How to unlock Deterministic Chaos in Destiny 2: Lightfall

Jack Grimshaw
The Deterministic Chaos sits in Neomuna

Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion offers a lot of cool new weapons to slay the forces of darkness (and sometimes other Guardians) with. One of these is the new exotic void machine gun, Deterministic Chaos. The weapon packs a punch and comes with the Cloud Strider aesthetic that your new pal Nimbus sports.

The machine gun has the Intrinsic Trait, Heavy Metal. While holding down the trigger, every fourth bullet becomes a heavy projectile that ‘Weakens’ targets on impact. It also has the Intrinsic Trait, Vexadecimal, while holding down the trigger, every fourth Heavy Metal projectile also makes targets ‘Volatile’ on impact.

Deterministic Chaos drops from an exotic quest in Destiny 2: Lightfall that can be acquired once you have completed the main Lightfall campaign. Nimbus will be waiting at Strider’s Gate with a quest called Unfinished Business that will set you on your path toward getting the new exotic machine gun. 

Nimbus starts this genuinely great quest

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 1 and 2

The first step is to enter the Hall Of Heroes, near where Osiris has been hanging out during the campaign. Here, you need to interact with a door and watch a short cutscene. Return to Nimbus in their usual spot to continue.

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 3

The next step in the quest is tougher to understand, as the quest’s information is obtuse. What you need to do is find Vex in Neomuna and defeat them. These enemies will drop Cipher Qubits, which you can keep track of in the quest tab. Once you have eight Qubits, you will need to hunt down and collect a Cloud Accretion, Neomuna’s planetary resource.

One Cloud Accretion will consume eight Qubits and provide you with a data packet. You’ll need to grab 40 Cipher Qubits in total, which you can farm all at once before hunting down the five Cloud Accretions needed. A quick and easy way to complete this is to run through the Thrilladrome lost sector in Liming Harbour, which contains plenty of Vex and Cloud Accretion.

You’ll be fighting a lot of Vex through Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 4 and 5

Next, you need to collect the final data packet in Maya’s Retreat in Neomuna – the place you traveled to in the campaign when mastering Strand. The area is to the East of Liming Harbour and can be accessed by following the quest waypoint. Once at the location, you will need to defeat a few waves of increasingly powerful Vex. Once you’re through, interact with a Conflux to acquire the final data packet.  

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 6

To complete the sixth step you will need to make your way into Radiosonde, the large ship in Liming Harbour to meet Osiris and Nimbus. Follow the waypoint from the nearby fast travel zone and blast through more Vex until you reach the bridge.

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 7

Next, you will need to get ahold of a Vex Compass to create a passkey and gain access to Deterministic Chaos’ location. To find one head into and complete the Thrilladrome Lost Sector. This is to the north of Liming Harbour and can be accessed through a vent on the second floor of a building interior. 

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 8

Once you’ve finished the Lost Sector, cause some chaos by killing enemies in Ahimsa Park. Using abilities will progress the step faster. Enemies frequently roam around the large multistory building in the center, and if you are lucky, a Terminal Overload event will be active in the zone, giving you a large concentration of foes to kill.

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 9 and 10

For Step 9 you must acquire a Seed Of Silver Wings, an item that may be familiar to Destiny 2 veterans. This one is kept in Calus’ ship, the Typhon Imperator. Head inside the ship and follow the path used to reach the Radial Mast during the campaign. In the large Colosseum room, you can interact with a bookshelf to acquire the item.

You’ll venture into the Typhon Imperator for a key item.

Quickly return to Nimbus for a chat, then head to Maya’s Retreat once more, where you will be able to start the mission What Remains.

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 11

What Remains is a fairly lengthy mission that is at a recommended light level of 1770, so make sure you are geared up before going in as there are no checkpoints once you’ve started. Most of the mission is straightforward with a few jumping puzzles and combat arenas. There will be moments when you will have to shoot at angled panels to hit Vex cubes behind barriers, but these aren’t too complicated. 

Towards the end of the mission you will receive Deterministic Chaos, and from that point on the level will be filled with pools that refill your heavy ammo, so hold down that trigger and see what this machine gun can really do.

Surprise, you’re going to the Black Garden

Unfinished Business Exotic Quest – Step 12 and 13

At this point, you have Deterministic Chaos and could call it a day, but there are a couple more quest steps to complete. Visit Nimbus in Strider’s Gate, and chat with Osiris in the Hall Of Heroes to tick this questline off your to-do list. 

Congratulations you now have Deterministic Chaos. Make sure to work with your fireteam to make the most of the weakening shots, allowing everyone in your fireteam to benefit, while still doing respectable damage yourself.

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About The Author

Jack is a freelance games journalist based in the UK, and spends far too much time playing as many games as he possibly can. He can often be found in the editor of Arma 3 scripting custom missions, fighting the forces of Darkness in Destiny 2, eating a surplus of cheese or petting strange dogs in the street. If a game exists, then there is a good chance he will be ready to write about it.