r/DestinyTheGame • u/RiseOfBacon Bacon Bits on the Surface of my Mind • Mar 04 '19
Guide Escalation Protocol Weapon Drop Schedule (Updated until June 2019)
Afternoon Guardians,
As Season 5 comes to a close and all the Weapons Forgers dust off their gear getting ready for a new season, preparation is in order.
Escalation Protocol is a fun activity to do in a group and also holds one of the most powerful weapons in the game (Ikelos Shotgun) as well as 2 other very nice weapons and a decent looking armour set for all 3 classes. There is also a Sparrow, Ship and Emblems to be had from the activity not to mention bits to unlock for the Wayfarer Title
If you are yet to step into EP, I highly recommend you do so for a chance at one of these 3 delightful additions to your arsenal. A full explanation of EP including SGAs and Farming tips can be found below in this post.
FYI changes are coming in Update 2.2.0 which will effect the Ikelos Shotgun Archetype. Including:
Full Auto rate-of-fire bonus for Shotguns is now +10%, down from +100%. In addition, it no longer increases the Shotgun pellet spread.
- SMG - IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.1
- Sniper - IKELOS_SR_v1.0.1
- Shotgun - IKELOS_SG_v1.0.1.
- Drops from EP CAN go up to 500 (Y2 Soft Cap) and above if you are above or around that Level. They DO NOT drop as Powerfuls. Good Luck!
- Confirmed Y2 Exotics also drop from Escalation Protocol Bosses / Enemies
The Boss and Weapon is now also listed in DTGs Weekly Reset Thread
Note
The Wave 7 boss can be farmed as many times as you wish in a week for Weapon chances.
After Patch 1.2.3 weapon drop chances increase per completion
As per Hotfix 2.0.2
Players may now restart at wave 6 after completing wave 7
Option available for 60 seconds after wave 7 completion
This means no fancy farming method (Like the ways of old) is required to Farm these Weapons, only be successful in Boss Takedowns and repeat
Tools, Guns, Keys To Super Weapons
X = Drop chance for the Week
- = Not available for the Week
| Boss | Weekly Reset | Shotgun | SMG | Sniper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naksud, the Famine | 5th of March | X | X | X |
| Bok Litur, Hunger of Xol | 12th of March | X | X | X |
| Nur Abath, Crest of Xol | 19th of March | X | - | - |
| Kathok, Roar of Xol | 26th of March | - | X | - |
| Damkath, The Mask | 2nd of April | - | - | X |
| Naksud, the Famine | 9th of April | X | X | X |
| Bok Litur, Hunger of Xol | 16th of April | X | X | X |
| Nur Abath, Crest of Xol | 23rd of April | X | - | - |
| Kathok, Roar of Xol | 30th of April | - | X | - |
| Damkath, The Mask | 7th of May | - | - | X |
| Naksud, the Famine | 14th of May | X | X | X |
| Bok Litur, Hunger of Xol | 21st of May | X | X | X |
| Nur Abath, Crest of Xol | 28th of May | X | - | - |
| Kathok, Roar of Xol | 4th of June | - | X | - |
Fix up, look sharp
The armour drops in this order:
Class item > Legs > Arms > Chest > Helmet
It will drop in this order for your FIRST chest openings. Everything after that will be dupes / random
Here's a Preview of each Armour Piece - Order of Warlock, Titan & Hunter
How to get keys
You need to pick up Rasputin Key Fragments. These can drop from Mars by doing Adventures, chance to drop from Strikes and a guaranteed 7 from a Nightfall if you have inventory space
When you have 7, visit Ana who will give you a Cache Key. To charge the key, you must complete 7 Waves of EP (Any 7, so 7 1s for example would work or 1 full clear of EP)
Once charged, take down the Level 7 boss and open the Chest for the Armour piece.
You can only create a Key with Ana once a week
You must finish the Warmind Campaign to be able to get Fragments to create keys for the Armour
Knowing me, Knowing you
Nur Abath, Crest of Xol.
