How to complete the Specimen ID:NES005 quest in Destiny 2

The hunt for specimens on Nessus continues with the Specimen ID:NES005 quest in Destiny 2, bringing the upgrade we’ve been waiting for and the chance to make a home for the Vanguard’s latest addition: Captain Jacobson, a frog-like specimen found during the main quest.

This Specimen quest can run somewhat long, especially since there doesn’t seem to be a surefire way to fast-track its first objective of collecting Bufo Bites—the things we do for Captain Jacobson.

Still, this quest doesn’t require many puzzles, and collecting Bufo Bites also means you can dive into the engaging Act Two Battlegrounds or try your hand at the good old Breach Executable missions.

Here’s how you can complete all objectives in the Specimen ID:NES005 quest in Destiny 2.

Specimen ID:NES005 full quest guide and objectives in Destiny 2

Expect to run a few seasonal activities to complete the Specimen ID:NES005 quest. Taking down Vex on Nessus and a quick visit to Watcher’s Grave are also on the itinerary.

• Collect Bufo Bites from Pistons.
• Collect Flora from Nessus to prepare a terrarium.
• Kill Vex enemies in Nessus.
• Return to the H.E.L.M.

How to collect Bufo Bites for the Specimen ID:NES005 quest in Destiny 2

Bufo Bites drop after interacting with Planetary Pistons in Destiny 2. Activating a Piston gave us approximately seven Bufo Bites, so it took us five Pistons (two and a half activities) to collect all 30 and advance this step. Two Planetary Pistons appear on Breach Executable if you complete the objectives in time, and the seasonal Battlegrounds also bring two per run.

There’s no difference between activity types, either. Pistons across both Breach Executable and seasonal Battlegrounds gave us seven Bufo Bites each, which indicates this resource may be capped per extraction. All our results were on the normal difficulty, though the harder version may yield more resources.

After you’ve found enough Bufo Bites, it’s time to track down some flora to make Captain Jacobson’s terrarium even comfier for the newfound member of the crew.

How to collect flora from Nessus for the Specimen ID:NES005 quest

While collecting Nessus flora may seem like a convoluted step, it’s simple in practice. Head to the Watcher’s Grave landing zone and move forward a bit until you can spot the markers on your HUD. The flora you need to collect is scattered around the area where public events usually take place. With Failsafe’s help, it’s easy to pinpoint all their locations.

Some of these may be in tricky places, such as behind trees and on ledges, but you only need to collect seven elements to advance to the next step. The HUD indicators are by far your best ally here.

Once you’ve picked up enough flora samples, Bungie will give guardians another super engaging objective.

Kill Vex on Nessus

While we’ve taken Captain Jacobson to his new home, the rest of his species still sits on Nessus—and that’s why Bungie wants us to kill Vex on the planetoid to protect them. It’s a quest step that’s clearly central to the narrative and indispensable for life as we know it.

We cleared this step quickly by moving to our favorite spot to kill Vex in Nessus: the Orrery Lost Sector on Artifact’s Edge. This should give you around 47 to 49 kills, and two clears will put you close enough to the goal that you can shoot a couple of mobs to push your guardian over the line.

After completing this series of objectives, it’s time to go back to the H.E.L.M. and grab your rewards—including a highly anticipated upgrade.

Specimen ID:NES005 quest rewards in Destiny 2

The Specimen ID:NES005 quest gives you the coveted Act Two Engram Focusing upgrade. This lets you focus your Echo Engrams into the two new seasonal weapons from Act Two: the Aberrant Action rocket sidearm and the Corrasion pulse rifle.