Do you have the heart of a raider but the armor of a scrub? The resolve of a bull but the weaponry of a cub scout? The valor of a knight but the experience of a… really inexperienced thing?
I did too. And then I went to the Vault of Glass with Incandescence, and overnight, I went from a hairless boy with acne and dietary restrictions to a man with hair on his hair that eats guts and success. You can too. If it’s your first time in the Vault of Glass, fear not! This guide will lead you down the path to glorious victory, so that you, too, can look for the light.
Treat this guide as a reference – it does communicate one path that, when executed properly, will absolutely lead to success, but if you find that a strategy presented here isn’t working for you, change it up.
If you’re solely interested in strategy and how to beat the encounters, stick to the Strategy and Roles sections for each. These sections don’t explain why you’re doing the things you’re doing – only what the things you’re doing actually are and when you should do them.
If you’re curious about the actual mechanics of each encounter (and how the encounter design leads to the strategy presented in Strategy and Roles), also read the opening section under the title of each encounter. This will give you a much more comprehensive overview of what’s involved in each one.
Lastly, if you’re having trouble with a specific encounter, be sure to consult the “Other Tips” section. These sections don’t present any information critical to your understanding of the encounter or to beating it, but they may be useful if your group needs that last push to get over the difficulty hump.
The raid inspires a lot of questions in the community along the themes of:
This is understandable – the raid is one of the most exciting experiences in Destiny, and it’s totally reasonable to want to get into it as fast as you can. However, taking a few relatively attainable steps to prepare yourself will make your first time through the Vault of Glass a much more enjoyable experience.
First, the absolute minimum level at which you can at all comfortably enter the Vault of Glass is 26. Yes, an extremely experienced group of well-geared Guardians can carry a level 25 through it successfully, but remember that damage dealt in Destiny is heavily reduced by a level disparity between the Guardian and the target, and enemies near the end of the Vault are 28 – a level 25 Guardian will deal around 50% less damage to a level 28 enemy than would a level 28 Guardian, even if they’re using identical weapons.
Second, regardless of your level, it’ll benefit you greatly to collect a few weapons and upgrade them as much as possible, at least to the point where they require Ascendant Energy if you don’t have any. Your primary weapon will be by far the most important, but a void-type special weapon and heavy weapon will also be extremely helpful.
Last, be prepared to be patient, and be prepared to wipe. It’s going to happen. No matter how many YouTube videos you watch and no matter how many comprehensively and painstakingly written guides you read, the Vault of Glass will beat you a few times – sometimes a few hundred times.
The Vault of Glass does a wonderful job of remaining cohesive throughout – it feels designed from beginning to end as one experience. To this end, many mechanics that you experience in the early areas of the raid will reappear later, and one of these, due to its complexity and its critical nature to the raid overall, will be explained here: the Relic.
The Relic first appears at the beginning of the Templar fight, where it must be carried by one Guardian throughout the encounter. It shows up again during the Gatekeepers encounter and a third time during the ultimate showdown with Atheon. While specific strategic advice for Relic carriers will be left for those sections, we’ll talk about the mechanics of the Relic here so you can be ready to Captain America things to death when the time comes.
The Relic is a shield and melee weapon, similar in some respects to the sword used during the “Sword of Crota” story mission. A Guardian who picks it up will find themselves with a third-person camera, and they’ll no longer be able to use their typical weapons and abilities (except enhanced jump abilities such as Lift or Glide). Instead they’re granted new ones by the Relic. While carrying the Relic, the Guardian can do the following:
Shield Blast is functionally a Super ability – its cooldown is reduced by Intelligence and is further reduced each time the Relic carrier kills an enemy. Similarly, Cleanse’s cooldown is reduced by Discipline.
Additionally, Cleanse has a cooldown of variable length that corresponds to how long it’s channeled. If it’s channeled for a long period, its cooldown will be much longer than it would be if channeled briefly. This promotes careful and accurate use of Cleanse, as a long cooldown can spell death (or at least confused darkness) for an unlucky Guardian waiting to have Mark of the Void removed.
Important: In any encounter involving the Relic, if the Guardian carrying the Relic is killed or switches weapons by using Triangle / Y, the Relic will drop. If no Guardian picks it up within 5 seconds, your raid will be instantly killed.
This is the first encounter in the Vault of Glass, and appropriately, it’s very easy to understand. When you spawn in the Vault of Glass “instance” (although this portion is public, so you may see other Guardians around), you’ll be facing the door to the Vault. There are three sync plates similar to the one you saw at the end of the “Eye of a Gate Lord” campaign mission – one in front of the door, one to the far left, and one to the far right.
The objective is simple: control of all three sync plates long enough for the Spire – a central object that will construct itself as you maintain control – to build and open the door. Waves of Vex will spawn, including Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harpies, and occasional Praetorians, and will assault each sync plate simultaneously. While the rest of the Vex don’t harm your progress on the Spire and deal only moderate damage, the Praetorians deal spectacular damage and will cause you to quickly lose control of your plate if they step inside it. While any plate is not under your control, your progress on constructing the Spire will regress rapidly.
