Destiny 2’s Insight Terminus Grandmaster Nightfall is amongst the easiest that we’ll get to play during Season of the Seraph. It’s a great jumping-off point for anyone looking to dive into the world of GMs, which is why I’ve put together this Grandmaster guide.
In this Destiny 2 Insight Terminus Grandmaster guide, I’ll go over what modifiers you’ll have to account for, give you a play-by-play of the entire Strike, and offer up some build and weapon recommendations to help you optimize for this activity.
Insight Terminus GM Guide
Modifiers
Champions
You shouldn’t need me to tell you that there are a lot of Champions in Grandmaster Nightfalls. It’s a staple of the activity and one of the biggest conditions that you build your loadout around.
In the case of Insight Terminus, you actually don’t have any Overload Champions – which isn’t too common for a GM. You only have to deal with Unstoppable and Barrier Champions. We have Unstoppable Grenade Launcher with Weakened Clear during Season of the Seraph, as well as the wonder weapon that is Arbalest. There’s Anti-Barrier Bow and Pulse, too, both of which are S-tier GM weapon archetypes.
Shield
Arc and Void shields are the featured shields of the Insight Terminus Grandmaster, but my team didn’t really see too many of them. There are Incendiators in the boss fight with Void shields, but there are no enemies with Arc shields as far as my Fireteam could see.
Burn
replace Void burn is active for this Nightfall – You’ll deal 25% more Void damage and take 50% more damage from Void. This makes Retrofit Escapade a top-tier option, but it also means that the boss’ Void attacks will, on occasion, one-shot you.
Other
Loadout Recommendations
Arbalest
Whenever you have Barrier Champions to deal with, Arbalest needs to be in the loadout conversation. It has inherent Anti-Barrier, hits like a truck with practically infinite range, and it’s a Linear – meaning it can take advantage of Linear ammo mods you run for whatever Linear Fusion you keep in your heavy slot.
As I mentioned before, we have Anti-Barrier Bow and Pulse Rifles this season, so you can certainly get away with one of those, instead – I did.
Ignition Code – or Equivalent
Weakened Clear has meant that Grenade Launchers are loadout staples this season – especially with us getting Unstoppable Champion mods on them. Despite the fact that I was running Void, I still opted for an Ignition Code with Blinding Grenades and Slideshot in my primary slot.
Beyond the Anti-Champ potential, Blinding Grenades are a must in GMs – my Titan teammate even ran them on his Arc build. There are several situations across all GMs that call for either a high-damaging single target or a group of Adds, to be blinded. This stops them shooting and honestly can carry you through the entire Nightfall if you know how to use it correctly. There are other Blinding GLs beyond Ignition Code, so use whatever one you have.
Retrofit Escapade
This was my heavy choice for Destiny 2’s Insight Terminus Grandmaster. I was running Void Hunter with Gyrfalcon’s, so I had constant access to Volatile Rounds, making this Machine Gun a no-brainer.
Retrofit melts Champions with lethal efficiency, and it’s not too bad at dealing with bosses, either. You can opt for a Linear, and I would if I didn’t have easy access to Volatile. If you do, though, then you’ve no excuse not to run this thing’s god roll.
Build Recommendations
Hunter
I didn’t think Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk would work in Grandmasters – I really didn’t. I went into this expecting to have to pull Omnioculous from my Vault, but I figured I’d give it a try, first. I’m glad I did, because it wrecks house.
You’ll want to pair it with something that has some range – invisible or not, you’re still going to get melted if you try to sprint through encounters. Veles-X, Graviton Lance, and Doom of Chelchis are all great choices – as is Collective Obligation if you happen to have it.
Alternatively, Omnioculous is still great. It’s lost some of its value since GMs are now easier, but it is always a good option for endgame PvE activities.
Warlock
Warlocks running through Insight Terminus should be all about Solar – despite the Void theme of this Nightfall. Starfire Protocol is still some of the best burst DPS in the entire game, so that would likely be your best bet.
That being said, Stasis Warlocks have always been great for high-level stuff thanks to Stasis Turrets, and Void’s survivability also makes for a good option. Ultimately, run whatever you feel comfortable with, provided you’ve augmented your build for a Grandmaster.
Titan
I’ve seen Solar, Arc, and Void Titans all run the Insight Terminus Grandmaster Nightfall to great effect. Granted, I played none of them myself, but I do think I can comment on the effectiveness of each one.
Solar outputs a lot of damage, but its survivability does lack on GM difficulty. Your Sunspots aren’t going to be enough to keep you safe, but good awareness with Loreley’s could.
Arc with Heart of Inmost Light was inoffensive. There wasn’t too much value out of the extra abilities, but it didn’t detract from our run. Lastly, Void Titans were having the best time of the three, in my opinion.
Bubble is a phenomenal get-out-of-jail-free card that, unlike Well, doesn’t fall off at higher difficulties. It basically guarantees a revive at any given point in time, making it a top-tier super for GMs.
