Viridian Void Crusade Mastery, just one +5 difficulty Mission. Plus info fragment paths, and a relic farming route

Overview

This is a guide for completing a full Viridian Void Crusade, with all missions, to meet one of the seasonal challenges.The path through the missions is optimized so that there is just one +5 difficulty map and four +4 difficulty ones. The second part has two paths to fulfill the ‘all info fragments in less than 75 minutes’ seasonal objective on the Viridian crusade.The third part has a path for efficient farming of high quality items.

Links

Vrakos’ guides with maps for every single mission
My Ecru full path +7
My Viridian full path and Info Fragments+5, plus Relic Farming
My Amber paths: Full path, Info Fragments and Tarot Farming +5
My Azure full path +9
My Zircon full path +12
My Ebony full path +4
My Violet full path +6
My Ivory full path +8
My Crimson full path +8

Versioning

The game developers have stated that void crusades won’t be changed or added, so I’m not expecting any major issues with the paths getting outdated.

The last round of updates to my void crusade guides was done with the game at patch version 2.3.4, during the Season of Warp Surge.

This guide was last updated in April 2021. I added a bit more general Void Crusade information, and added the Relic farming part.

What changed:

I changed my steam name, to bring it in line with reddit, the game and discord.
The season objective with all Info Fragments got changed to 75 minutes (was 60 in the Season of Inferno)
A Versioning/Update history section was added
An Info section was added
All guides got (roughly) the same format
Amber got an Info Fragment path, and a discussion of its merits
Viridian got a Relic farming route

General Void Crusade information

Bonus, Secret and Covert missions add a higher bonus to loot than regular missions
Starting with the Season of Warp Surge, item levels will go up to 100. You need to do missions of at least +7 difficulty to get level 100 items, if you are 100. I have yet to find out – all other things being equal – whether an extra Tarot card, or extra difficulty would lead to more level 100 items
I’m pretty certain the Servoskull can not spawn right next to the starting node on the VC map, but it can spawn one node away. Apart from that, it seems random. And you can get unlucky, and it will shop in a high difficulty mission, in a room full of Elites
In almost all cases, the Servoskull is exactly in the direction you were facing/moving when you got the notification

Info Fragments

You will NOT get the info Fragment if you pick it up, and then concede the mission
The mission timer starts when the missions starts (not when you launch it)
The mission timer stops when you fulfill the mission objective (not when you leave the mission)
What that means for you: Do mission objectives first, until you get the ‘Quit’ popup. Then go hunt for cogitators and Info Fragments

Hardcore

If you die AFTER the mission objective has been fulfilled, the crusade continues
Abandoning a mission ends the hardcore crusade
Failing a mission (that includes hot pursuit and vip/guard rescue) ends the hardcore crusade Rescue missions get very dicey around +6, depending a little on Tarot Cards and enemy type

Keys

Two keys are granted for finishing the Supreme Mission
A key is granted after completing five missions of any kind
A key is granted after completing at least two Bonus missions
A key is granted after completing all Covert and Hidden missions
A key is granted after defeating the Wandering Servoskull

Misc

Dataslate Decryption Terminals don’t have a map icon. Use Vrakos’ guides if you get stuck
Cogitators for secret missions don’t have a map icon. However, they are always in a ‘secret’ room you have to teleport to
‘Survivors’ are in a group of guards, and one of them has a label of ‘Survivor’ when you hover over him
Hot Pursuit: Keep your mouse over the fugitive, and hold down the magic new button you have (usually ‘5’)

