Destiny 2 Terminal Overload and keys explained

Play the new Destiny 2 Terminal Overload activity on Neomuna to get some exclusive new Lightfall weapons and loot to help you unlock Strand and more. Terminal Overload is a public activity for up to six players to complete while patrolling Neomuna, and it’ll see you battling both the Vex and Shadow Legion invasion forces as they vie for control. Once the final boss is down, you’ll get the opportunity to score some Destiny 2 loot, perhaps using a Terminal Overload Key that you’ve scooped up from elsewhere on Neomuna. Here's everything you need to know about the new Destiny 2 Lightfall activity, including what Terminal Overload loot you can expect to get and how you can get keys for the bonus chest.

How to complete Terminal Overload in Destiny 2

The new Terminal Overload activity is a multi-stage Public Event for up to six players that changes to a new Neomuna location each day – it cycles through Zephyr Concourse, Ahimsa Park, and Liming Harbor in that order. It also offers decent reward, such as essential Strand Meditations, Neomuna Rank, and exclusive Neomuna weapons, but you'll need to spend a Terminal Overload Key on a bonus chest to get the best items. I’ll get into exactly what rewards are on offer further down, but here’s a basic rundown of the whole event and how each objective works:

Stage 1:

1. Defeat Shadow Legion forces.
2. Capture the Vex sync plate: Stand on the plate until it has been fully captured, then kill Arc Cranium Bearer Minotaurs and use the Arc Cranium laser to destroy the Vex cubes.
3. Defeat the Minotaur Accompli boss.
4. Defeat Ludus, Array Foreguard: At half-health, Ludus will summon Cabal shield domes that must be destroyed by shooting the generators inside the domes.

Stage 2:

1. Defeat Shadow Legion forces.
2. Capture the Vex sync plate: Stand on the plate until it has been fully captured, then kill Arc Cranium Bearer Minotaurs and use the Arc Cranium laser to destroy the Vex cube nodes.
3. Defeat the Minotaur Harpax boss.
4. Defeat Psion Spotters and Testu’udo, Array Bulwark: At the start of this wave, you’ll need to take down three marked Psions that are calling for air strikes in the area. Once they’re dead, focus on the Testu’udo tank. Once you get it down to about half its health, three more Psion spotters will be summoned, so kill them and then get back to destroying the tank.

Stage 3:

1. Defeat Sizmic the Net-Desecrator: At the start of the boss fight, Sizmic will have an impenetrable shield, but you can bring it down by defeating a nearby, glowing Phalanx enemy and standing in the aura it leaves behind. This will give you the temporary Shield Breaker buff, allowing any damage you deal to break Sizmic’s shield.
2. Defeat Protometon, Nexial Hijacker: This massive Minotaur boss summons a shield and four shield nodes for every third of its health it loses. Destroy the nodes to bring down its shield and start dealing some damage again until it’s dead. Now you can get some loot!

Destiny 2 Terminal Overload loot and rewards

Terminal Overload features a mix of random loot, resources, and fixed Neomuna weapon drops. There are also three weapons – the Synchronic Roulette SMG, Basso Ostinato Shotgun, and Circular Logic Machine Gun – that are exclusive to a particular Terminal Overload location. You’ll want to open both the regular reward chest and the Terminal Overload Key chest to get the full range of loot. Here’s what you can expect to get from each chest in Terminal Overload – bold items are guaranteed drops:

Rewards chest:

• 100 Neomuna Rank
• Rare and Legendary gear drops from the world loot pool
• Terminal Overload Key

Terminal Overload Key chest:

• 225 Neomuna Rank
• 75 Strand Meditations
• Legendary gear drops from the world loot pool
• Exclusive Terminal Overload Neomuna weapon (only guaranteed once you have the Terminal Overload Key Chest upgrade from Nimbus. You must reach Neomuna Rank 16 to unlock it)
• If in Zephyr Complex – Circular Logic Machine Gun (Strand)
• If in Ahimsa Park – Basso Ostinato Shotgun (Void)
• If in Liming Harbor – Synchronic Roulette SMG (Strand)
• Seasonal Engrams
• Seasonal Keys

How to get Destiny 2 Terminal Overload Keys

One Terminal Overload Key is required to open the bonus loot chest found after beating the final boss of stage 3. However, to even start gathering Terminal Overload Keys, you must complete the Stargazer quest which is tied to the Hall of Heroes. This quest serves as a bit of a tutorial to these keys and you’ll be able to get them freely from the below methods after the quest is over.

Once you have a key, the Terminal Overload Key chest can only be opened once per Terminal Overload event. Thankfully, these keys aren’t actually that difficult to get, with several methods of getting them on Neomuna:

• Complete Public Events: Low chance of obtaining a Terminal Overload Key upon completion.
• Complete patrols: Low chance of obtaining a Terminal Overload Key upon completion.
• Open any chests: Low chance of getting a Terminal Overload Key from a chest. This includes world chests, Lost Sector chests, and even the regular reward chest at the end of Terminal Override.
• Complete the Terminal Rewards bounty from Nimbus: This bounty can be acquired once per day and is guaranteed to give you a Terminal Overload Key once you complete it and hand it in. However, you can only get this bounty once you have completed the Destiny 2 Lightfall campaign and have reached Neomuna Rank 13 with Nimbus.

How to farm Neomuna loot and Terminal Overload rewards in Destiny 2

This farming strategy will likely be fixed by Bungie in a future patch, so make the most of it while you can. To maximize your loot from Terminal Overload, you need to open the final regular loot chest multiple times – that’s the one that does not require a Terminal Overload Key to open. Here’s exactly how you do that:

1. Complete a Terminal Overload event and loot the regular chest. If you’ve got a Terminal Overload Key, loot the bonus chest too!
2. Immediately hop on your Sparrow and drive to one of the other main areas of Neomuna. These are the routes I recommend:
3. Zephyr Complex > Liming Harbor
4. Ahimsa Park > Zephyr Complex
5. Liming Harbor > Zephyr Complex
6. Turn your Sparrow around as soon as you see the new location name pop up on the left of your screen, then zoom back to the Terminal Overload chests.
7. Get off your Sparrow and loot the regular Terminal Overload chest again.
8. Repeat steps 2-4 until the chest despawns. You should be able to loot the chest two or three times, depending on your speed, massively increasing the amount of loot you normally get.