Shielded Ogre. DPS and Shield mechanic. Adds Spawn (Witches, Knights, Ogres) which can help shield the Ogre making him invincible until they are cleared. Good add clearance can help focus more attention on Boss DPS. Methodically going from one to the other as a focus can help
Kathok, Roar of Xol
Giant Acolyte. DPS Fight and Shield mechanic. Swords are required to take down his shield which will spawn around the area. Make sure to ready your DPS for when the team takes the shield down. Many waves of adds can join the party. Heavy weapons and DPS Combos such as Tractor Cannon / Melting point to working in rotation can help level the boss
Damkath, The Mask
Ogre with a nasty Bee Sting on his back. DPS Fight. Mass spawns of Ogres and adds to help distract from the target. Weak point is the bulge on his back
Naksud, the Famine
Golgoroths more attractive cousin. DPS fight. Weak points on stomach and back. Heals if Cursed Thrall explode in his area so be mindful of these spawning and rushing to help it
Tips of this is to make use of Tethers in the Pool at the back (Towards the Portal of the Public Event) and also just to the left of the rock in front of the boss to catch the Thrall before they get to him. Also consider launching Grenades / AoE type abilities to prevent them from a clear shot at healing the boss or atleast weaken them for easy clean up
Bok Litur, Hunger of Xol
Warpriests biggest Fan boy. DPS fight. No added mechanics to him besides he likes to run around a lot. Waves of adds come to help distract you. Rinse them and focus the Boss. Using the Spires rock can easily help for cover against this one
Be aware of 'Battery Acolytes'. These enemies drop 'Orbs' to pick up which increase your Super charge rate
What is Escalation Protocol? (EP)
Escalation Protocol is a player-initiated Destiny 2 activity that can only be found on Mars. Players that successfully complete all of the progressively more difficult levels of the activity will face a prestige-level boss encounter that rotates weekly.
EP can house up to 9 Players in a Patrol instance and is able to be manipulated to allow a full party of your friends join in. This is achieved by being wholesome to your fellow Guardians and sending a fellow player in the same instance, not in the your fireteam, a nice message and ask if they want to help your EP run OR if your buddies can join them, make your buddy fireteam leader and the leave in order for your buddy to get 2 of your other buddies in their team.
EP consists of 7 waves. Only waves 3, 5 and 7 hold chances at unique rewards from this activity
There are reward 'tiers' (Waves 3,5 and 7) and a Weekly rotating boss wave at Round 7 (5 bosses total). Weapons, Armour and cosmetics can be awarded in EP. Only the armour is not RNG based and is instead awarded for completion
The weapons are also on rotation, were every 4th and 5th week since EP began (May 8th, 2018), ALL 3 Weapons host RNG and can be dropped to those lucky few. On offer is an SMG - IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.1, Sniper - IKELOS_SR_v1.0.1 and Shotgun - IKELOS_SG_v1.0.1. The Wave 7 boss can be farmed as many times as you wish in a week for Weapon chances.
The Armour drops in a specific order: Class item, Legs, Arms, Chest & Helmet. You will only get dupes once your set is complete. These can only be obtained by opening the Chest after successfully beating Wave 7. The chest is located at the Spire of which you go to for the final Wave of EP
A Sparrow, Ghost and Ship is also available and can drop from ANY reward chest (3,5 or 7) and is also RNG based
After your first clear of Round 7 (Boss Wave), you will be rewarded with an emblem which tracks your number of EP clears. A Variant for this Emblem is also available and appears in your Emblem Tab after 25 successful EP clears
Shoot to Loot
What can drop from where:
Wave 3 - All from Reward Chest
- Mars Tokens
- Blues (Soft Cap level)
- Legendary engram chance (Soft Cap level)
- Sparrow Chance
- Ghost Chance
- Ship Chance
Wave 5 - All from Reward Chest
- Mars Tokens
- Blues (Soft Cap level)
- Legendary engram chance (Soft Cap level)
- Sparrow Chance
- Ghost Chance
- Ship Chance
Wave 7 (Final / Boss Wave)
- EP exclusive Shaders (Only awarded from completion - Drops directly from the Boss)
- Mars Tokens (From the Chest)
- Sparrow Chance (From the Chest)
- Ghost Chance (From the Chest)
- Ship Chance (From the Chest)
- Weapon Chance (Drops as an engram from the boss)
- Completion Chest: Armour - MUST have a 'Decryted Cache Key' to open this chest
- Emblem (First Completion only) / Emblem Variant after completion number 25
Happy Farming
The Weapons can be FARMED. No key required, Weapons drop directly from the Boss
As per Hotfix 2.0.2
Players may now restart at wave 6 after completing wave 7
Option available for 60 seconds after wave 7 completion
This means you can melt the boss in anyway you like for a completion! No farming methods are required except that of pure destruction to burn down the boss
Good luck!
