How to do Haunted Sectors in Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost

Haunted Sectors are the flagship activity of the Festival of the Lost event, returning (barely unchanged) in 2024 after their multiple appearances in the last few years of the Destiny 2 event.

Haunted Sectors play an essential role in the event’s activity loop, allowing players to convert their Spectral Pages into Manifested Pages and to make the most out of the event. For the 2024 edition of Festival of the Lost, the action will take place in cosmetically different Lost Sectors, featuring spooky enemies. Here’s how to complete Haunted Sectors to score Manifested Pages and make the most out of this year’s Festival of the Lost.

How to complete Haunted Sectors in Destiny 2

Summoning the Headless Ones

To start Haunted Sectors in Destiny 2, select their icon from the Tower map. The activity starts inside a Lost Sector—but with a twist. The area is decorated for the Festival of the Lost, with scary decorations and maybe even scarier enemies. Start off by defeating the minor enemies that show up until the game prompts you to find a summoning circle. This is how you spawn Headless Ones in the Festival of the Lost, and this is how you’ll transform your Spectral Pages into Manifested Pages.

A circle will appear in the area with a countdown above it, similar to the mines in the Prison of Elders Strike. You’ll have roughly 20 seconds to set foot in the area before it disappears. Once you (or your teammates) step on it, you’ll start capturing the summoning circle, just like a control point in Control. Once you’ve captured the area, a mini-boss called a Headless One will appear. They’re not particularly sturdy, especially if all three guardians focus fire on them, but you’ll be better off using anything that’s not a Primary on them.

After you’ve downed your first Headless One, don’t let your guard down: it’s the first of many you’ll have to take down in the activity. Summoning circles will continue to spawn throughout your time in the Haunted Sector, not unlike Solstice’s adventures in the EAZ, and defeating more Headless Ones increases how many Manifested Pages you’ll obtain (also not unlike the system used in the Solstice).

Headless Ones will spawn more frequently after you’ve killed a few of them, which means your fireteam will often have to scramble to complete two summoning circles at once. If that happens, don’t be afraid to hit the mini-bosses with your heavy ammo, especially if you’re alone, to keep your score on track.

Final boss

After the timer runs out, players will encounter a boss that varies depending on the enemy type. If you’re fighting Vex, expect a Hydra. If you’re going up against Hive, however, you’ll see a Hive Wizard coming your way. If you’re in Nessus, expect an unusually large Eliksni Captain.

The mechanics are similar regardless of what boss you’re fighting. After you take a third of its health, the boss will summon an invulnerability shield, and you’ll need more summoning rituals to get rid of it. Spawn another Headless One and kill it to see it drop something else other than Candy: three Pumpkin Charges, which players can use to break down the boss’ shield.

Regardless of the boss, players should hit the boss hard until its health drops to around two-thirds, which is when it will receive an invulnerability shield. Breaking it down, however, requires more summoning and more Headless Ones. Throw them at the boss just like in a Battlegrounds to blow their shield up and save any remaining Pumpkin Charges because they can come in handy for boss phases.

While the boss is active, players can get overwhelmed by the adds that spawn as well as the Headless Ones, so stick with your team to take the enemies out more quickly.

After dealing enough damage with the Pumpkin Charges, the shield will disappear and players can resume taking chunks of the boss’ health. It will activate another invulnerability phase when it has a third of its health left, so throw any leftover Pumpkin Charges at the boss or summon another Headless One to get more explosives. Deplete the boss’ shield, then take it out for good.

After completing a Haunted Sector, players will receive their spoils, including Manifested Pages, Candy, and a shot at Festival of the Lost-exclusive weapons, including this year’s new shotgun, the Arcane Embrace.