King’s Fall: The full guide to Destiny’s biggest raid yet

Part 7: The Daughters

Funnily enough, Oryx’s daughters are more trouble than his son ever was. There are four platforms in their chamber. Have one member stand near, but not on, each. The fifth person will play floater and stand near the entrance to the room. The sixth person, the runner, is selected randomly and will be given an interdimensional buff.

With each round, one of the four platforms is randomly assigned a relic, the glowing orb floating a ways above it. To start the encounter, the runner will jump on the platform located one counter-clockwise rotation from the relic. This will start a one-minute timer, denoting when the first Daughter will AoE the room.

After the first platform is activated, interdimensional platforms will appear. Only the runner can stand on them, and they’ll have to run around the entire room to reach the relic. To create the rest of the path, the other three platform holders will have to step on the other platforms, slowly and one at a time, in a counter-clockwise order. All platform holders should focus on the adds in the middle of the room throughout, and be especially careful to kill the Taken Vandals which will spawn in behind them as the runner reaches the halfway point of the platforms.

Once the runner reaches the relic, he’ll bring it to the Daughter not preparing her AoE. In other words, dunk the calm one (hint: Ir Anuk is up first). This will steal her shield, which grants all those inside it immortality. The runner then brings the shield down to the other players, either near the rear platform on the now-defenseless Daughter’s side or at the front of the room. Next, everyone piles inside the shield and shoots the Daughter. (Pro-tip: Do not use the Nightstalker’s bow on the Daughters. Her blinded, flailing animation will block headshots, ultimately lowering damage output.)

Be careful not to kill the first Daughter on your first round; doing so makes the second Daughter much harder to kill. Instead, lower her to a sliver of life and then start clearing out the adds in the room. Be sure to remain inside the aura until the blinding AoE subsides. Get back to your platforms quickly, as the second Daughter isn’t as patient as the first and will start her countdown even if you don’t step on the platforms. Repeat the process for the second Daughter, but with intent to kill. The third time around, finish off the weakened Daughter and claim your loot.

Part 8: Oryx

Well, it’s about time. What’s a guy gotta do to get some regicide around here? A lot, if you haven’t noticed, which is actually a good thing since Oryx calls upon the strategies learned in all the encounters before him.

There are three roles for this fight: runner, floater and platformer. The runner behaves similarly to the Daughter fight, but will be stealing a shield from a Vessel of Oryx Knight this time around. The floater will stay in the middle this time, and help each of the four platformers with their enemies.

After you kill the Taken adds and Knights at the start of the fight, Oryx will smash a platform. That’s your starting point for the counter-clockwise rotation of the platforms. However, the runner has to jump on first in order to get the interdimensional buff. Once he starts running, the platformers jump on in the correct order. As they do, Light-Eater Ogres will spawn in the pools of water near the platforms. It falls to each platformer to kill their Ogre as fast as possible, with a little help from the floater, who should deal around 35% damage to the most recent Ogre then focus on the next.

As the Ogres die, they will spawn Corrupted Light (we’ll call them Orbs). Do not touch these, at least not yet. They are your primary source of damage against Oryx, and touching them now will detonate them prematurely. Incidentally, they’re also the reason you have to kill the Ogres quickly, which brings us back to the runner.

After reaching the relic, the runner will head to the front of the room and dunk the Vessel of Oryx, stealing his invincibility aura. Even aura-less, the Vessel will detonate any Orbs he walks through on the central path (read: where you can’t let Ogres reach), so kill him quickly. Once the runner has the aura, all members should group up in the middle of the room, avoiding their Orbs along the way.

Next, Oryx will appear behind the platform he originally smashed and begin charging up an AoE attack. Every member should put their sniper and machine gun rounds into his chest at this point. Nightshot does nothing here, but Golden Gun is a powerful damage boost. Do not try and reload; there isn’t enough time. If you empty your clip, switch to a new weapon.

Once you’ve dealt sufficient damage to Oryx, you’ll stagger him. The four platformers will then break from the center and move to their Orb of Darkness. Any Nightstalkers should throw invisibility Smog at this point. Platformers then stand in their orbs for a full three seconds and run back to the aura. If a platformer is left outside the aura after detonating their Orb, Oryx will not take damage from it and they will be killed instead.