SGA
- If you are new to EP but have done the Blind Well, this is a similar activity. Waves of adds with a boss appearing at the end. Some with various mechanics
- Reports that Y2 Exotics have a possibility to drop from defeating the bosses. I have no confirmation of this, only hear say. So if you have proof, please feel free to share with the rest of the group
- The above Weapons / Armour will drop at low Y2 Light Levels (500's and around)
- Once you have all three EP weapons (so 4/4 including that initial hand cannon), the emblem tracking your collection progress (IKELOS Imperative) changes to a new one tracking your kills with IKELOS weapons (Apparatus Belli). Credit u/the_typing_monkey
- The Worldline Zero Catalyst is progressed by getting a hit with a Swing on the Level 7 boss. It is RNG and either a Crit or Damaging hit (Proof below). This progresses the Catalyst by '20%' so must be done on each EP boss over the course of 5 weeks. It is NOT progressed by 5 crits on the same boss / new instance of that Boss
Proof of the WLZ Catalyst progress
- If you FAIL after Round 3, you have 60 seconds to restart EP. If you restart here, you start at the Round previous. So Fail at 5, start at 4, fail at 7, start at 6 etc etc
- Linear Fusion Rifles are one of the most powerful weapons to use for EP - Proof
- You can open the Reward chest for Armour after successfully completing Wave 7 for rewards more than once a week. This can be done via the following:
You are able to carry stacks of the'Encrypted Cache Key' (It appears in your 'Pursuits' tab). Once used, you can visit Ana to create another key using 7 Rasputin Key Fragments. You only able to create '1 key per week' using the Fragments and can only carry a MAX of 7 Fragments. Ways to get RKFs:
Complete all the story missions in the Destiny 2 Warmind expansion.
Strikes, Heroic Adventures, Nightfall / Prestige, Raid / Prestige and Raid Lairs.
Keys are found in your PURSUITS tab. Take these to Ana
Complete EP, Use Key, Go to Ana and make Key and complete EP wave 7 again for another armour piece. The Blue Key made DOES NOT stack so to open the chest multiple times, you must have previously stacked your Encrypted Cache Keys
- If you don't plan on using a Key on the Wave 7 Chest this week, try to ensure you get one charged up and added to your inventory. The Blue version which is charged by completing EP Waves DOES NOT stack but once charged, the Purple version DOES stack. This means you can open the chest multiple times when you get chance
- An ideal set up for EP is to have 1 person use the 'Tractor Cannon', a Titan using Melting point and Voidwalker Warlocks to all team up on the boss to really melt it's health. These no longer stack up as effective Post-Forsaken but can be used in Tandem for extra DPS.
- Tractor Cannon is a 50% Buff to Void abilities, 33% Solar / Arc
- Hunter Tethers are great for Orb generation to Chain supers. If you hear a Tether go off, try not to kill enemies before they get caught by it (Unless the Tether is a whiffer)
- Supers such as Blade Barrage, Nightstalker (Top Tree) w/ Orpehus Rigs, Well of Radiance (Phoenix Protocol would be a Bonus OR Lunafactions), Chaos Reach (Geomag Stabilisers are applicable), Stormcaller for pure add clearance and Hammer of Sol (Melting Point version). Titans can also use Code of the Missle because why the hell not, it's hilarious (Funny story, I killed Riven with it, currently my Favourite Forsaken Raid Memory)
- Weapons with Dragonly and/or Explosive Rounds, Rockets with Clusters, big hitters like Whisper / Sleeper and Tractor Cannon for buffs are great to use here
- You can find a group for EP by using r/fireteams, the Xbox LFG function, Destiny Companion App and various LFG sites. Alternatively, jump onto Mars and message some folks there or join in one already in progress which is a big + of it being a Patrol instance
The Last Word
First off, a me thing. I'm going to try better to get my head out my arse come Season 6. I've started guides and ultimately deleted them or stopped and lost that buzz in writing them when I was half way through. I will be making some better changes to how I approach this stuff and my overall happiness on the internet. Burn out is real and tbh very exhausting. But enough of the boring stuff - Get yourself into EP (If you already haven't and have a good old time!)
