This article is part of a directory: Destiny 2: Lightfall Complete Guide And Walkthrough
Table of contents

Quick Links

Guardians have been called to explore the depths of Titan's Arcology in Destiny 2's Ghosts of the Deep dungeon. Those that own the Lightfall Dungeon Key will be able to explore the depths of Titan's ocean to uncover the remains of a long-defeated foe and some powerful new weapons. If you're interested in a Stasis Wave-Frame GL or a Rapid-Fire Glaive, Ghosts of the Deep is a dungeon you'll want to farm.

Related: Destiny 2: Every New Weapon In Season Of The Deep

As with most dungeons, Ghosts of the Deep features three unique encounters, two jumping sections, and a couple of hidden chests for perceptive Guardians to find. This guide will cover how to beat every encounter in this dungeon, explain the mechanics of every encounter, and showcase both hidden chest locations.

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Hunter Armor Set

This dungeon contains many add-dense encounters, a boss fight that encourages close-range DPS strategies, and a final boss that encourages long-range sustained DPS strategies. Because of these wildly varied encounters, we're going to recommend that you bring multiple weapons to Ghosts of the Deep.

  • Add Clear: Machine Guns, Wave-Frame GLs, Trinity Ghoul, Osteo Striga, Riskrunner (if solo).
  • Ecthar DPS: Legend of Acrius or Lament.
  • Simmumah DPS: Linear Fusion Rifles or Leviathan's Breath (with Catalyst).

Beyond weapons, you'll also want a good build for this dungeon. Spec for 100 Resilience and use chest DR mods to increase your survivability. For builds:

  • Hunter: Nightstalker can use Gyrfalcon's Hauberk and a Void weapon for great add clear. Pair with Taipan or Leviathan's Breath for great DPS against Simmumah.
  • Titan: Sunbreaker can shrug off most damage with Sol Invictus. Consider speccing for Throwing Hammer DPS against Ecthar.
  • Warlock: Dawnblade makes DPS encounters incredibly safe through Well of Radiance. Use Starfire Protocol or Sunbracers to assist with add clear.

Return to Quick Links

Ghosts Of The Deep Hidden Chest Locations

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Massive Room

Ghosts of the Deep features two hidden chests, both of which are found during platforming sections. You'll find the first one just before the Ecthar encounter and the last one right before Simmumah. As with other hidden chests, these chests can only drop items you've currently acquired from the dungeon.

Hidden Chest #1: First Hive Cave

Destiny 2 Ghosts Of The Deep First Hive Cave Alt

When you first reach the ocean floor during the first platforming section, you'll have to enter a series of pressurized caves filled with Hive. In the first Hive cave you enter, hug the left wall until it ends and turn around. Climb up the ledge on your right and follow the path. You'll find the chest right next to a water barrier at the end of the path.

Hidden Chest #2: Ogre Gazebo

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Ogre Gazebo

Just before you face Simmumah in the final encounter, you'll enter a spacious room in the Dreadnaught named "Ghosts of the Deep." This room will spawn a large Hive Ogre under a gazebo. Kill the Ogre and climb the gazebo to find the chest.

Return to Quick Links

Break The Ritual

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Ritual Encounter

Right as you spawn into the dungeon, hop on your Sparrow and follow the dirt road. It'll take you to the middle of a Hive ritual just outside an entryway. Be sure to deploy a Rally Banner before starting. This is an add-intense encounter with many Lucent Moths, so bring a bullet-hose weapon. Machine Guns and Exotic SMGs do well here. If you're attempting solo flawless, consider using Riskrunner.

Start the encounter by killing the two Knights near the entryway. This will spawn a whole army of Hive behind you, one of which will be an Ogre. Killing the Ogre will coat one of the roads with green energy. You'll want to hop on your Sparrow and head in the direction the energy is facing. If you're going the right way, you'll eventually see a massive symbol floating in the air.

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Ritual Encounter Symbol

Remember this symbol and head under it. This will spawn a small pack of Hive units and a few Lucent Moths. Clearing out the Hive will spawn more energy. Follow it again and keep an eye out for the same symbol. Upon doing this three times, a Lucent Lightbearer will spawn. Kill the Lightbearer and crush its Ghost. You'll gain the Vestige of Light buff for roughly 90 seconds. If this drops to zero, you die. Return to the Hive ritual where you started the encounter.

