Nightmare Containment guide in Destiny 2: How to complete the seasonal activity

Destiny 2 Season of the Haunted arrives with many welcome additions to the game's content and player's inventory. While Guardians get new gear alongside the complete rework of the Solar subclass, Leviathan makes its appearance out of nowhere with more torment and despair than ever before.

Much like the season's title, "Haunted" currently refers to many things in Destiny 2. Rightly so, the Nightmares have taken center stage in the current seasonal activity. The activity is called Nightmare Containment, which can be accessed via a single node, further separating it into two versions.

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Once you access the Leviathan node within the Moon, you will see two versions, Castellum and Containment. The former is intended for players looking to explore the open world, while the latter is for those who want to participate.

Destiny 2 Nightmare Containment guide in Season of the Haunted (2022)

Step 1:

Castellum node on the Moon (Image via Bungie)

Get on the Moon and access the Castellum node to start things off. Launching the Containment version is recommended, as it will guarantee queueing you with players waiting to do the seasonal activity. While these nodes aren't locked, you can still choose to explore and do the activity on the same type in both versions of the Leviathan.

Step 2:

Once you have launched either one of the two versions of Leviathan, look for the red Crown of Sorrow waypoint after spawning. This will point you towards the primary objective of the Nightmare Containment. It usually starts near the entrance of the Pleasure Gardens, the Royal Pools, and down the stairs to the right from the spawning point.

The starting point of the activity (Image via Destiny 2)

Once started, you will see four squares on the left side of your screen, which will track the progress of each objective. For the first objective, collect Shards of Dread until the first square fills up. You can either defeat enemies to gain +1 Shards, or defeat a Shard Bearer, pick up the orb and dunk it to earn +10 towards the objective.

The second square will ask you to defeat two Psion bosses and two Egregor Atavists. These enemies will float in the air inside a bubble, so players must use melee to defeat them (similar to those in Vox Obscura). Once completed, the last two squares will require the same objectives. Finishing them off will spawn a final Cabal Nightmare boss, consisting of two phases.

Darkness Crux on the Leviathan (Image via Destiny 2)

Once this boss puts on his shield, it marks the end of phase 1. As requested, destroy the Darkness Crux to break down his shield and defeat him once and for all. Tier 2 of this activity contains the same encounters and mechanics, only with more challenging enemies.

Step 3:

Tier 3 and the final step in the Nightmare Containment (Image via Destiny 2)

For tier 3, the game will ask you to move to the Containment zone, as shown in the image above. Similar to previous tiers, place the Harvester and begin the encounter. This week, players will need to defeat Baron Machinist, who has three phases.

After draining its health in the first phase, you will need to destroy five Darkness Crux, marked with the Crown of Sorrow icon. Once destroyed, kill the two Scorn Abominations in the middle to begin phase 2. Repeat the same process to initiate phase 3.

End Chests from Nightmare Containment (Image via Destiny 2)

Seasonal Chest in Season 17 (Image via Bungie)

You can loot the Opulent Chest that spawns at the end, which also has a chance to drop an Opulent Key. Bind your Vestiges of the Dread on the Harvester located behind the Opulent Chest for seasonal gear.