Brakion, Genesis Mind

"Just us and a giant Vex Gate. Ah, the Vex Gate at the center of the lake! What lake?! The lake where you will grind Brakion's horns into dust and crush its chassis beneath your boot! That lake!"

- Ghost and Asher Mir

Brakion, Genesis Mind is an Ultra Hobgoblin that served as the Axis Mind of the Pyramidion on Io and the main boss of the aforementioned Strike in Destiny 2. It later appears as the final boss of //NODE.OVRD.AVALON//, now named Variant Stalker Brakion, Repurposed Mind, having been repurposed as a specialized unit to hunt down Asher Mir's influence in the Nexus.

Biography
Brakion oversaw the Pyramidion at its core and therefore coordinated the Vex's efforts of converting Io into a Machine world. It reconfigured reality within the Vex structure to halt a failed Guardian expedition attempting to invade the Pyramidion, led by Asher Mir whom Brakion captured at the shores of a radiolarian lake. It subjected the captive Asher and his team to experiments injecting radiolaria and grafting Vex technology; some of which converted the latter's arm and Ghost into Vex constructs before he could escape.

Years later, another fireteam of Guardians guided by Ikora Rey and an extremely vengeful Asher Mir entered into Pyramidion despite heavy Vex resistance and leftover Taken from Ir Arok, Tongue of Quria's excursion. Upon delving into the self-criticality of the synthoneural terminus, they summoned Brakion and put an immediate end to the Vex mind much to Asher's satisfaction.

Five years after its defeat, the Vex were alerted to Asher's continued travels through the Vex network and extraction of data on the Black Fleet following his presumed disappearance after the Arrival of the Black Fleet. To this end, Brakion was reconstructed to pursue Asher, forcing him to flee to the Nexus's Earth sector and send a signal to The Guardian. The Guardian infiltrated the Nexus through the resulting tear in reality, using Asher's guidance to find and dismantle Brakion once more.

Brakion would continue to be reconstructed as more data was requisitioned from the Nexus by Asher, necessitating its destruction on a weekly basis. This would be countered with the creation of Vexcalibur, a glaive created from the Vex network's code and engineered to destroy its security protocols. Its third destruction marked a permanent end to Brakion's return and the secure transmission of all of Asher's data; however, this victory was bittersweet, as Asher would succumb to his Vex infection shortly thereafter and fade from existence entirely.

Gameplay
Brakion will enter the arena when the plate in front of it is stood on for long enough. It will open fire with its Line Rifle and occasionally follow up with Void flame projectiles that create a circle of purple fire upon impact. After its health has been reduced by a third, it will teleport to another location; it will be immune while teleporting. It will then surround itself in a Vex barrier that can only be disabled by capturing a Sync Plate. Other Vex will defend this plate, so killing them all is advised. Brakion is able to shoot through this barrier. After capturing this Sync Plate, Brakion will resume its attack but will teleport to another corner and put up another Vex Barrier shortly after. Once both barriers had been disabled, Brakion would assault the player directly, eventually entering berserk mode once its head was shot off. In Berserk mode, it will fire its Line Rifle in three-shot bursts. It would remain in this state until it was defeated.

As the Repurposed Mind, only Brakion's second third of its health requires removing a shield. However, each phase takes place on a different arena modeled after the Pyramidion Strike, and the Sync Plate mechanic for its shield is replaced with the codebreaking mechanic used previously in //node.ovrd.AVALON//. Additionally, Brakion now takes only 50% damage from abilities, forcing the player to rely on regular weapons to defeat it. At lower health, Brakion will start firing his Line Rifle in bursts instead of single shots, ranging from 2-shots up to 5-shots.

Trivia

 * Brakion is the second Axis Mind that has the appearance of a Hobgoblin, instead of a Minotaur, Hydra, or a Harpy, the first being Xegonion, Warped Mind.
 * Additionally, Brakion is the second boss whose appearance changes when critically damaged, the first being Protheon.
 * When Brakion's head is shot off its weak point is shifted to its chest and on the back of its chest is a small window that shows a weak point.
 * Brakion is the second Vex boss to be called by name. The first was Atheon when he was called by name during Destiny's Age of Triumph.
 * Brakion’s name could be derived from the Latin word bracchium, which means arm or branch. This may be an allusion to the Pyramidion's connection to the Infinite Forest, or a somewhat humorous allusion to the fact that Brakion is responsible for converting Asher Mir's arm.
 * In the Pyramidion, if Brakion's head was broken before entering its vulnerable state a second time, it would enter a berserker rage, moving through its shield while remaining invulnerable, making defeating it significantly more difficult.
 * Brakion is the first and currently only Vex mind with an inherent resistance to paracausal forces specifically; damage to its frame in AVALON from any ability is halved. The story significance of this, if any, is unknown.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2
 * Season of Defiance