Operation: Seraph’s Shield is an Exotic mission that was introducedduring Season of the Seraph, the final season beforeDestiny 2’sLightfall expansion was released. It can now be played only on select weeks thanks to the Exotic mission rotator, which can be found in the game’s Legends tab.
The mission is excellent for those who missed out on any of the Seraph weapons, as well as the reprised Ikelos weapons for that season, though it is quite long to run and features several Deep Stone Crypt raid-inspired puzzles. Here’show to complete Operation: Seraph Shield.
Entering The Launch Facility
As you load in, the first objective is to get across the field of snow, guarded by perimeter towers. Move from cover to cover, as being in the line of sight of these towers grants you a debuff of roughly 15 seconds until cover is reached. If that ticks down to zero, players will die immediately. The entrance is directly forward from where you spawn, guarded by an ogre.
Boarding The Station
Walking further in, you will notice some of the entry doorways sealed off with lasers. Jump, crouch, or slide beneath them. At the first junction, take the door on the left, and keep following that path until you reach a roomwith Fallen enemiesand space pods.
One of the Fallen enemies here will drop the Scanner Protocol. This is a yellow buff that allows you to see which terminals to interact with to open the way forward. Interact with it, and three terminals will light up one at a time in yellow in the room: the front left of the pods, the back of the room, facing the back wall, and one on the front right of the pods. Once all terminals are activated, take the pod to Seraph Station.
At the closed door on your left, bank the Scanner Protocol to open the path ahead.
Navigating Seraph Station
Another room of Fallen enemies will open up. Get rid of them, and pick up the Scanner Protocol again from one of the enemies. You will need to activate three terminals again to proceed through the door on the right.
Another banking station for the Protocol lies ahead. Kill the Servitor tampering with it, and then bank the Scanner Protocol to open the doorway.
This is a larger room full of more Fallen. Get rid of the enemies, and one of them will drop the Scanner Protocol again. As usual, you will need to activate three terminals.
This next room has several high-health turrets. Jump up the platforms, taking cover where you can, until you reach the top. The turrets are quite tanky, so it’s best to leave them be and just proceed forward.
You will enter another room infested with Fallen, and a few of those high health turrets. Take care of the enemies and the turrets first—here, it’s best to actually destroy the turrets so you can focus on the puzzle ahead, which involves crossing a trapped room by walking on the correct plates.
An enemy will have dropped the Scanner Protocol again. There are two windows looking into the room you need to cross. The upper one shows which terminals you need to activate, and the lower one shows which path you need to take, and which plates are safe to step on. Note that once you step into this room, your Scanner Protocol will expire, and you will need to either have a Fireteam member guide you, or memorize the path ahead. The path will always be the same no matter the run, but the terminals will change. Here’s what the path looks like every single run:
The Operator Protocol Puzzle
Once through, a new Protocol will be introduced, dropped from an enemy in the next room: the Operator Protocol. A player with this buff can shoot glowing, red keypads to open doors or activate things. The first keypad is straightforward and just right ahead, so just shoot it to open the way.
A bunch of Hive will await you in the next area, so get rid of them and in a red room to the right where Cursed Thralls spawned in, there should be a glowing red keypad you’re able to shoot. This opens the door further ahead, into a room with Shriekers and Hive knights. Kill the enemies that spawn in, and at the back right of the room, crawl into an open vent. You won’t be able to access the room at the end, but you will have a line of sight to shoot another keypad.
Head back to the first room where the Cursed Thrall spawned. Behind a pillar next to the doorway you first entered with the Operator Protocol, there’s another vent to go through. Kill the enemies on the other side, and through a slit in the window, you should be able to shoot another keypad that’s in a blocked-off area. This will open the final door to the next zone (located in the Shrieker room, on the left).
In this next room, just get rid of the turrets and the enemies within, including the Servitor that spawns in. Pick up the control room key from the big Fallen Captain as well. Bank your Protocol to open the doorway and start the first boss encounter.
