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Destiny 2 Crota’s End will be the main “course” of Bungie’s 22nd season for their long-running FPS title. As one of the original raids, dating back from 2014 when the OG Destiny was released, it will serve as a filler before the inevitable (and much anticipated) conclusion arrives in The Final Shape.
Bungie is hyping up the changes with this insanely long 44-minute expose which can be summed up as: “Yes, we heard you guys. We know Lightfall sucked. We will do better. Promise.”
Taking all the hype for The Final Shape aside, it seems that the reprisal of Crota’s End in Destiny 2 isn’t a bad thing. Many players who have missed the original raid will get to experience it. Bungie is making this a “free for all” experience so anyone can complete it. No expansions are required!
Still, this wasn’t the easiest raid and it would be good to load up on some useful tips and tricks. Bungie’s sure to throw in some nasty little surprises in your face. If that’s the case, and you don’t have a reliable team for you, our Sherpas can make mince-meat of your enemies and help teach you the encounter, even on Day 1. Be sure to check them out if you want to be one of those World First folks eh? Now, onto the raid itself!
The story so far
Bungie wanted to roll out the big guns in anticipation of the Final Shape. If you’re not so caught up on Destiny 2’s lore, things are going from bad to worse. The Traveler has been breached and inside The Witness has been playing merry-go-round with his entrails.
The portal he opened leads to an ethereal dimension, one which needs a lot of power to be reached. This is where the need to resurrect Savathun with the help of her Ghost, Immaru comes in. She’s going to feed on the energy released from Crota and help us acquire enough juice to power through and face the Witness within.
Which is of course, why we’re going to be re-doing Crota’s End in Destiny 2 (and also grab some sweet, sweet updated loot along the way).
Heading out
Before we actually head out and “refresh” all the mechanics in the returning Crota’s End in Destiny 2, a warning. Everything you read here is subject to change. Not the raid itself, obviously, but rather how some of the mechanics play out.
Like we said previously, Bungie plans to give players “a brutal” preparation for The Final Shape so expect the unexpected eh? Let’s roll in.
Starting out AND THE FIRST ENCOUNTER
In order to access Crota’s End in Destiny 2, you need to go to the Moon. The very first mechanic is to build a bridge whilst standing on a plate (standard Destiny 2 mechanic right there).
The bridge mechanic will be reprised a lot in this raid so keep that in mind. Some encounters will have you stationary whilst fending off ads, so having Guardians with stationary Ults will help a lot.
Now then – the Abyss is where you drop down from the initial bridge and you have to put it in gear. A debuff called Weight of Darkness is applied, unless you hit the lanters while you’re spriting. This is essential to survival because if you don’t, you cannot sprint (or jump, huh) and you will quickly be overwhelmed by the spawning ads.
At the end of the chase, you have another platform and bridge to build. This is actually where you will face off against the entire plethora of ads at the raid’s disposal – Knights, Ogres, Wizards, and Thrash. Loads upon loads of them, seeking to bring you down. (Didn’t we mention Guardians with stationary Ults like Wells and Bubbles?) Mop them up and run up the bridge!
The Second encounter!
Here a little coordination is needed. For one, you need a person standing in the middle to build the next bridge. The rest of the team will be divided across the room – 2 (on the opposite sides) will need to camp at the Totems.
The rest of the team has to kill the Swordbearer who comes in, pick up his weapon, and obliterate the Blue Knight that has spawned on the other side of the bridge. Since only 1 person can cross with the sword, you will need to repeat this times 5 to get the entire fire team across.
Once you’ve done this, the next phase unfolds – a crapton of very powerful Knights spawn. Luckily you have your swords at the ready but it won’t hurt if you have blinding grenades or weapons that can stun/blind. This is because Bungie’s sure to buff up the Knights even more so getting close, they might one-shot you.
Secret chests and moving further down the abyss
Upon successfully dispatching the Knight’s Onslaught, you will be rewarded with a chest. There’s however, a secret chest in the adjoining hallway. This can only be reached by someone very fast (a Hunter most likely) but if he manages to do it, the door will reopen.
Keep in mind that there will be Thralls and Shriekers ambushing your team, so it can be a bit tricky. Plus we have no idea if Bungie will buff up the ads with more varied enemies and even add some nasty surprise to get to the secret chest.
You should mop up all enemies fast and move deeper into the raid, where you’re expected to fight the second to last boss.
Ir Yut, the Deathsinger
Before she commits to the battle, this boss requires you to clear out all the trash in the form of a variety of Knights, a Wizard, and other mobs.
In OG Destiny, the Deathsinger wasn’t a particularly challenging boss, apart from the time constraint. She’s got a 2.5-minute “enrage” which will wipe your raid unless she’s taken down.
You basically need to nuke the Wizard and Shrieker which will spawn on opposite sides of the room. This will bring her shield down and then you need to pop your Ults / use your heavy ammo weapons to bring her down.
Take note that Bungie’s sure to have buffed her up and added some interesting variety to make the encounter harder.
Final encounter – Crota, Son of Oryx
The final boss in the appropriately named raid is indeed, Crota. His encounter is the most demanding and challenging for 2 reasons:
- You cannot heal while Crota’s around and you can only do so if you hold the “Chalice of Light”
- Oversoul – a raid wipe ability that Crota casts if a player dies and his “soul” isn’t destroyed fast enough
Now then – to start off, you’ll need to defeat the Swordbearer Knight in order to be able to grab his sword. This is the only way to actually damage Crota. However, you cannot just start beating him with it – you need to first take out Crota’s shield.
So, in order to effectively down the boss, you need at least 1 person dedicated to picking up the sword. 2 (or 3) Guardians to bring Crota’s shield down and do so effectively to decrease downtime.
Keep in mind that this “dance” for the sword collection and damaging Crota needs to be timed perfectly for if he manages to kill one person, it may trigger a raid wipe. While now we have a ton of different sources for self-healing, Bungie is 100% sure to change the Chalice of Light and make it more difficult to simply burst Crota down.
Closing remarks
And there you have it folks – Crota’s End in Destiny 2. Not really though 🙂 We have no 100% guarantee that any of the encounters will play as we described. However, it is good to know the basics. Bungie cannot swap scenery in its entirety nor add something unexpected… or can they? 🙂
At any rate, we’re updating the loot list from the encounter which you can check right here. Please let us know if you’re excited about the raid as we’re in the comments.
Also, if you’re already gearing up for the raid or plan to do so but lack quality teammates, make sure to head on over to our Sherpa section and check all the possibilities that can bring your Crota’s End Raid Experience to a very successful end.
Peace out Guardians!
