No Man’s Sky Expedition 6 The Blighted – Complete Guide

A guide on how to complete Expedition 6: The Blighted in No Man's Sky.

No Man's Sky Expedition 6

No Man’s Sky Expedition 6: The Blighted is the game’s newest community expedition which puts Travellers in another adventure through the cosmos in search for the legendary treasure that is being kept by the pirate faction known as The Blight. Expedition 6 started on April 14 and will last up until May 26.

In this guide, we will talk about all the missions that you need to complete in order to survive Expedition 6, as well as get the legendary pirate treasure and some more goodies on the side.

How to Start the Expedition 6 in No Man’s Sky?

Similar to the previous expeditions, Travellers will have to start a new save file and select the Community Expedition option.

How to Complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 6: The Blighted?

Expedition 6 is divided into five phases with each phase having five milestones. You will have to complete every milestone in each phase to complete it and once all phases are done, you will complete the expedition. Here’s a walkthrough of each phase in No Man’s Sky Expedition 6: The Blighted:

Phase 1 – Expedition 6 Milestones

  • The Compass – Locate your starship
  • Clipped Wings – Repair your starship
  • Liberation – Rescue an interstellar freighter
  • Red Skies – Visit a red star and repair the freighter’s warp system
  • Rendezvous 1 – Reach the first rendezvous

These are the first milestones that you’ll have to reach within Phase 1 as soon as you begin a new expedition save file. It requires you to repair your starship and reach the first rendezvous point. Make sure to check your Expeditions Tab every time you complete a milestone to collect your rewards.

The Compass: Locate your starship

You’ll wake up in the planet of Issh 77/R6 which is an irradiated planet. You need to find your starship first to get out of this planet. If you are having a hard time locating your starship, you’ll have to repair your Analysis Visor in your Multi-Tool first by gathering 50x Carbon. Once it is fixed, use your visor to locate your starship marker and complete this first milestone.

The Compass Rewards:

  • x10 Ion Battery
  • x10 Life Support Gel
  • Banned Movement System Upgrade
Clipped Wings: Repair your starship Phase 1 - Expedition 6 Milestones No Man's Sky

Clipped Wings: Repair your starship

Once you find your starship, you’ll see that it has a couple of damaged parts. This may be randomized per player, but these are the components that you may need to repair:

  • Launch Thruster
    • x50 Pure Ferrite
    • x1 Di-Hydrogen Jelly
  • Pulse Engine
    • x1 Hermetic Seal
    • x1 Metal Plating

You will only need to repair the Launch Thruster and the Pulse Engine for now to complete the milestone. You will have to gather materials from all the ores and flora nearby to craft and repair the components. Use your Personal Refiner if you need materials like Pure Ferrite or Condensed Carbon.

You will want to repair your Terrain Manipulator at this point to be able to mine materials for the next milestone:

  • 2x Carbon Nanotubes
  • 1x Di-Hydrogen Jelly

Clipped Wings Rewards:

  • x3 Warp Cell
  • x3 Wiring Loom
  • Banned Launch Thrusters Upgrade

Liberation: Rescue an interstellar freighter

Once you have the critical components of your starship fixed, you will need to fix your hyperdrive next to be able to jump to another star system. Travel to the other planets in the system until you get the materials to fix your hyperdrive.

  • Hyperdrive
    • x63 Chromatic Metal
    • x3 Microprocessor

Upon jumping and arriving at the next star system, you will encounter a freighter being attacked by pirates. Defeat the pirates and accept the comms hail by the freighter. Enter the freighter and talk to the captain and you will be given the option to be the new owner of the freighter.

At this point, you have the option to decline the offer and look for a new freighter by jumping to other systems. However, that may take a while and prevent you from progressing in your expedition, so it’s better to accept the offer for now and look for a new freighter if you find a better one that you like.

You will also receive a Pirate Map Fragment 1 of 3 after defeating the pirates.

