How to unlock all Choir of One Exotic Catalysts in Destiny 2

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll teach you how to unlock all three catalysts — the Subsistence Catalyst, Destabilizing Rounds Catalyst, and Onslaught Catalyst — for Choir of One, as well as where to find all seven of the secret chests in the “Encore” Exotic mission.

Once you’ve finished the “Encore” mission and progressed the quest further, you can talk to Banshee-44 in the Tower and he’ll give you the “//Choir: Eternal” quest. This quest asks you to find the first secret chest in the “Encore” mission and then finish the mission on the Expert difficulty.

If Banshee doesn’t have the quest when you visit him, go collect the secret chests we’ve listed below and complete the mission on Expert. “//Choir: Eternal” is retroactive, and you’ll be able to pick up the Subsistence Catalyst even if you didn’t have the quest in your inventory when you did the steps.

Once you’ve finished the “Encore” mission once and progressed to the point where Banshee-44 will give you the “//Choir: Eternal” quest, he’ll also give you the “//Choir: Upheaval” quest. Like the first quest of its kind, you’ll need to complete the “Encore” mission on Expert while finding what it calls the “second” secret chest, but it’s actually the fifth secret chest (the in-game Triumph is ordered in a very bizarre fashion that doesn’t make any sense, so just scroll down to chest five in our guide to figure out how to do this one).

Like with “//Choir: Eternal,” you can retroactively unlock this Catalyst from Banshee if you’ve completed the mission on Expert at least once before and find all five chests available so far. Completing this quest will net you the Destabilizing Rounds Catalyst.

After you’ve claimed Choir of One for yourself and crafted it, return to Banshee-44 and he’ll give you the “//Choir: Escalate” Catalyst quest to go along with the above Catalyst quests. Like the others, Banshee will ask you to find a secret chest (which the quest calls “third,” but it’s actually the seventh chest on this list and the last one added to the mission) and complete the Encore mission on Expert.

This quest is retroactive, meaning if you find the “third” chest in the mission and have beaten it on Expert at least once (you don’t need to do it every week), you’ll instantly get the Onslaught Catalyst for your Choir of One.

During your first run through the “Encore” mission in Destiny 2, you’ll collect the NES007 sample once you reach Maya’s lab. Continue the “Rising Chorus: Act III” quest to complete the Specimen research, which will net you the Conductor’s Imprint Codes research instrument with Failsafe. This will enable you to return to the “Encore” Exotic mission and unlock new secrets.

Load into the Encore mission (Expert isn’t required to find the chests, but if you’re going for the Catalyst, you might as well) and progress through until just before the first puzzle. Instead of going right toward the CONNECTION node, go left.

You’ll find yourself in a room filled with dead portals and a spire switch. Access the switch and the room will start to come alive. Eventually a bunch of cubes will appear in the sky above where the spire was. Wait for a smaller cube to appear under one of the bigger ones. This small cube is an indicator of which one you should shoot first. Shoot the cubes in the correct order — by popping the one above the small cube and then waiting for the indicator to reappear —until you’ve destroyed all four. This will complete the first sync.

The cubes will then move to the four portals around the room. Once again, be patient and wait for the little cube to appear and guide you. Destroy all four in the proper order to fully awaken the Ancillary Transit Nexus and get the first secret chest.

Once you reach the second puzzle room, before you take the elevator up to the first portal node, you’ll see another access spire appear in the middle of your path (as long as you’ve completed the first secret chest and unlocked the nexus). Access it to open the portal to your right, which will take you back to the hub. Walk into the nexus and take the other portal on your left to return to the very beginning of the mission.

Near the Radiolaria waterfall, you’ll find yet another spire to access. Do so and it’ll spawn several bronze plates around the arena for you to shoot. To find them all, follow the faint white lines that connect each plate to the spire itself. Whenever you see a plate, shoot it with any weapon.

There are five total plates to shoot, and while none of them are hidden, they might be sitting on the back of a building or otherwise facing away from the spire. You have 90 seconds to get them all, which is more than enough time for this tiny arena.

