One of the greatest challenges in Destiny is figuring out how to do the raid. Some are simple, like Crota was several DPS checks, where as others are hard, such as Oryx’s sequences. As the series has evolved, raids have become more involved and that makes them harder. However, like anything else, good understanding is more important than your ability to shoot a target or have the best weapons, even if those things are invaluable in the hands of anyone with both.
Where Leviathan was flashy, the first lair, Eater of Worlds, is dark and relies heavily on communication and getting all the parts together. At first it might seem hard, but with this guide it should be significantly easier.
Build
For this raid you’re going to want something for every situation. The first part has long distance fight, with the second focusing on close range adds and the final boss requiring distance burst weapons. As long as you have something good for each of these situations, your success will hinge on your ability to complete the mechanics. Thankfully they’re not too bad, but they’re easy to fail.
Platforms
The first section is the ever popular platforming bit. This goes on for quite a while, across multiple checkpoints, so get ready for a lot of jumping and failing. Thankfully, this section isn’t terribly difficult, relying largely on your ability to pay attention, but it will take some getting use to.
First and foremost, let’s talk about the mechanics. To complete this section, you need to jump on platforms and get to the other side. What makes it difficult is everyone needs to follow the sequence or you’ll fail. To do this, have a designated leader jump on the first platform and wait until the next one appears. The leader will jump to that one, with someone else jumping on the first platform. This means all six players need to be on the latest six platforms or you’ll wipe. Being too slow or doubling up will cause a failure, so make sure to be careful.
The first couple of sections are pretty slow, with them relying more on introduction than anything else, with later ones having confusing patterns and enemies to kill. For the pattern, listen for the sound of a new platform appearing and follow the person in front, with the leader going to the latest empty plate. This will likely take some time to get some of the trickier patterns down, with the only way to succeed being memorization or paying close attention to where you need to go next.
Once you get to the other side the plates will glow red, much like they do when you fail, and everyone needs to make it to the other side. Three players successfully making it over there will cause all the platforms to appear and allow for the other three players to move forward, with anything less requiring a wipe.
When you get to the other side there will be a bunch of enemies that you need to defeat. There is nothing terribly difficult about this part, so play smart, work together and kill the enemies.
Getting to the Next Section
After defeating the adds, falling down the hole and entering the opening, you’ll see a barrel. This is going to shoot you into a space like area, with you having the ability to navigate to a platform before. Hitting the wrong thing will kill you, with that section leading to a road made of floating rocks that eventually bring you to an arena. This is where the remaining two fights take place.
Argos – Phase One (“Diamond” Section)
The next two fights are very similar to what we saw with Aksis. The first part is basically an introduction to the core elements of the fight, with the second part implementing the mechanics differently.
Before starting the fight, take a moment to survey the arena. You should find three large landmasses with alters, with three Vex craniums somewhere between two of the sections. Below the spawn is void, with solar on the left and arc on the other side. What you need to do is grab the craniums, bring them to the alters, charge them and then use them to shoot mines (they look like diamonds or crystals) on Argos shielding. If this sounds confusing, it’s actually pretty simple.
The best way to do this is to have two teams of three. One of the teams will defend the alter, with one player at each one, and call out mines, with the other team bringing the craniums to said alters. Ideally the cranium team will also destroy the mines, but don’t be afraid to leave your post to destroy a mine. Upon setting up your team, have the three stationary players go to where the first three craniums spawn, there will be one between each of the points, with the floaters waiting on where the second one spawns, it might be wise to do a test run to get the locations down.
When everyone is in place, do a countdown and pick up the craniums, followed by bring them to your designated spots and then charge them. Shortly after one of the six sides will have three mines appear. When this happens, someone needs to call out which elements are needed and their location. Upon learning their element, the three floaters need to ensure the remaining three craniums are charged with the mines corresponding element, followed by helping the stationary players fight adds. The reason why you need to wait is no more than six craniums will spawn at a time and it’s possible for all three of the mines being the same element. If you don’t plan for this possibility, it can quickly cause confusion and problems, often resulting in a wipe. Thankfully, it is possible to destroy three with two craniums, as you can destroy about one and a half if you shoot carefully, it’s just not the best thing to rely on.
