Destiny Crota’s End All Phases Guide

Destiny Crota’s End All Phases Guide by Cazaderon

Phase 1 : Not so alone in the dark

Right after dropping into the dark below, you’ll all be marked by a curse called “Weight of the Darkness” that slows you down, prevents double jumping and even running when it reaches the X10 multiplier. That multiplier grows when you’re in the dark

In this area, you can get a chest right from the start. There are many threads out there on the matter. I’ll add links here later.

So, what you need to do here is pretty simple in theory. You have to navigate that dark maze from one light pillar to the next. Considering that the curse will stack everytime you go in the dark, you will need to wait a bit at those pillars from time to time. We stopped a bit longer every 2/3 pillars

Be carefull, those lights will extinguish after a time and you’ll be in trouble…… as they EXPLODE (thanks darksim905)

So, best way to do it is to have a leader that decides what the group does at each pillar and announces which direction is the next pillar AND the holes in the ground. Basically, you follow his steps. No need to rush like a mad man, if you take the time to lower your curse, you can be pretty cautious and you’ll get to the next in time.

Use shotguns, heavy machine gun and the vex to go through the enemies. Shoot the ones in front of you and watch out for those close to the holes as they can push you in….

ALWAYS stop at the next pillar when a knight spawns among the numerous crappy mobs and kill him to avoid being chased by them as well.

In the end, you’ll reach a rather large circle that you need to stay in. It will materialize a bridge over time. Split your group in 2 and watch right and left in the direction you came from. Drop all you have on ogres and knights. Titan bubbles with weapons of light in the back of the is pretty usefull. Titan with their area of effect super are also nice if too many mobs get to the plate.

You definitely need to focus on the rushing knights so you dont get overwhelmed. The ogres have pretty heavy DPS so they need to go down as well. Having 2/3 guardians sticking with ice breakers and 2/3 others using mob crowd control weapon (HMG, Fatebringer with explosive rounds) should be pretty efficient.

You only have to hold off the enemies for a definite amount of time (3 to 4 minutes give or take) before you’ll see a notice about the “path being open” meaning the bridge behind you has materialized. Then cross the bridge, kill\dodge the ogre on the other side (Spawn seems random, he may not be there). Rush toward the light. Get loot !

DONE.

Phase 2 : Cross the bridge

So, here you are on higher ground over a room that features : a big hole, a fire ghost bridge thingy, a central plate and 2 beacons on each side.

You can’t see it yet, but on the other side of the bridge, you’ll find the same central plate and beacons.

So how does it work ?

Basically, the central plate and the beacons act as a trigger to materialize the bridge and you only need to activate it from one side.

Things to know about this trigger :

• The first step is to have someone on the central plate
• AS SOON as this plate is activated, you need to have someone under the beacon thing at all time to open the bridge.
• If you dont have someone there, it will go oracle on you and wipe your team.
• In case of emergency, leaving the central plate will cancel the curse from an unoccupied beacon.

This seems easy so far right. Except you can only cross the bridge with Crota’s Sword.

So, whenever you activate the central plate and beacons, a nasty swordbearer will spawn. Destroy him and take the dropped sword. Watch out as he can rush right\left\center randomly.

When someone holds the sword, he can cross the bridge (with ppl still on central plate and beacons). When getting to the other side, there will be a blueish knight. YOU CAN ONLY KILL IT WITH THE SWORD. One will spawn every time a sword bearer is killed which means that everyone that crosses the bridge will have to kill a blueish knight with the sword. It is not mandatory but it’s a lot easier to not have them around. If you end up missing one, know that wont come at you if you stay under the beacons. Might come in handy.(Confirmed by huntermthws)

Luckily, there’s a way to kill those knights without too much trouble as ill explain later. The trickiest one will be the first as no one can distract him. So be carefull.

When the knight is dead, the guy who crossed the bridge will have to wait the others and will enjoy battling with yellow tough knights. Those need to be killed so you dont end up with a ton of them.

When the second guardian comes with the sword, the first guardian will see the Blue Knight arrive. That guardian must absolutely aggro the knight and run around in front of the bridge WITHOUT activating the central plate (or not for long). This will allow the second guardian to take on the knight by surprise and spamkill him with R1\RB. Another trick someone shared with me is using flashbangs to stun the knight and kill him easy. But the “catch me if you can trick” works well. I dont mention the cheese thing to make them fall…

Do this for the first three guardians.