It takes 16 Corrupted Light to “kill” Oryx. At 75 percent life, he will begin mortaring the field, in a manner similar to the blue Cabal general from the Shield Brothers strike (he’s called Blastoise, by the way). Platformers should run around the perimeter of their platforms to avoid the shots. The runner and floater can lap the front and back walls of the room. Once the mortars stop falling, everyone returns to their original positions to prepare for the next wave of platforms and Ogres.

At 50 percent life (or lower; he will do this after each round for the rest of the fight), or after a failed round in which no damage is dealt, Oryx will summon a dark orb of his own, which he will periodically teleport members inside. Inside is a Shade of Oryx, which will orbit the perimeter of the orb and occasionally swoop in with a sword. Members inside the orb should focus the Shade, as he must be killed within roughly one minute to prevent a wipe. Anyone still outside the orb should kill the Taken Thrall which spawn near the front of the room to prevent them from entering the orb and bothering the members attacking the Shade. Once the shade is killed, everyone should go back to their original positions.

Once you’ve successfully detonated 16 Corrupted Light, Oryx will appear dead. But the fight’s not over just yet. Head to the front of the room. Oryx will appear there and begin charging one final AoE. Once again, put everything into his chest. Of course, instead of merely staggering him, you’ll kill him properly—send him hurtling ungracefully through the lonely void of space, in fact.

Well, job done. And a nice job, at that. Now do it again next week and prepare for the no-doubt hellish challenge of Heroic mode.

Part 5: Golgoroth

Image via Gamerant

There are three parts to be played when fighting Golgoroth: gazer, add and DPS (boss damage). One member from each team of three will be a gazer. A gazer’s job is to hold Golgoroth’s attention so he doesn’t kill the DPS members, who, for reasons we’ll get to shortly, will be standing right next to him. To do so, gazers shoot Golgoroth in the weak point on his back. This will grant the 15-second buff, Golgoroth’s Gaze. When you have his gaze, Golgoroth will only have eyes for you. Wherever you walk, he looks. And wherever you are, he shoots slow-moving poison projectiles, which you’re going to want to break.

The full-time add killer of the group will move with the DPS team, but instead of shooting Golgoroth, they’ll shoot everything else. That includes the Cursed Thrall that spawn around Golgoroth and the Taken enemies that spawn in once he reaches low health. It’s their job to keep the floor clear, and to help with the secondary task of the DPS team.

Obviously, the DPS of the group will be putting the hurt on Golgoroth. They’ll do so by shooting the bright weak spot on his stomach. But first they’ll need to break the orbs hanging from the ceiling. This creates a circular buff on the floor that increases damage dealt exponentially. There are six orbs in all, so when one buff wears off, you’ll have to move onto the next one. To keep things simple, mentally label them as L1-3 and R1-3 according to their row and order relative to the front of the room.

Now let’s put all this together. Three people will stand on each half of the room. Start by clearing the waves of Thrall and Acolytes which spawn in after summoning Golgoroth, taking care to focus the Adepts which spawn from the doors on the right and left of the room. You should also be careful to avoid Golgoroth’s eye beams. Once the adds are almost cleared (signaled by Acolytes spawning from the central cave), the rightmost gazer will take Golgoroth’s gaze and DPS will start breaking orb R3. The dedicated add killer—let’s call him AK—will finish clearing the room.

Once the first orb is down, the DPS team jumps into the buff and gets to work on Golgoroth. Meanwhile, AK will keep the Cursed Thrall off DPS. Now, back to the gazers. At the 10-second and five-second mark, whoever holds the gaze should announce their timer. This lets the other gazer know when to grab Golgoroth’s attention, and lets DPS know when to shift to the next orb. After all, they can only shoot Golgoroth in the stomach, so they have to attack him from wherever he’s facing. So as the gaze alternates from left to right, DPS will zig-zag down the rows of orbs to match Golgoroth’s direction.