Each plate has two nearby spawn points from which enemies will come (the left and right plates actually share one with the central plate – the point spawns enemies for each side alternately). The general strategy is for each team of two to split up and cover each spawn point, call for help from their partner when a Praetorian spawns, and otherwise just murder Vex. If you’re of proper level and gear, you shouldn’t find this outstandingly difficult. Minor losses of control on your plate are a non-issue, as the Spire will continuously build while all three plates are under control, but the more continuous control you have, the faster you enter the Vault.
Note that each role’s position is stated in relationship to an observer facing the door of the Vault from the entrance to the mission (i.e., a Left role is on your left as you face the Vault door, and a Front role is nearest to the entrance of the mission).
All roles can use similar loadouts for this encounter, and you have a degree of flexibility – all other considerations being equal, choose the weapons that work best for you.
However, special and heavy weapons that deal Void damage are tremendously useful and should be used over weapons of the same quality that deal other types of damage, particularly if you’re lower level (26-27) or don’t have a fully upgraded legendary or exotic primary weapon. This is primarily due to the Praetorians, which can be difficult to bring down without void damage.
The loot for this encounter can be found inside the Vault in a chest a short distance down the path beyond the door.
After making your way down the treacherous path from the door into the Vault proper, you’ll find yourself above a large, well-lit room with a glowing conflux (tower of light) immediately below you in the center. This is the room in which the next two (for the purposes of this guide, anyway) encounters will take place. Don’t jump down until your raid is ready – doing so will begin the encounter.
The primary focus of the encounter is to defend the confluxes as waves of Vex attempt to rush them and sacrifice themselves. There are a total of three confluxes that appear over the course of the event, and if four Vex sacrifice themselves to any single conflux, an instantaneous hard wipe will occur. There are three phases: central conflux only, left/right confluxes only, and all three confluxes.
In each phase, gameplay proceeds identically (albeit with an increasing difficulty curve as the number of adds and confluxes increase): Vex will spawn from five points (left, middle, right, and one between each, all at the rear of the room) and make their way toward the nearest active conflux. Enemy types include Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harpies, Minotaurs, and Fanatics (a type of Goblin that drops a glowing green pool when killed). Any Vex that arrives at a conflux alive will attempt to sacrifice itself to it, which takes about two seconds.
Additionally, the Templar appears in the rear middle area of the room when the encounter begins. It will regularly open fire on visible Guardians, so taking cover is occasionally a necessity. The Templar also periodically casts “Ritual of Negation” (which will be called out to all Guardians as a notification). Independently, this spell has no effect other than a mild distortion in your field of view. However, if you come into contact with a green pool dropped by a slain Fanatic, you’ll receive a debuff called “Mark of Negation.” Should you have this debuff when Ritual of Negation is cast, you’ll die upon completion of
the cast.
In front of the Templar is a glowing pool of light. Any Guardian who enters this area with the Mark of Negation debuff will have it removed and will receive a “CLEANSED” notification. However, this pool has a limited number of uses that seems to replenish after each Ritual of Negation – if Guardians are marked while the pool is empty, they’ll die during the next Ritual.
Lastly, at the end of each phase, all Guardians will receive a notification: “The Templar sends forth its legions”. When this happens, the any active confluxes will disappear, and each lane (left, middle, and right) will receive a sudden influx of adds. Left and right lanes will receive Major (yellow-health) harpies, and the middle lane will receive a huge wave of Fanatics.
Note: This encounter leaves no downtime between it and the next one (Defeating the Oracles). Be ready to move on quickly. However, should your raid be defeated during the next encounter, you won’t need to repeat this one.
For all the complication of the mechanics of this encounter, the strategy itself is relatively simple – kill each enemy before it reaches a conflux, don’t touch the green Fanatic pools, and if you do, run to the center to be cleansed.
Similar to the “Opening the door” encounter, this one lends itself well to dividing the raid into three groups of two guardians. One group goes left, defends the left conflux, and kills enemies spawning from the left spawn point. The second goes right and does the same on the right, and the remaining two guardians cover middle and coordinate between themselves to flex to left or right depending on which group needs help.
During the “legions” callout event, ignore the confluxes (since they’re inactive anyway). Your sole focus should be on staying alive and keeping the Fanatics contained so that their pools don’t become unmanageable.
Note that each role’s position is stated in relationship to an observer facing the Templar from the entrance to the room.
Void damage is far less important during this encounter when compared to others, so use your favorite primary and the best special and heavy weapons you have. Due to the high density of the groups of adds, rocket launchers are preferable to heavy machine guns in the heavy weapon slot. However, if you experience difficulty bringing down the void-shielded Minotaurs which spawn regularly, feel free to switch to a heavy machine gun, particularly if you have an AoE super such as Fist of Havoc or Nova Bomb.
Guardians filling the Middle 1 and Middle 2 roles should consider a fusion rifle in the special weapon slot, as they are supremely effective against Fanatics during the “legions” callout event.
The confluxes don’t appear in this encounter – they’re just pictured here to better communicate the relative positions of the Oracles.
