1. 🌌 Open the Dark Aether Nexus

Work your way through the Tomb until you reach the Subterranean Temple.

You’ll eventually reach the pedestal where the crew can place the amulet obtained at the end of Citadelle des Morts.

Place it.

The gateway opens into:

🌌 DARK AETHER NEXUS.

This also gives you access to:

🔫 PACK-A-PUNCH.

The Nexus becomes the central hub for basically everything we’re about to do.

2. ❄️ Start building the Staff of Ice

The Staff requires:

🔍 Monocle

❄️ Head Piece

🦯 Staff Piece

You can do the two mural pieces in either order, but the Monocle is round-gated.

3. 🔍 Get the Monocle

Reach:

ROUND 8.

A:

👹 SHOCK MIMIC

will spawn.

Defeat it.

It drops:

🔍 MONOCLE.

Pick it up.

One piece down.

4. 🟣 Move the Dark Aether Lantern

Now we’re doing the two mural puzzles.

There are purple Dark Aether Lanterns that move between positions when shot.

For the first puzzle, head to the:

🪨 NEOLITHIC CATACOMBS

near Deadshot Daiquiri.

Keep shooting the lantern until it relocates to the position near the crafting table and illuminates the wall.

You’ll see a collection of strange symbols corresponding to:

ROMAN NUMERALS.

5. 🔢 Solve the first Roman Numeral mural

Shoot the symbols in:

1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10

order.

You’re not shooting literal I, II, III markings—the mural uses symbols representing those values.

If you make a mistake, you can retry rather than losing the entire quest.

Once entered correctly:

🚨 LOCKDOWN.

6. 🧟 Survive the Catacombs lockdowns

Purple wisps move through the area and trigger several combat sections.

Stay with the sequence and clear the enemies at each location.

You’ll encounter enemies including:

🧟 Zombies

👹 Doppelghasts

⚡ Shock Mimics

Finish the entire sequence.

The wall produces:

❄️ HEAD PIECE.

Grab it.

7. 🐂 Solve the Bull mural

Now head to:

⚰️ TOMBS

near Death Perception.

Again, manipulate the Dark Aether Lantern until it illuminates the correct mural—this one features a bull.

Now shoot the symbols in numerical order again.

This puzzle uses:

1 → 8.

Complete another series of lockdowns.

At the end:

🦯 STAFF PIECE ACQUIRED.

8. ❄️ Build the STAFF OF ICE

You should now have:

🔍 Monocle

❄️ Head Piece

🦯 Staff Piece

Return to the:

🌌 DARK AETHER NEXUS.

Go to the large stone structure in the middle.

Place the components.

And naturally…

🚨 DEFEND IT.

The construction takes roughly a minute.

Pay particular attention to enemies surrounded by purple smoke/energy because they’re the ones specifically attacking the Staff. If they damage it too much, the build fails and you’ll have to retry on a later round.

Survive.

Then interact with the structure.

❄️ STAFF OF ICE ACQUIRED.

Origins nostalgia:

ACTIVATED.

😂

9. ❄️ Freeze THREE Aether Lanterns

We’re not finished with the Staff.

We need to upgrade it.

And this first challenge is:

⏱️ THREE LANTERNS IN ABOUT 10 SECONDS.

Find three Dark Aether Lanterns in different areas and position them beforehand so you have an easy route.

Then use the:

❄️ STAFF OF ICE

to freeze all three rapidly.

If you’re too slow, reposition and retry.

You’ll hear dialogue when you’ve successfully completed the step.

10. 🪨 Find THREE symbol rocks

Return to the:

🌌 DARK AETHER NEXUS.

Look upward at the floating rocks.

Three of them have symbols associated with them.

Shoot each marked rock using the Staff of Ice.

The rock lowers, allowing you to clearly see its symbol.

⚠️ WRITE DOWN ALL THREE.

The active symbols can vary between matches.

