena with a wall to the north. You'll fall into the northern half. There are half a dozen round pillars with narrow platforms behind them around the arena, some tall, some short. If you crouch behind a short pillar and scoot back a bit you can hit the boss in the head without being hit (much). As an added bonus, you will be unaffected by floor lava phases. (You can also stand behind a tall pillar; if you stand as far back as possible, you can just barely head-shot the boss after he walks toward you. Not a good position for firing rockets though.)
• Head to a "short" pillar, such as those on either side of the western staircase. (Easiest one to find: face the northern wall as you plummet, head to the one nearest its left side.)
• The boss stays invulnerable for a couple of seconds even after he starts moving, so don't open up with rockets right away.
• Stay crouched to shoot him in the top of the head with kinetic/energy. For rockets, stand up, shoot him in the torso, and squat to reload. The boss will occasionally side-step, so try to shoot right after he moves. He may be invulnerable during the ground-pound animation. At the very least, rockets seem to fly through him. If you see his left arm charging up, don't fire, and wait a second after he stands back up.
• If you don't end this stage quickly, you'll have to deal with the Goblins and Hobgoblins. (Titan: they don't try to flank you, so Rally Barricade will block the shots from the Goblins.) If you throw grenades and open up with rockets when the first spawn-in starts, the trash mobs won't be able to reach you before the end of the phase. You will need about 4 hits.
• Momentum: you can reasonably safely run around the outside of the arena. Try to end your run by jumping behind a pillar, and stop your run early if the floor starts glowing. Do not jump up high, or fire from massed Goblins will shred you.
• Protheon will aim directly at you, rather than where you're heading, so it's possible to circle-strafe him.
• At 50% health, the next major phase starts. Again, not necessary to wait for the floor to dissolve. Run off the outside edge and steer your way back in.

Third Room

• Convention: the circular area is in the southern part, the "runway" points north.
• There are five sleepy goblins northwest of center. Kill them to call the boss. Striker Titan: shoulder-charge these to restore grenade energy.
• After arriving the boss will move a bit, then machine-gun you with his Slap Rifle while running around the outside.
• If he raises his left arm up high, he's about to fire a blinding AoE burst. Break cover to dodge. (There's a faint sound effect associated with this attack that you can listen for, but it's easy to miss if you're shooting.) If you jump at the right time he'll fire harmlessly over your head.
• Try to peek over low blocks. There's some head-height blocks at the north end that you can stand behind. These block Protheon's shots while still allowing you to shoot him in the head. For some positions it works best to crouch and move back until you can just barely see his head. This position won't fully protect you from the AoE burst though. The machine gun is in his right hand, so if you peek out the right side of a cover element you should be able to hit him without taking fire. (TW:KT: you spend long stretches of this phase without the ability to heal, so finding a safe firing position is essential.)
• At 40% health, Protheon moves to a new position. Two Goblins appear in the west, and four Goblins plus two shielded Harpies appear in the east. Kill these while taking cover from the boss. Protheon will tend to stand off to the east. He doesn't move a whole lot, making this a pretty good time for a grenade.
• At 30% health, Protheon moves to a new position. Several Goblins, two shielded Harpies, and a Quantum Goblin appear (in the east and north for TW:R, in the west and south for TW:KT). Move to new cover if necessary when you hear the spawn start. Kill these while taking cover from the boss. The Quantum Goblin drops power ammo. Protheon tends to move around more in this phase.
• When Protheon's head pops off (health bar between the 'E' and 'O'), it's time to finish the fight, quickly. The boss aggressively pursues you, the Fanatics leave radiolarian pools on what little ground there is, and Protheon's stomp does a great deal of damage. Save your super and any remaining rockets to finish him quickly. Focus on the boss rather than trying to clear the Fanatics. Unless your super provides healing, make sure you're at full health before popping it (e.g. take a long run-up for Momentum, save a healing orb for Attrition).
• If you decide to clear the Fanatics, running past them or jumping over them can cause them to self destruct. With Momentum you should be okay.
• Plan on taking 60-90 seconds to finish this last phase. If you're getting close to that you may need to risk ignoring the adds to focus on boss damage.
• If you die in the last phase, you will spawn in on a small island to the west. Titans can hole up here and shoot from the cover of their barricade, but other classes should clear out quickly because of the lack of cover.

Recommended Videos

For Attrition + TW:KT, look for videos from weeks 6, 14, and 21.
For Momentum + TW:R, look for videos from weeks 10, 18.5, and 25.
For Prism + TW:R, look for videos from week 2.

• The HM05 - Solo Nightfall (Voidwalker Warlock, Attrition/TW:KT). Helpful commentary; demonstrates Devour + Riskrunner throughout.
• Esoterickk - Solo Prestige Nightfall (Voidwalker Warlock, Momentum/TW:R).
• Esoterickk - Solo Prestige Nightfall (Arcstrider Hunter, Momentum/TW:R).
• Flash Gordon - Solo Prestige Nightfall (Arcstrider Hunter, Momentum/TW:R). Gets 10/10/7 rings without fancy flying.
• Modern Tryhard - Solo Prestige Nightfall (Striker Titan, Momentum/TW:R). Alternate path through first and last sets of rings; the first is overlapped with fighting the Vex.
• Turner Tfue - Solo Prestige Nightfall (Striker Titan, Momentum/TW:R). Alternate path through rings; all 10 of first set collected.
• Chablo 91 - Solo Nightfall (Striker Titan, Momentum/TW:R). Speedrun -- no rings collected. With commentary.

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