Immediately after the three confluxes have been defended, the Oracles encounter begins. This is arguably a continuation of the previous encounter, but an important distinction is that any wipe that occurs during this stage allows the raid to continue at the beginning of Oracles encounter rather than at the beginning of “Defending the Confluxes.”
This encounter bears many similarities to the previous one. Adds (including Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Minotaurs, and Harpies) spawn from the left, middle, and right spawn points at the rear of the room just as before, and the Templar will shoot at visible Guardians as he did in the previous encounter. A new minor wrinkle manifests itself at this point in the form of Hobgoblin snipers that spawn on “islands” in the far left and right areas of the room and take potshots at the raid.
The notable new twists are, appropriately, the Oracles. At the beginning of the encounter, you’ll hear seven distinct tones and see seven balls of golden light appear briefly in seven different locations around the room. This is the Vault teaching you where Oracles can spawn and what to look and listen for so that you know when they do. Following this brief tutorial, the first wave of Oracles and the add waves begin to spawn.
Oracles don’t move or attack. However, if they aren’t killed within ten seconds of spawning, they will debuff every member of the raid with “Marked for Negation” (identical to the debuff seen in the previous encounter). As before, if marked raid members don’t cleanse themselves using the glowing pool in front of the Templar, they’ll be instantly killed when the Templar finishes casting Ritual of Negation.
In total, there are seven increasingly lengthy waves of Oracles and adds spaced 50 seconds apart (except the last two, which each occur 60 seconds after the previous one). If a single guardian remains alive after the last add dies, the encounter ends in success.
Given the similarity between this encounter and the previous one, many of the elements of the strategy that applied to the confluxes encounter also apply here. Divide your raid into three groups of two guardians and send one group left, one right, and one to the middle. Guardians should be diligent about clearing adds, but Oracles should always be first priority, as the need for a group cleanse can be very debilitating to add control.
Note that the groups on the left and right will need to be proactive about keeping the Hobgoblin snipers under control, as one shot from their weapons virtually requires that the victim take cover to regenerate shields, reducing their uptime on add control.
This fight can grow chaotic quickly due to the need to reposition to cover Oracle spawns or Minotaur adds, so guardians should be prepared to assist nearby teams as necessary.
Lastly, it’s very helpful to assign a name for each Oracle to call out to the raid when it spawns. Here are some common ones (refer to the diagram on the previous page for the Oracle numbers):
Oracle number Name & Location Covered by 1 “Middle” in the center of the middle area near the center conflux Left Float, Middle 1, Middle 2 2 “Left Front” near the left conflux Left Oracle Slayer, Left Float, Middle 1, Middle 2 3 “Right Front” near the right conflux Middle 1, Middle 2, Right Float 4 “Left Mid” on the left side of the area midway between the left conflux and the left pillar Left Oracle Slayer, Left Float, Middle 1, Middle 2 5 “Right Mid” on the right side of the area up the stairs and to the right Right Oracle Slayer, Right Float 6 “Left Hidden” behind the pillar to the left of the Templar Left Oracle Slayer, Left Float, Right Oracle Slayer 7 “RightHidden” behind the pillar to the right of the Templar Right Float, Right Oracle Slayer, Left Oracle SlayerEach role’s position is stated in relationship to an observer facing the Templar from the entrance to the room.
A great amount of flexibility is present here. A high-damage precision weapon such as a hand cannon, scout rifle, or pulse rifle is of great use in taking down Oracles quickly – bonus points if the weapon has a good clip size to ensure you don’t run out of ammo during a critical Oracle burn. The encounter mechanics favor heavy machine guns over rocket launchers due to the lack of dense add packs and the presence of shielded Minotaurs, but in general, anything that gets the job done is perfectly appropriate here.
Loot from this encounter appears automatically in your inventory when it ends successfully.
The Templar is a massive Hydra enemy with a white cylindrical shield that completed surrounds it. While this shield is active, Guardian attacks can’t damage the Templar. This includes all types of weapons, melee attacks, grenades, and Supers.
However, this time, the Vault provides the tools you need to defeat the boss. In the center of the room, where the glowing pool of light that cleansed your raid of the Mark of Negation in the previous two encounters was previously, a Relic will be present. The Relic is a shield and melee weapon that must be carried by one Guardian in your raid during the Templar fight.
When a Guardian picks up the Relic, the encounter begins, and the Templar will teleport to the center area of the room and open fire on your raid. This will also cause a steady but moderately-paced stream of Harpies to spawn. They’ll continue to do so until the encounter ends, for better or for worse.
The key to the encounter is that the Relic’s Super ability (Shield Blast), when aimed at the Templar, completely destroys its “impenetrable” shield and allows your raid a brief window to damage it. However, when the shield is destroyed, a few things will happen.
The first is that your raid will receive the notification “The Templar is attempting to teleport” – this means that at the end of each burn phase, the Templar will appear at another location in the room with its shield restored. You’ll get a clue where it will appear, as the target location will have a glowing white ring on the ground around it. Should you choose to do so, you can send a Guardian to stand inside this ring before the Templar concludes its teleport. Doing so will temporarily prevent it from moving and restoring its shield, but if you do, a wave of four Minotaurs will immediately spawn.
