How to complete the vault puzzles in Destiny 2’s ‘Zero Hour’

Solving vault puzzles in the reprised version of Destiny 2’s “Zero Hour” mission is required to complete the Vaulted Obstacles secret Triumph.

After you’ve earned Outbreak Perfected from Ada-1, you’ll need to find some hidden symbols in the mission itself and use them to unlock a door so you can input a secret code in the Cryptarch’s vault. For your trouble, you’ll get the groovy-looking Vimana Junker Exotic ship, which is themed after the Outbreak Perfected Exotic pulse rifle.

In this Destiny 2 guide, we’ll show you how to find each hidden code and what sequence to input inside the “Zero Hour” mission. If you’re after additional perks when crafting Outbreak Perfected, you’ll also need to find special switches in the “Outbreak Refined” weekly quest.

Note: Only two of the three puzzles are available at the time of this writing. The final puzzle will become available on May 28, and we’ll update this guide to reflect the terminal locations.

How do the vault puzzles work?

In order to solve the vault puzzle, you’ll need to input a special code sequence once you reach the Cryptarch Vault toward the end of the mission. However, some of the rooms you’ll need to access in order to input the sequences are blocked off, and you’ll need to unlock them.

In order to unlock the blocked rooms, you’ll need to have already found different consoles earlier in the “Zero Hour” mission and solve their puzzle.

If you successfully open a door on your run and then input the correct vault puzzle sequence, you’ll be able to earn a Vinma Junker Schematic and improve the Intrinsic perk for Outbreak Perfected, The Corruption Spreads.

This puzzle can be a little hard to describe in spots — at least until you have a baseline understanding of what you’re doing. So, if you want to see what this all looks like in practice before continuing on, check out Skarrow9’s video above.

You can do this puzzle on legend or normal difficulty, although you’ll have much more time on normal, so that’s what I recommend.

Console icon set 1

To unlock the first door for the first vault puzzle in “Zero Hour,” make your way to the main Tower courtyard. If you’re unfamiliar with the original Destiny, basically you just need to progress the mission until you fight the Brig in the open area — the second combat arena in the mission, after you emerge from the vent and run through the hallway. Kill everything in the encounter.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Before you move on, jump up on the oddly shaped building in the middle of the Courtyard — what used to be the postmaster and the Eververse store. Look back toward where you came from, and you’ll see a partially destroyed balcony over the stairway you just crawled through. Jump up there and look for the main column. On the side facing away from the balcony and the Traveler, you’ll see a terminal. Equip your Outbreak Perfected and activate the terminal.

Once you activate it, you’ll see a group of Siva symbols appear on the screen. You’ll also notice a timer appear on your UI, which says “Temporary Clearance Granted.” Look out into the combat arena and you’ll see a symbol has appeared on the top left tower. There are two other new symbols in this area, although you can’t see it from here.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Run around and look at the three symbols in the area:

1. Top-left tower
2. On the opposite side of the oddly shaped building you climbed on, facing the console
3. Near the exit of the arena, turn around and face the oddly shaped building and you’ll find the symbol attached to the outside balcony wall

The terminal you activated tells you which symbol you need to shoot with Outbreak Perfected first. Follow the directions and shoot the symbol it’s showing you. Once you’ve done that, the symbol on the terminal will shift, telling you the next one in the sequence.

The order you need to shoot the symbols in is random, so make sure to reference the console the first two times you fire. There’s also a little cheat sheet over by symbol 3 that will tell you the next symbol in the sequence if you don’t want to run all the way back. It looks like the Siva symbol, and is just a small hologram sitting on some rubble.

Once you’ve gotten the first two right, you just need to find and shoot the third.

After you’ve destroyed all three symbols, you’ll get a notification that access has been granted. Now, you can either move on to the second symbol set for the next puzzle or head straight to the vault puzzle 1 section for the solution.

Console icon set 2

For the second set of symbols, complete the first combat section of “Zero Hour,” and make your way to the rooftop area where the normal and legend missions diverge. Jump down like you’re about to take the normal path under the plane. But instead, pass the plane and run to the back wall that has the white panels on it.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

On the left side of the wall, you’ll see an open vent hole. Walk into it and you’ll find the terminal. Activate it to start your timer.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Just like in the first puzzle, look to the terminal to determine which symbol you need to hit. You can find symbols in three different places:

1. Behind the plane, by the stairs
2. On the second level, behind the stairs
3. On the third level, on the back side of the middle column, near the white pipes

Follow the terminal’s instructions and input the code in order using the floating symbols. More than the first puzzle, the Siva cheat sheet — which tells you which piece of the puzzle is next — will save you time here. You’ll find it sitting on the central pallet on the second level. If you’re playing with friends, it’s a good idea to keep one Guardian by the terminal to save you from running back and forth.

Once you input the code properly, the game will notify you that you’ve gained access to another vault door (listed as “Vault puzzle 2” in this guide). Continue through the rest of the mission until you reach the Cryptarch vault.

Vault puzzle 1

Once you arrive in the vault — remember, you need to have solved the “Console Icon 1” puzzle earlier in this guide — head past the pathway trap and into the area with all the relics and the big towers that look like servers. Do not drop down and continue toward the boss arena, as you won’t be able to come back up.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

On the left side of the room, you’ll see a TV monitor that shows multiple rooms with terminals in them, four “offline” rooms, and one “ERROR” room. You’ll also notice some shapes and arrows on the right side of the monitor.

The shapes represent the position of the terminals in the room, so the leftmost puzzle solution is for the square room, which is bottom left. The diamond room is top left.

Each of the small terminals on the map represent a console you can interact with. The arrows are showing you the order you’ll need to access the terminals.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Above is the order you need to press the terminal buttons in to solve the first puzzle, which is in the square room. If the square room is blocked off, it means you didn’t complete the first symbol puzzle earlier in the mission to unlock the door.

Look at the TV screen and orient yourself so your back is to the tile puzzle. The pink numbers (1, 2, 4, and 5) are for terminals inside the square room and the red numbers (3, 6) denote terminals you need to press in the hallway. The solution is:

1. Inside the square room, top-right
2. Inside the square room, bottom-right
3. In the relic hallway, bottom-left
4. Inside the square room, bottom-left
5. Inside the square room, top-left
6. Inside the relic hallway, top-left

If you mess up the sequence, it’ll tell you that you failed, and allow you to start again at the first terminal. You’ll know you were successful when you see the schematic and the Exotic Intrinsic upgrade pop up on your screen.

Vault puzzle 2

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Once you have solved the “Console Icon 2” puzzle, mentioned earlier in this guide, you can complete another vault puzzle.

This time, you’ll need to follow the arrows to figure out the order. But this time your focus is on the diamond room, which is the one in the upper left. Keep in mind that this room will only be open if you completed the second symbol puzzle earlier in the mission.

Once again, stand by the TV monitor, put your back to the tile puzzle, and face into the vault. This is how you need to read the map. In the image above, I’ve labeled the order you need to interact with the terminals. The pink numbers (1, 2, 3, 6) show the order of the terminals in the diamond room, while the red numbers (4, 5) show the order for the terminals in the hallway. The solution is:

1. Inside the diamond room, right
2. Inside the diamond room, bottom
3. Inside the diamond room, left
4. In the relic hallway, bottom-right
5. In the relic hallway, middle-right
6. Inside the diamond room, top

After you interact with all six terminals in a row, you’ll get another ship schematic and another upgrade to The Corruption Spreads, the intrinsic Exotic perk for Outbreak Perfected.