During a Nightfall mission, if your entire Fireteam wipes, you are returned to orbit instantly. You only get one shot at these missions, so play smart!
By completing the Weekly Nightfall Strike, you’ll receive an XP and Rep bonus until the weekly reset and blue flames for the duration of the bonus!
We suggest you tackle the Weekly Nightfall Strike first so you can get the extra XP/rep in the Heroic. In the Heroic, enemies will appear in greater numbers and are more aggressive, but the Nightfall requires extreme caution and awareness.
The Nightfall is especially dangerous when doing it solo, but this guide will give you tips and strategies to help you accomplish it successfully in one attempt!
This week’s Nightfall, unlike the previous, does not have any burn modifier. Since there’s no Arc/Void/Solar Burn, it’s going to take you a little longer to bring enemies shields down.
The Angry skull is also particularly apparent with the Cabal, so you’re basically going to have to aim for the foot or right hand for 65% of the enemies.
An Ice Breaker, or Solar sniper rifle, will be extremely useful with this Nightfall. You’ll also want to have a Void weapon for the Psions.
The first thing you’re going to do is fight your way into the Interceptor garage, step up to the computer, and deploy your Ghost to access the network. Now either jump into an Interceptor, or your Sparrow, and make your way into Iron Line.
Every type of Cabal enemy participates in this skirmish. This area is not a Darkness Zone, which means you’re not really at any risk here if you die.
Watch out for the Colossus’ rocket barrage and the Psion’s psionic blast wave. A Solar Shield protects the Centurion, and a Void shield protects the Psion’s, so try and use a Solar based weapon and a Void based weapon respectively, so that you can take their shields down quickly.
Use the cover around the ramps to take care of the nearby foes, or try to run past them all to save time.
After you’ve managed to get past the Iron Line, you’re going to make your way to the Trenchworks area. You’re likely to spend much more time here than you did in the Iron Line.
Trenchworks is the first Darkness Zone. You’re going to be immediately face to face with Psions and a Colossus once you open the door. Remember that their Void/Solar shields will be much more difficult to remove if you’re not using a Void/Solar weapon.
As with each Weekly Nightfall, patience is going to be necessary. You’ll want to hang back and try to snipe as much as possible (preferably with an Ice Breaker).
One of Ta’aurc’s guards is just ahead, but several of his minions stand in the way, so hang back near the corridor and take these enemies out from range. If you’re far away from them they won’t even shoot at you!
There’s 3 Interceptors that you have the option of picking up, but it’s probably going to be best to just use a Sniper (Ice Breaker) to take out most of your enemies.
After you’ve cleared the area completely, focus your attention on Val Bou’urc, a Major Phalanx, who hides out at the top of the tower. Take him down with a barrage of cannon fire from the Interceptors, or with your sniper rifle.
After he’s dead, a ship will drop down firing rockets at you and sending out more Cabal. Just stay in the Tower for now; you’ll be mostly shielded from the rockets there. For a minute or so you can attack the Cabal from the Tower, but eventually they’ll advance towards you.
Gain some distance by hopping down and going on the opposite side of where the Cabal landed. Again, take down these enemies from a distance, and try to eliminate them all before killing Val Zu’uarc and Val Ma’aurg (Ta’aurc’s guards). The two guards will likely be in the Tower.
With the three guards dispatched, look down the hill, where more Cabal have been dropped off in the clearing below. Immediately after you’ve killed the last 2 Guards, the Goliath Tank will appear. This huge armored vehicle has weak spots on its engines so be sure to aim for those.
The Tank fires a fast-moving, arching shot, with 5-10 second delay between volleys. This turret moves independently from the tank. Listen for the cannon to spin up, giving you time to move clear of the blast. It will almost always 1-shot you, so don’t underestimate it or become overzealous and risk starting all over.
If you have an Ice Breaker, just keep your distance and aim for these weak spots. If you don’t, you’re still going to want to use a sniper at a distance, but ensure you’ve brought some Special Ammo Synthesis. When you blow up one of its engines you’ll do a ton of bonus damage!
Alternatively, if there’s an Interceptor available, you can use it but that’s much more risky. You’re still going to want to focus fire at the tank’s engines, and keep as much distance as possible.
The best strategy with the Interceptor is to hide behind the big rock formation, and pop out on either side to damage the Goliath Tank. When it starts to fire up, right before it lets off its blast, just hide behind the rock again and the Goliath Tank won’t even shoot it because it doesn’t ‘see’ you anymore.
After defeating the Goliath Tank, make your way to the Valley of the Kings. If you need ammo you can kill these Cabal, but this isn’t a Darkness Zone and you can easily choose to move past all of these enemies to save some time.
Once you make your way into the Cerberus Vae III (Darkness Zone), inside the first room will be Legionaries, Phalanxes, Psions, and a Centurion. All of these can be avoided too, it just depends on how safely you want to play it. If nothing else, the Centurion is going to give you the most trouble because of its tricky maneuvers and rockets.
After you’ve gotten past these initial enemies, you’re going to enter the last room of the Strike with the final boss – Valus Ta’aurc. This boss will alternate sides of the room each time his health is reduced by 25%.
This encounter will be really tough solo, so to make it easier, you’ll want to position yourself in areas where the majority of his rockets or slug thrower bullets won’t hit you. Depending on where the boss is standing, you’ll want to hide behind either side of the crates that are under the walkway. Whatever you do, don’t get near him, because he’ll slam the ground and kill you.
When you get Valus Ta’aurc down to 75% health he’ll move to the opposite side, and you’ll want to move as well. One of the best areas to hide and shoot from is behind a create that’ll be to his left. He won’t be able to seriously damage you from this spot, and you can safely damage him with your sniper rifle.
After he reaches 50% health he’ll make his way back to the other side, and at that point you can make your way back to the first tactical (cheese) position. If you don’t have an Ice Breaker then you’ll definitely be using Special Ammo Synthesis at this point, so make sure you have enough of them before you start this Nightfall.
Once at 25% he’s going to roam around more freely, which will unfortunately mean you’ll need to peak your head out a little more and also deal with the most immediate adds. This is going to be the most difficult stage of the encounter, because there’s a lot of variables with his erratic movement.
Fortunately, if you head back to the original hiding spot that was used in the beginning, he’ll usually be in an area where you can damage him. If not, you’ll be in a safe area until he eventually does reveal himself more.
Once you figure out where to stand to avoid getting hit, it’s a simple matter of patience and caution, and then you’ll hopefully be rewarded with phat lootz!
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