The first week of Rite of the Nine in Destiny 2 opens with Spire of the Watcher as the dungeon of choice. Those looking for a real challenge—and who wish to earn the new Eternal title—should jump directly into the dungeon’s hardest and newest difficulty mode: Ultimatum. This mode introduces a few modifiers and unique changes to each encounter that will force players to not only play their best but also come up with new strategies.
This guide will only go through the quirks of Ultimatum difficulty, and is not an explanation of the basic mechanics of the dungeon.
Ultimatum is a tier 4 difficulty activity (4 skull symbols), and your power is matched to it regardless of your light level. Here’s a breakdown of key modifiers.
- Ultimatum Mode: Fewer deaths grant higher-tier rewards, including Adept weapons.
- Notswap: Swapping Exotic armor pieces and ammo types in Kinetic or Energy weapon slots will drain ability energy.
- Scorched Earth: Enemies will throw more grenades.
- Randomized Banes: Enemies with random banes will spawn throughout encounters.
- Galvanized: Enemies spawn with more health and are harder to stun.
- Shocker: Goblins spawn damaging Arc pools at their death.
- Shielded Foes: Arc and Void shields are found throughout all encounters.
The most important modifier to consider is Notswap, which means making loadout switches at any point within an encounter is highly discouraged, as players will lose out on all ability energy, including Supers.
The second most important aspect is the Ultimatum Mode main modifier: no deaths in an encounter means the fireteam gets the best rewards. With this in mind, having at least one player with Healing Grenades and a Support Frame auto rifle like No Hesitation or Adamantite in every encounter is handy.
Reestablishing Power: Entry Encounter
Ultimatum difficulty changes:
- The entry encounter to the Spire adds a Hydra miniboss once all nodes have been completed.
Recommended loadouts:
- Ad-clear, but save Super abilities and heavy ammo for the Hydra miniboss that spawns at the end.
Have at least one player with a long-range weapon (such as a sniper rifle) deal with the Cyclops that spawn on the upper edges of the arena, as they can be particularly deadly to players trying to complete the encounter mechanic, even with proper Void resistance mods.
Ascending The Spire Encounter
Ultimatum difficulty changes:
- The Ascent encounter is on a timer, which resets every time one floor of nodes is completed.
- Yellow bar Harpies and a Hydra miniboss spawn at the end of each floor.
- Small flying Vex units spawning from red boxes will also attempt to detain players.
- A final boss spawns on the last floor.
Recommended loadouts:
- Ad-clear, but save Super abilities and heavy ammo for the final boss at the third level.
- Long-range damage weapons are recommended for the Hydra minibosses.
Have two players complete the nodes, and let the third one handle the Hydras that spawn in the air, as well as the detaining Vex units.
Defeating Akelous In Ultimatum Difficulty
Ultimatum difficulty changes:
- The four nodes must be completed in a set order, depicted by a set of shapes (boot sequence) that appear in the middle of the arena when the encounter starts (read from top to bottom).
- Enrage is enabled; Akelous must be defeated in three damage phases.
Recommended loadouts:
- Well of Radiance for Warlocks (Speaker’s Sights) or Nova Bomb if on DPS (Spirit of Apotheosis/Necrotic & Spirit of Star-Eater on Prismatic)
- Thundercrash for Titans (Cuirass on Arc or Spirit of HOIL & Synthoceps on Prismatic)
- Golden Gun for Hunters (Celestial Nighthawk on Prismatic)
- Use a trace rifle to break Akelous’ eyes fast, and
The Queenbreaker for main boss damage. Check that Particle Deconstruction is selected in the artifact.
The Harpies floating around the arena are particularly deadly in Ultimatum difficulty. Make sure at least one player has a long-range weapon capable of clearing them.
Descending The Spire Encounter
Ultimatum difficulty changes:
- Only one node is shootable at a time, so you need to look carefully for the next one to shoot.
Recommended loadouts:
- Ad-clear and high survivability builds will be key here.
In the final room, have players spread out and make sure everyone picks up Arctrician, as the nodes are more scattered here.
Defeating Persys In Ultimatum Difficulty
Ultimatum difficulty changes:
- The five nodes that close and open the reactor door are only shootable one random node at a time, marked by a red flashing light.
- Flying Vex units will also attempt to detain players in and out of the reactor room.
- The two nodes required to start the DPS phase must be activated in a set order, depicted by a set of shapes that appear when the encounter mechanics start, similar to Akelous’ encounter.
- Enrage is enabled; Persys must be defeated in three damage phases.
Recommended loadouts:
- Well of Radiance for Warlocks (Speaker’s Sights or Sanguine Alchemy)
- Thundercrash for Titans (Cuirass on Arc or Spirit of HOIL & Synthoceps on Prismatic)
- Golden Gun for Hunters (Celestial Nighthawk) + Smoke Bomb for weakening & Threaded Spike for Sever to reduce incoming damage from Persys
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One Thousand Voices is used for main boss damage, as the weapon staggers Persys. Make sure to have Particle Deconstruction selected in the artifact.
During the mechanics phase, having one player distract the boss can be a game-changer if players are struggling to stay alive and find themselves dying to Void spam from Persys and Supplicant explosions.