When three have crossed, they will now do the opening of the bridge. One on the central plate, the others on the side. The three remaining guardians on the original side gathers just in front of the bridge AND DONT ACTIVATE THE PLATE. Their sole purpose is to focus on the sword bearer.

When he crosses the bridge, his role will be to back up one beacon on the side (left gets massive heat) AND help take down the swordbearer on the opposite side (ice breaking looooove).

Same thing goes for the 2 remaining guardians.

When the last one arrives and kills his blue knight, the entire party must abandon the plate and beacons and run for cover to the right side (bridge in back). You all got through, now your main concern is to survive.

Go right then and destroy the wizard and ogre. They’re the one that seems to trigger the end of that phase (needs more testing to be sure). Have one of you watching your asses as the doors behind you will spawn small mobs who can still be real painfull.

Also, Try and keep an eye on the beacons as one activated without us knowing why and almost wiped us (thank you Sun God). No idea what happend really but keep your eyes open.

But overall, once you all crossed the bridge, you should be ok and enjoy the loot.

** A chest is available at the very end of the corridor that follows. It’s time sensitive but be carefull on the way as there are shriekers and a lot of mobs. Chest is behind a door right behind the hole at the end. **

EDIT : It turns out that killing the knights isnt mandatory. You can just spend your time dodging them until everyone has crossed and kill the ogre to despawn the Blue Knights and all the mobs. thanks @jetzzz

EDIT 2 : It appears that you can also have the guardians remaining on the first side killed and the ogre will spawn for those who have crossed. That can be an alternate solution if you struggle or an accident happens thanks @jetzzz

Phase 3 : Wizards and Shriekers

Here’s an ugly drawing if you need something visual to help you : http://imgur.com/WZ7MZJ7

As a reminder, this phase is about killing Ir Yut the master wizard (Main Bitch in the drawing) that hangs out with a glowing crystal in a weird energy prison we can’t enter in. And obviously, as soon as you get in the room, you have a limited time (between 2:30 / 3 minutes. That invisible countdown seems to start as soon as you shoot an enemy or a friend receives damage) to kill her otherwise she’ll sing you a nice lullaby that will have you sleeping forever. Her singing also starts as soon as you destroy the 2 shriekers so the sooner you can destroy them, the longer you’ll have to fire at her (Need more testing but i think it triggers it as well).

Now, the mecanic of this phase is that you need to get access to the main wizard (cant remember her\his name) and then spam it like if it was a damn pissed off gorgon (which she kinda is).

To do that you have to break the 2 shriekers located on each side of the crystal room. But of course those shriekers can only be taken down after their dedicated wizards are killed. So, now with the strategy.

The strategy

First, you need to split in 2 groups. Try and make them as logical as possible. Having one titan each side with WOL is a very good thing if possible.

Basically, each group will take cover in a position (those platforms up there) on each side of the room. Allowing for a quick and safe destruction of the wizard on both side and the mobs that come with her.

So let’s go :

1) To avoid any complications, kill the first 2 knights to avoid being OSed when running to your safe spots. PRO HINT : take 20 seconds before going to get ammo back in your ice breakers then focus fire. You’ll drop the 2 knights in seconds.

2) When done, each group runs directly to its side and takes the stairs. Dont mind mobs or knights on the ground. When you reach the top of the stairs, reverse and jump in those high vantage point rooms.

3) Kill the ice rocket knights and clean a bit on both side => ATTENTION, the group that goes left tends to aggro some more mobs that will stay below them, right group has to shoot those mobs whenever possible.

4) While cleaning is happening, one guy on each side has to go lurk a wizard out. Just go halfway in the room and go back to the high vantage point. Watch out for the knights that will spawn along the wizards.

5) SPAM ENEMIES !!! Use WOL, rockets (but keep some). Ice breaker is your best friend to be honest. So is VOC. They usually stack right outside the room where you went to lurk the wizard and are sitting ducks there. Only the wizard can hurt, the sword guys are just standing there.

6) When the wizards on both sides are dead, clean the remaining knights. Then move closer to the shrieker room on both side.

7) Have a First group destroy its shrieker and immediately go back and join the other group. Nevermind the mobs around the first shrieker, fire 1/2 rockets and a few bullets and go.

