Destiny: The Dark Below guide – The Undying Mind strike

The Vex won't quit the Black Garden. Beat the strike. Show them the door.

Destiny guide: The Undying Mind strike

The Undying Mind is one of two strikes added to Destiny by the Dark Below DLC, which you'll need to buy if you want to beat this level. It's set in the Meridian Bay area of Mars, and runs at level 20 by default.

Before we get into the walkthrough, we should talk about weapons. The Undying Mind is a Vex-only strike, meaning you should favour weapons with void damage (look for the purple swirl on the weapon information screen), as the Vex's heavy trooper, the minotaur, is protected by a void shield. Nothing else in this strike carries an elemental shield, but you'll face two types of minotaur in The Undying Mind, both of which can prove infuriatingly difficult to bring down if you aren't using the right gear.

If possible, equip both a void special weapon and a void heavy machine gun. I prefer to use a machine gun instead of a rocket launcher for The Undying Mind, as it's easy to waste rockets on the boss (you'll find further explanation of why later in this article). Void primaries are rare in Destiny, but, if you're lucky enough to have one (apart from the under-powered Atheon's Epilogue, unfortunately), you'll definitely have an advantage in this strike.

Your personal play-style will impact your choice of special, but the strike itself will dictate what you use and when. Some sections, including the first room, could favour a sniper rifle, but later parts (the top of the stairs and the boss, specifically) are going to put you toe-to-toe with minotaurs. That means shotguns and fusion rifles. Here are some example void weapons. All these guns can be bought from vendors in the Tower apart from Jolder's Hammer, which only drops in the Iron Banner PvP tournament.

It's a void gunfight so bring void guns. Head over the page to learn how to use them to beat The Undying Mind, or go back to our Destiny guide.

Now you're all kitted out (see the previous page for load-out advice), you can get on with the shooting. The Undying Mind sees Vex flooding back into the Black Garden. You have to stop them. You start, surrounded by mashed Vex, after the end of the original game's final story mission.

Climb the stairs and walk through the open door. You'll immediately enter an arena you'll need to clear to proceed. Waves of goblins, hobgoblins and minotaurs will spawn on the arena floor. You'll eventually be facing four hydras, one at the back left and three on the floor. Try hiding up near the room's entrance and using a sniper rifle for the hydras, but don't be afraid to swap out to a shotgun or fusion rifle and get up close with the minotaurs.

Once you've killed the hydras, a glowing white wall disappears and lets you through the back of the room. Follow the direction arrow on your map and run down the corridor. You'll find a large flight of steps covered in Vex. Kill everything as you move up.

Once you get to the top of the steps, prepare for action. You need to get ready for close quarters combat with Precursor Vex, so that means either a void shotgun or fusion rifle as your special. The Precursors have yellow health bars, and will only drop under focused punishment. This next section is notoriously relentless, and there's no shortcut to victory. You just have to kill everything.

Not content with throwing Precursor goblins, hobgoblins and minotaurs at you, the game also blocks the stairs with an underboss hydra called Divisive Oculator. Just keep shooting it in the face until it explodes.

If you do this strike through the Roc playlist on level 26, another glowing wall stops you walking up the stairs. You have to keep killing Vex until it vanishes. On the default level 20 the wall doesn't seem to appear. Kill everything anyway, and be careful of a final spawn of minotaurs when you reach the top of the stairs.

After you've reduced the Precursors to junk, follow the corridor to the boss. You'll find minotaurs and hobgoblins guarding the entrance. After the nonsense on the stairs you should make short work of them.

Now move into the boss chamber. You'll see a glowing portal at the end of the room. Go towards it.

Waves of Vex will now come through the gate. Just stand in front of the portal and waste everything. Two minotaurs will eventually telport in. After you kill them, the gate flashes white and the Mind will appear. Move back: it's real dumb, but nasty enough to cause significant problems if you aren't concentrating.

Head through to the next page for tips and strategies for killing the boss, or go back to our Destiny guide.

You'll need to switch to a DPS set-up to kill the Mind but you're also going to have to deal with adds, many of which will be void-shielded minotaurs. I'd suggest using your most powerful pulse rifle or auto rifle as the primary (one of the Crota's End drops, such as Oversoul Edict or Abyss Defiant is ideal, but anything similar will work), and Ice Breaker as a special for hitting the Mind. If at all possible, select a void machine gun for the heavy.

This set-up will enable you to take down the adds and deliver significant damage to the boss without having to swap out to a void special to handle the waves. Bring up your heavy and just annihilate them when they spawn.

I'd advise against rockets for this boss, unless you have a Gjallarhorn and a rack of seven rockets. The Mind itself is easily killable using non-explosive weapons, and you're best keeping a machine gun in your heavy slot to handle the adds. Also, it can be difficult to get a decent shot on the Mind with rockets, as it's protected by a rotating shield made of three parts. This differs to other shielded Hydras in Destiny, which usually have a single unbroken rotating arc (the Nexus is a good example). You have to get your shots through the gaps between the three pieces, and it's easy to hit the shield with rockets. You're better off using bullets.

The Mind encounter can be a long one if you aren't OP, and you'll encounter some nasty add spawns. The boss will begin the move from one end of the arena to the other, firing at any visible guardians as it goes. Simultaneously, waves of Vex will appear on both sides of the chamber. Bring the adds down as quickly as possible in favour of hitting the boss. It can be suicide to leave them hanging around.

If you don't have a void primary or heavy, I'd strongly advise you swap your special to a void fusion rifle or shotgun when the adds spawn. Just hide behind a rock for a second and switch over. You won't get very far against a load of yellow-barred, void-sporting, human-rushing Vex unless you have a decent face-to-face purple sledgehammer.

There's little else to add. Hit the Hydra on the nose whenever you can, kill the adds when they appear, keep your distance from the boss and don't die. Shoot the Mind in the face until it burns. Then dance on its stupid robot grave.

Head back for the rest of our Destiny guide.