The second is that two to three Guardians in the raid will immediately become Detained. Detainment places a glowing red sphere around afflicted Guardians. This sphere prevents outgoing weapon fire, reduces movement speed significantly, and inflicts heavy damage if the target moves outside it. However, it can be quickly destroyed by applying damage to it.
In addition to the Templar and Harpies that your raid has to contend with, the Oracles from the previous encounter will continue to spawn intermittently. As before, failing to bring down an Oracle in time will afflict the entire raid with Mark of Negation. This time, however, the cleansing pool from the previous encounter is no longer available (since one of you is now carrying the Relic). If your raid gets marked, the only source of cleansing available is the Relic carrier’s Cleanse ability.
Lastly, the Templar is the first encounter to feature an enrage mechanic. If the Templar is still alive after seven minutes of combat, the raid will receive the HUD alert “Enrage is near!” If it is alive after eight minutes of combat, Harpies will spawn more frequently, and Goblins and Minotaurs will begin to spawn as well. Oracles will also begin to appear two at a time.
As with the previous encounters, the mechanical complexity of this fight ultimately results in a relatively simple strategy.
Assign one Guardian as the Relic carrier, and space the rest out around the room to handle Harpies and Oracles. Since attacking the boss is futile without a coordinate burn phase initiated by the Relic carrier, the rest of your team is free to move around to take care of adds as desired. They should, however, be sure to keep cover between themselves and the boss, as the Templar’s ranged attacks can be devastating. Additionally, ensure that there’s always at least one Guardian in the vicinity of the Relic carrier in case the carrier dies and drops the Relic.
When the Relic carrier brings the boss’s shield down, all Guardians should focus the boss (but should prioritize Oracles above this task if any are up) and maximize their damage with appropriate weapons. Once the boss teleports, normal add-clearing resumes until the Relic carrier is once again ready to bring down the shield.
Should your raid become marked by Oracles, simply collapse on the Relic carrier. It can be beneficial to designate a predefined location to meet should a marking occur, but all non-Relic-carrying Guardians should see an icon above the Relic carrier’s head for easy location.
It’s technically possible to prevent the Templar from teleporting by standing in his targeted teleport zone (and thus create a larger window to burn him in), but doing so results in the appearance of four Minotaurs and isn’t generally worth it unless you’re very near the enrage timer.
Each role’s position is stated in relationship to an observer facing the Templar’s original location from the entrance to the room.
These roles are very similar to the ones described for the pre-Templar trash encounters (“Defending the Confluxes” and “Defeating the Oracles”), but they apply much more loosely in this encounter. Since the Templar moves erratically and can appear in several locations around the room, the encounter necessitates more movement from the raid. Guardians should also be prepared to move during burn phases – it’s more important to land damage on the boss than to stay in your assigned area. Of prime importance is ensuring that every Oracle spawn location is within visual range of someone during add-sweeping phases.
Elemental damage is not required in any capacity for this encounter, so choose your favorite weapons freely. However, be very careful should you choose a rocket launcher in your heavy weapon slot – use of a rocket launcher while detained will kill you instantly (as the rocket explodes on impact on the detainment field). Grenades have a similar issue. Since AoE damage is largely unhelpful in this
encounter, a machine gun is probably the better choice anyway.
Relic carriers should be sure to choose a loadout that is effective in the encounter even though the choice is inconsequential when things go according to plan – should they die and force someone else to pick up the relic, they may have to assume another role in the fight.
Loot from this encounter appears automatically in your inventory when it ends successfully.
After the Templar is defeated, your raid can finally enjoy the luxurious feeling of leaving that goddamned room. The exit leads to a dark path followed by a long drop (don’t forget to use your jump ability to slow your momentum and avoid a fall death). When you land at the bottom, you’ll be facing the Gorgons’ Labyrinth.
The next encounter is – of all things – a stealth mission. Your goal is simple: Get from where you are to the next area. The challenge comes from the twisting maze between you and the exit and from the Gorgons, which are glowing white Harpies that move slowly through the area emitting high-pitched beeps to alert you to their position. If any member of your raid is spotted by a Gorgon, you will all receive the notification “A Gorgon has spotted its prey.” The Gorgon will begin casting Gorgon’s Gaze, and ten seconds later, your raid will wipe.
If you successfully negotiate the maze, you’ll emerge on the opposite side of the room and will observe your next challenge: the jumping puzzle.
The vast majority of the challenge of this encounter comes from simply finding your way through the maze – if one raid member knows the way, the rest can follow him or her closely and generally manage well. This YouTube video is a good source for the path out of the maze (as well as the path to the two chests that are present within it).
There are two chests in the vicinity of the maze, but neither is obvious, and they’re easily missed. Refer to the video linked in the Strategy section for their specific locations, but one can be found before entering the maze to the left at the top of a series of rocks in a tunnel. The second can be found by hugging the right wall of the maze.
It seems to be a rule that every Guardian loots his or her class item from the first chest during his or her first run in the Vault of Glass. The second chest drops only ascendant materials.