11. 🚪 Find the blocked portal

After identifying all three symbols, one of the four Nexus exits becomes:

🚫 BLOCKED.

Use a different portal to return to the Tomb.

Travel to the outside end of whichever portal became blocked.

You’ll see:

EIGHT SYMBOLS.

Among them are the three symbols you just recorded.

Using the Staff of Ice, shoot:

Symbol #1

Symbol #2

Symbol #3

The order doesn’t matter; choosing the correct three does.

12. 😬 DON’T GET DROPPED

The portal reopens.

Enter it.

If your symbols were correct:

✅ YOU LAND ON A FLOATING PLATFORM.

There’s a purple orb waiting for you.

If your symbols were wrong…

👋 BYE.

The platform can dump you, and you’ll need to retry the puzzle on a later round.

Zombies Easter Eggs:

“Did you memorize the three weird symbols?”

Me:

“I thought I did.”

AAAAAAAAAA—

😂

13. 🟣 Escort the Purple Orb

Interact with:

🟣 THE ORB.

It begins floating around the Dark Aether Nexus.

Stay close.

Kill enemies around it to feed it souls.

⚠️ CO-OP:

All players need to stay reasonably close during the escort.

Stray too far away and the step can fail.

Follow it until it reaches the central Staff structure.

14. ❄️ UPGRADE THE STAFF

Once the Orb enters the central structure:

Equip the Staff.

Interact with it.

And—

❄️✨ ULL’S ARROW ACQUIRED.

The upgraded Staff gets its stronger charged attack plus its alternate healing function, which can also revive teammates.

And we’re going to need that healing end immediately.

Because now it’s:

STATUE TIME.

15. 🕷️ BLUE — VERMIN TRIAL

Near the blue portal in the Dark Aether Nexus is a:

🕷️ VERMIN STATUE.

Switch Ull’s Arrow to its healing end.

Shoot the statue’s crystal.

Take the glowing energy.

Now go through the blue portal to the starting area.

At the bottom of the pit is another Vermin statue.

Deposit the energy.

🚨 VERMIN LOCKDOWN.

Survive the Vermin swarm before time runs out.

16. 🏃 RETURN THE VERMIN ENERGY

Once the trial is finished:

Interact with the statue again.

Take its energy.

Now you’re on the clock.

🏃 MOVE.

Return through a portal into the Dark Aether Nexus and bring the energy back to the original Vermin statue.

Deposit it.

🔵 TRIAL #1 COMPLETE.

17. 🪰 YELLOW — PARASITE TRIAL

Find the:

🪰 PARASITE STATUE

near the yellow portal in the Nexus.

Shoot its crystal using Ull’s Arrow’s healing end.

Take the energy.

Exit through the yellow portal toward:

SHRINE OF THE HIEROPHANTS.

Deposit it into the matching statue.

Now the Parasite trial begins.

18. 🟣 Kill the PURPLE Parasites

Parasites swarm the area.

But pay particular attention to the ones that turn:

🟣 PURPLE.

Kill those.

They drop small purple energy orbs.

Pick them up and deposit them into the statue.

Continue until you’ve satisfied the trial.

Then retrieve the energy and rush it back to the original Nexus statue.

🟡 TRIAL #2 COMPLETE.

19. 👹 GREEN — DOPPELGHAST TRIAL

Find the Doppelghast statue near the:

🟢 GREEN PORTAL.

Use Ull’s Arrow’s healing end.

Take the energy.

Go through the green portal and bring it to the matching statue in:

⚰️ OSSUARY

near Speed Cola.

Deposit it.

And…

👹 DOPPELGHAST PARTY.

😂

20. 🟢 Survive the Doppelghast trial

Multiple Doppelghasts attack.

But that’s not your only problem.

🔴 LASERS

also sweep across parts of the floor.

Avoid the environmental hazards while surviving the enemies.

Finish the trial.

Retrieve the energy.

Rush it back to the Nexus.

Return it to the original statue.

🟢 TRIAL #3 COMPLETE.

