Destiny 2: Where to Find Planetary Assimilation Pistons

You’ll need to find and locate a Planetary Assimilation Piston in order to progress the Specimen ID: NES001 quest in Destiny 2. It’s a necessary step in one of the quests in Episode: Echoes, which you can only access after defeating the main campaign of The Final Shape. However, many players are having trouble finding the Planetary Assimilation Pistons needed to progress the quest. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t do a great job of telling you how to find them. Thankfully, the process of finding one is a lot simpler than it seems!

Destiny 2 Specimen ID: NES001: Planetary Assimilation Pistons Location

To find Planetary Assimilation Pistons in Destiny 2 Episode: Echoes, you must initiate the Breach Executable activity on Nessus and search for it in the surrounding area. There is no set spawn location for Planetary Assimilation Pistons in Destiny 2 and they will show up at random areas on the map.

This means that you must look out for them while exploring. Fortunately, they are very easy to spot. They have an ornate golden cube base with circular markings on its sides, in addition to emitting a stream of glowing Vex energy from the top. You’ll know you’ve found one when you see a gray star icon pop up onscreen and a prompt that says “Smash Planetoid Assimilation Piston” when you get close.

Here’s what it looks like in-game:

You’ll need to use the Planetary Piston Hammer you got from Failsafe to smash the Planetary Assimilation Piston for the Specimen ID: NES001 quest. To do this, approach the Planetary Assimilation Piston and press the indicated button when prompted. Doing so will complete this objective for the quest, in addition to highlighting all Radiolite samples in the area.

Do note that using the Planetary Piston Hammer expends a charge and that it has a maximum of five charges. To recharge it, you must complete Echo activities. Once you have returned to Failsafe in the H.E.L.M and placed the specimens in the incubator, the Specimen ID: NES001 quest is complete!

That’s all there is to know about where to find the Planetary Assimilation Piston to complete the Specimen ID: NES001 quest in Destiny 2. For more content like this, check out how to complete the Breach Executable activity and what players are hoping for in Episode 1: Echoes.