Once you’ve successfully negotiated the labyrinth and the subsequent (and admittedly pedestrian) jumping puzzle, you’ll find yourself outside Atheon’s room. Note that the door to his room will only open when all six Guardians in the raid have completed the jumping puzzle and reached the area outside the door.
In order to trigger the fight with Atheon, you first have to defeat his two Gatekeepers and steal their Relics. Because these each exist in a different dimension, neither of which are the one you’re currently in, this is harder than it sounds.
Atheon’s room consists of two portals and a central staircase arranged in a triangular fashion as depicted below.
The room is initially filled with relatively unintimidating trash enemies (including Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Harpies) that can be dispatched with minimal issue. There’s also a Gatekeeper enemy that initially appears in the center of the room but immediately begins to teleport around the room when engaged. Adds will continue to spawn slowly from the central staircase area throughout the encounter.
When the Gatekeeper dies, your raid gains the ability to activate the two portals by standing on the sync plates in front of them for about 20 seconds. However, add waves (consisting of Goblins) will also immediately begin spawning from points near the left and right sync plate, and should you attempt to take control of a sync plate, Praetorians will begin spawning nearby as well.
As with the “Opening the door” encounter, Praetorians can take control of the sync plate if they stand on it for a short time. If they do, the portal will close, and adds will begin coming through the portal into the main room. Additionally, while the Vex have control of a sync plate, it will occasionally spawn a Red Oracle that will (unlike the Oracles from the Templar encounter) outright wipe the raid if not killed in time.
While the portals are active, Guardians can enter them to travel to an alternate version of the room in which the encounter takes place. Passing through the left portal (from the entrance of the room) transports them to the past – a brown, barren area. Passing through the right portal transports them to the future – a green, overgrown jungle area. Inside each portal are an assortment of adds and a Gatekeeper.
Killing the Gatekeeper inside either of the portals has three effects. The first is that it will drop a Relic (functionally identical to the one used by the Relic carrier during the Templar encounter) that will be carried by a Guardian. The second is that all Guardians inside any portal – not just the one in which the Gatekeeper is killed – receive a debuff called “Marked by the Void.” While this debuff is active, affected Guardians will notice their in-game vision slowly being obscured by darkness. After about 15 seconds of the debuff, they will no longer see the game world at all – only their HUD. Not long after that, they’ll start taking steady damage and eventually die. This debuff can only be removed through the use of the Relic’s cleanse ability.
The third thing that happens when an in-portal Gatekeeper is killed is that a conflux spawns in the central area of the original room (where any Guardians who stayed behind to open the portal are). When this happens, the Vex that continuously spawn from the central staircase area will assault it, and so will any adds that come through a portal controlled by the Vex. This conflux functions identically to the ones you defended prior to defeating the Templar – if four Vex manage to sacrifice themselves to it, your raid will die.
Perhaps appropriately, this is one of the most mechanically demanding fights in the entire raid. Managing the simultaneous concerns of the two portals, the conflux, and the waves of Vex is extremely demanding and requires excellent raid coordination and practice on a multi-phase process. For the purposes of this guide, the fight has very simple beginning and ending phase that bookend Phases 1 & 2, and each Guardian has an assigned role for phases 1 and 2.
Begin by clearing out the trash enemies that initially appear in the room as a group. Pay extra attention to the Hobgoblin snipers that appear near the portals, as they can one or two-shot most Guardians. Be sure to leave the Gatekeeper enemy (a large Hydra with no shield) alive until your raid is ready to proceed to the next phase. It’s not unheard of for a Guardian to die to the Hobgoblin snipers before the trash is cleared, so delay the killing of the Gatekeeper until any dead Guardians are revived if this happens.
Once your raid is ready, kill the Gatekeeper, and the fight will move to Phase 1.
Killing the Gatekeeper in Phase 1 causes waves of Goblin enemies to spawn from two spawn points near each sync plate, so have a three Guardian plate team take control of the Past plate and defend it. This will open the nearby Past portal. Leave the plate team on the sync plate to retain control of it and kill the incoming adds, and send the other three through the portal and into the past.
Once inside, the portal team should kill all adds present until two Precursor Minotaurs appear (one will come from the left, and the other will come straight down the staircase in the center). Once these are down, they should kill the Gatekeeper, and one Guardian should pick up the Relic which appears at the top of the central stairs. All three should depart the portal as quickly as possible. The Relic carrier will need to cleanse the rest of the portal team once they return to the present.
Once the portal team has returned to the present and cleansed, Phase 2 begins.
Your raid will now need to split into three teams. Since a portal Gatekeeper has been killed, the central conflux will have spawned, and two Guardians will need to head directly to it to defend it. Two other Guardians will need to move to the right (“Future”) sync plate to open it for the remaining two Guardians, who’ll have to enter the portal kill the Future Gatekeeper, and claim his Relic.
The conflux team’s job is simple (if difficult) – space out around the conflux and kill anything that gives it a dirty look. Additionally, one of these Guardians will need to be vigilant for Red Oracles spawning from the Past sync plate (which will quickly fall to Vex control after Phase 3 begins), as failure to bring one down will wipe the raid.