The only Titan subclass I didn’t see was Behemoth because, well, it sucks.
Play-by-Play
Part 1 – Ravine
The opening to the Insight Terminus Grandmaster Nightfall isn’t too threatening or tough. It’s two rooms with a handful of Adds and Champions, with plenty of cover for you to work with. The only thing I do have to note is that, sometimes, the Adds in the first area won’t spawn. This doesn’t affect your Platinum when it happens and shaves around three minutes or so off of the average time for this GM.
Assuming that doesn’t happen, the first room will have a handful of Vex. You’ll have a Void Minotaur to deal with, a few Goblins, and a handful of Barrier Hobgoblins. Just use the tunnel you took to enter the room as cover and kill everything from a distance – I haven’t seen a single death in this part of the Nightfall.
After that room, you’ve got a ravine, which is the first of the three main “encounters” in this GM. You’ll want to hang back and secure your side of the ravine, first. After that, clean up the Adds and Barrier Colossus on the other side. Again, there’s nothing too difficult here. If you’re running Pheonix Protocol, this is a decent spot to pop that first Well to help speed up the Add-clear.
Part 2 – Defend the Spire
Once you’ve cleared out the ravine and ventured further into the Vex’s nest, the next “encounter” is a defend the spire activity. You’ve got a plate to defend, and a Vex portal in front of you, with enemies coming out of the portal.
This part of the mission is super easy, but can actually cause unsuspecting teams to wipe. You’ll want anything that’s good for Add-control here. Witherhoard in front of the portal does great, as do grenades. Wells and Bubbles can also come in handy.
You don’t have to wait on the plate long – there’s only a handful of Adds to deal with and they all come from the same spawn point.
Where the issues arise is in the last wave – two Unstoppable Champions will come out of the portal with some more Adds, so you’ll want at least one Unstoppable shot at the ready to deal with them. Ideally, one of your Fireteam members is running Unstop-Grenade Launcher with Witherhoard, but make do with whatever you can.
When those Unstoppables are stunned – nuke them. Heavies, supers, it doesn’t matter – this room can get very dangerous if you let them get out of hand.
However, try not to be near them when they die. The explosion and resulting burn damage will kill you. I’ve had multiple instances where my two other Fireteam members died to it, so I assume wiping here isn’t actually all that uncommon.
Part 3 – The Big Room
If you’ve managed to survive the Unstoppables, head through the portal and into what I’ve dubbed “the big room.” This is where high-level Guardians will be separated from your average players – it’s the first real danger zone in this Grandmaster, so you’ll want to take your time and approach it cautiously.
Enemies will be spawning from every direction in this encounter, so don’t think you’ll be able to push up. Your best strategy, from my experience, will be to sit in and around the entrance you enter the room from. You’ve got solid cover here, and it’s a great spot to set up a Well or Bubble.
Doing this will funnel all the Adds in towards the corner of the room, giving you an easy target to lob explosives and grenades at. This will also pull the Champions towards that area, so you’ll be able to focus fire easily.
During the later waves in this room, you do risk having Barrier and Unstoppable Champions rush you – but with a Well and some good movement, that isn’t too big of an issue.
There are other safe areas in this room – notably at the back and left-hand side, but this was the most effective way to proceed in my runs.
When you clear the initial wave of Adds, shoot the boss at the back of the room, across the river of Vex Milk. This will trigger another wave of Adds and Champions. The Champion that spawns from the drop pod will spawn an Arc charge on death.
Kill everything in the room and grab that Arc charge. At this point, a Champion (two for the second charge) and some Gladiators will spawn on the platform where the boss was. Kill them, dunk the charge, go back to your setup spot, and repeat.
Part 4 – The Boss
After dealing with that big room, you’ll be in the boss fight. This encounter is like that previous one, but worse. The enemy spawns are more predictable – coming out of three portals, but the number of Adds is higher, and the size of the arena is smaller.
After a little scuffle, Kargen, the boss, will shield up in the center of the arena and activate the first plate you need to defend. The middle portal will open up, so hop on that plate and get it completed. This will bring Kargen back into the fight.
Deal enough damage to trigger the next phase and you’ll be met by another shield. This time, you’ll need to activate three plates, one on each side of the arena.
Activating a plate will start spawning Adds from the related portal, so make a point of only doing one at a time, as a team, if you’re struggling. Bubbles are obviously phenomenal here, as are Wells. In fact, running this with two Pheonix Protocol Warlocks let us infinitely chain Wells in this room – making it a joke.
When you’ve activated the last three plates, Kergan will spawn in again. Now, all you have to do is DPS him to death, and you’re done.
The biggest killer in this room will be the Adds. The Gladiators get up in your face, in numbers, and that means you either need to stay on top of them – or constantly move. You can perform a finisher on Gladiators at 50% health, so take advantage of that.
Stay on top of Add control, and dodge the boss’ Void fire attack that will one-shot you. Beyond that, you shouldn’t have any issues getting this done.
