Raid 01 – Crota’s End

 

EXPANSION I – RAID 01: Crota's End

 

 

Preparation

 

A few notes on preparation before you begin with raid events

 

  • While you can "technically" enter this raid at level 27, don't bother even attempting it until at least level 29 (preferably 30). Starting area enemies will one shot you at 27 and 28 and two shot you at 29. So unless you have a powerful and supportive group, don't try to enter until you reach 30. Even 30's will be one shotted by enemies near the end of the raid, so you will need a fair bit of skill to stay alive even at an appropriate level.

 

  • Gjallarhorn and Ice breaker (maxed) are the two most useful exotic weapons to bring on this raid, so make sure to bring them along if you have them.

 

  • Have your best weapons on (solar is really the only beneficial element for this raid for killing wizards), so adjust your weaponry to suit – make sure you have at least one powerful mid to long range solar weapon.

 

  • Fast firing primary weapons (auto rifles and pulse if necessary) are best for the early stages of the raid due to the high density of thralls.

 

  • Stock up on heavy and special ammo recovery items from the gunsmith in the tower (around five of each should do). This is for certain situations where you don't get required drops, party wipes, etc where you need a bit more ammo than you start with to make life easier.

 

  • Obtain a microphone! This is essential and will be the determining factor for allowing you to communicate with the rest of the team. Using the message system is far too slow and can be distracting for other players, so make sure you have a mic.

 

  • To find raid matchmaking, there are several looking for group (LFG) sites around for destiny. Search around and list your character (be honest with your stats as you will likely get booted otherwise) and message players still looking to round out their teams. If you already have a dedicated group of six ready to go, good for you.

 

After all that, you should be waiting in the lobby with the rest of your group over the surface of the Moon. Ready to enter the raid.

 

 

Section 01: Trail of Darkness

 

 

You will start on on a small incline, looking down at a circular panel in front of a massive drop. Walk over to the panel and stand on it with your team members to create a light bridge leading out into the sky. When the bridge forms, walk out onto it and drop down through the glowing hole at the end to enter the start of the raid.

 

Note: Players with low defense or levels will need to jump just before hitting the ground or else they will instantly die from fall damage (or embarrassment). The fall takes just over 21 seconds so if you count up to around 18 and jump, you should be fine.

 

 

When you land, you'll be standing in a circle of light in the center of a large darkened chamber. Before rushing anywhere, just let me mention a few things first.

 

Chest 1: For those that want a free item chest (you can get this without a party, or with one), look to the left wall. If you walk over there (watch out for the spawning lv 30 thralls), you will find a series of doors along the walls at set intervals. Hunters can use their invisibility abilities to check multiple doors (crouch stealth and stealth extension). Other classes will only be able to check the first door safely.

 

 

If one of the doors has an orange light above it, it contains an ascendant item chest that can be looted inside. If you are looking for this chest alone, you can die to reset the chance of there being an orange light over a door. Just keep retrying and it will appear after a few tries.

 

 

  • Weight of darkness – This is a stacking negative effect (up to x10) that gradually reduces your agility (movement speed). Once past a certain amount (x7) you can no longer jump or sprint either. This, combined with the hordes of thralls in the area can make the area very frustrating without teamwork, coordination and good communication/ callouts.

 

  • There is a trail of lamps (pillars of light) that will indicate where you need to travel to eventually reach the bridge to the next area. These lamps are both a help and a hindrance. They will reduce and even remove the weight of darkness negative effect when you approach them. The downside is, they will burn out (turn orange and then red) and explode (dealing massive damage to players caught in the blast area) after a certain amount of time. This is usually around 20 seconds after being activated.

 

 

  • There are a lot of circular instant death holes in the floor of this area, so pay careful attention to the ground while you move between the lamps when you aren't busy shooting.

 

 

To get through this area, you'll need to huddle together and move as a group. The weakest players should remain at the front of the huddle so as not to get left behind, and to provide support fire. A designated player should be calling out lamp locations (ie: lamp straight ahead, right, left), while another calls out the location of any holes in the ground. If more than half your party is left behind as you go, you'll most likely want to wipe and retry as it is very difficult to stay alive at the end of the area with less than three players.