The Future sync plate team also has a mechanically simple job. Once the plate is captured, they’ll each take a spawn point and kill anything that comes out of it until the end of the phase. They may need to move around the sync plate to help each other if a Praetorian spawns, as allowing it to take control of the plate can be very problematic.
The Future portal assault team has the task of entering the Future portal once the plate has been taken, killing any adds inside, and finally the Gatekeeper. Note that as soon as they enter the portal, they’ll be immediately afflicted with “Marked by the Void” and will begin to lose vision (since a Gatekeeper has been killed). The Past Relic Carrier will need to use his or her Relic’s Cleanse ability periodically on himself or herself and the Future Portal Assault 2 Guardian while inside.
Surviving in the Future portal is very demanding due to the presence of Hobgoblin snipers inside – this team should be prepared to move carefully, as a death is a difficult obstacle to overcome. However, it’s very easy for the Future sync plate team to be overwhelmed if the portal assault team takes too long, so as always, balance is king. Once the Future Gatekeeper is dead, the team should claim his Relic, return to the present, and cleanse the Mark of the Void debuff. This ends Phase 2.
Once both Relics have been captured and your Future portal assault team has returned to the present, your entire raid will converge on the conflux. Divide yourselves evenly around it and protect from a few waves of adds. This phase lasts a very short time, so blow everything – if you’re lucky, and if you’ve managed to keep enough Guardians healthy and nearby, this home stretch will end quickly in your favor, and you’ll drink from the sweet cup of… probably getting completely ripped to shreds by Atheon. At least the first time.
As can be inferred from the Strategy section, this fight necessitates a lot of coordinated movement, and each Guardian will need to take on multiple roles in order to end the encounter in success. In the trash- clearing and final conflux defense portions of the fight, all Guardians have identical roles (save for positioning), so designations aren’t necessary.
Below, roles for Phases 1 and 2 are listed. A Guardian fulfilling a role in Phase 1 can fulfill any role in Phase 2, with one exception: whichever Guardian takes the Past Portal Assault 3 / Past Relic Carrier role in Phase 1 must take the Future Portal Assault 1 role in Phase 2, as he or she must use the Relic to cleanse himself or herself and the Guardian in the Future Portal Assault 2 / Future Relic Carrier role while inside the Future portal.
Because of the diversity of the roles involved in this fight, loadouts should be highly individualized. However, as you gain familiarity with the encounter, feel free to adjust your loadout depending on the portion of the encounter that’s presenting the most challenge to you.
In general, Guardians dedicated primarily to plate defense (especially Past Plate Defense and Future Plate Defense roles) will want void-type special weapons and heavy weapons to make the assaulting Praetorians easier to manage. Portal Assault Guardians may find that using rocket launchers in their heavy weapon slot is helpful, as the add packs inside the portals are dense in some cases.
Lastly, any Guardians assuming the Conflux Defense / Oracle Slayers 1 & 2 roles may want a high damage precision weapon like a hand cannon, scout rifle, or sniper rifle to manage the Oracles – if the weapon has the Oracle Disruptor perk, that’s even better.
Loot from this encounter appears automatically in your inventory when it ends successfully.
Immediately after the conclusion of the Gatekeepers encounter, Atheon will spawn.
The Atheon fight is a cyclical two-phase encounter – a strategically demanding Phase 1 that involves splitting your raid into two groups with different tasks, and a unified burn in Phase 2 where the entire raid devotes all of their resources to damaging the boss. These repeat in sequence until Atheon falls. Your group should consider returning to orbit at this point to strategize and take a breather.
At the beginning of each Phase 1, Atheon teleports the three Guardians furthest from him to either the past or the future version of the room – these are the same areas that were present in the Gatekeeper encounter through the portals. These Guardians must kill a group of adds (the types vary depending on the room to which they’re sent) and a series of Red Oracles. Like the Red Oracles from the Gatekeeper encounter, these Oracles will wipe the raid if they’re allowed to live more than a few seconds.
Additionally, since by this point the Gatekeepers have been sent to the Big Vex Pile in the Sky, as soon as they enter the past or future, all three will be afflicted with “Marked by the Void” and will slowly beginto lose vision. Fortunately, the Relic dropped by the Gatekeeper is present at the entrance of each room, so it can be used by one of these Guardians to periodically cleanse this debuff.
Meanwhile, Atheon stops attacking the raid, and the remaining three Guardians left behind in the present are forced to contend with a series of adds called “Supplicants” that spawn from alternating sides of the room. Supplicants are a special type of Harpy that move rapidly and explode when near a Guardian. This explosion typically kills any Guardian in proximity. Additionally, as with the previous encounter, the team in the past or future is unable to return to the present unless a Guardian in the present actively controls the corresponding sync plate. Thus, before the portal team is ready to return, one or more of these Guardians must take control of the appropriate plate. Atheon also fires at visible Guardians periodically for heavy damage.
