See How Three Destiny Strikes Are Changing
By Weston Albert 16 December 2016
Destiny‘s The Dawning event introduces three remastered Year 1 Strikes to the game, which have been given new enemies and mechanics for players to deal with.
The Dawning adds Strike Scoring to Destiny, but among the Strikes that Destiny fans can tackle are three remastered Strikes from Destiny‘s Year 1. The three Strikes getting the new makeover are The Nexus, The Shadow Thief, and Will of Crota.
The Nexus
The first change players will see is that in the first Darkness Zone past the opening public space area now includes a skirmish against the Taken. Replacing the three Servitors that need to be destroyed to progress, now players will need to take down three Taken Captains. Taken fill the rest of the Strike after that, replacing the formerly Vex-focused experience.
In the final room before the last passageway that leads to the Nexus Mind, players will have to unlock a barrier blocking the way forward. Whereas, previously this room could be skipped over if players were fast and maneuverable enough to dodge enemies and their attacks, the new version requires players to pick up a relic and deliver to the opposite side of the room to take down one part of the barrier. To take down the final part of the barrier, a plate at the bottom of the room needs to be activated, just like the sync plates in the opening section of the Vault of Glass.
And the mechanics from Vault of Glass don’t stop there. The Nexus Mind is a new Taken version of itself (Sekrion, Subverted Mind) and it will require players to descend from the cheese spot up above the final chamber to defeat it. That’s because the boss will activate a shield around itself that can only be taken down with a blast from the shield relic from the Vault of Glass, which will spawn in the room. So players will need to pick up the shield, charge their super meter and then blast the boss — just as they did with Templar in the Vault of Glass. Doing that will drop the boss’s shield and allow a damage phase to occur.
After every use, the shield will despawn only to respawn at a random spot on in the room. So players will need to control adds spawning in, get to the shield, blast the boss’s shield to take it down, damage the boss; then rinse and repeat until Sekrion is defeated once and for all.
The Shadow Thief
In the remastered Shadow Thief Strike, in addition to Shriekers, Hive Acolytes will rush into the area, plus players will need to avoid (or shoot to set off and disable) the Hive traps that are now spread out through the area. These are the same traps players saw in The Wretched Eye Strike added in Rise of Iron.
Much is the same until coming to the room with the teleporter up to Taniks’ ketch. Instead of waves of Fallen in this room, players will run into a mixture of Hive and a new SIVA version of Taniks, Taniks Perfected, will be in the room as well. Take out the adds and damage the boss to send Taniks Perfected up the lift.
Follow the boss into the ketch and into the first encounter room, where players will find a mixture of Hive and Devil Splicers, including SIVA nodes spread throughout the room. However, the mechanics are the same as ever. As Taniks Perfected appears, shoot him until he retreats out of the room, then proceed down the corridor.
The next room, where players are used to the Devil Walker, is much the same. Except there is now the SIVA version, the Perfected Walker. Again, Devil Splicers and Hive fill the room, and explosive Shanks are still present. Hive Shriekers sit at the back left of the room, which can pose a serious threat for anyone posting up outside the left side tunnel or pushing too forward into the room.
Players will then follow Taniks Perfected into the hallways leading to the final room of the Strike. Taniks will appear on the same platform, but instead of teleporting to the bottom of the room once his health has been taken down, SIVA nodes and Devil Splicers will spawn in and Taniks will teleport to the top of the room. Taniks Perfected will continue to teleport around the room, much more actively than in the standard Shadow Thief Strike.
Will of Crota
The Will of Crota Strike lays down the heavy Hive hitters to ramp up the difficulty. In the first room, the usual Fallen are gone, replaced by Hive, including three Ogres. Also in the middle of the room near the door leading out, there is a green cloud of smoke that will debuff any player going into it with the Slowed effect. After the Ogres are taken down, a wave consisting of numerous Hive Wizards will show up next. Once that wave is defeated, a wave of Devil Splicers will appear followed by another small wave of Hive.
The plumes of Slowing smoke continue throughout the Strike as there are more Hive to greet players up the stairs and out into the next Array area. In the standard Strike this area is filled with Fallen with Fallen dropships flying into drop off more troops and fire its cannons at players. Now it is Hive, with Hive ships coming in to fire its tracking void rounds.
Once into the Jovian Complex, the fight up the hill is near identical with lots of Hive, but players will have to continue to deal with the smoke causing the Slowed debuff. But once players make it into the final room, things get much harder than normal. Doors close behind players as they walk into the final room, meaning the usual strategy of staying out in the hall will no longer be viable.
Fortunately to start, adds are much more manageable, with the first wave being mostly Thrall. However, the next wave ups the intensity with the usual suspects of Knights, Acolytes, and Thrall. The third add wave gets even harder with Ogres appearing in the room. Different mixtures of adds will continue throughout the fight after each of Omnigul’s screams.
Staying mobile and having a good shotgun will be key to surviving this room. And fireteams will need to be quick on the revives to keep from being overwhelmed and wiping the encounter.
These Strikes were added in The Dawning and will continue as a permanent part of the game, even after the event ends on January 3rd. Players can also take part in Sparrow Racing League during The Dawning.
Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
