Dune Awakening Hephaestus Wreck location and walkthrough (A Sign From Above)

A Sign Above tasks Dune Awakening players to find and locate the Hephaestus Wreck and find a decoder somewhere among the wreckage. This is a quest deep into the game, and you can’t unlock it until you’ve wrapped up all of the Trial of Aql content and a few quests beyond that. This quest, interestingly enough, is also completely blocked off to players who don’t have an Ornithopter.

I also highly recommend having a Radiation Suit because it will no doubt be helpful. Bring your best weapons and gear with you, a cutteray, and plenty of medkits, because there’s gonna be fighting where you’re going. Oh, bring a light, too, just in case it's too dark. If you’ve begun A Sign from Above and need to find the Hephaestus Wreck in Dune Awakening, we’ve got you covered.

How to complete A Sign Above and the Hephaestus Wreck in Dune Awakening

Objectives for A Sign Above

Locate the Wreck of the Hephaestus
Find a way into the Cargo Bay
Find the container Cargo Bay
Find your way to the Bridge Section
Switch off the Emergency Override
Remove the Fuse Capacitor
Restart the Power Nacelles
Turn the Auxiliary Power on and search for an Ixian Decoder on the bridge
Escape the Wreck of the Hephaestus

Above, you’ll find all the steps for Dune Awakening’s A Sign Above quest at the Wreck of the Hephaestus. Should you be confused about it, we’ve broken it down into steps to make it easier.

1) Locate the Wreck of the Hephaestus

It won't be too hard to find this area, once you're on the world map (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

This is the reason why you absolutely must have an Ornithopter in Dune Awakening for A Sign from Above: Hephaestus Wreck is out on the World Map, and so you have to leave the boundaries of Hagga Basin. You’ll then see the wreck out on the world map, so fly directly to it.

To get to the world map, fly to whichever border of Hagga Basin is close to you and exit to the world map. You’ll find the wreck east/northeast of Harko Village, deep beyond the huge mountain range near Harko itself. It won’t be too hard to find on the world map once you’re actually on it.

Head to the Water Deposit north of Harko and then fly east until you find the wreck. If you get stumped, you can press "M" to track a location and select this wreck from the menu.

2) Find a way into the Cargo Bay

You're going to need to use your cutteray a lot in here - like cracking open this container (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

You will be deposited onto the map, where you’ll need to head forward and use your cutteray to break down the metal wall ahead. This is how you get into the Wreck of the Hephaestus in Dune Awakening for the first step of A Sign From Above.

Head forward down the path, and you’ll no doubt come across a few enemies that need to be defeated. Take them out, and turn to your right (from where you came in), to see a container you can interact with. Use your cutteray to scan this, and cut it open. Speak to the NPC, and then move on.

After you move on through the wreck, you’ll see a shielded room that requires a Retina Scan. This is easily found, turn around and look at the nearby NPC on the ground, and take their eyeball. Gross, but necessary. Enter the room, and the NPC (Dashing Noble) will begin to power up the Cargo Bay, but until that happens, you have to deal with enemies.

3) Find the Container Cargo Bay

You'll also need to break this open to progress through the quest (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

Once you’ve battered all the enemies, head to the upper area in this room, where you see the blue glow. For this step of A Sign from Above in Dune Awakening, interact with the object to Activate the suspensor crane. This will lift one of the boxes in the room, giving you a path forward.

Here’s where the Radiation Suit comes in handy. You’ll see the telltale glow of radiation ahead, so go ahead and put it on if you want. You can also use Iodine Pills if you prefer, but radiation suits are better.

Head forward down the path, and use your cutteray to break down the nearby door, for some loot, then head down the path the game puts you on. Head into the doorway on the right after going down the path, where you can scan and open various containers. North of the huge orb in the room, you should see a red glow against the wall; crack this container open. You will need to describe a few things to the NPC you’re in contact with by interacting with specific items found within:

Describe the Bene Gesserit costume
Describe the communinet device and its frequency
Describe the Orange Catholic Bible (book on the crate)

4) Find your way to the bridge section

This path is long, and will take you outside (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

You’ve got a clear path to move ahead in Dune Awakening’s A Sign Above quest, so head down this new path in the Hephaestus Wreck. There’s a small door that you can crack open for some loot and a larger door, which progresses you through the ship — well, outside the ship.

Head south, take out any enemies you find, and you’ll be on the correct path to the bridge section. Climb the wall when you find it, and follow the path, and you’ll eventually go back inside the ship. Enter the Blue Door when you get to it and watch the cutscene.

5) Switch off the Emergency Override

This might be the most important location in the ship; you come back here a few times to get your bearings (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

This part of the Dune Awakening A Sign Above quest is easy. Follow the quest marker until you see a machine that’s emitting sparks. Crack it open with the cutteray and interact with the panel to turn off the Emergency Override. However, this does summon a small swarm of enemies that you’ll have to defeat.

6) Remove the Fuse Capacitor

Don't worry; you won't be in the radiation long enough for it to be too dangerous (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

Next up in this Dune Awakening quest is the Fuse Capacitor, which is to the nearby right of the Emergency Override — which means head south down the path. This is technically a radiated area, but you won’t be here long. Just crack open the machine with your cutteray and interact with the fuse.

7) Restart the Power Nacelles

From the Emergency Override, just turn around and follow the quest marker (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

Get back to the main console (Emergency Override) for the next step of this Dune Awakening quest. Turn around and follow the quest marker to get to the Power Nacelles. Once again, scan, cut, and interact to restart the Power Nacelles.

8) Turn the Auxiliary Power on and Search for Ixian Decoder

You'll find the decoder on the table. Now, get ready to run! (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

Follow the quest marker in Dune Awakening back the way you came originally to another machine that you will scan and cut open to turn on the Auxillary Power to support the noble. From the Emergency Override, go west/southwest through a doorway. You’ll have to watch a cutscene, then go up to the white glowing orb. The Decoder is on the table.

9) Escape the Wreck of the Hephaestus

Treat this like Super Metroid, and RUN! (Image via Funcom || YouTube/@ConCon)

This part of Dune Awakening's A Sign from Above quest is timed, and you need to move fast. Just head down the path as fast as possible, using any movement skills you have. Once you’re outside, get a safe distance away, summon the Ornithopter, and head back to your base to turn in this quest. Conversely, if you want to keep going down the quest path, head to Harko Village, and turn it in there instead.

Check out our other Dune Awakening guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

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Edited by Jason Parker