When the portal team concludes killing all adds in their room, including all Oracles, the entire raid will be granted a buff called “Time’s Vengeance.” While this buff is active, each Guardian’s cooldowns are massively reduced, and each deals a high amount of bonus damage to Atheon (but not to any other enemies). Additionally, while under the effects of Time’s Vengeance, Atheon will not teleport raid members to alternate dimensions. This provides a convenient window for the raid to apply as much damage to him as possible.
Soon after Time’s Vengeance wears off, Atheon will again teleport the three Guardians furthest from him, and Phase 1 will begin again.
At the beginning of the fight, Atheon will slowly move forward from his spawn area at the back of the room and attack any visible Guardians. Dealing damage to him at this point is possible, but not required to defeat him comfortably within the enrage timer. Your group should have assigned a portal team and a Supplicant team prior to the beginning of the fight. The portal team should position themselves at the very front of the room near the door (but behind cover to avoid taking fatal damage from Atheon). The Supplicant team can position anywhere as long as they’re closer to Atheon than the portal team (as he’ll teleport the three Guardians furthest from him). After about 15-20 seconds, Atheon will open the timestream, teleport the portal team away, and summon the Supplicants.
At this point the tactical requirements of the encounter diverge for the Supplicant team and the portal team, and their responsibilities happen in parallel, so they’ll be discussed separately.
The job of the Supplicant team is relatively simple – avoid Atheon’s gunfire, kill as many Supplicants as possible, and open whichever portal corresponds to the location of the portal team. Since opening the portal only takes one Guardian, the other two can position freely. However, since Atheon will not attack the raid while Supplicants are spawning, the two primary Supplicant killers should stay on the center island (depicted in the diagram on the previous page) in order to maintain range on all Supplicants.
However, all three Guardians should avoid proximity to Supplicants, as their self-detonation can one- shot even well-geared Guardians. The Portal Opener is at greatest risk since he or she needs to move around the room to open the correct portal, but the risk can be mitigated by standing on top of the small pillar in the center of the appropriate sync plate – Supplicants are unable to explode and kill a Guardian standing here.
Special attention should also be paid to any Supplicants near the portal being opened, as the portal team will eventually appear there and may not be aware of the positions of nearby Supplicants.
As soon as the outside team receives the buff “Time’s Vengeance,” they should collapse on the center island between Atheon and the door to the room and open fire for the burn phase. When there are a few seconds left on the Time’s Vengeance buff (three to five seconds, typically), the outside team should leave the center island area and move to either side of it to allow the portal team to position against the back wall of the room.
The portal team has a more diverse set of tasks. When teleported into the past or future, they should immediately notify the Supplicant team which side they’re on so that the proper portal can be opened and begin their tasks. One of them should pick up the Relic (which should within reach upon appearing in the room) while one begins clearing adds and the third prepares for Oracles.
The Relic carrier’s primary purpose is to cleanse himself or herself and the other two Guardians so that they don’t lose vision while clearing the room. However, since the Cleanse ability is on cooldown for the first ten seconds or so that Relic is carried and since it’s a powerful melee weapon, the carrier should also assist in clearing adds (the jumping “Ground Pound” attack is particularly powerful source of area damage). As soon as the Cleanse ability becomes available, however, the Relic carrier should prioritize Cleansing the other two Guardians, with priority being given to the Guardian dedicated to the Oracles.
The add-clearing Guardian’s primary purpose is to kill all non-Oracle adds in the room as quickly as possible. Super abilities, grenades, rocket launchers, and any other tool at their disposal should be employed, although they can expect to receive some initial assistance from the Relic carrier. Once all non-Oracle adds are down, this Guardian should stay close to the Relic carrier to receive cleanses and assist the Oracle Guardian with bringing down the Oracles.
The Oracle Guardian has possibly the most critical task of all – he or she needs to quickly dispatch a series of seven Red Oracles that begin spawning a few seconds after the portal team enters the alternate dimension. While destroying the Oracles, he or she should slowly lead the team across the room toward the portal so that the portal team can exit as soon as possible when the last Oracle falls.
When all Oracles have been dealt with, the portal team immediately exits the room and returns to the present, where they collapse on the center platform along with the Supplicant team and open fire on Atheon.
While the rest of the raid burns Atheon from the vulnerable center platform, it’s critical that the Relic carrier use the Relic’s Cleanse ability to prevent the raid from taking damage from the boss and the Supplicants. It’s technically possible to only use the Cleanse ability to negate incoming damage and use the Relic’s Super ability to damage Atheon, but this is risky and can easily result in a wipe. Since Time’s Vengeance reduces all cooldowns so extravagantly, it’s far easier for the Relic carrier to simply hold down the Cleanse button during the burn phase and let the remaining five Guardians attack Atheon with impunity.
When there are a few seconds left on the Time’s Vengeance buff, the portal team should leave the center island area and return to the front wall of the room (near the door) to ensure that Atheon teleports them into the past or future.
As a fitting capstone encounter for the raid, almost every Guardian has a unique role in this encounter, ensuring that everyone has a hand in your glorious victory over the Vault of Glass. As a general note, at the beginning of the encounter, all roles that are members of the Supplicant team (Supplicant Slayers 1 & 2 and the Portal Opener) should move forward and take cover around the room, leaving the portal team back near the door to ensure they’re selected by Atheon for teleportation. Once he teleports the portal team away for the first time, the encounter proper begins.