 

How to actually do it. From your starting location, look for the nearest lamp and move as a group towards it. As you do, level 30 thralls will begin swarming your group from all sides. The two designated callout players should be alerting the team of where to travel next and warning of holes. Keep following the trail of lamps, moving away as a group when they start to turn orange and heading for the next one.

 

 

As you get further, cursed thralls and eventually melee knights will begin to attack your party and holes in the ground will become more frequent. Keep pushing forward as best you can. Eventually, you'll reach a slightly lit circular plate on the ground (similar to the one you used right at the start of the raid). Get the team to stand on it while holding off the enemies. As soon as the message "the path forward is clear." appears in the bottom left of the screen (the bridge will also appear at the same time), sprint across with what remains of your party and run into the light to reach the next area.

 

 

Section 02: The Bridge

 

Exploit method:

 

Note: Currently at time of writing (29/12/14), there is an exploit for making this section much easier. Once this exploit is patched, you will need to follow the "legit" method instead.

Current as of 29/12/14, likely to be patched at a future date

Requires a warlock with auto-revive in the party

 

 

Part 1:

 

When you arrive in the second area of Crota's raid (where you need to hold the bridge panels while a sword wielder crosses the bridge and kills the gatekeeper), you can glitch this to remove all the thralls and acolytes on this side of the bridge.

 

1) Wait until the warlock's super (revive) is full

2) Trigger the thralls and let everyone in the party wipe except the warlock

3) Let the warlock die and watch the darkness wipe counter begin counting down from 0:06

4) When it reaches  0:01, the warlock must trigger their revive ability

 

 

5) If timed correctly, the warlock will revive and all the enemies on the side of the bridge except the sword bearer will vanish and the warlock can run around and revive the rest of the party

 

Part 2:

 

Players with Icebreakers or other long range weaponry can jump onto the pillars for a better view and start sniping the enemies on the other side of the bridge. If all the enemies are killed this way, the area will be clear and you will obtain your area raid reward. The bridge will also appear for you to cross into the next area.

 

 

Normal method:

 

 

When you arrive in the area, you'll be on a raised area overlooking a large area below with two circular platforms and another bridge plate similar to the one used in the previous section. The idea here is to form the bridge to reach the other side and cross one at a time (once half the team is across the half that crossed will begin doing the plate and circular platforms on that side instead). There are a few things to note before starting in this area:

 

 

  • The two lit circles (platforms/ panels) near the bridge are switches that prevent nearby totems from instantly wiping your party. Once the bridge plate is triggered, they will begin charging. This can be stopped by guardians standing on the white switches. Guardians will want to hold these switches for as long as the bridge is being formed on a side and then do the same thing on the far side when half the team is across. If one of the switches is lost and the team is about to wipe, the guardians on the bridge plate can step off  it to prevent the totems wiping the party.

 

 

  • The swordbearer is a stronger version of a yellow health bar melee knight. Maintaining your distance while bringing him down is highly recommended. The sword he drops will sit where he died for 60 seconds before disappearing. Once the sword vanishes, another swordbearer will spawn. If the sword is picked up, another swordbearer will not spawn until the current sword wears out.

 

 

The process is quite specific and there are ways for the team to wipe, so I'll lay it out.

 

1) A guardian (or two) stands on the bridge plate. This triggers the thralls, acolytes and knights spawning as well as a swordbearer.

2) Everyone else will immediately have to take their places on the white switches to either side of the bridge plate.

 

 

3) The team should maintain positions where possible, defending the plate and switches from the hive enemies. One guardian may want to move and specifically target the swordbearer if he moves out of range of the team.

4) Once the swordbearer is down, you will have 60 seconds to pick up the sword before it disappears.

5) A designated (or random) guardian picks up the sword and crosses the fully formed bridge (only players with a sword can cross safely).

6) The player with the sword will find a number of gatekeepers (knights) on the other side equivalent to the number of swordbearers killed. These can only be damaged with the sword, so the guardian with the sword must be fast in taking these enemies down.

7) After the gatekeepers are dealt with, the guardian with the sword should avoid standing on the bridge plate or totem switches on the far side as this will trigger the set on his/her side of the bridge, causing the totems on that side to wipe the party. The guardian who crossed should provide support fire from their new position to help the team.

8) Repeat phases 3-7 two more times, three guardians should now be across.

