No Man’s Sky Blighted Expedition: A Complete Breakdown

And here we go again, fellow interlopers! With the recent Outlaws update for No Man’s Sky, we got a brand-new expedition to conquer, with a fresh barrage of exclusive rewards. The Blighted expedition began on April 14, 2022, and it’s set to run for six weeks.

In keeping with a long-running tradition, I’m going to give you the full rundown of everything in the Blighted expedition.

Now, for those of you who dropped in last time (during the Exobiology expedition), you might remember that my last breakdown enraged a lot of players who were looking for more detailed information about each step along the journey. So this time, I’m going to try to go a little deeper as I lay out the full journey for you, one step at a time.

Also, I should point out really quickly that you need to manually collect your rewards once you’ve completed a milestone. When you do, your rewards should end up in your inventory, but if you’re in your ship, they’ll probably end up in your ship’s inventory instead. Or, if your main inventory is full, they might end up in your cargo slots.

And, as always, if you want more information, feel free to ask questions in the comments. I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner to get you the info you seek.

With all that said, it’s time to strap into your space-ready ship and fly!

Phase 1

Completion reward:

• Sputtering Starship Trail ship customization
• Sputtering Starship Trail plans

The Compass

Objective: Locate your starship

And here your journey begins, on the planet Issh 62/R7. If you’ve ever played No Man’s Sky before, this step of the journey is a familiar one. Only something’s different. You don’t have a functioning Analysis Visor, which would help you locate the ship. So the first thing you have to do is farm 50 carbon (which comes from any plant life on the surface of the planet), then construct Carbon Nanotubes. Once you do that, you can navigate to your Multitool and repair the Analysis Visor. When that’s done, an icon will appear that shows the location of your crashed starship.

Reward:

• Ion Battery x10
• Life Support Gel x10
• Banned Movement System upgrade

Clipped Wings

Objective: Repair critical starship systems

This requires you to repair your starship. There are three components you need to repair: Launch Thruster, Pulse Engine, and Hyperdrive.

Launch Thruster

• Pure Ferrite x50
• Di-Hydrogen Jelly

At this point, you can’t mine Pure Ferrite, so you’ll have to make it. Thankfully, Hello Games was nice enough to start you off with a portable refiner. Mine some Ferrite Dust (which comes from pretty much anything that looks like a rock), and then refine it into Pure Ferrite.

You can craft Di-Hydrogen Jelly from 40 Di-Hydrogen. Di-Hydrogen, remember, comes from those spikey blue crystals that you’ll find pretty much everywhere on the planet’s surface.

Pulse Engine

• Hermetic Seal
• Metal Plating

You can craft both of these items. The Hermetic Seal is made from 30 Condensed Carbon. You can make Condensed Carbon by refining regular Carbon in your portable refiner. The Metal Plating is made from 50 Ferrite Dust.

Hyperdrive

• Chromatic Metal x63
• Microprocessor x3

You actually don’t need to repair the Hyperdrive to complete this milestone, but it is listed in the quest log for some reason (besides, you won’t be able to visit new star systems without completing it).

The Chromatic Metal will take a bit of time. First, you’ll need to install the Terrain Manipulator on your Multi-Tool, which requires two Carbon Nanotubes and one Di-Hydrogen Jelly (remember those?) Once you’ve equipped your Multi-Tool with the Terrain Manipulator, you’ll need to hunt down some copper, then refine it into Chromatic Metal.

Once you have a good amount of Chromatic Metal, you can use it for the repair, as well as for crafting the Microprocessors.

Oh, and before you use the warp drive to leave this star system, make sure you visit the space station so you can buy a super cheap Exosuit slot.

Reward:

• Warp Cell x3
• Wiring Loom x3 (Note: I recommend that you save these for the milestone “Red Skies)
• Banned Launch Thrusters upgrade

Liberation

Objective: Rescue an interstellar freighter.

If you’ve done the previous steps in this journey, this one should occur naturally. Basically, you just want to use your warp drive to jump from system to system. Eventually, you’ll enter a system where a freighter sends out a distress call, and you’ll need to answer it (there’s some randomness to when this happens, but if you jump to enough systems, this will eventually occur). Simply take out the attacking pirates, then board the freighter to talk to the commander. The commander will offer you the freighter in exchange for saving it.

You will also receive a fragment of a pirate map, and that’s going to be important later on.

Reward:

• Freighter Recolouring Options
• Cargo Bulkhead
• Explosive Drones x3

Red Skies

Objective: Repair the freighter’s warp system and visit a red star.