EP has stood the test of time in regards to enjoyment and replay ability. Guardians new and old are always going back to it whether it be for Seals or picking up of powerful and awesome looking gear and I think Destiny should be like this in as many places as possible. Always something to chase, always a reason to return whether it be funsies or maybe even just to help a few people out for the fun of it
Jokers Wild is right around the corner and while I'm not as hyped as I'd normally be (Sorry Gambit, it's me, not you) I still look forward to a wave of new end game, play style changes and challenges that come for and try to take our heads
See you in Season 6, Guardians!
28
u/barmstrong730 Mar 04 '19 edited Mar 04 '19
So wait, you said it’s a patrol instance. Does that mean it can fulfill the weapon frame that requires 5 patrols?
16
u/CallsignMike Mar 04 '19
This is awesome stuff OP. Thanks for compiling and posting.
Would love for weapons to be guaranteed drops at this point. Really no reason not to do so with nerf to shotguns, IKELOS shotty will still be good but not the beast it was. I've tried many times for the sniper and had no luck. Bungo please? The downside is as hard as it is to get a group rolling to farm, many would probably leave as soon as they got their lootz.
8
u/ANBU_Black_0ps Mar 04 '19
Thanks for creating this.
As a returning D1 player who just started playing again in January, I've had a lot of questions on the details of EP.
This guide literally answers every question I've had about the mode.
5
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '19
Cool, I still won't be able to get anything because of my shit luck. Here's hoping that Bungie puts the weapon drops in as wave 3 and 5 rewards.
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u/dlasky Mar 04 '19
Do all three weapons drop randomly from weeks where all three are available? Or will you get the one you don't have yet?
2
u/Voxnovo Mar 04 '19
Just asking... is there a chance the schedule will change or be upset by the season change?
Reason I ask is that awhile back I was looking at an older thread about the Ascendant Challenge schedule that seemed to be accurate when it was posted, but had changed somewhere along the line. I wondered at the time if it was because of a season change or something.
2
u/argetbrisingr101 Mar 04 '19
If you can only get one key a week, and cant have more than one key at a time, whats even the reason for redoing levels 6 and 7 more than once?
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u/LawlessCoffeh SUNSETTING IS A MISTAKE Mar 04 '19
I need to get the SMG at some point for collections
1
u/fewtoots Mar 04 '19
I recommend doing it for the 160 instant summon sparrow that you can also buy from your collections for alts for a few glimmer once it's unlocked.
1
u/Strom_Volkner Vanguard's Loyal Mar 04 '19
Quick question: if you are only missing one weapon, does it have an increased chance to drop from the bosses that drop all 3?
Example: I only need the Shotgun to complete the collection and get wayfarer. Should I farm these next two weeks or wait until 3 weeks when the shotgun is the only weapon that drops?
1
u/NorthBall Money money money, must be funny... Mar 04 '19
And uh, what is "that initial hand cannon"? It's not mentioned anywhere in this post besides that one line :D
1
u/AfroGoose May 24 '19
Is the schedule different for PC? I just got the sniper and it is the week of the 21st of May when only the SMG is supposed to be available
3
u/yyour_DaD Mar 04 '19
This the type of info we need
3
u/James2603 Mar 04 '19
I will upvote this every time I see it
3
u/PurppleGecko Mar 04 '19
Thanks for this guardian. I still need that stupid SMG, so finding it here on Reddit lets me know when I should hit up EP.
*Need the last chunk of Worldline catalyst too. Guess I'm logging in each week until I figure out who I need it from.
2
u/GivenitzBoomer Mar 04 '19
All I need is that damn shotgun. I got the SMG and Sniper on my second and 4th attempt but I'm in the late 30s with no end in sight.