Liberation Rewards:

  • Freighter Recolouring Options
  • Cargo Bulkhead
  • x8 Salvaged Frigate Module
  • x888 Cadmium

Red Skies: Visit a red star and repair the freighter’s warp system

The first thing that you need to do once you get the freighter is to repair its Amplified Warp Shielding with the following materials:

  • 1x Warp Hypercore
    • 1x Antimatter
    • Storm Crystal
  • 1x Quantum Computer
    • 1x Microprocessor
    • 1x Antimatter
    • 25x Chromatic Metal
    • These can be purchased from Technology Merchants
    • Its blueprint can be found at Manufacturing Facilities and Operations Centres, or purchased from Synthesis Laboratory
  • 125x Cadmium

Once it has been repaired, head towards a red star system to complete the milestone.

Red Skies Rewards:

  • 500 Nanites
  • Storage Augmentation
  • X-class Hyperdrive Upgrade

Rendezvous 1: Reach the 1st rendezvous

Make your way to the first rendezvous point marked on the galactic map by making a couple of jumps either by starship or by freighter. Once you arrive, you will complete the milestone and complete the entire Phase 1.

Rendezvous 1 Rewards:

  • x2,000 Gold
  • Exosuit expansion Unit
  • +1 Gek Standing

After the expedition, you can decide to make this save file as your main save file and continue exploring the galaxy as usual, or you can go back to your main save file and claim all the rewards that you get from completing the expedition through it.

Phase 1 – Expedition 6 Rewards:

  • Sputtering Starship Trail Customization
  • Sputtering Starship Trail Plans

Phase 2 – Expedition 6 Milestones

  • Rendezvous 2 – Reach the second rendezvous point
  • A Freighter Blighted – Locate and investigate the lost freighter
  • Lawless Sky – Visit a pirate system
  • Coveted Suns – Collect 16 Gravitino Balls
  • Emerald Dreams – Visit a green star

Rendezvous 2: Reach the 2nd rendezvous point

Similar to the previous milestone, simply make your way to the next rendezvous point. This is a good time to do upgrades along the way or make a detour for a while and farm up some units or nanites.

Don’t forget that you can get exosuit slot expansions from both space and outlaw stations and in the Space Anomaly in every star system that you visit.

Rendezvous 2 Rewards:

  • x2,000 Gold
  • Exosuit Expansion Unit
  • +1 Vy’keen Standing

A Freighter Blighted: Locate and investigate the lost freighter

From the previous rendezvous point, you will be given coordinates of a freighter that you need to locate. Simply follow the marker and you will find the crashed freighter. Scan the freighter with your Analysis Visor until it has been logged.

Afterwards, locate the distress beacon in the wreckage and access its logs to gather more details about what happened with the freighter. You will then locate cargo pods within the wreckage to find more clues.

Cargo pods can be found behind broken accessways that can be repaired or in broken panels that can be destroyed. Once inside, you will also have to repair a component on the cargo pod to open it. Then, you will receive the Pirate Map Fragment 2 of 3 and complete this milestone.

Be careful as opening these will sometimes release intense radiation, so make sure that you have enough protection or bring enough sodium to replenish your shields. Try to not linger inside the chambers for too long.

A Freighter Blighted Rewards:

  • Nautilon Chamber Plans
  • Hydrothermal Fuel Cell Plans
  • S-Class Humboldt Drive Upgrade
  • x5 Hydrothermal Fuel Cell
  • High-Power Sonar Plans

Lawless Sky: Visit a pirate system

You then need to visit a pirate-controlled system for this milestone. On the galactic map, look for star systems that have the skull icon then looking over their details as these are pirate-controlled systems. Visit at least one of these systems and you will complete the milestone.

It is possible to complete this milestone prior to completing the other milestones before it especially if you have visited one as a detour or stumbled upon a pirate-controlled system while doing Nexus missions.

Lawless Sky Rewards:

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

Coveted Suns: Collect 16 Gravitino Balls

For this milestone, you will need to gather 16 Gravitino Balls from planets with hostile sentinels. Collecting these can get dangerous as it puts you on a 3-star wanted level and it alerts sentinels to attack you as soon as you pick one up. After collecting the required amount, you will complete the milestone.

