Destiny 2’s newest endgame activity, Escalation Protocol, has some interesting and powerful loot tied to it. This week’s Escalation Protocol boss can be farmed for weapons if players are coordinated. Here’s how to increase your chances at snagging one of the powerful Ikelos weapons from Naksud, The Famine.

Sunbreaker and Voidwalker

Team composition for this Destiny 2 encounter is crucial. Teams should have one Titan running Hammer Strike and Tractor Cannon. Warlocks should be running Voidwalker to do massive damage to the boss. Nightstalker Hunters with Orpheus Rig are also helpful for controlling adds, as there will be many of them.

Once you get to wave seven of Escalation Protocol, Naksud will spawn. Take out the Shriekers in the area and do damage to the boss. The key is to get the boss to about a third of its health and stop damaging it. Along the way, though, packs of Thrall will spawn that, if they explode near the boss, will heal it. It's not game over if the boss regains its health, but it can throw off the timing. Nightstalker Hunters can use their tethers to create orbs of light for the Voidwalkers, to control the Thrall, and to take out the Wizards that spawn periodically.

Once the boss is at one third, wait until there are eight seconds left in the event, then have the titan use Hammer Strike and Tractor Cannon in quick succession on the boss. Once Naksud is debuffed, unload Voidwalker Nova Bombs and high damage void weapons like Rocket Launchers or Full Auto Shotguns.

If done correctly, the boss will die right as the timer reaches zero, dropping loot but not the completion chest. The fireteam will know everything worked if a message appears in the kill feed that says “The Darkness holds steady…”

Once the team activates a new Escalation Protocol station they should be at level 6, allowing players to restart at six and quickly get back to level seven and the boss. Because the weapons drop from the boss and not the chest, this makes the weapons easily farmable. This week’s boss can drop any of the three Ikelos weapons, so this quick method increases the chance of getting these powerful rewards. As a note, make sure that the same person always starts the encounter and no one triggers patrols to avoid any possible glitches causing the team to lose progress.

With the recent nerf to Escalation Protocol difficulty, this method should be a little easier than before, but it is still recommended to have as many players as possible working together to ensure that the boss dies at the appropriate time. Doing this method should help get players the Ikelos weapons significantly faster, even with the reported 5% drop rate.

Destiny 2: Warmind is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.