8) Have 4 of you simply kill mobs outside the room. The 2 remaining guardians kill the 2nd shrieker FROM THE OUTSIDE to avoid losing 3 dudes from its death shrapnels => ATTENTION : the shrieker shrapnels that spawns when it s killed are deadly as fuck.

When you kill the last shrieker, the countdown starts.

9) SPAM DA BITCH. Everyone should go in with rockets and fire in the hole. You need to clear a line of sight on the wizard and spam her from a distance (again, IB). So have 2/3 guardians go full IB and focus on her from as soon as you can hit her. The rest should spam their heavy shit on the knights\mobs before aiming at her.

She isnt that tough, we made it on a try where we thought we took too long. But turns out we depleted half her life in 6/7 seconds.

As soon as she is dead, fall back to safe position and clear the room.

EDIT: Many people report ledges in the main room where you kill Ir Yut. Jumping on those ledges allow your team to avoid being hacked to death by the sword knights while still being able to shoot the main bitch. You will take damage from her and the thralls but you should still have time to down her\him\it\whatever. I’m trying to get a picture of the ledges to add here. But this should make things a lot easier

10) Dont Profit…….. no loot. WTF bungie !

11) Gather all around close to the crystal and sing Kumbaya to summon Crota

In the end, it’s a fun fight. The key is to balance speed and safety. But try that strategy, the higher vantage point will allow you to really see what s happening and allow for a sweet room cleaning and synchronizing both sides as you have LOS on the other group.

Phase 4 : Crota’s End

So, our friend disables our regen and locks us in the crystal room for a few seconds. So be very carefull about your health when the barrier goes down.

You will need two things to get this step done :

• The cup of whatever which is the only way for you to get your health back. It’s located in a glowing plate in the main area and needs to go from guardian to guardian to heal them (FYI : Red Death ability to heal on kills still works as another healing method)
• The sword (again) as it is the only thing that can hurt Crota. You’ll find it on sword bearers dead body.

Now, regarding Crota. That asshole will launch a very annoying attack (The Oversoul) whenever someone dies. He will summon his immortal soul (a huge white thingy, can’t miss it) that you need to destroy in time or you will wipe. This oversoul is easily destroyable but will need the entire team to focus on it using high DPS high Range weapon : Again, Ice breaker is your go to weapon as it is also efficient against the sword bearer and damn usefull to get rid of the knights on the upper platform (the ones you used for yourself at phase 3) that will bombard you. (Those knights will respawn every 15 seconds)

You will also encounter Ogres that will spawn along every 2 or 3 swordbearers. Needless to say they must die.

So now, how-to actually kill him uh ? Well, the mecanic is fairly simple. Guardians with gun need to drop Crota’s shield so that the sword guardian can chop off his life. Fair warning, having a level 31 guardian at the sword seems to be almost a prerequisite to kill Crota. Indeed, if you take too long to kill him, he’ll go berserk with his Oversoul and that is pretty much the end of you. So the extra DPS with the sword wielded by a 31 is VERY good to have.

Now, want an actual strategy gentlemen ? I dont have one lol. But people in this thread do ! So here’s one i find pretty detailled from JoeInTheBean. Nice !

Here is a link to a video showing exactly that strategy. Very efficient and with 6 Level 30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppeUR_NbwzI

Okay: here’s a more detailed guide for Crota’s phase, may be helpful for those who are a little more familiar with the encounter, or even as additional info after reading your summary.

Team Roles: There are three teams for this phase.

Sniper team: This team of two stands at the left and right exits of the hallways that lead out of the crystal rooms. There job is to shoot Knights that spawn on the right and left balconies during the encounter. Adds do not spawn behind them. They must make sure the knights are killed so that the Swordbearer is free from worry when he’s hitting Crota.

DPS Team: This team of three sits at the doorway of the hallway below the crystal room (where the encounter begins). The job for this team is to kill the Sword-bearing Knight and to drop Crota’s shield so that your Sword Bearer can do damage to him. It’s important that this team communicates to the Sword Bearer what damage is dealt to Crota’s shield in order for your Sword Bearer to time when they attack Crota to both maximize damage and avoid dying from attacking while his shield is up.