Coveted Suns Rewards:

  • x3 Multi-Tool Expansion Slot
  • x2 X-Class Scatter Blaster Upgrade

Emerald Dreams: Visit a green star

For this milestone, you need to travel to a green star system. To do this, you will need to have an Emeril Drive installed on your starship. Here are the materials needed:

  • x250 Cadmium
  • x4 Wiring Loom

If you still have the Cadmium given from Phase 1, it will save you time mining it from red star planets. As soon as you arrive at the green star planet, you will complete the milestone. Completing this and the rest of the Phase 2 milestone will complete Phase 2.

It is possible to complete this milestone ahead of time if you get lucky enough to get transported into a green star system while doing a Nexus mission.

Emerald Dreams Rewards:

  • 500 Nanites
  • x2 Storage Augmentation
  • X-Class Hyperdrive Upgrade

After the expedition, you can decide to make this save file as your main save file and continue exploring the galaxy as usual, or you can go back to your main save file and claim all the rewards that you get from completing the expedition through it.

Phase 2Expedition 6 Rewards:

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

Phase 3 - Expedition 6 Milestones No Man's Sky

Phase 3 – Expedition 6 Milestones

  • Rendezvous 3 – Reach the third rendezvous point
  • Submerged – Deploy a Submarine
  • The Last Piece – Retrieve a map fragment
  • Leagues Under the Sea – Reach an ocean depth of 80 units
  • Sunken Antiquities – Acquire an aquatic treasure from an underwater ruin

Rendezvous 3: Reach the 3rd rendezvous point

Simply jump towards the next rendezvous point to complete this milestone. It will be in a planet with a huge ocean.

Rendezvous 3 Rewards:

  • x2,000 Gold
  • Exosuit Expansion Unit
  • +1 Korvax Standing

Submerged: Deploy a Submarine

For this milestone, you will have deploy a Nautilon. First, you will have to get the Blueprint Analyser blueprint from your Build Menu:

  • x20 Magnetised Ferrite
  • x1 Carbon Nanotubes

Next, purchase the Nautilon Chamber blueprint from the Blueprint Analyser and craft it:

  • x5 Metal Plating
  • x4 Crystal Sulphide
  • x100 Salt

Then, deploy the Nautilon Chamber underwater and install the Humboldt Drive Upgrade that you got from the previous phase. You may also install other technologies for the Nautilon. Make sure to add fuel, and then you can drive the Nautilon to complete the milestone.

Submerged Rewards:

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

The Last Piece: Retrieve a map fragment

While within your Nautilon, you will get see another marker. Follow this to find the submerged wreckage. Inspect its distress beacon and you will get the Pirate Map Fragment 3 of 3 and complete this milestone.

The Last Piece Rewards:

  • 4,096 Nanites
  • x3 Exosuit Expansion Unit

Leagues Under the Sea: Reach an ocean depth of 80 units

To complete this milestone, simply dive down using your Nautilon until you reach the required depth of 80u which can be seen on the lower left corner of your HUD. If the submerged wreckage is at this depth, then you may also get this milestone completed ahead of the previous one.

Leagues Under the Sea Rewards:

  • Diving Kit
  • Standing Increased: Explorers Guild

Sunken Antiquities: Acquire an aquatic treasure from an underwater ruin

You will have to locate an Ancient Ruin that is submerged underwater and get a treasure from it to complete this expedition. To do this, you must first outfit your Nautilon with a High-Power Sonar:

  • x1 Solar Mirror
  • x3 Crystal Sulphide
  • x50 Ferrite Dust

Once you have the High-Power Sonar fitted into the Nautilon, deploy your Nautilon, use the High-Power Sonar and scan for submerged ruins. Go to the marker that appears and exit your Nautilon once you arrive. Interact with the blob at the ruins to get a Trident Key.

Sunken Antiquities: Acquire an aquatic treasure from an underwater ruin Phase 3 - Expedition 6 Milestones No Man's Sky

Sunken Antiquities Rewards:

  • x2 X-Class Life Support Upgrade
  • Hypnotic Eye

Afterwards, scan the area for Sealed Sea Chests which are usually underneath the ruins. Dig your way to reach one of these chests and open it with the key and one of the Living Pearls. Doing this will complete the milestone and also complete Phase 3.

