How to complete the Destiny 2 NES003 quest

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Collecting and identifying Specimen ID: NES003 in Destiny 2 isn't particularly straightforward

Destiny 2 Specimen NES003 Wyvern shield-wing in tank
(Image credit: Bungie)

The Destiny 2 NES003 quest to find and study another Vex specimen for Failsafe is finally in the game, though it's not especially clear how you start it. You've got to find the specimen while playing Breach Executable first, then you can go about killing specific Vex enemies across Destiny 2 to gradually uncover what the specimen in. Below, I've explained everything you need to know about the Specimen ID: NES003 quest.

How to start the Destiny 2 Specimen ID NES003 quest

Destiny 2 Specimen NES003 proximity sensor alert failsafe research bay

(Image credit: Bungie)

The Destiny 2 NES003 specimen quest isn't particularly clear and can take a while to complete if you don't know where to look for certain Vex units – annoyingly, there's also no retroactive progress for these steps either. Here are all the quest steps and some tips to help you both start and quickly progress through it to get the final upgrade for Echoes: Act I.

  1. Visit Failsafe at the HELM and collect the Proximity Sensor Alert in the Research Bays menu.
  2. Play Breach Executable and collect the specimen. The specimen doesn't have a fixed location, so you and your fireteam will need to explore and watch your Proximity Sensors. You're searching for what looks like part of a dish.

Destiny 2 Specimen NES003 in Breach Executable activitiy

(Image credit: Bungie)
  1. Go back to Failsafe at the HELM to collect the Specimen ID: NES003 quest.
  2. Kill 100 Goblins or Fanatics. Goblins are very easy to find on Nessus, Europa, and Neptune. I recommend completing Lost Sectors (The Orrery on Nessus, Perdition and Bunker E15 on Europa, and Thrilladrome on Neptune) and relevant Destiny 2 Heroic Public Events.
  3. Kill 50 Hobgoblins or Harpies. Again, Perdition, Bunker E15, and Thrilladrome are all good Lost Sectors to do that have a good number of Hobgoblins and Harpies within.
  4. Kill 1 Hydra, 1 Wyvern, 1 Minotaur, and 1 Cyclops. At least one of each type of these Vex enemies can be found in the Bunker E15 Lost Sector, so head through there to get this step done quickly.
  5. Return to Failsafe at the HELM to reveal Specimen NES003.
  6. Place the specimen in the display tank to complete the quest.

With Failsafe's analysis complete, Specimen ID: NES003 turns out to be an Assimilated Wyvern Shield-Wing and unlocks the Breach Executable Iridescent Radiolite Extractor, which guarantees that you find an Iridescent Radiolite sample in the reward chest at the end of Breach Executable (two if you complete the activity on Expert difficulty).

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Now that that you've completed the NES003 quest, you can also get your XP rewards from the Research and Development III seasonal challenge too, but you've got to wait until Echoes: Act 2 starts on July 16 to start looking for other specimens.

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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.