Summary
Destiny 2brought about another reprised raid thanks to Season of the Witch. This time in the form of Crota’s End. With Crota’s End’s launch in September, the updated raid came chock-full of updated mechanics, brand-new challenges/triumphs, new titles, and of course new loot. It was one of the community’s most requested additions toDestiny 2, but the irony is that the “Day One” raid race was one of the hardest in recent memory. Of course, the overarching lesson here is to be careful what one wishes for.
Regardless, while the difficulty was multiplied by “contest mode,” there is still a good chunk of guardians struggling to get their completions for the reprised version of Crota’s End. An exorbitant number of guardians are chasing down oversoul fragments to get their hands on the iconicNechrochasm exotic auto riflefromDestiny, so now is the time.
5Use Strand Grapple During the Abyss Encounter
The first real encounter in theDestiny 2version of Crota’s End is the infamous “Abyss” encounteron the Moon. Here guardians will be running through a very dark corridor whereas the only respite is the utilization of the “Chalice of Light” (more on that momentarily) which can both light the way and dissipate a nasty little debuff called “weight of darkness.” Once that hits x10, guardians will find themselves moving much more sluggishly as well as regaining health gratuitously slower. Oh but also, during this time, players will also be chased by an endless onslaught of Hive thrall.
Luckily for guardians in 2023 though, the strand subclass exists, and even more specifically the grapple ability. When utilizing this “grenade” ability, guardians can embrace their inner Spider-Man and use this cooldown ability to zip around the Abyss with little to no problems. Furthermore, if the Fireteam in question has someone withthe Navigator trace rifle(hopefully with a completed catalyst) then they can essentially make these grapple points limitlessly at will.
4Understand How the Chalice of Light Works
This should go without saying, but no raid inDestinycan call itself that without its fair share of vocabulary, terms, and all-around mechanics (most of which are prevalent throughout the entire raid). Some are more straightforward, usually derived from carrying an artifact of sorts while others are more interactible objects. For example, in the Garden of Salvation raid players need to shoot a box and have a thread tether between them to open certain doorways/nodes.
In the case of the reprised Crota’s End raid inDestiny 2,the most important mechanic is the enlightened buff which comes from juggling the aforementioned Chalice of Light. Essentially what players will need to do is interact/hold the Chalice until their meter is full, and then another Guardian will take it off of them granting the initial holder this buff. However, to stop players from just having a select few people juggle the buff (as was the case in the OGDestinyversion), there is a timer that locks them out called “drained of light.” The enlightened buff is also what allows players to cross certain barriers, pick up swords (another necessary mechanic), and more. So suffice it to say, players will need to understand how this works to get the loot fromthis best shlooter.
3Use Wishender Exotic Bow for Ir Yut
This is not a very long raid and as such it only has two bosses to speak of. Ir Yut the Deathsinger is the first of these. She is a rather nasty, shielded Hive Witch who has something of a siren song, which if finished wipes the entire Fireteam. The only way to get her into a damageable state is to halt that song. To do so, players will have to efficiently scramble and look for several closed-off rooms which can only be entered by those holding the “enlightened” buff. This, again, is a process to perform all on its own, since half of the rooms have shriekers in them as well as the timeliness of the entire encounter. This is precisely why this exotic bow is so useful here.
The WIshender exotic bow can see enemies behind walls, therefore the person (or persons) holding this exotic bow can see where they are and call it out to their teammates. This saves time to a gratuitous degree. If players don’t have the Wishender bow,the quest is very much worth the hassle. It is not just a great exotic weapon for this encounter but generally throughout the entirety ofDestiny 2since it has intrinsic anti-barrier arrows making it a double whammy. However, guardians may want to have something else to switch to once it is actual DPS time.
No one likes to lollygag when it comes to raids. They can take a good chunk of time, and random guardians outside of clans sometimes can be a bit on the impatient side. Therefore, it is highly recommended to have multiple load-outs catered for higher endgame content (which can preemptively be saved to the loadout system inside ofDestiny 2itself). But specifically regarding Crota’s End, players should have a good arc build, since that’s what most encounters ask for.
Arc-centric loadouts are most successful here when based on solid arc exotics; both weapon-wise and armor-wise. Take a Hunter for example, whereas players will want to utilize either the Liar’s Handshake exotic arms or the Exotic helmet Assassin’s Cowl, alongside maybe Riskrunner Thunderlord, or even Divinity as an exotic weapon. Pair that with some mods, and Guardians will be well-equipped to deal with the raid as a whole. Beyond that, players can also outfit themselves withmeta exotics like Gjallahorn, Witherhord, Arbalest, etc., but since swords are the optimal strategy for Crota – Bequest from Deep Stone Crypt raid may be the best move.
1Utilize 2–3 Swords For Crota Boss Encounter
As discussed above, there are two bosses in the entirety of the Crota’s End raid. As for Crota himself, guardians will want to again juggle the enlightened buff via the chalice of light but be aware that the Chalice can only be moved around while in an illuminated pool of light. Furthermore, guardians will need to have that buff to kill swordbearers and then relieve them of their swords, which is the only way to break Crota’s shield and ergo do damage to him. It should be noted that this version of this Hive Prince is abit more aggressivethan itsDestinycounterpart.
The problem here is that without more than one sword, reaching said damage phase will be a much longer-winded process. While it will take Fireteams a bit longer to cycle through all the steps to get their hands on one of these special swords, it will be more than worth it to have a more fluid and efficient damage phase. Finally, keep an eye on the big green eye in the back called the Oversoul as if it is not shot in time, it can wipe a Fireteam once more. So rinse and repeat until done, and an end has been brought to Crota, himself.