When you get to the sixth and final orb, the gazer who is not holding Golgoroth’s gaze can jump in to help damage him. When the final gazer calls out the five-second mark, everyone must clear out of the floor and return to their original positions at the back of the room, ready to start the next wave of adds and repeat the process. Even on normal mode, you can only die six times before wiping while fighting Golgoroth, so be careful.

Once Golgoroth reaches low health, Taken enemies will begin spawning instead of Hive. This makes AK’s job more difficult, so the gazer not holding Golgoroth’s focus should also help clear adds. Fortunately, the presence of the Taken makes the ceiling orbs respawn quicker, meaning the last round is both the quickest and most dangerous. Functionally, however, it’s indistinguishable from the other rounds. Gazers rotate Golgoroth so DPS can get a good shot; DPS puts snipers and machines guns into Golgoroth and uses primary weapons to break orbs; and AK ensures DPS has breathing room. Keep that up and Golgoroth will be dead in no time, or at least before he enrages and blackens your screen.

Part 6: More jumping!

Time for the final jump puzzle, handily the easiest and funniest of the bunch. There are multiple paths through this one. All you really have to do is look for a platform you can reach. Oh, and be wary of the pistons which will blast you off the side.

Before you leave, though, you’ll want to grab the Calcified Fragment directly below the puzzle’s starting point. Once you reach the first plate in the room, you’ll also want to hit up the third secret chest. To do so, jump to the small ledges seen on the support pillar off to the right of the plate. From there, pull out your Ghost and make your way up the nearby invisible platforms. Once you’ve come around behind the pillar, jump on the small ledges on the far side. Next, jump up to the wide ledge on the back wall, take your Ghost out one more time, jump to the invisible platforms near the top, and hop into the treasure room.

Once you’re back to the wall of pistons, you’ll need to bridge the gaps in the platforms by holding three plates. Activate them as you encounter them, leaving one person behind to anchor the path. Once all three plates are held, the path will solidify, letting all members catch up. From there, it’s just another comical hike upward. Bonus points if you knock your friend into a piston.

Before you get to the next boss, you’ll have another room of jumping to deal with, but it can hardly be called a puzzle. What’s puzzling is how frequently players have trouble with it: just jump to whatever rocks or platforms are higher up than the one you’re on. It takes less than 15 seconds to reach the top.

Read on to learn how to kill a king.

Part 3: Anybody home?

Like King’s Fall itself, the first boss, Warpriest, must be unlocked. To do so, you’ll channel Deathsinger’s Power into a central door. Let me explain.

After not prematurely shooting the group of Hive at the start (and getting the obvious Calcified Fragment to the right), you’re going to break into three groups of two. However, you should think of this encounter as consisting of two teams of three. Each group of two will go to one area: two to the middle, two the left and two the right. The left and right teams will start by grabbing the globular auras on the smaller platforms, then head to the Annihilator Totems in the back of their rooms. The group in the middle will hold down the plate and clear adds.

Whoever grabbed the auras will receive a 30-second timer. When that timer reaches zero, their aura will transfer to whoever else is inside it. As such, it’s important that their partner remain close at all times—that, and because the Totems will kill anyone near them who’s not inside the aura. There aren’t many adds at this stage, but totem holders will want to watch for the Boomer Knights spawning on the balcony above, and central players should watch for Wizards.

When someone transfers the aura, they gain 10 stacks of Deathsinger’s Power. Once they have this power, they’ll make their way to the middle platform. This is where that “teams of three” thing comes in. As you head to the middle platform, someone from the middle will move to take your place on the totem to ensure that the aura is transferred again. Everyone rotates positions as the aura and Power are transferred.

Stay on the central platform while you have the Deathsinger’s Power, as this is what unlocks the door to Warpriest. Once your stacks are depleted, head back to your totem. Repeat this process until you see the message, “The Warpriest deems you worthy,” which marks the end of the encounter. Another loot chest will be waiting at the central platform.

Part 4: Warpriest

With the door unlocked, the first real boss of King’s Fall begins. Warpriest himself isn’t much more than oversized Boomer; his room is the real problem.

