It’s easy but not readily explained
New Destiny expansions typically bring something new into the mix, and in addition to welcoming back a lot of old mechanics, Shadowkeepgives us “finishers.”
They work almost exactly how you’d expect, and are basically a 1:1 re-creation of the “visceral attack” finishers from 2016’s Doom. Unfortunately the explanation on how finishers work in-game is a blink and you’ll miss it moment, so here’s a quick refresher.
First you’ll want to understand where finishers are equipped. Press start, hit down on the d-pad, and look in the middle of the right column. That’s where you store your finishers, which are mostly acquired from the premium store (right now they’re just on sale for silver, not bright dust, the in-game currency). By default you’ll already have one equipped.
To use it, you just need to wear an enemy down until they have roughly 20% of their health left, then look for a large floating orb above their head. Run up to them into melee range then hit the right analog stick (Q on PC) to initiate the finisher. That’s it! Bungie could expand upon the finisher system over time, granting bonuses for triggering them, but for now they’re mostly here for aesthetic purposes and tied to mods.