21. 👾 RED — AMALGAM TRIAL

Last one.

Find the:

👾 AMALGAM STATUE

near the red portal.

Use the healing side of Ull’s Arrow.

Grab the energy.

Exit through the red portal and take it to the matching statue near:

❤️ QUICK REVIVE.

Deposit it.

An:

👹 AMALGAM

spawns.

Except there’s a problem.

It’s protected by:

🟣 A SHIELD ORB.

22. 💥 Break the Amalgam’s protection

The shield orb tethers itself to nearby zombies.

Use the Staff of Ice to freeze and kill the tethered enemies.

Doing so removes the Amalgam’s protection.

Now:

UNLOAD.

Defeat the Amalgam.

Retrieve the energy.

Return to the Dark Aether Nexus.

Deposit it into the original statue.

🔴 TRIAL #4 COMPLETE.

23. 🌌 THE BRIDGE APPEARS

With all four trials completed:

🔵 Vermin

🟡 Parasite

🟢 Doppelghast

🔴 Amalgam

huge purple beams shoot toward a previously inaccessible section of the Nexus.

And this is where we stop.

Because:

⚠️ BOSS FIGHT AHEAD.

24. 🔫 IMPORTANT BOSS PREP

Here’s something extremely important that my old guide didn’t emphasize:

❌ THE STAFF DOES NOT DAMAGE THE BOSS.

Neither do explosive weapons.

The Sentinel Artifact itself takes damage from ordinary bullet weapons, so you want a strong conventional weapon upgraded as far as you reasonably can.

So don’t walk into the finale thinking:

“I’ve got Ull’s Arrow. I’m unstoppable.”

Sentinel Artifact:

“That’s adorable.”

😂

25. 🌉 Enter the boss arena

Return to the Dark Aether Nexus.

Follow the purple beams.

Interact with the pedestal underneath the glowing archway.

A bridge forms.

Cross it.

At the center is what we’ve been hunting since Citadelle:

🏺 THE SENTINEL ARTIFACT.

Interact with it.

In co-op, everyone must accept the vote.

⚠️ POINT OF NO RETURN.

26. 🏺 SENTINEL ARTIFACT — PHASE ONE

The Artifact begins rotating while firing a:

🔴 LASER.

Keep moving around the arena or use the terrain as cover.

Zombies spawn while the Artifact is protected.

Survive until it changes to:

🟣 PURPLE.

That’s your damage window.

🔫 OPEN FIRE.

27. 🏺 MORE ARTIFACTS

The encounter keeps cycling.

And every time you’re thinking:

“Okay, surely we’re almost done…”

The game basically says:

“HERE’S ANOTHER LASER.”

😂

More projections/copies of the Sentinel Artifact begin appearing.

Eventually you can be dealing with:

FOUR ROTATING LASERS.

Keep using the upper and lower sections of the arena to avoid the sweeps.

28. 👹 Elite-carrier phases

Later phases add tougher enemies into the fight.

Some phases require dealing with elite enemies associated with the Artifact before you can continue damaging it.

So the encounter becomes:

🏃 Dodge lasers

→ 🧟 Clear enemies

→ 👹 Deal with elites

→ 🟣 Wait for Artifact vulnerability

→ 🔫 BULLET DAMAGE

→ REPEAT.

29. 💥 FINAL PHASE

Eventually you’ll reach the last Artifact damage sequence.

And this is the dangerous part because you don’t have forever.

The final Artifact becomes vulnerable.

🔫 THROW EVERYTHING YOU HAVE INTO IT.

This is exactly why we brought a fully upgraded bullet weapon rather than relying entirely on Ull’s Arrow.

Keep firing.

Keep firing.

KEEP FIRING.

Until—

💥💥💥

🏺 SENTINEL ARTIFACT DEFEATED.

The ending cinematic plays and the crew finally gets possession of the object we’ve been chasing.

🏆 THE TOMB — COMPLETE