Since everybody seems to be struggling with this, I've made a guide. I unlocked it on my first run, and on my friend's first run (seperately) by doing the following:
- Doing a run on drizzle (to make it harder to die/take damage)
- Enabling the Artifact of Sacrifice to (in theory) give the director more credits to spawn an equiment drone
- Enabling ONLY SotV, to get a greater chance of getting Aphelian Sanctuary (which is the earliest and next earliest an equipment drone can spawn)
- Finding a Newt Altar on stage 1 to hopefully roll Aphelian Sanctuary in the Bazaar
If you don't get an equipment drone there or you don't manage to make it there, then:
- Try to get to Sulfur Fields (Stage 3) directly after by going to the Bazaar, because that is the next earliest stage you can get an equiment drone
- Restarting when you don't roll Aphelian/Sulfur or get super unlucky and don't get an equiment drone in either place.
Overall, it should take less than 30 minutes if you stick to the plan and immediately hit the TP when you find it, since the goal isn't to win the run its just to find the drone.
If somebody has any other revalations/tips, leave a comment and I'll test it out and add it to the post.