Once you hit the final plate, you’ll earn the “Vector Extension” Triumph, get some bonus loot, and receive Command Frame 2, the upgrade to the Intrinsic perk for Choir of One.

Proceed through the mission until you reach the very end, just before you enter the boss arena. In Maya’s study, the Ishtar Research Facility, you’ll find another spire if you’ve activated the first secret chest. Approach it, access it, and a portal will appear at the back of the room. Go inside and cross the transit nexus to the portal across the room. Take it and you’ll appear in the Aberrant Code Containment area.

In front of you are five portals, a ton of ACCESS nodes, and two ACCESS modules. Above you, you’ll notice five purple blobs, some of which are shielded and have lasers pointing at them. Pop all five of those purple blobs before any of them respawn, so they’re all dead at once. They seem to be on a timer, which makes doing this in a group significantly more efficient.

To pop them, all you need to do is shoot them. The problem is you can’t shoot through the ceiling or through their square shields. So you’ll need to go through the portals to get a line of sight on the ones without shields first, which will cause the shields around the others to disappear. The other problem is that the portals are all jumbled up, and don’t directly correlate to the purple blob above them.

When you put an ACCESS module into an ACCESS node, it will light up the portal next to it. However, the portal will send out a line to one of the red diamonds above the other portals in the room and light it up. This is showing you where the portal will actually take you to. So, for example, if portal #1 is the left-most portal and you activate it, it will draw a line to portal #4, which is the fourth portal from the left. Going through portal 1 will put you above portal #4.

Through trial and error, learn where each portal connects. Once you’ve done that, look at the ceiling to see which purple blobs are unshielded, and teleport your allies to the correct places to deal with them. Once you destroy all of the blobs at once, the secret chest will spawn in the middle of the room.

The only other thing you have to worry about in this area is the legion of Vex that spawn here. They aren’t too tough unless you’re alone or on Expert, in which case you should either slow down to deal with them or have a dedicated add clear person.

Once you create the Nexus, activate the same portal that took you to the second secret chest we described above, the one just below the second puzzle room, near the first hammer spot. Go through the portal like you would to reach the second chest, but instead of turning left, you’ll see a new portal open across from you. Go through it.

While it may initially seem like you’re in the puzzle for the third secret chest, it’s actually a different puzzle in the same room. You’ll know you’re in the right spot if you see a giant, immune Minotaur in the middle of the room called the Hexahedric Mind. Once everyone is inside the area, a smaller Minotaur will spawn. Kill it and it’ll drop an ACCESS module. Once you have the module, walk into the little cube at the opening of the room to get started.

The little cube will shine above one of the dead portals in the room. Similar to the third secret chest, you’ll need to place the ACCESS module into an ACCESS node, which will activate a nearby portal and point a line to a different diamond. Try activating different ACCESS nodes until the line points at the diamond under the little cube. You’ll know you’ve activated the right node when the diamond under the cube turns white. Walk into the active portal.

You’ll appear in the room that correlates to the little cube. Some shootable Vex nodes will appear here, but do not destroy them yet. There are three options in each room, and you need to wait until the little cube appears next to one of them. Once it does, destroy the corresponding node and then run out the front of the room and back into the arena. If you do this correctly, destroying the node will drop the shield on the Hexahedric Mind, allowing you to damage it.

Attack the boss until you reduce its health by a third, which will cause the shield to come back up. Repeat this entire process three times to unlock the chest. Opening the chest will earn you the second Intrinsic perk upgrade for the Choir of One Exotic, Command Frame 3. Next to the chest, you’ll also find a new specimen for Failsafe, assuming you picked up her proximity sensor in the HELM.

To reach the fifth secret chest, progress through the mission until nearly the end, when you reach Maya’s lab. Open up the portal here by activating the pylon. But instead of going forward like you did for chest three, turn left and go through the new portal. You’ll find yourself in a completely different area, which acts as a kind of maze. To your left, you’ll see a new node: DELETION.

Head forward and keep to your right. Eventually, you’ll find a DELETION module bearer enemy — follow the Unknown Proximity Signal if you’re having trouble. Kill it and then go around the corner to find an odd Vex disc, which is what your Unknown Proximity Signal is actually leading you to. Interact with the disk to make the next signal appear.