Phase 3 – Expedition 6 Rewards:

  • Piracy Flag Plans
  • Unity Flag Plans
  • Orbital Flag Plans
  • Viridian Flag Plans

Phase 4 – Expedition 6 Milestones

  • Rendezvous 4 – Reach the fourth rendezvous point
  • Boundary Failure – Eliminate 25 Sentinels
  • Counterfire – Acquire a Multi-Tool from a Sentinel Pillar
  • Blue Expanse – Visit a blue star system
  • Treasure Hunt – Discover the pirate treasure

Rendezvous 4: Reach the 4th rendevous point

Head towards the next rendezvous point to complete this milestone.

Rendezvous 4 Rewards:

  • x2,000 Gold
  • Exosuit Expansion Slot
  • +1 Explorers Guild Standing

Boundary Failure: Eliminate 25 Sentinels

Attack and eliminate sentinels in any planet. Make sure that you have enough shielding on your, as well as a good weapon to clear them down fast. You can also head on to a secure storage facility and hunt down the sentinels patrolling it. Once it gets too messy for you to handle, you can hide inside the building to prevent the sentinels from attacking you.

Boundary Failure Rewards:

  • Positron Ejector Plans
  • x2 X-Class Starship Weapons Upgrade
  • x3 Storage Augmentation

Counterfire: Acquire a Multi-Tool from a Sentinel Pillar

To locate a Sentinel Pillar, you must first raise your alert level to level 5 by eliminating waves of sentinels. Each wave will progressively get harder, with the level 5 wave summoning a Sentinel Walker in the fight. Once the walker gets defeated, a location for a Sentinel Pillar will be revealed.

Go to the location and destroy the Pillar Control Nodes around it. After that, interact with the Sentinel Pillar Access Node and select Extract Weapons Technology to either exchange your current multi-tool for a new one or purchase it outright. Doing this will complete the milestone.

While hunting down sentinels, you may find a Sentinel Pillar map as a drop from their cannister.

Counterfire Rewards:

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

Blue Expanse: Visit a blue star system

Simply visit a blue star system to complete this milestone. You have to have an Indium Drive installed on your starship to be able to visit one of these star systems. You can purchase the blueprint for it in the Space Anomaly. Here are the materials needed to craft one:

  • x250 Emeril
  • x5 Wiring Loom

It is possible to complete this milestone ahead of time if you get lucky and get transported into a blue star system while doing a Nexus mission.

Blue Expanse Rewards:

  • Void Egg
  • x2 Storage Augmentation
  • X-Class Hyperdrive Upgrade

Treasure Hunt: Discover the pirate treasure

Having all three fragments of the pirate map, you can craft the full map from your inventory. In case you accidentally destroy or sell one of the map fragments, you can simply craft one from the inventory as well.

Once you have the full map, use it to plot the route to the treasure. Follow the marker and you will arrive at a portal. Interact with the portal terminal and select Touch screen > Activate Portal. Go through the portal to arrive at the next destination. Continue following the marker until you reach the Pirate Map destination.

You will arrive at a buried ruin. You will then have to dig up Artifact Fragments from the ground first to get Ancient Keys, and once you get three keys, locate a Large Artifact Crate and use the keys to open it. Afterwards, you will complete the milestone and also complete Phase 4.

Treasure Hunt Rewards:

  • Portal Glyph Set

All sentinels that you have eliminated throughout this expedition will count towards this milestone, regardless if they were eliminated during the prior phases. But if you want to easily progress through the next milestone, you should raise your alert level up to level 5 to find the location of a Sentinel Pillar.

Phase 4Expedition 6 Rewards:

  • Wayward Cube Plans

Phase 5 - Expedition 6 Milestones No Man's Sky

Phase 5 – Expedition 6 Milestones

  • Rendezvous 5 – Approach the Galactic Core and reach the final rendezvous point
  • Enlistment – Recruit a pilot to your squadron
  • Galactic Defender – Shoot down 32 pirates
  • Intergalactic – Explore beyond the galactic core
  • Breadcrumbs – Establish your first base

Rendezvous 5: Approach the Galactic Core and reach the final rendezvous point

This milestone will be completed after you go through the portal in the previous phase.