Sword Bearer: There is no I in team; but the Sword Bearer has the onus on them for dealing the killing blows to Crota. They should collect the chalice, and deal hits on Crota when his shield is down. It’s much easier said than done.

The Encounter

Step One: Clear the Crystal Room All six guardians must surround the crystal in the starting room in order to begin the encounter. This will trigger glass panes to cover the left and right exits of the room. Position your fireteam so that you’re prepared to kill the acolytes and knights at the exits and focus on minimizing damage taken.

Step Two: Take Position Once the adds are dead your Sniper Team of two should get into position at the left and right exits and begin killing the Knights on the balconies. Your DPS team should head down to the hallway below the Crystal room and your Sword Bearer should go pick up the Chalice.

Step Three: Kill the Sword-Bearing Knight The Sword Bearer on your team then gets Aggro from the Sword-Bearing Knight and kites them down to your DPS team who is in position to kill him and the thralls that will be chasing your Sword Bearer.

Step Four: Downing Crota Once the Sword Bearer has grabbed the sword off of the dead knight, your DPS team should begin shooting Crota. They must keep DPS up the entire time they’re downing his shield or else Crota will almost immediately regain his shield. While doing damage this team should be giving call-outs that sound like, “Health at 90%, 75%, 50%, 25%… etc.”

Step Five: Damaging Crota While the DPS Team is doing damage on Crota and communicating shield percentages, your Sword Bearer is running through the middle lower section, jumping onto the platform beneath the center, and preparing to leap up onto the walkway in order to deal damage on Crota with the sword. If timed perfectly, the Sword Bearer should be able to hit Crota with three consequite RT (or playstation equivalent) before Sword dashing back to the platform below that they used to get up on the walkway.

Step Six: Damaging Crota Pt. 2 Assuming that Crota was brought down efficiently, you will need to maximize the time the Sword Bearer spends with the sword in order to down Crota a second time. So– once the Sword Bearer has safely dropped back to the platform below the DPS team is ready to hit Crota again. The timing for this is crucial. Crota will have an invulnerability period after being downed once, he will appear orange in color and be invulnerable, once he returns to his normal color, the DPS team must hit him hard while communicating damage percentages to the Sword Bearer. Again–the Sword Bearer will have to time this right in order to begin maximizing damage on Crota while he is down before the sword disappears.

Step Seven: Rinse and Repeat You will do the above two steps again in their entirety. That means Snipers are sniping Knights. Sword Bearer is kiting the Sword-Bearing Knight to the DPS team to kill. The DPS team then Downs Crota for the Sword Bearer to do damage the first time and then a quickly a second time for the Sword Bearer to get back to damaging Crota.

Step Eight: Meet up with the DPS Team After the Sword has been carried twice everyone will meet in the hallway below the Crystal Room.

Step Nine: Kill the Ogre’s Two yellow-health Ogre’s will spawn after the sword is carried twice. Your team of six should be in the hallway below ready with Weapons of Light and heavy fire power to destroy them quickly. It is helpful if one guardian can Kite them towards the steps to the hallway below the Crystal room in order for your team to destroy them quickly. Caution: Crota will be on the walkway above you and can kill you easily, so pay attention to that fact and stay hidden in the doorway to do damage on the Ogre’s without dying. Death=wipe. It’s also important in this phase that your team juggles around the Chalice, because most likely your Sniper team will need health as they’ve been away from it for the entire encounter up until this point.

Step Ten: Return to Positions After the Ogre’s have been killed the Snipers need to get back to their positions, it’s helpful to call out which side Crota is on, both Snipers should go the opposite way, the Sniper who had their path blocked can run through the Crystal room to get back into position on their side.

Step Eleven: Segment Two of Downing Crota After the Ogre’s are killed and your team is back into position you begin the cycle again. This means downing Crota twice per Sword wielding and Carrying the Sword Twice before the Ogre’s return.

Step Twelve: PROFIT. How could you forgot that very important step Guardian Joe ?!

Note: I used the above strategy to get Crota below a quarter health left with a team comprised of 4 31’s and 2 30’s. We failed due to not maximizing damage dealt to Crota while he was downed. We were met with Enrage after the second appearance of Ogre’s and had missed the opportunity to deal maximum damage twice. It’s pretty fucking hard but I’m not sure if everyone was carrying their weight in the group. We had fun though so it’s cool (and I got me some raid boots.)