Has your Steel Path Derelict (or soon to be Deimos) progression been stalled by that pesky Derelict Emissary Assassination node? Look no further than this guide for the most thorough Zealoid Prelate guide for Steel Path!
Introduction
So, let’s say you’ve been bulldozing Steel Path with Saryn or Baruuk for every planet and then remembered “oh yeah, the Derelict exists!”. You go and waltz through the normal Derelict nodes, spend a good chunk of time taking Lephantis down a few pegs, and realize there’s only one node left. “Well, no big deal, it’s just an Infested assassination mission.”
Then you got your world rocked by the Zealoid Prelate’s Pathocyst, or can’t seem to figure out how to do effective damage to him. Fear not, for you are already in the right place!
Wait, Derelict Emissary?
If you’re reading this, and by some chance you missed Nightwave Season 2, a new node was added to the Derelict called Emissary Assassinate.
You can buy the key from the Market for 2500 Credits:
This key takes an hour to craft, so if you don’t already have one you may as well get started on building it now.
Punting the Prelate: Boss Resistances, Recommended Setup
The Prelate is by far one of the tankiest, if not the tankiest boss in the Steel Path. With about 3.4M EHP (all Infested flesh!), this tough bastard is resistant against Radiation and Viral, neutral to Corrosive and Toxin, and weak to Gas, Fire, and Slash. He wields the Pathocyst, an Infested Glaive that also occasionally shoots exploding fly-grenades at you.
He’s also got a very similar friend called the Zealoid Bastion, who you’ll need to kill in Phase 2. Luckily, he has much less health and shares the same resistances as the Prelate.
You’ll want a high damage melee weapon with a lot of reach, and preferably Life Strike for self-healing should you take damage. Gunblades such as the Redeemer / Redeemer Prime or Stropha are preferable. Mod for Gas and Slash; there’s no armor to strip here.
As an example, here is the Stropha build I used:
You will want a frame with self-healing capability, extremely high HP and armor, or complete damage negation; Inaros, Valkyr, Saryn, or Rhino are all good choices. For a risk-reward playstyle, you could also choose Chroma – but building up Vex Armor off of the boss is ill-advised. You may just get dropped.
I chose Saryn with the Regenerative Molt augment for extra self-healing, the ability to divert the Prelate and the Infested that continuously spawn throughout the fight, and for extra damage from Toxic Lash.
Please note that this Saryn build was made on the spot for survivability, and is not entirely optimal.
Pummeling the Prelate: Tactics
Going forward, this guide assumes you know the basics of locating the boss. Surely you didn’t get this far into Steel Path reading guides alone?
Phase 1
The Prelate fight begins with a simple tank-n-spank. Keep your distance from the Prelate, as direct melee combat will likely get you chunked down from 100 to 0 in about a second. At range, you have the capability to dodge his Pathocyst’s grenades as well as avoid taking direct melee damage. You can shoot the grenades or hit them with melee slam attacks once they have landed to detonate them without taking any damage. You can use specters to temporarily divert the Prelate’s attention as well.
Keep this up until the Prelate reaches half health.
Phase 2
The Prelate will cutscene you and teleport further into the Derelict. Pursue him until you enter his large chamber (with an Infested arboriform in the middle).
The Prelate (and all additional Infested) will begin this phase immune. In order to do damage, you need to acquire one of Arlo’s Lanterns from the Zealoid Bastions; these are marked with a red assassination marker. Once the Zealoid Bastion is dead, the lantern is dropped; this lantern works like a Datamass and is picked up with your Interact key.
You will be immediately surrounded with a ring of light, which strips the immunity from nearby Infested as well as the Zealoid Prelate. Killing Infested of any kind within this ring will increase the lantern’s remaining duration. You must keep killing Infested within this ring of light, or the lantern will shatter, and you are forced to obtain another.
From here, every 20% of the Prelate’s remaining HP you damage him for, he will trigger the intermission phase.
Intermission Phase
The Prelate teleports to the top of the room and becomes invulnerable, overloading your lantern. You should switch to your Primary or otherwise drop the lantern, or it will explode and temporarily blind you.
He then starts to leech the HP of all remaining Infested in the room to heal himself. Kill as many of them as you can to stall his healing; killing every single one is not required, but it will save you that much more time.
When all Infested have died, or the Prelate leeches the health from the Infested who are left alive, Phase 2 begins again. Each time you reach this phase, the following Phase 2 will spawn tougher infested. This culminates in the final 20% of the Prelate’s health bar spawning Undying Flyers, Leaping Thrashers, and Eximus units.
The Prelate Perishes: What next?
Killed the Prelate? Congratulations! If you have completed all of the other nodes of the Derelict, or on Deimos once it has released, you will be awarded the Steel Path: Derelict decoration for your Orbiter, the Steel Path: Derelict emote, and two Steel Essence. These will arrive in the form of an Inbox message from Teshin.
If this marks the end of your progression along the Steel Path, congratulations and good work! If this is but a stepping stone for you in continuing, keep at it!
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