You can use the freighter you acquired in the previous step to travel to a red star. However, you have to repair some of its systems first. For this repair, you’ll need:

• Warp Hypercore
• Quantum Computer
• Cadmium x125

Yes, you will need cadmium for this, which can be found in red star systems. So you kind of end up in a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. You need cadmium to fix the drive so you can go to a red star system, but you need to go to a red star system to get the cadmium to fix the drive.

Thankfully, there’s an easier way. You can summon the Space Anomoly, then visit the Starship Research station in the Nexus to purchase the blueprints for the Cadmium Drive. While you’re there, you’ll also want to purchase some recipes from the Synthesis Laboratory. You’ll want to buy the Quantum Computer recipe, as well as the Atlas Pass V1 and V2. This unlocks the crafting path to finally purchase the recipe for the Warp Hypercore.

Of course, all of this will require you to have more than 1,000 Nanites. In this early stage of the game, your Nanite-farming options are quite limited, but 1,000 is actually not that difficult to get if you just pick up some missions at space stations.

Once you have all those recipes, you can craft the Warp Hypercore and the Quantum Computer. Then, you can construct the Cadmium Drive (hopefully you saved those three Wiring Looms from the “Clipped Wings” milestone) and fly off to a red star system to collect your Cadmium. You’ll want to farm a bit more than the 125 you need for this milestone, though, because you’ll also need to build an Emeril Drive for a later milestone, which requires 250 cadmium.

I should point out here that once you’ve made it to a red star system, you’ll complete the milestone, but it doesn’t hurt to repair that freighter anyway.

Reward:

• 500 Nanites
• Storage Augmentation x2
• Banned Hyperdrive Upgrade

Rendezvous 1

Objective: Reach the 1st rendezvous point.

Following the rendezvous points is actually the easiest part of these expeditions. Simply select the milestone “Rendezvous 1” in your Expedition log, then follow the markers. When you arrive on the surface, you can use your scanner to locate the exact rendezvous point.

This one is actually on a moon called Tuchica S48.

Reward:

• 2,000 Gold
• Exosuit Expansion Unit
• Standing increased with the Gek

Phase 2

Completion reward:

• Dread Captain Fahng Poster plans
• Outlaw Poster plans
• Resbur XIII Poster plans

Rendezvous 2

Objective: Reach the second rendezvous point.

This one is pretty much exactly the same as the previous milestone, except this time it’s on a planet called Xahilli.

Reward:

• 2,000 Gold
• Exosuit Expansion Unit
• Standing increased with the Vy’keen

A Freighter Blighted

Objective: Locate and investigate the lost freighter.

Once you complete Rendezvous 2, you’ll see a notification pop that there’s a crashed freighter on a nearby planet. In my game, that ended up being on a planet called Ornermers (within the same star system as Rendezvous 2). It’s possible that there’s some randomization to this milestone, but when I touched down, I saw a whole bunch of Communication Stations left by other players, suggesting this is probably the target location for a lot of people.

To be clear, the way I think this works is that it automatically picks a location as soon as you make this milestone your active objective, and since most people will automatically move onto this milestone after Rendezvous 2, this is the planet that most of them end up going to.

Anyway, finding the freighter is the same process as finding a rendezvous point. Simply use your scanner and follow the ping. Once you reach the freighter, you’ll need to scan the area and see if you can find a cargo hold. Inside the cargo hold, you’ll find a vault, and in that vault is the second piece of the pirate map.

Reward:

• Nautilon Basic Equipment Blueprints
• Supreme Submarine Drive Upgrade
• Hydrothermal Fuel Cell x5
• High-Power Sonar plans

Lawless Sky

Objective: Visit a pirate system.

If you don’t have a Conflict Scanner on your ship yet, you’re going to want to install one now. To pick up the blueprint, head over to the Space Anomaly and visit Iteration: Hyperion, the Starship Research expert in the Nexus. You’ll need to buy the Teleport Receiver blueprint (for 150 Nanites) first to unlock the purchase path to the Conflict Scanner (which also costs 150 Nanites).

Now, to construct the Conflict Scanner, you’re going to need a Wiring Loom and a Walker Brain. Wiring Looms can generally be purchased at space stations, but Walker Brains are extremely rare. To get one, you’re going to have to kill a Sentinel Walker.

Okay, so killing Walkers is tough, but there’s actually an easier way to acquire a Walker Brain: by doing quests. You won’t always find a Walker Brain listed in quest rewards from any quest giver, but if you get lucky, you can do a quest for the Explorers Guild or for the Nexus that will result in you getting a Walker Brain.

Either way, once you have your Conflict Scanner installed in your ship, you can expand star system descriptions in the Galaxy Map to say what their conflict level is. You’re looking for systems that say “Pirate Controlled.”

Alternatively, you could just hope you get lucky and happen upon one in your adventure. In which case, you can skip all the scanning.

Note: I do have a slightly more thorough guide to finding pirate systems, so you can check that out if you want more information.