You’ll split into three teams of two. Each team will hold a plate. Note that while the middle plate is on the floor, the right is on a raised platform and the left on a tall balcony. Once the plates are activated, adds will start spawning. Eventually, three Hallowed Knights will spawn—one for each plate. Once these Knights are killed, Warpriest will start the glyph sequence. At this point, make sure nobody is standing on their plate.

One person (ideally from the left team, as they have the fewest adds) will move to the front of the room in order to check the glyph order. Be careful not to get too close to Warpriest; he’s still a boss after all. The plates must be activated (stepped on) in the order the glyphs light up. Only one person must step on each plate. The person who steps on the third and final plate in the sequence will receive a red aura which has five stacks and a 10-second timer. You have to be inside this red aura to damage the boss, so everyone will need to group up on the final plate.

The red aura works as follows: killing an add uses up one stack but resets the timer. If the timer reaches zero, the holder dies and the aura transfers to a new player with the same stack count. So, the aura holder should kill an add just before the timer reaches zero—at around two seconds, just to be safe. Doing so will give the other five players the maximum amount of time to damage Warpriest.

When the final stack on the aura disappears, Warpriest will use a massive AoE (area-of-effect) attack. To avoid it, the entire team must hide in the shadow of the current glyph. This destroys the pillar housing it, revealing the glyph itself. This makes reading the order easier, as all players will be able to see them light up (from blue to orange) once the pillars are destroyed.

Obviously, if you need the pillars to survive Warpriest’s AoE, you’ll wipe if you run out of them. So you have four chances to damage him—one for each pillar, and a final push leading up to the fourth AoE. Fortunately, the process only changes with the introduction of Taken enemies once Warpriest reaches low health (around 35%). Otherwise, it’s that same old raid mantra: rinse and repeat.

After defeating Warpriest, you’ll head into a dimly lit maze of shattered pillars. There’s another secret chest to be had here, so stick around. Scattered around the maze are four plates bearing rose crests. The plates must be activated in a certain order, but the order changes with each raid. To test the order, just guess-and-check your way there. Stepping on the correct plate will trigger a slight vibration in its holder’s controller, and will send a single loud noise echoing through the area. Incorrect plates will makes tons of continuous noise. Once you have the order right, the door across from the area’s exit will open up. Grab the chest inside and get ready for another boss.

Read on to get the goods on the hardest boss thus far, and the funniest jump puzzle ever made.

So, you want to kill a king? Fantastic. You know what they say: regicide is fun for the whole fireteam. Incidentally, that’s where you’re going to want to start when tackling King’s Fall, Destiny: The Taken King’s whopper of a raid—with your team.

Although King’s Fall “requires” a Light level of 280, teams with an average Light of 290 or higher will have a much easier time. Naturally, a team of all 300s will tear through the thing. Many of the raid’s four bosses are battles of numbers, so if you don’t have the numbers you need—the damage output, the defense, etc.—you won’t get anywhere without some real trouble. Besides, it’s easy enough to hit 290 from Strike-obtained gear. That said, anyone who is over 280 is perfectly eligible. No need to be an elitist.

Image via Gamerant

Team makeup is another consideration, albeit a minor one. King’s Fall does a good job of letting every subclass shine, so there are no bad eggs here. Still, there are golden eggs. Nightstalker Hunters can use their Nightshot super to clear groups of adds (additional, miscellaneous enemies) as well as increase their team’s boss damage, which lends invaluable flexibility to a variety of situations. Celestial Nighthawk-sporting Gunslingers can also deal with problem enemies easily, which is particularly valuable in later stages of the raid. Defender Titans are trickier fits in King’s Fall given its many cramped rooms, but the safety of Ward of Dawn certainly hasn’t lost its luster. Much the same is true for the Sunsinger’s self-resurrection ability.

Weapon choice is far more important to a raid’s success. Virtually any high-Light primary will get the job done, but specials are another matter. Sniper rifles are king in King’s Fall; if you don’t have one, get one, and make sure it has high impact. The Tower’s Vanguard Quartermaster sells a well-rolled 1000-Yard Stare that’s more than sufficient. The new raid sniper, Defiance of Yasmin, is a top-shelf choice, but in some fights is beaten by the highly sought after Black Spindle. And while rockets are good when dealing with groups of adds, machine guns are better as they can also be used to deal heavy damage to bosses. A high-Light sword is another great add killer.