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Ritual Encounter Statue

A Wizard will be patrolling the ritual grounds. Kill the Wizard and use the Deepsight orb it drops. This will reveal a series of Hive statues around the ritual site. You'll need to activate the statue that matches the symbol you saw earlier. If done correctly, the shrine will materialize and the Vestige of Light buff will disappear. Activate four shrines to finish the encounter.

Return to Quick Links

Related: Destiny 2: Season of The Deep - Fishing Guide

Explore The Wreckage

Destiny 2 Ghosts Of The Deep Wreckage Section

The depths of the Arcology are infested with Hive magic and the ruins of a great ship. Your goal is to descend into the ocean floor and infiltrate the remains of the Dreadnaught. You'll start in the Arcology itself. Look for a sort of turbine structure and make your way down. At the very bottom, you'll find a fenced-off area with some holes near the top. Jump into this area.

In this new room, you'll want to turn to your right and jump into the pipe in the wall. At the other end will be a massive chasm that's broken up with multiple floors of platforms. Keep dropping down until you reach a lobby area. Continue along the path to reach a drilling site.

Underwater Section

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Drill Room

After defeating a few Hive guarding the area, you'll want to continue your descent. Look for a hole in the ground nearby to drop down a massive glass column. At the very bottom is a pool of water you can jump into, forcing you to use your pressurized suit.

As before, your goal is to descend as much as possible. Walk into any nearby air bubbles you see to repressurize your suit, but beware that air bubbles are not instanced in this dungeon. If you're playing with a group, you'll want to coordinate bubble grabs to ensure no one dies here.

Eventually, you'll reach the bottom of the structure with no clear way out. Look for some sunken walkways over the edge of this structure and jump down. You'll then want to look for a fan. Jump atop this fan to fling yourself back into the Arcology, repressurizing your suit. This platforming pattern repeats until you reach the ocean floor.

There is a hidden chest located in the first Hive cave.

The ocean floor is mostly linear and doesn't have many diverging paths. As with Salvage and Deep Dive, you're looking for barriers of water to walk into. These barriers indicate a room that isn't flooded, letting you fire your weapons and move as normal. Continue your descent until you reach the remains of the Dreadnaught. Get inside and complete a short jumping section to reach the next encounter.

Return to Quick Links

Defeat Ecthar, The Shield Of Savathun

Destiny 2 Ghosts Of The Deep Ecthar Rally Flag

This encounter includes plenty of adds and a highly mobile boss. Bring a good add-clearing build and a non-precision DPS weapon. Swords and Rocket Launchers work well here. A Well of Radiance is also highly recommended. Solo players will want some form of crowd control or healing to stay alive during the DPS phase.

Start the encounter by defeating the kneeling Acolytes near the center of the room. This will spawn Ecthar, a massive Lightbearer Knight that is immune to all incoming damage. You'll need to defeat three Blistered Knights in the ship to spawn an Ogre. Defeating this Ogre will spawn a Deepsight orb near the Rally Flag. Clear all the adds before using it.

Activating Deepsight will showcase three symbols on the plates adorning the ship's walls. Memorize these symbols and delve into the ocean. You'll find gaps in the Dreadnaught's floor you can use to reach the ocean floor. These exact symbols can be found lining the walls and flora. You must activate the same symbols you saw in the Dreadnaught. Activating the wrong symbol will kill you.

Each symbol you activate will spawn a small army of Hive inside the ship, one of which will be a Lucent Lightbearer. You must kill the Lightbearers and crush their Ghosts to gain Vestige of Light, same as the last encounter. Vestige carriers must deposit the buff into one of three Hive statues on the upper platform aboard the ship. Once all three statues are charged, the DPS phase will begin. Kill all the adds before starting the DPS phase.

DPS Phase

Destiny 2 Ghosts Of The Deep Ecthar

Depositing all three Vestiges of Light will cause a Blistered Knight to spawn near the boss. Kill this Knight and stand in the energy pool it drops. This will grant a buff that allows you to damage Ecthar's immunity shield. Once broken, you'll be able to move anywhere in the arena to damage the boss. You'll have roughly 30 seconds to damage the boss here, so use everything you have. The boss will eventually regain its shield and reset the encounter, requiring you to repeat the process. There's no enrage mechanic here, so take as many DPS phases as necessary to defeat Ecthar.

