**Excavation Site and Conservatory: shut down the laser and survive the descent**

**Excavation Site and Conservatory: shut down the laser and survive the descent** *Mission and boss spoilers ahead.* The dig site is a fight about sightlines. Bassus is a fight about space. The Conservatory then asks you to use the equipment you have been collecting rather than solve every room with the same rifle. Prepare for those changes before they happen and this section feels much less abrupt. **Approach the dig site and trigger the ambush** Follow the campaign marker to Excavation Site. Before approaching the Conservatory entrance, you can make the outside collectible stops below. When you approach the entrance, the mining laser starts and the Banished move in. Get out of the open immediately, clear a path to the mining machine and use a gravity lift to enter its upper control area. Attempt to shut the laser down at the controls. You now need to operate the two outside regulator terminals and destroy the cooling pylons they expose. Complete one regulator's targets, deal with the new enemies, then move to the other. Return to the control room after both sets are destroyed. Bassus interrupts the shutdown; defeat him, finish disabling the laser, then enter the newly accessible Conservatory. [Excavation objective sequence](https://t.co/ZP5b3QpL7Z) Avoid running straight from one yellow marker to the next while snipers still own the surrounding cliffs. Find their firing angles, remove the nearest threat and move between pieces of cover. A nearby enemy can be dangerous without being the enemy you should shoot first: the distant rifle covering your next crossing may be the real problem. **Normal:** make use of the weapon racks and experiment with different approaches to the regulator platforms. **Heroic:** reload before activating each terminal and expect another fight afterward. **Legendary:** do not start the next objective trigger while the last wave still has multiple angles on you. Clear a retreat route, then commit. **Excavation Site's collectibles** The mission site has **two audio logs, two Spartan Cores and one Mjolnir locker**. A nearby open-world audio log is often included in walkthroughs as a sixth stop; it is listed separately here so the mission inventory is not misleading. - **Southwest Spartan Core:** on the high ground overlooking the excavation from the southwest. Collect this before dropping to the bottom of the site. - **Mjolnir Armory:** below that southwestern overlook, at the base of the rocks on the lower level. It unlocks the Banished nameplate. - **Southeast Spartan Core:** enter the hangar on the site's southeastern side and climb onto its upper balcony for the crate. - **She Was Smiling, Prisoner:** inside the mining machine after its activation; search the end of the main interior corridor. - **Demon, Escharum's Testimony:** inside the same machine, near and opposite the laser-control console. [Site pickup landmarks](https://t.co/AGo3jDL5pS) **Nearby extra — roadside Spartan pad:** follow the road north/northwest from the site to the wrecked truck and ruined roadside position. The pad is beside the wreck. This is an open-world stop, not a secret inside the Conservatory. Guides may label it Home Away From Home, but Spartan recordings unlock sequentially within their set; track the wreck landmark rather than the recording title. [Nearby log reference](https://t.co/YWM5tXDOlD) **Bassus: leave yourself room to escape** Bassus carries a Gravity Hammer and can close the gap much faster than his size suggests. The mistake to avoid is standing by the controls, firing until he arrives, then discovering you have nowhere comfortable to move. Use the adjacent rooms and their height changes. Pull away with the Grappleshot, turn from a safer position and attack while you still have room to move again. Shock weapons or Dynamo grenades can disrupt his advance; use your stronger damage option when you have an opening. [Bassus arena and loadout guidance](https://t.co/xmGrWPzstv) On **Normal**, keep moving between attacks rather than trying to win a close-range damage race. On **Heroic**, start the fight with both weapons loaded and an escape surface already in mind. On **Legendary**, break off early: the correct moment to leave is before the hammer is above your head. A burst that deals modest damage and leaves you alive is better than an impressive opening followed by a restart. Do not make a “safe spot” your entire plan. If he changes position or reaches the platform, move. This route does not depend on trapping his AI, an unlimited-ammo weapon or an out-of-bounds perch. **Conservatory: power the doors and collect your equipment** Enter through the excavation opening and follow the interior route to its access terminal. Inspect the fallen Spartan beyond it to obtain the **Drop Wall**. Continue through the combat rooms. At the first unpowered door, take the nearby seed and insert it into the socket. Later, in the larger room with two sockets, retrieve the seeds from the elevated walkways on opposite sides and install them to open the next route. [Early Conservatory progression](https://t.co/gOF2pciiHd) Do not carry a seed across an active firing lane if you can first remove the shooter. Clear the room, identify both seed positions, then perform the interaction. Be ready for fresh opposition after powering the sockets. Use the Drop Wall as temporary help during a reload or crossing, not as a permanent bunker. At the following central terminal, advance the scene with Despondent Pyre, take the newly opened passage and descend through the next rooms. Camouflaged sword Elites make the Threat Sensor valuable here. Place it before crossing into an uncertain space. Clear the highlighted attacker before dropping into the next section. [Middle-room route](https://t.co/sDPw5Bchxv) **The Skimmer defense and the exit** At the central chamber, use the access terminal and survive the ensuing attack. Skimmers arrive alongside other Banished as the encounter develops. Take exposed flying targets quickly, but do not fixate on one while a ground enemy flanks you. Use the room's geometry and movement routes to keep a solid object between you and part of the wave. On **Normal**, a steady precision weapon is enough to keep the flying enemies under control. On **Heroic**, rotate before the room becomes a crossfire. On **Legendary**, preserve a clear side of the arena and remove the enemies threatening that space first. Throwing a grenade into a cluster is useful; standing still to admire it is not. Retrieve the Weapon from the terminal when prompted. In the next section, inspect the second fallen Spartan to obtain the **Thruster**. Push through the remaining rooms toward the final elevator. Two heavily armored Chieftains with Scrap Cannons guard the approach. Engage from distance, focus one down and use the cleared space to fight the other. Once the room is secure, activate the elevator and continue to the surface scene. [Late Conservatory route](https://t.co/CKR3IlJnd4) The Conservatory has no hidden skulls or audio-log pickups to sweep for. The Drop Wall and Thruster are the important equipment acquisitions. Finish the route, then take stock of your upgrades before the next major fight rather than repeatedly searching empty side corridors.