Part 1: Relics

With your gear and fireteam sorted, it’s time to play basketball. Basically. The first stage of the raid consists of a series of statues, six in all, with two relics per statue. Anyone familiar with the Court of Oryx event on the Dreadnaught will recognize the statues and surrounding area immediately. Each time you satisfy one statue—by dunking both halves of its relic into it—the next opens up and new relics spawn.

You’ll break into two teams of three, with each team covering one half of the area. One member of each team will be a designated relic holder. Both relic holders should communicate in order to grab their relics at around the same time, as picking up one will start the timer on the other. If one relic disappears, the current statue will close up and set you back a round.

The other two members of each team will be on add duty, taking care of Hive and Taken that spawn throughout the encounter. More importantly, these two will also be responsible for breaking what we’ll call the glass of each side, the thin barriers that stop the relic holder from getting back to the statue. There are two layers of glass: one gating the bridge and one before the main room. There is also a tougher layer blockading the hall of statues in the center. All glass layers respawn with each round of relics, so it’s important to keep up with the relic holders. If they stall too long, you’ll have to repeat the round.

The timing becomes tighter and tighter as you progress through the statues, and the relics will also spawn further and further away. Still, this portion of the raid is neither difficult nor complicated. Grab the relics at the same time, break the glass, dunk the relics. Rinse and repeat. Once you satisfy all six statues, a portal to the raid proper will open. Give it a few seconds to warm up, ignore the torrent of adds it spits out, and jump in. Your first loot chest will be waiting for you on the other side. (Above image via USgamer)

Part 2: Jump! 

Bungie really doubled down on jumping puzzles with King’s Fall. The hall of swaying pendulums that follows the first loot chest is an appetizer to the challenge to come: a floating labyrinth of hive ships. Before we get into the actual order, though, here’s a tip for you: equip a sword when doing all jump puzzles. The third-person perspective lets you see more of your environment, and the option to swing yourself forward can provide life-saving momentum.

Now, make your way to the first docked ship and have the entire fireteam jump on at once. From there, you’ll jump to the ship you see come in from the right (oriented such that the direction the docked ship moves is forward). Be sure to break your fall momentum before landing. Otherwise, you’ll get a good taste of your kneecaps and be back where you started.

Next, another ship will come in from the right. Ride it across the bulk of the chasm and be ready for the next ship, which will enter from the left. This ship will pass under a platform on the left side of the chasm. Jump on and you’ll set your spawn point to that area. Halfway done!

From the chasm-side platform, jump on the starting ship to the right. This will take you straight ahead to the next ship, which will head toward you at an angle. Stick to the back corner to avoid the ship coming in next, as it will scrape you off the middle if you’re not careful. After the first ship passes over, jump on the next ship through. It’s quite the vertical leap, so be sure to up your agility stat. Try slashing with a sword to bring yourself up that incline.

This ship will take you toward the back of the room. The next ship spawns moving toward you, so be careful not to overshoot the jump. The next ship is another vertical jump, but is easier to land due to its tilted angle. Climb on. This will take you to the final ship, which will be off to your right. The ship you’re riding will despawn mere seconds after the final ship appears, so be prepared to move. Once you’ve boarded the final ship, wait and hop to the next platform or depart in comfort after it docks.

There are two plates on the central platform. To get across the next chasm, one person will stand on each plate while the other four ride the ship across. The ship will move on its own, but the plates deactivate the green field blocking its path. Don’t worry, there are two plates on the other end as well; nobody gets left behind.

Before that, though, you might want to grab the first secret chest. When facing the direction the ship moves, you’ll want to jump off to your left. If you can, land on the railing that’s flush with the back wall. If your jump doesn’t have that kind of reach, start with the curved platforms jutting out from the left of the field. Take the railing all the way up the wall, then look for a small alcove near its peak. Inside is a door that will only open when both plates are held, meaning only four people can access the chest on the first run. The two members who stayed behind will have to get it on the second ship, once the two far plates can be held. Again, no worries; the chest won’t despawn.

Read on to learn how to deal with King's Fall's first boss, Warpriest.