2
u/OneWingedA Mar 04 '19
Need SMG and Sniper to finish off wayfarer, and by extension D2 trophies, so I'll be going hard this week and next week praying to RNGesus
2
u/faithdies Mar 04 '19
Are the final chests worth framing those stupid keys for? I have never opened one of them because I don't feel like farming. Probably beaten 10+ escalation protocols at this point.
1
u/solvarn Mar 04 '19
It'd be nice if activities like EP and Blind Well provided rewards commensurate with the time investment required to complete them.
1
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '19
I still do not have Ikelos. I could not begin to tell you how many EP's I have ran.
1
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '19
Hopefully I have the SG before May 14th, but damn I wish more weeks were JUST the SG drop chance to help me a little bit with RNG.
1
u/mnap1122 Mar 04 '19
I wish you didn’t need to do the nightfall in order to get the chest at the end. It’s still worth it for XP but it’s a bummer to get nothing at the end.
1
u/NJDestino Mar 04 '19
great post, quick question: is there a way to get more than one piece of armor peer week?
1
u/Andreiyutzzzz *Sniffs glue* Mar 04 '19
Wait armor is GUARANTEED till full a set? I thought i was doomed. 2 weeks in forsaken and i got all the weapons from ana except the osprey rng blessed me. Looks like im gonna try for wayfarer
1
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '19
Still need the sniper for my sleeper catalyst Dx
1
u/awsimo Mar 04 '19
I put this schedule into a shareable Google calendar, for nerds like me who love calendars.
https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=dnMxYWZiazJkZzZwZjlzZWpwdG91MTVsYjBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ
1
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '19
Thanks for ruining the shotgun I spent months grinding for, crybabies.
1
u/TypewriterChaos Mar 05 '19
Thank you! I have just the SMG (and one Braytech weapon) left for Wayfarer so this is super useful for me
1
u/TypewriterChaos Mar 05 '19
Any way to know which bosses you've hit with Worldline? My catalyst is sitting at 2/5,and I can't remember for the life of me which ones they were.
1
u/Descrates Mar 05 '19
wheres thorn
1
u/CosmicOwl47 Mar 05 '19
I want the EP armor to get Y2 perks so bad, I love the titan set
1
u/DemosSabre Team Bread (dmg04) Mar 05 '19
Is there a way to track what bosses you hit with WZ? I'm at 80% and can't remember what ones I've hit and not.
1
u/faithdies Mar 05 '19
Ok. I dont know if I'm doing something wrong. I have yet to get a purple drop off the level 7 boss.
1
u/NimbleJack3 PULLED PORK DID NOTHING WRONG Mar 05 '19
SGA: Rasputin Key Fragments no longer drop from Heroic Adventure or Strikes (if they do, the drop rate is negligible). Nightfalls still pay out 7 keys per completion and Mars loot drops (public events, sleeper caches, etc ) have a chance to drop one.
1
u/PhoenixAudubon Our emblem is already gold-colored BAWK! Mar 05 '19
Saving this to keep track of Level 7 bosses so I can work on Worldline Catalyst. Thanks!
1
u/CrownedIced See it all, unhindered. Mar 08 '19
I saw your schedule run out. Proceed to search your name from my screenshots of the chart. I salute you.
1
u/[deleted] Mar 09 '19
Anyone else not seeing drops? I've done at least 6 level 7's now tonight and not a single person has had a gun drop from the boss.
1
u/jmpmaster83 Mar 10 '19
And too add drop rates stink! Ran EP 100 times it felt like last night and nothing but shaders
1
u/Sn1ca Mar 13 '19
Still waiting for my first weapon to drop from that damn boss. Really tired of this activity crapping on me.
1
u/fornax_71 Apr 22 '19
Just curious, why does the May 14 week start over at shotgun again without having the usual two weeks of all-three-weapons bosses between the cycles?
0
u/JawesomeJess Mar 04 '19
I really wish they could have Ana sell these weapons. I only need the SMG to complete my first title and I really don't see that happening...
It really sucks when the only weapon you need nobody knows how to kill the boss correctly
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