Take your DELETION module to the node near the entrance of the area. Open it up and head inside. Because you found the disk, you’ll find another DELETION module bearer. Kill them and grab that module. Take it to the other node near where you killed the first minotaur and plug it in, then go back and grab the other to open the second DELETION door. Head up to the window and collect another Vex disc.

Take your two DELETION modules and take them back to the first node, near the opening portal. Put the first one in and then grab the second and place it in the node around the corner and to the left, which will lead you to the entrance of a cave. Go inside and you’ll find another disk. Activate it and then grab the DELETION module from the node you just put it in. Proceed along this path and place the DELETION module in the new node. Go right immediately and you’ll find a path that will lead you to another Minotaur. Kill it to get the ACCESS node.

Take the ACCESS node to its module, which is just past the most recent DELETION door you’ve opened. Head inside the portal and destroy the Minotaur on the other side to get a PARTITION module. Go around the corner and you’ll find the final Vex orb. Grab it and then place the PARTITION module into the node to open a shortcut back to the entrance of the area, where you’ll find the chest. Opening this chest will complete the “//Choir: Upheaval” quest from Banshee-44 and net you the Destabilizing Rounds Catalyst for your Choir of One Exotic.

To reach the sixth chest, you’ll need to create the Nexus and then travel through the portal by the first planetary piston hammer spot. Once you reach the Nexus, however, you’ll find there is no portal to the right for some reason. Instead, go through the left portal like you would to reach the second secret chest.

When you arrive, you’ll find the access node for the second secret chest and a new access node on the elevated stair platform where you first start “Encore.” Activate this new pylon to spawn in three Vex Minotaurs. Break the bubbles around them and start blasting, trying to kill them as fast as possible. Once they take some damage, they will teleport away and you’ll have to chase them down.

You have about 90 seconds to run around and destroy all of them. If you succeed, the sixth secret chest will appear by the access node. When you open it, you’ll earn the Command Frame IV, the final Intrinsic upgrade for Choir of One.

To reach the seventh and final secret chest, activate the Nexus and then head to Maya’s lab, just before the final boss. Activate the portal via the access node and step inside. This time, take the new portal on your right to reach the final puzzle room. You’ll find yourself in a square room with another square platform in the middle, protected by a barrier.

Clear the room of Vex, specifically the two Hydras waiting on the corners. This will spawn a CONNECTION module at the front of the room where you entered, as well as a Minotaur who will drop a Vex Head. You’ll also notice some orbs appear in the box in the middle of the room, behind the barrier.

Take the CONNECTION module and plug it into the nearby node, by where you came in. Then grab the Vex Head and go stand on the back left corner plate from the starting portal — where you killed the first Hydra. You’ll know you’re in the right spot when you see some rings appear to your right and left. Use the Vex Head laser to shoot through the rings that appear on your right, in front of the CONNECTION node you just activated. The CONNECTION module will create mirrors inside the barrier, and by shooting to the right, you’ll hit one, causing the laser to bounce inside of the box and destroy the orbs.

Now that you know how this puzzle works, you’ll need to repeat it a few times, but the basic idea here is to plug in a CONNECTION module wherever you see orbs appear.

Unplug the CONNECTION module from the front of the room and take it to the back, where you’ll find a barrier blocking you off from a second CONNECTION module. Ignore that from now and plug in your CONNECTION module to the back node. Then take your Vex Head to the back right Hydra platform, stand on it, and shoot across the back of the box to hit the mirror.

This will unlock the second CONNECTION module for you to use, and create more orbs. Take the CONNECTION modules and plug them into the front (starter) node and the left node. Then take the Vex Head to the back left platform and shoot across the left wall to hit the mirror and break more orbs.

For the final piece of the puzzle, take your CONNECTION modules to the right nodes and back node. Then stand on the back right platform and shoot across the right wall to open the barrier. Go inside to get the final chest, the Onslaught Refit, and the little pterodactyl bird/bats you need to complete Specimen ID: NES009 for Failsafe.