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How to complete Enigma Protocol in Destiny 2

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Mastering Enigma Protocol in Destiny 2 can be tough but can also get you lots of Season of Dawn weapons

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol Vex attack during Harpy objective
(Image credit: Bungie)
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In the Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol activity, you’ll be battling the Vex and stealing their Golden Age data in the VexNet to get some sweet weapons. It's a linear mission that tasks you with navigating the unusual VexNet architecture and completing various objectives to wreck the Vex’s schemes in. But, you’ve got to do all of this against the clock, making it a tough Destiny 2 mission when you’re starting out. However, it's also an excellent source of reprised Season of Dawn weapons which can't be crafted, so here's everything you need to know about how Enigma Protocol works in Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol explained

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol pink encryption pod objective

(Image credit: Bungie)

Enigma Protocol is a three-player activity taking place within the Nessus VexNet. You’ve got to disrupt the Vex’s search for Golden Age data before time runs out to get some nice rewards. If you’re yet to unlock it, you need to complete the Destiny 2 Encoded Log quest from Failsafe in the HELM, then you can play it at any time via the activity node on the HELM map. There is also another version called “Enigma Protocol: Corrupted Data” which features Taken enemies instead.

The mission itself consists of tricky platforming and Sparrow driving sections that eventually lead to a portal to an objective area. Complete the objective then leg it to the next portal and so on until you find a loot chest. These objectives include things like charging a Radiolite Circuit in charging pools, lobbing bombs at shielded Harpies, and killing bosses. Enigma Protocol can be completed entirely solo but having allies to help thin the Vex’s numbers will make it much easier, especially with the timer.

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol exit portal and reset button

(Image credit: Bungie)

Once you reach the first loot chest, you have a choice to either keep going to get to the end of the activity and a second loot chest or reset it to start over and farm the first chest. If you want to keep going, jump through the portal and carry on as normal to eventually face a massive Vex boss. Once you’ve defeated this boss and race through the final portal, you can loot a second chest and end the mission. Alternatively, if all players activate the Force Reboot Network Instance button to the left of the portal, the activity will restart.

How to extend the timer in Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol yellow security node

(Image credit: Bungie)

As soon as you begin your Enigma Protocol run, you'll have one minute on the Security Reboot clock, which you can see just below your health bar. If the timer runs out at any point, your run restarts, but note that the Security Reboot countdown pauses when you're collecting loot, and there are ways to extend your time:

  • Weakening security by destroying yellow nodes adds 30 seconds to the Security Reboot timer.
  • Destroying an Archival Timekeeper enemy adds 30 seconds to the Security Reboot timer. A message will appear telling you that one has spawned in, so make sure you find and kill it quickly!

There's also the Intruder Trace Running timer towards the top-left of your screen, though this is effectively a stopwatch that tracks your completion time. It never pauses, so keep an eye on it if you're trying to set a quick time.

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol rewards

Destiny 2 Enigma Protocol loot chest

(Image credit: Bungie)

Enigma Protocol is a very rewarding activity considering that it's not that hard to complete with a full fireteam, and it's also quite quick. As mentioned, there are two chests you can loot, each offering roughly the same rewards but the second is slightly better. Here's what I've got from the chests so far:

  • Chest 1 (farmable): Echoes Engrams, reprised Season of Dawn weapons (like Destiny 2 Perfect Paradox), Enhancement Cores, and Enhancement Prisms.
  • Chest 2 (must beat final boss, not farmable): Echoes Engrams, reprised Season of Dawn weapons, Enhancement Prisms, and Ascendant Alloy.

There's also an emblem to get but it's a rare drop. You should also investigate the conflux towers in loot areas as you might be able to extract a query process from them. The Extracted Query Data you get in return can't be used for anything, but they will cause search queries to appear under your radar, giving you clues as to what the Vex might be after. Each strange query you extract will also contribute to the Packet Retrieval Triumph.

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Will Sawyer
Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

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