Rendezvous 5 Rewards:

  • x2,000 Gold
  • Exosuit Expansion Slot
  • +8 Mercenaries Guild Standing

Enlistment: Recruited a squadron pilot

To recruit someone in your squadron, head to your freighter first and interact with the left side terminal on the bridge to access the Manage Squadron menu. From there, open up a squadron slot for 800 Nanites. Only one squadron pilot is needed for this milestone so you don’t have to unlock the other slots.

Once you have an open squadron slot, head towards a space station or a trading post on a planet and recruit any pilot that lands. Afterwards, you will complete the milestone.

Enlistment Rewards:

  • X-Class Starship Shield Upgrade
  • X-Class Starship Weapon Upgrade

Galactic Defender: Shoot down 32 pirates

To complete this milestone, you need to eliminate 32 pirate ships. All eliminated pirate ships from the start of the expedition counts towards this milestone, so to get ahead, it’s best to keep and carry valuables in your starship like Gold as this will attract pirates to you. You can also try and find settlements which often get raided by pirates.

Galactic Defender Rewards:

  • x5 Defence Chit
  • x10 Comet Droplets

Intergalactic: Leave the Galaxy

For this milestone, you will have to leave the current galaxy that you are in by heading towards the Galaxy Centre. Since the portal transported you near the Galaxy Centre, all you need to do is to make one last jump towards the Galaxy Centre.

To make the jump, make sure that your starship’s Hyperdrive Fuel is at 100% and no less. Then, access your Galactic Map and switch your destination to the Galactic Core. You will then see a route towards the center of the Galaxy. At this point, if you have not filled up your Hyperdrive yet, you will receive a message that will not allow you to make the jump.

Make the jump and you will be transported to the new galaxy. You will complete the milestone which also rewards a tech that you will use for the final milestone.

Intergalactic Rewards:

  • x888 Quicksilver
  • x8 Triple Burst Firework
  • Base Computer Plans
Breadcrumbs: Establish a foothold in a new galaxy - Phase 5 - Expedition 6 Milestones No Man's Sky

For this final milestone, you will have to build a base in any planet of the new galaxy. Since the planet that you arrive in will most likely be full of claimed land from other players, you can set off to space and look for another planet to build a base on.

At this point, should you decide to continue on this save file and make it your main save, you can spend some time finding a suitable planet, as long as you don’t go past the Expedition date.

Upon finding a planet, put down your Base Computer to claim the land and put down 15 pieces of base parts. After doing so, you will complete the milestone and also complete the entire Expedition 6.

Breadcrumbs Rewards:

  • x16 Salvaged Data
  • Construction Research Unit Plans

At the end of Phase 5 of the quest, you’ll receive the following rewards:

Phase 5Expedition 6 Rewards:

  • Title: “Hunter of the Blight”
  • Blighted Expedition Decal Plans
  • Blighted Expedition Banner Customisation

And once you’ve completed the entire voyage, you’ll be able to customize your look with the Outlaw Cape.

How to Get the Outlaw Cape in No Man’s Sky

You need to complete Expedition 6: The Blighted in order to get the Outlaw Cape for your character. To claim it, go to your Menu > Expedition, go to the Final Phase Node and select the Blighted Badge and you will receive the Outlaw Cape.

How to Claim the Expedition 6 Rewards in Main Saves

Once you have completed the entire Expedition 6, you can move back to your main save and go to the Space Anomaly and talk to the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion to claim the expedition rewards. This also works if you have not completed the expedition, but the rewards that you will get will depend on which phase you complete.

Do note that you will only get expedition rewards that are customized for this expedition such as the decals, banners, titles, etc. You will not receive any of the upgrades or materials that you received from the expedition as a reward as these can be obtained outside the expedition.

These rewards can also be claimed in multiple saves, and even in Permadeath Mode saves.


If you like this Guide, be sure to check out our other No Man’s Sky articles here:

Check out this video by Jason Plays showing how to start Expedition 6: The Blighted:

Staff Writer