These guardians are members of the Supplicant team. They position in the central area of the room (often on the island in front of Atheon) and focus on killing the swarms of Supplicants that spawn from the left and right portions of the room alternatingly while Atheon is forcing the portal team into the past or future. They also place special emphasis on clearing any Supplicants near the portal being used by the portal team to ensure the portal team isn’t killed upon returning to the present. When the portal team returns, these Guardians should already be in position on the center platform and should begin firing at Atheon.
This guardian is a member of the Supplicant team. Like the Supplicant Slayer Guardians, he or she kills the waves of Supplicants. However, he or she is also responsible for opening the portal corresponding to the location of the portal team – if the portal team is sent to the past, the Portal Opener should open the left portal. Otherwise, he or she should open the right portal.
It’s often best for this Guardian to position him or herself atop the small column in the middle of the appropriate sync plate, as the Supplicants are unable to rush and explode on a Guardian positioned there. When the portal team is nearly finished with killing the Oracles and the Relic Carrier exits the portal, this Guardian will join the other members of the Supplicant team on the central island and open fire on Atheon.
This Guardian is a member of the portal team. When teleported into the past or future, he or she will immediately pick up the Relic (which will be in reach upon arrival). Since the Relic’s Cleanse ability will be on cooldown and thus unavailable for use, the carrier will aid the Add Slayer in clearing out the adds in the area. As soon as the Cleanse ability becomes available, however, he or she will immediately attempt to land a Cleanse on both the Add Slayer and the Oracle Slayer to allow them to continue to perform their functions (with priority being given to the Oracle Slayer – if he or she can’t cleanse both, a short burst will allow Cleanse to be available in a few seconds to cleanse the other).
As the portal team makes its way across the room killing adds and Oracles, the Relic Carrier will continue to give periodic cleanses to the rest of the team while assisting with any remaining non-Oracle adds. As soon as the team reaches the last one or two Oracles, the carrier will cleanse the other two members of the portal team a final time and then depart the portal so he or she can be in position on the central island as early as possible during the burn phase to protect the rest of the raid with Cleanse’s shield.
When the Time’s Vengeance buff that’s present during the burn phase has between three and five seconds remaining, the Relic Carrier will alert the raid that he or she is dropping the shield and then move to the back of the room to prepare for the next teleport.
This Guardian is a member of the portal team. When teleported into the past or future, he or she will immediately use all resources (including grenades, Super abilities, heavy weapons, and whatever else he or she has available) to kill all non-Oracle adds in the room as fast as possible. Once the adds are down, he or she will stay close to the Relic Carrier to receive cleanses and assist the Oracle Slayer with Oracles. When the last Oracle is killed and the Time’s Vengeance buff is granted, the Add Slayer should exit the portal with the Oracle Slayer, join the rest of the raid on the central island, and open fire on Atheon.
When the Time’s Vengeance buff that’s present during the burn phase has between three and five seconds remaining, this Guardian will move to the back of the room to prepare for the next teleport.
This Guardian is a member of the portal team. When he or she arrives in the past or future, he or she will devote all attention and resources to killing a series of seven Red Oracles while moving slowly and steadily across the room toward the portal. When the last Oracle falls, the Oracle Slayer will exit the portal with the Add Slayer, join the rest of the raid on the central island, and open fire on Atheon.
When the Time’s Vengeance buff that’s present during the burn phase has between three and five seconds remaining, this Guardian will move to the back of the room to prepare for the next teleport.
Similar to the Gatekeepers encounter, the diverse portfolio of roles are helpful in this encounter.
However, with the potential exception of the Add Slayer and (less likely) the Oracle Slayer, all Guardians will probably want machine guns in the heavy weapon slot for maximum damage to Atheon during burn phases, preferably ones with high magazine capacity to maximize time before reloading.
Otherwise, the Supplicant team will generally want high-damage precision weapons with good magazine capacity and relatively quick reload times in order to deal with the Supplicants quickly. Upgraded legendary hand cannons can one-shot Supplicants with a precision strike, making them very valuable for this encounter. Scout rifles and pulse rifles also work well. They should also consider strong burst AoE grenades, as the Supplicants often clump together around the Portal Opener if they make it that far.
The Add Slayer will likely want to bring a rocket launcher in his or her heavy weapon slot for maximum AoE burst on the adds inside the portal area. Titans and Warlocks in the Add Slayer role should also consider the use of the Striker and Voidwalker subclasses respectively for the same purpose.
The Oracle Slayer should use whatever primary weapon gives him or her the best ability to kill Oracles in rapid succession while minimizing reload time. Weapons that drop in the Vault of Glass with the Oracle Disruptor perk are ideal for this, but any strong weapon with good burst will do.
Loot from this encounter appears automatically in your inventory when it ends successfully.
Note that every Guardian is guaranteed one cosmetic item in addition to any other loot they may receive. It seems to be a rule that five Guardians receive the armor shader “Chatterwhite” and the sixth receives the jumpship or Sparrow.
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