Return to Quick Links

Continue To Descend

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Massive Room

The next part of this dungeon is a mix of underwater platforming and Dreadnaught navigation, nothing particularly difficult if you've made it this far. The only notable part here is a spacious room buried deep within the Dreadnaught. This zone features a Shrieker, multiple Wizards, and an Ogre that spawns near the end of the path. The second hidden chest is located directly above the Ogre's spawn location. Beyond that, kill any Hive you see, navigate through the Dreadnaught, and you'll reach the final encounter with little trouble.

Return to Quick Links

Related: Destiny 2: A Complete Guide To The Spire Of The Watcher Dungeon

Defeat Simmumah Ur-Nokru, Lucent Necromancer

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Simmumah Ur-Nokru Wizard

As with the previous encounter, this is an add-dense environment that features a boss with a massive health pool. This boss remains mostly stationary, so Linear Fusion Rifles and Sniper Rifles are good options. A good add-clearing weapon is also recommended to make the pre-DPS phases much easier. You'll also want to get a good read of the arena before you start. Destiny veterans will notice that the massive creature in the ground is none other than Oryx, the Taken King. Make note of Oryx's exposed limbs on the ocean floor, as these act as ritual sites for this encounter.

Start the encounter by crushing the Hive Ghost floating near Oryx's chest. This will enrage Simmumah, a Hive Wizard attempting to resurrect the Taken King. A Deepsight orb will spawn in the arena shortly after she starts attacking. Interact with the Deepsight orb. This will reveal a triangle floating above Oryx, its vertices located above a specific body part. Standing near these body parts will give you the "Ritual Conductor" buff. Your goal is to kill an enemy called Vorlog at each highlighted ritual site.

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Simmumah Line Up Symbols

If done successfully, you'll get a text prompt stating, "Vorlog is slain at the [body part] or Oryx, calling Simmumah to his death!" Two green icons will appear beside the invoked ritual site: a green circle and a Taken symbol. You must line up both symbols by looking at them in a specific location, similar to the Savathun symbols in the Witch Queen campaign. Find a spot in the arena where the circle perfectly surrounds the Taken symbol. Doing this correctly will cause a large Hive symbol to appear above the body part. You must repeat this two more times, revealing a total of three symbols.

Preparing For DPS

Now that each site is displaying a symbol, it's time to use Vestiges of Light to rid Oryx's body of Simmumah's dark magic. You'll notice water barriers on the edges of the arena. Each water section leads to a Lightbearer. The first time you enter this room, you'll find a specific Lightbearer (Wizard, Acolyte, or Knight) alongside one of three symbols you just uncovered. Remember this symbol; it disappears when the Lightbearer dies.

Kill the adds in the room and destroy the Lightbearer's Ghost. This will grant the Vestige of the [Lightbearer], named based on the type of enemy slain. Return to Oryx's corpse and activate Deepsight. You'll see dunking orbs below each shrine symbol. Dunk the Vestige in the shrine that matches the symbol in the Lightbearer room. For example, if you saw the 'hamburger' icon in the Wizard room, you'd dunk the Vestige of Wizard at whichever shrine is displaying the 'hamburger' symbol. Dunking at the wrong shrine will kill you. Match the correct Vestige with each shrine until all three are charged.

DPS Phase

Destiny 2 Ghosts of the Deep Ritual Sites Glowing

Charging all three shrines will start the DPS phase. All three shrines will emit energy fields that will empower your weapons, allowing you to damage the boss' immunity shield. Stand in the field and damage Simmumah until their shield breaks. You're free to reposition once the shield is down, but we recommend planting a Well of Radiance and damaging the boss from a static location.

After a few seconds of the damage phase starting, Simmumah will teleport away from your fireteam and remain stationary for the rest of the fight. Use your Super and Heavy weapons to damage the boss. They remain stationary from this point forward, so using precision weapons like Linear Fusion Rifles is a good idea. Keep damaging the boss until they're either dead or become immune. If the latter occurs, repeat this process until Simmumah is slain. Kill the boss to complete the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon.

Return to Quick Links

Next: Destiny 2: Season Of The Deep - Salvage Activity And Rewards Guide