Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon - How to unlock the Warden archetype and get Prototype items

Survive another trip to the world of N’Erud with our Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon guide. N’Erud is one of the many realms you explore in Remnant 2, a challenging third-person shooter with Soulslike elements from developer Gunfire Games. Once the home of the Drzyr, N'Erud is now a forgotten construct filled with various Robots, Drones, and Specters. You’ll revisit N'Erud as part of the latest DLC, and our Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon guide can help you unlock the new Warden class, hunt down Prototype item locations, and more.

 

What can you expect from The Dark Horizon

Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon takes you back to the world of N’Erud. You can access the DLC via the Ward 13 Worldstone as a one-shot Adventure Mode run.

Once you arrive in the region, the first things you’ll notice are Glider vehicles. Gliders are essential for getting around here, since several regions are separated by rivers of black goop. Just watch out, because this part of N’Erud is also full of robotic and spectral enemies, some of which are able to fly and chase you even while you’re on a Glider. If you get hit while you’re in mid-air, you might fall to your doom.

 

Notable items and points-of-interest in the Withered Necropolis

The Withered Necropolis is a vast area that has several optional dungeons, a main path that leads to the final boss, and exits that take you back to the previous zone.

However, because of how procedural generation works, the layout of the map and item locations might be different in your run. Use the tips below as a starting point, but just know that you may need to do some exploring still to find where everything is hidden in your Remnant 2 run.

 

Where to find the Warden Nanoplated armor set

We found the Warden armor set in Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon in the Withered Necropolis zone. Specifically, there’s a chasm just below the cliffside area where we encountered the Gardener NPC.

You can reach the ledge below by floating down while on a Glider. Inside, you’ll find the Nanoplated armor set. When fully equipped, it grants:

• Armor: 64.2
• Weight: 26
• Resistances: 10 Bleed, 6 Fire, and 9 Blight.

Where to find the Warden Archetype engram

To unlock Remnant 2's Warden Archetype, you first need to find the Weathered Mechanism item. It’s also located in the Withered Necropolis zone.

In our run, the trail began at the spot where we encountered the Gardener. From there, keep to the right as you move forward. When you arrive at the cliff’s edge, you should see a Glider station. Use the Glider and fly around the rocky crags to the right, where you should be able to ride an air draft to reach an elevated ledge. Next, go across the bridge and pick up the Weathered Mechanism from a glowing pod.

Return to Wallace in Ward 13. Then, exchange the Weathered Mechanism and five Lumenite Crystals to receive the Command Module engram and unlock the Warden Archetype.

 

Warden Archetype skills and perks

Once you unlock the Warden in Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon, you can make use of its unique capabilities, including its trusty drone. The drone can target an ally with healing, extra shields, or other friendly abilities. It has a set amount of energy, which is depleted whenever it undertakes certain actions—though it can be stowed to speed up energy regeneration.

Skills:

• Drone (Shield): If you’re not at max shield capacity, the drone grants a shield effect by consuming energy. You also gain a buff to damage reduction.
• Drone (Heal): If you’re not at max health, the drone will periodically use its healing laser at the cost of energy. You also gain a buff to relic use speed.
• Drone (Combat): The drone consumes energy to attack hostiles whenever you’re in combat. You also gain buffs to your fire rate, melee attack speed, and firearm charge time.

Perks (leveled):

• Prime Perk - Dynamic: After 10 seconds of not taking damage, generate a shield for 23% of your max HP over two seconds. Dynamic also increases the base N'Erudian Energy of the Warden’s turret and Engineer’s drone by 50%.
• Damage Perk - Galvanize: Increases all damage by 15% and critical chance by 5%.
• Team Perk - Safeguard: Grants a stack of bulwark. Increases healing effectiveness on the warded target by 10%.
• Utility Perk - Contingency: When your health drops below 25%, gain a shield for a percentage of your max health. The shield lasts 10 seconds and can only occur once every 30 seconds. While active, your movement speed is also increased by 15%.
• Relic Perk - Energize: Gain a shield on relic use. This perk cannot stack with itself and lasts for 10 seconds or until the shield is removed by damage. While active, all actions that consume N'Erudian Energy have no cost.

Archetype Trait:

• Barrier: Increases shield amount by 1.5% per level (up to 15%).

The Remnant 2 Warden class specializes in both defense and support. The drone’s shields can help mitigate damage, while its healing laser can target both the player and their teammates. The Warden is best paired with the Engineer Archetype, since some of its passive perks affect the Engineer’s turret, too.

 

Prototype item locations

While exploring the Agronomy Sector, you might come across a large facility in the middle of the black lake. This is the Repair Lab, which is also where you encounter the Prototype. This mangled automaton is looking for its missing parts.

Here’s where we found the Prototype items in Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon:

• Prototype Head: Found early in the run, after the cutscene at the lift.
• Prototype Arm: Found in the Agronomy Sector. It’s inside a cave with ensnaring beams and a spectral foe.
• Prototype Claw: Found in the Withered Necropolis. Go to the ruined bridge in the middle of the zone and follow it to the opposite side, away from where you picked up the Warden armor set.
• Prototype Memory Core: Found in the Withered Necropolis. From the landmass with the Gardener and Warden armor set, look for the lower portion of the facility near to a large body of watery goop.

After obtaining all the items, you can choose to repair the Prototype—though, fair warning, completing this objective results in a battle. Be ready.

 

Other activities in Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon

There are more activities to tackle if you own the Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon DLC. These include:

• Obtaining the Crop Sample quest item and defeating the numerous enemies that spawn from pylons in the fields.
• Discovering the true intentions of the Gardener, who often warns you not to go to the central tower.
• Aiding an explorer robot named Spark, who’s really eager to visit Earth. A few audio logs also tell you about how Spark was created.
• Delving into mini-dungeons, such as the Logistics Bridge (where you have to avoid rapidly moving trains) and the Stagnant Manufactory (where you must traverse entire areas that are blanketed by blighted gas).
• Acquiring new weapons, traits, rings, amulets, and mutators.
• Facing the final boss of this adventure realm—and looking for an alternative means of defeating it.

Boss Rush Mode

Last but not least, Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon also launches alongside a massive free update that has several features and quality of life improvements. One particular activity that’s included in the free update is none other than Boss Rush Mode, which is sure to keep veteran players engaged.

Similar to Adventure Mode, Boss Rush Mode can be accessed via the Ward 13 Worldstone. Be prepared because this activity will test your mettle. Challenges include:

• Triple Threat: Fight three bosses back to back.
• Trial By Fire: Take on six consecutive bosses and the Annihilation final boss.
• The Gauntlet: This is a brutal challenge where you face 19 bosses, as well as the Annihilation final boss.

That does it for our Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon guide, including tips on how to unlock the Warden class and hunt down all the Prototype items. We hope this article helps you make the most of your return visit to N'Erud. If you’re keen on acquiring other class engrams, we suggest reading our Archetype unlocks guide, as well as our Awakened King DLC and Ritualist guide.

Remnant 2 - Ultimate Edition is available now on the Epic Games Store and includes all three DLCs. You can also pick up the Remnant 2 - DLC Bundle if you already own the base game to get access to The Awakened King, The Forgotten Kingdom, and The Dark Horizon—or grab Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon on its own if you just want to revisit N'Erud.