 

 

9) The three guardians on the far side should now activate their bridge plate and switches.

 

 

10) The other guardians focus on any leftover hive enemies and provide cover fire. When the swordbearer appears again, they should then focus fire on it.

11) The next guardian grabs the sword and crosses the bridge, dealing with the gatekeepers that spawn on the far side.

12) Repeat phases 10-11 two more times and everyone should be across the bridge.

 

 

13) When the final guardian reaches the far side, doors will open up and a swarm of hive enemies (thralls, acolytes, wizards and two ogres) will emerge and attack the team. Defeating the ogres will remove the rest of the enemies from the area so you can either try to focus on them or just deal with threats as they appear.

14) After the ogres are dead, you will obtain the raid drop for this area.

 

Chest 2: After the ogres are dead, you will find a large set of doors open with a hallway beyond. Entering the hallway triggers a slowly closing door at the far end. To get inside you will need to kill the two shriekers overhead and reach the door before it closes too far. There are also large amounts of thralls slowing your progress as well. Coordinate your team (decide who shoots and who runs for the door) and then try the hallway. If someone makes it inside, the door will open again revealing another chest to loot.

 

 

 

Drop down the large hole in front of the chest room door to reach the next area.

 

Section 03: Litany of death

 

 

You'll begin in this area at in a circular room at the bottom of the hole you just jumped down. Ahead of you are two kneeling lv 32 yellow health knights (get used to knights as there are a hell of a lot of them in this area). Before you move let me explain a few things:

 

  • This area is on a timer, 3:00 to be precise. The deathsinger Yut is in the rear room in the upper level of this circular area, after 2:30 she will begin to sing (a warning message "litany of ruin will appear at the bottom left of the screen). The goal of this area is to unseal her chamber and kill her before her song kills the party. The timer begins upon shooting an enemy or an enemy seeing you.

 

 

  • Breaking the seals: There are two sets of "seals" that need to be broken before you can access the central room where Yut resides. The first is a pair of yellow health bar wizards (one on the left and one on the right), that need to be killed to trigger the second seal spawning.

 

 

  • The second seal is a pair of shriekers (one in the left room, one in the right that need to be destroyed to gain access to Yut's chamber.

 

 

First things first, the team needs to get to the rendezvous spot, this is at the far end of the upper level. To reach it, climb the stairs and jump over the kneeling knights (don't waste time shooting them). Turn right or left and climb the stairs to the upper level. At the top, turn around (look behind you) and jump over the debris and rubble to reach a circular panel at the back of the upper level.

 

This is the safest area in this section and offers you good views for sniping. Just be aware knights and wizards can get the occasional lucky shot (some melee knights will even glitch into the area if they get too close).

 

 

Okay, to get the first seal done, you will need to split the team in half (one half concentrating on each side). One person from each half will need to run into the room on their side to trigger the wizards. This will make them leave the room, and the rest of the team should open fire. Maxed out ice breakers are excellent for this task if players have them, or any other powerful ranged solar weapon. Make sure to call out when each wizard falls, so no time is wasted.

 

Once both wizards are down, the both halves need to make for the room on their side together. Kill enemies in your path but keep moving and pull out powerful ranged weapons. Inside the rooms on each side will be a shrieker, upon a player entering the room it will open up and begin firing. You should copy it's example and open fire on it to bring it down quickly.

 

 

After both shriekers are down, you have a choice (depending on your team's strength) on how you want to continue. You can fall back to the rendezvous spot to whittle down the enemies in the area a bit before making the rush for Yut's chamber, or you can all sprint straight in and attack her.

 

Either way, when you enter the chamber, look for the ledges on the walls. You can jump up to them to remain safe from the melee knights in the area (you can still be hit by ranged enemies, but it does make life easier). Unload your heavy weapons into Yut to bring her down as fast as you can. As soon as she is down you are safe from the timer death. Once she is dead you can now afford to be more cautious, retreat back to the rendezvous point and begin clearing the remaining enemies.

 

 

Once the area is clear you will move onto the final section of the raid (sorry, no raid drop for that section. Bummer).

 

Section 04: Crota

 

Exploit Method:

 

Note: Currently at time of writing (01/01/15), there is an exploit for making this section much easier. Once this exploit is patched, you will need to follow the "legit" method instead.