First Boss Encounter: Haroktha & The Three Brigs
A large Hive Knight awaits you as your first boss as soon as you shoot up the barrels of explosives in the middle of the room. However, he will run away after enough damage is dealt to him, and House Salvation will take over instead. You will need to kill three Brigs that spawn in, along with a ton of smaller Fallen enemies. Ad-clear weapons are perfect for this encounter, as well as something that hits heavy against the Brigs once their front panels are off. This isn’t a mechanically demanding encounter by any means, but unsuspecting players might get overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies if they aren’t careful.
Get Captured
A door at the back of the boss arena will open once the encounter is cleared. Walk in, and surrender your weapons to House Salvation. You will get teleported inside a Fallen ketch. Once you receive your weapon transmat and escape your cell, simply proceed forward and get rid of any enemies in sight. Make sure to activate the two ship access terminals in the hallway where Fallen enemies spawn to free the robots. There are a few tanky turrets to deal with as well before you emerge into space, and into the mission’s jumping puzzle section.
Jumping Puzzle
Jump down from the Ketch onto the station’s machinery. Watch for any moving obstacles, Fallen mines, as well as Hive Knights and sniper Shanks.
Eventually, a Fallen with the Operator Protocol will appear. Kill him to grab the buff, and activate the three keypads to spawn the platforms that let you jump ahead. Two of the keypads are on the platforms the Fallen enemy with the Protocol was spawned, and one is ahead, towards where Hive Knights will have spawned and are likely shooting at you.
Climb up the rest of the way. More enemies and two Ogres await you at the top, so deal with them first before banking your Protocol at the very back by a doorway. Now it’s time to deal with Haroktha for good.
This boss fight should go down pretty fast. The room is much smaller, and there will be fewer enemies to distract the player. Burst him down as soon as he spawns in with rocket launchers or grenade launchers, and proceed ahead.
The Way To The Warsat Command Nexus
Another Operator Protocol can be picked up in the next room once the enemies are killed. The middle separator wall is where the two keypads to activate can be found. This opens both doors on the sides, where players can pick up a Scanner Protocol, and activate a terminal on both sides. Watch out, since both rooms have a high-health turret. Exploding shanks will also spawn behind you, so keep an eye out for any flankers before the door forward is open.
The next room has another Operator Protocol, which lets players shoot the keypad on a pillar hanging from the wall at the back of the room. This opens the doorway on the left, inside which a player with a Scanner Protocol will have to activate a terminal to open the teleporter ahead.
Another Servitor blocks the path ahead. Get rid of him, bank whatever Protocol you still have, and proceed to the next room, where the third and final Protocol can be acquired: the Suppressor Protocol.
With this buff, you need to stand beneath glowing white orbs and shoot at a target with a white shield. There are three spots in the room that players will need to stand on, one at a time. After that, a door on the left will open with a glowing, red shield drone inside. Shoot it to get rid of the white shield on the Servitor, and kill him. To open the final door, just bank the Suppressor Protocol at the augment terminal next to the doorway and proceed to face Praksis, the final boss.
Final Boss: Praksis, The Defiled
Praksis is a large Scorn that many might rememberfrom the Beyond Light expansion. He can be damaged right out of the gates, which will remove one-third of his health. Damage Supers, rockets, and grenade launchers will do a lot of heavy lifting here.The new Prismatic subclassis also highly recommended.
To get rid of his immunity shield, players will need to first find a Fallen with the Suppressor Protocol. It will typically spawn on the upper walkway of the arena. Three white orbs will then spawn in, one on the left, middle, and right sides of the arena. Stand under each of them and shoot Praksis once to Suppress him.
Suppressing him opens up three doors around the arena: one on the far left, one directly in the middle under the platform on which Praksis first spawns, and one on the far right, revealing three shield drones. Destroying them will destroy Praksis' shield and make him vulnerable to damage again. Repeat it again for the final chunk of his health.
With Praksis dead, head to the left of the arena where a new area will have opened up. The loot from the mission does not spawn until players have uploaded the virus, so make sure to do that before leaving the activity. Note that Seraph Shield does not have checkpoints, so players looking to farm the mission will need to speedrun it from the beginning.