Difficulty Increase

I always make my paths with the difficulties peaking in the middle, and then working down from there. It has been pointed out to me that that’s not fully optimal, because some missions give bonuses for subsequent missions after completion, like ‘10% extra damage vs. Rebels’.
My take on that is: If you are really, really struggling to finish the missions, the bonuses might actually help you a bit.
At the same time, if you are really, really struggling with some normal missions on Void Crusades, my advice would be to hop onto Discord and to ask for help.
And, my focus when doing Void Crusades is gaining loot from the Supreme Mission. The quantity of Relics goes up with difficulty, and we will also get more level 90+ items. So I’m bumping up the difficulty there, and by the time we are at the Supreme Mission, we will have also collected all the bonuses.
As of this patch, the highest possible difficulty you can run a mission at is +29, and it’s on the Crimson Void Crusade
For regular (and Supreme) missions, the difficulty gets set when the mission is made accessible
For Secret and Covert missions, the difficulty gets set, then the difficulty modifier is added for subsequent unlocks

Mastery Path

Mission number. Difficulty level of the mission. Difficulty increase (if any).

1: 0
2: 0
3: 0 +1
4: +1 two Impalers in one spot. If you do the map counter-clockwise and approach the 2nd mission target from the North, you can engage them individually.
5: +1 Info Fragment here
6: 0 +1
7: +2
8: +2 +1 Info Fragment here
9: +3
10: 0 +1
11: +4
12: 0 +1
13: +4 gigantic map
any order from here, all missions are unlocked
14: +4 Info Fragment here
15: +4 another pretty big map Info Fragment here
16: +3
17: +3 this is a constructs (mechs) map. If you are not facerolling everything, don’t apply tarot cards here. This mission alone makes Viridian a lot harder to master than Amber. Maybe applying a damage boost consumable will make this a bit better.
18: +3
19: +1
20: +1
21: 0 Info Fragment here
22: +5 three Impalers

Info Fragments path. 12 missions, +6 as highest difficulty

This is the short (12 missions) route. You can also do a 10 missions or so path, but it goes to +8 difficulty. No planning needed for that, just go for it.
There is a path for Amber (included in my Amber guide) with only 11 missions, and a lower difficulty Supreme mission. However, there are many big maps on it, while this one has smaller maps, Nurgle (easier to kill, and less ranged DoT) and a nice amount of Nurgle Demon Hosts, which drop very good loot.
I have now run both Info Fragment paths several times, and my conclusion is as follows:
If you move slowly, but increased difficulty doesn’t slow you down much, do Viridian.
If you move quickly, but increased difficulty slows you down, do Amber.

1 0
2 0
3 0 +1
4 +1 +1
5 +2
6 +1 +1 First Info Fragment
7 +3 Second Info Fragment
8 +2 +2 Third Info Fragment
9 +5 +1
10 +6 Fourth Info Fragment
11 0 Fifth Info Fragment
99 +1 2nd Bonus mission for one extra key – optional, if you have the time
12 +5 Final Mission

Info Fragments path. 15 missions, +5 as highest difficulty. The scenic route

1: 0
2: 0
3: 0 +1
4: +1 two Impalers in one spot. If you do the map counter-clockwise and approach the 2nd mission target from the North, you can engage them individually.
5: +1 first Info-Fragment
6: 0 +1
7: +2 +1 second Info-Fragment
8: 0 +1
9: +4
10: 0 +1 the decryption terminal doesn’t have an icon on the minimap. If you are pressed for time, make sure to check in Vrakos’ guide for the exact location.
11: +4 gigantic map
any order from here, all missions are unlocked
12: +4 third Fragment
13: +4 fourth Fragment
14: 0 fifth Fragment
99: +2 you can do this as your 2nd Bonus Mission to get one more key
15: +5 Final Mission

Relic farming route

This is the best high level Relic+ farming route I have found so far. When I’m bumping the three missions with the Demon Hosts by +8, and the final mission by +11, it takes me about 20 minutes altogether.

Within the 10 missions, you have

three Demon Hosts – I usually bump them by +8, and at that level, each mission gives 1-5 Relic and 1-3 Archeotech items, plus Void Shards and Psalm Codes
four Info Fragments, so you will always hit at least some of the most desirable chests
four or five keys, so you will always hit at least some of the most desirable chests
a fairly good chance to hit the Servoskull, for the fifth key
almost no bad missions. The worst is one Datahunt, and one Purge