 

Current as of 01/01/15, may be patched at a future date.

Requires fireteam leader to create a new game at the Crota checkpoint (leave current game and invite fireteam) for each attempt at the glitch.

 

 

Once everyone is ready and in the new game, start like normal. Activate the crystal by all standing around it and then killing the swarm of enemies when the force shields drop.

 

*Note: if you leave a single enemy alive, players can suicide and be revived at full health if needed (handy due to crota's presence effect)

 

When all the enemies are dead, the person who created the game should be ready to exit the game.

 

Everyone else should line up at both side doors leading out to the open area with line of sight on Crota. Then open fire. When Crota has no shield he will drop to one knee and a player should call this out, informing the player who created the game to leave.

 

 

If timed correctly, Crota should remain kneeling for the rest of the game. Invite the player who left back in and wait for him to respawn before resuming the murder. With tacos.

 

This exploit doesn't "kill" Crota, but makes fighting him much easier. Follow the instructions in the normal method to finish Crota off.

 

Normal Method:

 

 

To actually begin the final phase of the raid, the team will need to stand on the circular panel around the large green crystal in the central room. After a few seconds, you will glow orange briefly, enemies will begin spawning outside the room and you will be affected by the presence of crota. This means you can no longer regenerate health during the rest of this section (unless you obtain the chalice of light, but we'll cover that shortly).

 

 

Take cover against the walls or on the ledges above (remember, shots will be coming from both directions), and wait for the force wall to fall. As soon as it does, start blasting away the crowds of acolytes and knights on both sides (ice breakers and suros work well for bringing them down fast).

 

*Note: if you leave a single enemy alive, players can suicide and be revived at full health if needed (handy due to crota's presence effect), without using the chalice of light

 

Once both sides are clear do not commit suicide or die if you can possibly avoid it, due to Crota's Oversoul. Crota's oversoul is the massive broken rock/ moon floating overhead. It will become activated upon a player's death after Crota has physically appeared. When it does, you have around 6 – 8 seconds to deal enough damage to it (by shooting it with heavy weapons) before it wipes the party. So a single player death can result in a wipe here. Be very careful of this as the ranged knights in the area deal massive damage.

 

 

Crota has a enrage timer of ten minutes, if you have not killed him after that time, Crota will trigger the oversoul frequently (not needing a player death) and enemies will spawn rapidly.

 

[This is where you can perform the exploit method, or continue on as normal]

 

The chalice of light in in the center of the outer area (shown by a marker and surrounded by a glowing light), taking it will immediately begin regenerating health and holding onto it will allow your health to regenerate like normal. Any team member can take the chalice by pressing X (xbox) or square (playstation).

 

Crota himself has two methods of attack, a barrage of projectiles (similar to wizards, but far more damaging) as well as a close range melee strike for ridiculous damage. He also possesses a very strong shield. This can be whittled and reduced by regular weapons (primary, secondary and heavy) but the damage stream must be constant. If the damage stops on it for more than half a second, his shield will return to full instantly. If the shield is destroyed, Crota will kneel down on one knee for around five seconds (making this the best time to damage him safely).

 

 

Players can only damage Crota by using a hive sword when he has no shield remaining. To obtain a hive sword, players must kill the swordbearer in the area. One player must pick up the sword, while everyone else concentrates on bringing down Crota's shield and killing any other enemies around the player with the sword. Crota will flash orange before rising and performing a high damage attack if anyone is nearby, so the player with a sword should retreat when this happens. Remember if a player dies, the Oversoul will trigger, so focus on keeping everyone alive while Crota is attacked.

 

If Crota is not damaged before getting up again, a pair of ogres will appear instead of a swordbearer. These must be destroyed before a swordbearer will spawn. Every second time a player picks up the sword, an ogre will spawn as well.

 

Ranged knights will appear on the upper levels overlooking the battlefield (some jumping down to join the fight), thralls and melee knights will spawn quite fast in the central area as well to help Crota. The team needs to be coordinated and know exactly what to do at all times to avoid wiping from a single death + oversoul. If your team can manage to pull all this off and damage Crota enough times with the sword, he will crumble and fall and your team will emerge victorious with the final raid drop. Congratulations, this is definitely a well earned reward.

 

 

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