The time to play Destiny 2 missions is over. If you haven’t already, get the team together, you will probably want to have some Guardians assisting you with these. Here is everything you need to know about the Cooperative Focus missions in Destiny 2, including their mechanics, power level, and how they modify the base campaign missions seen in The Final Shape.
How to unlock Cooperative Focus missions in Destiny 2
Unlocking the three Cooperative Focus missions is just another step in the macro exotic quest named Destined Heroes. Progress through it and complete the following set of Convalescence missions, which revolve around finding Ghosts in the wild and healing them:
- Convalescence: Rootbound
- Convalescence: Underbrush
- Convalescence: Greenery
Completing these will unlock the Convalescence: Budding exotic quest, which will have you complete the three Cooperative Focus missions: Ascent, Dissent, and Iconoclasm. These are the same main campaign missions but with special team mechanics and an outstanding power level of 2005, also known as Saga difficulty.
Do I need to be at 2005 Power Level? Saga difficulty, explained
While the Saga difficulty has a very high power level requirement of 2005, the truth is that the enemies you will encounter during each Cooperative Focus campaign mission are pretty much aligned with Legendary-level enemies. So, if you are in the Powerful range between 1940 and 1990 – 1970 being the sweet spot – you will be good to go.
Moreover, if you still feel under-leveled, each under-level Guardian will match the Guardian with the highest power level. While that is the idea, don’t expect the Fireteam Finder to help you if you are under-leveled because almost everyone will be looking for a minimum of 1970 Guardians.
Do all Cooperative Focus missions feature the same mechanics?
Only Ascent will feature all of the Cooperative Focus mechanics. Dissent has the Berserker and the Witness Fracturing mechanics, while Iconoclasm will have the Glyphtouched and the Berserker mechanics – don’t worry, we will talk about them in a bit. Also, if you are aiming to get Pinnacle rewards, then check which of the Cooperative Focus will be granting it. Otherwise, you will be suffering through the Cooperative Focus missions for nothing other than the Microcosm, if you haven’t unlocked it already.
How to do Glyphtouched puzzles
If you remember correctly from your time during the regular campaign, the Glyphtouched puzzle is quite simple. Defeat powerful enemies and they will drop a Glyph symbol. You will then need to find that same Glyph in the main room and walk through it. However, during Cooperative Focus missions, only one of the members of the fireteam will become Glyphtouched.
However, the Glyphtouched will not be able to see the Glyphs that will drop from enemies, so they won’t have a clue which Glyph to walk through in the main room. Moreover, the non-Glyphtouced players will not be able to see the Glyphs in the main room either, but they can see the Glyphs that drop from enemies. That is where communication will become key, with the non-Glyphtouched communicating the correct Glyphs to the Glyphtouched so that you can complete the puzzle.
Ascent
The Cooperative Focus version of the Glyphtouched mechanic will pop out two times during Ascent. One at the top of the snowy mountain, and the other inside the mountain in the final fight. There are no major issues here that will make the puzzles even harder than they already are, so focus on communicating each Glyph.
Dissent
While Dissent does not feature the Glyphtouched puzzle whatsoever, it does feature one limitation in the final boss fight that resembles it. When you unlock the Aegis Shield to destroy the Pillar of Devotion’s shield, only one of the fireteam Guardians will be able to pick it up by receiving the “Aegis Granted” effect. Take that into account and use the Aegis super to defeat the boss.
Iconoclasm
The Glyphtouched mechanic will appear at Witness’s Blessed boss room and the Dolgith, Blade of Reasoning fight. The puzzle functions similarly to the one at Ascent but there it is a bit spicier. Only one of the fireteam Guardians can become Shielded from Darkness and go to the basement floor and through the portal in each fight, respectively, to defeat the enemies there and unveil the Glyphs. Communication and skill will be valuable assets here!
How to beat Berserkers
Berserker, Indoctrinated by the Witness, or just Berserker is a new enemy type that will appear across the three Cooperative Focus missions, blocking valuable items such as Volatile Darkness and even the Aegis Shield. These Berserkers will appear invulnerable from the get-go, but the trick is to wait until he deploys an arc shield of sorts. Move inside it and, along with another Guardian, shoot both his chest and back to destroy his shield. Then, shoot him with everything you’ve got to destroy him.
This, however, will unlock another puzzle phase that you will need to be very careful with. Two different Darkness Cruxs will appear in the room – they were there before, but they no longer have an orange shield surrounding them. These are the ones that are blocking the way to the quest item you need to progress through the mission. To do so, you need to shoot them both at the same time in a Synergized shot. Find them both by following the orange light and then use your mic to do a countdown with your fireteam is vital. Otherwise, the Berserker will spawn again and ruin your night.
Ascent
There are two Berserkers that will appear during the Ascent mission. The very first comes quite early before you go outside to the snowy mountain, which is the very first puzzle you will encounter with the objective named “Find a Way Forward.” Defeat the Berserker and don’t forget to shoot the Cruxs at the same time to be able to pick up the Volatile Darkness to continue.
Dissent
In Dissent, there will be multiple Berserkers waiting for you in several rooms such as the Tempest’s Beloved fight room and the Devoted Acolyte room, right before the final boss fight. As you normally would, defeat the enemies and then use the orange lights to find all the Cruxs you need to shoot at simultaneously.
Iconoclasm
Finally, the Berserks do make an appearance in the Iconoclasm mission, but not until the Witness fight. Yeah, they waited for the worst time ever to pop up. They will be guarding the Aegis Shields on either side of the boss fight room. However, the very first Berserker is just there to be a minor annoyance since the Aegis Shield will not be engulfed in a darkness shield. However, after destroying the first Veiled Statue, you will have to defeat the Berserkers and then shoot at both the Cruxs, so keep that in mind and, of course, shield yourself from The Witness storm attack.
How to survive Witness Fracturing
Finally, think of the Witness Fracturing mechanic as a curse similar to the Enlightened mechanic in Crota’s End raid. At a specific part of a Cooperative Focus mission – again, except for Iconoclasm –, one of the members of your fireteam will receive the status “Fractured by the Witness”. With time passing by, you will gain up to 10 stacks of this status effect, which will end up in your tragic death. Not only that, but you will also be unable to perform movement abilities once you reach seven Fractured stacks.
So, to prevent that, you will need to keep exchanging the Witness Fracturing status with your fireteam members. The trick is that, after giving away the status, you will receive another status effect named “Fracture Recovery”, which will prevent you from receiving the Fractured effect. This effect will go away until the afflicted member gets seven Fractured stacks. All of this means that you will have to stick together while traversing through the mission while also preventing you from spam-exchanging the Witness Fracturing mechanic.
Ascent
As soon as you step into the snowy mountain, one of the members of your fireteam will become Fractured. This will become a permanent mechanic until you complete the mission, so keep bouncing the Fractured status back and forth until you complete the final Glyph puzzle room.
Dissent
Unfortunately, you will get the Witness Fracturing mechanics as soon as you spawn on the map and it will stay with you for the entire duration of the mission. This will probably not be an issue until you complete the final boss fight. If you remember correctly, you will have to escape from the room fast, which would normally be as easy as just jumping around and defeating some minor enemies, but with the Fractured status, you will need to either jump in sync while remaining close to each other or momentarily pause to exchange the effect. Otherwise, you are dead.
And there you have it! Be sure to be ready at every single one of the missions above so you won’t be surprised by the Berserkers or the Fractured status killing you all of a sudden. Remember that all of this content will be available once you complete the main campaign missions, so don’t go recruiting your fireteam if you haven’t done so yet.