Reward:

• Emergency Warp Unit plans
• Microprocessor x4
• Repair Kit x5

Coveted Suns

Objective: Collect 16 Gravitino Balls.

Gravitino Balls tend to be found on any planet that has aggressive Sentinels. The best place to find them, in my experience is on planets that have a Frenzied or Aggressive Sentinel rating. I also tend to find more aggressive Sentinels in green star systems, so you might be able to clean this one up while you’re doing the “Emerald Dreams” milestone.

Once you find a planet like this, land on it and scour the surface for glowing white orbs. They’re pretty easy to spot generally, and your scanner will pick up the yellow star icon when you’re close to one.

Once you pick up a Gravitino Ball, you’ll trigger a swarm of angry Sentinels, so be careful (this is also a good way to get the “Boundary Failure” milestone).

Reward:

• Scatter Blaster plans
• Multi-Tool Expansion Slot x3
• Banned Scatter Blaster Upgrade x2

Emerald Dreams

Objective: Visit a green star system.

If you followed my instructions for the “Red Skies” milestone, you should already have the Emeril Drive — or you should be close to completing it. Simply install the Emeril Drive in your ship, then make your way to the first green star that you see. Once you enter the system, you’ll complete the milestone.

While you’re here, I strongly advise that you mine some Emeril, as you’ll need it to build the Indium Drive later on.

Reward:

• 500 Nanites
• Storage Augmentation x2
• Banned Hyperdrive Upgrade

Phase 3

Completion reward:

• Piracy Flag plans
• Unity Flag plans
• Heraldry Flag plans
• Orbital Flag plans
• Viridian Flag plans

Rendezvous 3

Objective: Reach the 3rd rendezvous point.

Again, just set the milestone to active and follow the markers. This rendezvous point is on a planet called Mida 44/G8.

Reward:

• 2,000 Gold
• Exosuit Expansion Unit
• Standing increased with the Korvax

Submerged

Objective: Deploy a submarine.

You should have gotten the blueprints for the Nautilon from completing the milestone “A Freighter Blighted.” Just build the Nautilon station underwater, and get into the sub.

Reward:

• Marine Shelter plans
• Living Pearl x15
• Oxygen x1,600

The Last Piece

Objective: Seek the lost pilot and find the final map fragment.

When you select this milestone as active, a distress signal will appear on your map. You’ll need to follow that signal to find the pilot (you’re going to need the Nautilon for this, because it’s underwater).

Simply interact with the communicator to get the final piece of the pirate map.

Reward:

• 4,096 Nanites
• Exosuit Expansion Unit x3

Leagues Under the Sea

Objective: Reach 80u below sea level.

If you’ve completed Submerged, this one is pretty easy. Just take the Nautilon down 80u below the surface. That’s not even very deep, so this isn’t difficult at all.

Reward:

• Diving Kit
• Increased standing with the Explorers Guild

Sunken Antiquities

Objective: Acquire an aquatic treasure from an underwater ruin.

For this milestone, you’re going to need to build a High-Power Sonar device for the Nautilon. That’s not too difficult (since you earned the blueprints from completing the “A Freighter Blighted” milestone). You will, however, need a Solar Mirror. If you get really lucky, you might be able to buy one at a space station. Otherwise, you can craft your own; you’ll just need to acquire the recipe from the Synthesis Laboratory in the Nexus.

Once you have the Sonar, you can ping for various things while underwater. Instead of just pinging the normal way, though (on PlayStation, that would be with the L3 button), you want to go into the quick menu and select a specific scan type (on PlayStation, press down on the D-pad, then select “Use High-Power Sonar.” From there, select “Scan for submerged ruins.”)

You’ll have to keep scanning for a while, most likely, but eventually you’ll find some ruins. Every ruin should have a treasure buried within it somewhere.

If you’ve never done one of these, it’s pretty simple, though admittedly a little weird. When you approach the ruin, you should see a silver blob just outside it. You want to talk to the silver blob, which will give you a key. Now, you just use your Analysis Visor to scan the ground around the ruin to figure out where the treasure is buried. Once you spot the treasure icon, you’ll need to dig it up with your Terrain Manipulator.

There’s one last step: You need to use the key you got from the blob, plus a Living Pearl. When you do that, you’ll unlock the chest and claim the treasure inside, completing yet another milestone.

Reward:

• Banned Life Support Upgrade x2
• Hypnotic Eye

Phase 4

Completion reward:

• Wayward Cube plans

Rendezvous 4

Objective: Reach the 4th rendezvous point.

Same deal as before, only this time you’ll be landing on a planet called Oezenus Z9. This is a planet with huge oceans, so it’s a good place to do Phase 3 objectives.