Probably the most annoying part of this fight is that it takes six successful disarms to win, since you have to destroy each side. Thankfully, no side has more than two disarms, so if you’ve called out both of your mine sets, you don’t need to call them out for the remainder of the run. Outside of this, the most important thing to being successful is always paying attention to what you’re doing, assisting stationary players and giving good callouts. Unless you’re absolutely certain everyone knows who you are, call out your side (void, solar, arc), followed by the mines. The element will inform players where to go, without having to pay attention to names or really think about it.
Argos – Phase Two
Given the complexities of the last fight, it goes without saying this one will be harder. However, it utilizes the same core mechanics, meaning you should have a firm grasp on what to do, I.e. grab, charge and then shoot.
To kill Argos you need to pick up the craniums, which will appear in the same spots/order they did last fight, figure out which side Argos is looking and the element of the three balls around him on that side. When you figure out what you need, have three people go to the side with the orbs, with the remaining people going to whichever element(s) you need. For this fight the worst possible outcome is one of each element, thankfully the rarest combination of them all, with literally any other grouping being ideal. The reason for this is the ability to create two teams of threes. So if you need two voids and an arc, bring three craniums to void and three to arc, defend while it’s charging and then group up on the side where Argos is looking. When everyone is together, three players with the correct element will shoot the corresponding elemental orb and bring it to the center. If all three players do this fast enough you’ll enter the damage phase, with failure resulting in a reset.
Now, some groups like to have set players shoot the orbs and another set do DPS, but I don’t care for this strategy. The issue is placement and coordination. Those three players won’t always have the right three craniums needed to break the bosses shield, meaning they need to either swap sides or inform the other side that someone needs to swap craniums. I find it’s best to just have three people call out that they’ll do it, followed by which one they’re shooting, though if this is too difficult, feel free to swap to set players.
As for the fight itself, there really isn’t much to it. There will be a lot of adds, with harpies appearing on the side Argos is facing, meaning you want to focus on killing until the craniums are ready. Please note, minotaur’s during this section will always drop heavy, so pay attention to them and don’t be afraid to go after them if you need them. In addition to that, harpies are the most deadly add during this section, so focus on them before worrying about everything else.
When you enter the damage phase, something that is again caused by three players destroying the correct orbs fast enough, Argos will fire a detainment field. Touching it will in that player being detained, with there being no limit to how many players can be detained in a single shot, which require another player to shoot to release them or they will die. For this reason, it’s extremely important to never get captured and that it might be helpful to be near a wall during this part, as touching the wall will destroy it.
As for damage, craniums do by far the most, with headshots doing double, so make sure to use all the craniums you can for damage and hit the head. Another good weapon is Dubious Volley, rockets with clusters (most of the clusters will hit him if you aim high) and things like that. While you’re trying to deal damage, enemies will continue to attack, so be mindful, as will additional detainment fields and the occasional harpy missiles. The missiles can be destroyed by shooting them, with a final wave appearing when Argos’ shield returns, so always be mindful.
Another helpful tip comes from the fine folks at Reddit. It seems the orbs around Argos follow a pattern, with void becoming solar, solar changing to arc and finally arc goes back to void. If this is confusing the basic idea is if Argos has three void orbs, when its shield returns it will be three solar. By utilizing this you can get two damage phases instead of one, something that is extremely helpful if you need a little extra time to do damage.
After a little while Argos will summon a bunch of broken rings and charge up an attack. All six players need to go to a location that can shoot the glowing parts on Argos’ head, back or arms and break them on both sides. Doing this will stun the boss, where as failing will result in a wipe. I personally find it best to go from the top down, but order really isn’t important as long as all six players are working together. Note, when Argos does this the orbs will change, so if you didn’t get the extra damage phase, they won’t be the same elements as before.
The biggest problem during this fight is damage, so always be mindful and work together to maximize DPS. Also, please pay attention to how many orbs players destroy. It’s easy to call someone out for doing low damage, but it’s important to understand what they’re doing. Similar to how cannon users get an absurd boost during Aksis, anyone who uses a cranium for DPS will see a huge increase next to players who use less than half.