Reward:

• 2,000 Gold
• Exosuit Expansion Unit
• Standing increased with the Explorers Guild

Boundary Failure

Objective: Eliminate 25 Sentinels.

You’ll just need to kill 25 Sentinels for this. Check out my instructions for the milestone “Coveted Suns,” because when you’re working on that milestone, you can also work on this one.

Reward:

• Positron Ejector Plans
• Banned Starship Weapon Upgrade x2
• Storage Augmentation x3

Counterfire

Objective: Acquire a Muti-Tool from a Sentinel Pillar

When you’re working on the previous milestone, “Boundary Failure,” you’ll need to kill tons of Sentinels. Each one of those should drop a barrel of combat supplies, and if you blast open these barrels, there’s a chance they’ll drop an item called Salvaged Glass. When you break open the Salvaged Glass (by hovering over it in your inventory and using the action button), it will contain a little something for you, though the exact reward is randomized.

There’s a small chance that breaking a Salvaged Glass will get you a Sentinel Boundary Map, which will reveal the location of a Sentinel Pillar.

The Sentinel Pillar will have a terminal on one side of it. If you activate it, you’ll be presented with several options, and one of those options is “Extract weapons technology.” Choose this one. This will offer you a chance of buying a new Multi-Tool. If you purchase the tool on offer, you’ll complete this milestone.

Reward:

• Multi-Tool Expansion Slot x5
• Unstable Plasma x10
• Paralysis Mortar plans
• Unstable Plasma plans

Blue Expanse

Objective: Visit a blue star.

Remember back in the “Emerald Dreams” milestone when I said to mine some Emeril? Well, now you’re going to need it to build the Indium Drive so you can visit a blue star. Once you visit the star, the milestone will be complete.

Reward:

• Void Egg
• Storage Augmentation x2
• Banned Hyperdrive Upgrade

Treasure Hunt

Objective: Follow the pirate map.

Once you’ve completed the milestones “Liberation,” “A Freighter Blighted,” and “The Last Piece,” you can now craft the treasure map using the three pieces you collected. (If you got rid of any of them, you can simply craft them with carbon.)

Activate the map, which guides you to a portal. Go through the portal to wind up at the fifth rendezvous point.

At this point, you’ll be asked to find a secondary location. There, you’ll find a temple, and there’s a buried treasure there. In case you’ve never excavated one of these treasures before, you’ll need to dig up three Ancient Keys, which are in chests scattered around the temple. They should show up on your scanner, but if they don’t, you can dig up the temple and the area around it. The keys should generally be in parts of the temple.

Once you have all three keys, you can dig up the final treasure.

Reward:

• Portal glyph set

Phase 5

Completion reward:

• Title: Hunter of the Blight
• Blighted Expedition Decal plans
• Blighted Expedition banner

Rendezvous 5

Objective: Reach the final rendezvous point.

This actually isn’t like the previous four rendezvous points. This time, you will automatically end up at the rendezvous point as part of the milestone “Treasure Hunt.” This planet is called Paul XVI.

Reward:

• 2,000 Gold
• Exosuit Expansion Unit
• Standing increased with the Mercenaries Guild

Enlistment

Objective: Recruit a pilot to your squadron.

This one is a little weird, because it feels kind of shoehorned into this expedition. It also feels like it should have happened way earlier in the journey.

Anyway, to get this one, you’re going to need to go to the command deck of your freighter. Once there, you can use the “Manage fleet” option. When you select that, you’ll notice that you have four potential slots for pilots, but they’re all locked. To unlock the first one, you’ll need to spend 800 Nanites.

Once you’ve unlocked a pilot slot, you can go visit a space station to try to find recruits. Now, you’re just looking for any creature standing outside their ship. When you approach someone, you’ll have the offer to recruit them as a pilot. Once they’re recruited, you’ll complete the milestone.

Reward:

• Banned Starship Shield Upgrade
• Banned Starship Weapon Upgrade

Galactic Defender

Objective: Shoot down 32 pirates.

More than likely, this one is just going to happen naturally as you progress through the expedition. You just need to shoot down 32 pirate ships, exactly as the description states.

Reward:

• Defense Chit x5
• Comet Droplets x10

Intergalactic

Objective: Leave the galaxy.

If you completed the fifth rendezvous point, you should be right near the center of the galaxy. Now just go into the center.

Reward:

• 888 Quicksilver
• Triple Burst Firework x8
• Base Computer plans

Breadcrumbs

Objective: Establish a foothold in a new galaxy.

This is pretty self-explanatory. Now that you have the Base Computer plans, you can finally construct a base. You’ll need to place down 15 base parts at your new base location in order to complete the milestone.

Reward:

• Salvaged Data x16
• Construction Research Unit plans