A Guide for Destinyâs âWrath of the Machineâ Heroic Raid
As with most of Destinyâs raids, they are best run with 2 of each class. This will give you flexibility for any situation. Once youâve mastered the raid with 2 of each class, you can mix it up and experiment to see how well you do with a âHunters-onlyâ run, for instance.
For the Vosik and Aksis fights, youâll probably want to run Sunsinger, Defender, Nightstalker. That combination gives you a lot of added damage when you get to damage rounds. Alternative subclasses are viable, but are less ideal in my experience. (Note that for Defenders, you should probably be using a Blessing bubble for every part of the raid prior to Aksis phase 2.)
The process to open the wall is the same for normal and heroic modes. One player on the left side of the field and one from the right should handle running around gathering charges to deposit in the spinner for their side. A runner from the middle isnât necessaryâ if there are three doing this, it winds up causing deaths from the third person taking charges needed by one side or the other. Instead, the one player from the middle can provide added defense to the left and right sides by wandering the field and help kill the voltage eater shanks wherever they are spawning (left / right can call out for help when one shows up).
Once charges start dropping from the spinners, focus on taking Vosikâs shield off. Sustaining damage will keep him vulnerable longer, but at most, youâll probably get about half his health off from one round and will need an additional round to make him leave.
Be sure to grab the chest before you enter the wall, and the additional chest en-route to the real Vosik fight.
This fight is probably the most intense part of the raid. Youâll face swarms of adds here and controlling them is critical to success. Note that the right side of this room seems to be more difficult than the left side, so place your experienced players on the right, and less-experienced on the left. The middle position should have a Sunsigner (ideally with Sunbreakers and solar flare grenades to keep the middle spawn platform lit regularly). A Nightstalker also works well in the middle, and they can tether the middle spawn (along with the Light of the Pack perk) to churn out orbs of light for everyone. Titans on the team should probably be running Blessing of Light bubbles, set behind the left and right side pillars. Itâs pretty helpful when these are set prior to when the spliced captains appear.
The main differences between normal and heroic difficulty:
Vosik has a stronger shield, roughly double what it is on normal.
Because of this, spinners drop 2 charges per lane. For the left and right lanes, one charge is typically close to the end where the team is fighting from (near) and one that is typically further into the enemy spawn area (far).
The clean room doors are 2/3 blocked. You have to either slide under these doors, or crouch and walk under them.
The monitors are harder to break. After throwing charges at Vosik, youâll still have to disable/break a monitor, and the entire fireteam should stop and shoot it until it breaks. Donât assume someone else will do this for you. I personally prefer using a fusion rifle to shoot these monitors, one that doesnât spread itâs bolts too much over distances â The Vacancy is my preferred weapon for that. Those bolts are very effective against the monitors.
For the Vosik challenge weeks, the challenge is summarized as: clean room doors must all be closed with a SIVA grenade charge. These are obtained at the end of the Vosik damage rounds⌠instead of throwing those charges, two people should be designated to pick up those charges as soon as they drop. One person should go left, the other personâ and the rest of the fireteamâ should go right. If both rooms are on the same side, the person who would be going left should plan to take the back (the end where the fireteam fights from) right room, and the rest of the fireteam should go to the front right room. When closing the door, throw your charge standing very close to the âbuttonâ target to make sure you hit it and hit it hard. Make sure you donât kill Vosik before the 2nd pair of clean rooms are used!
One person in your fireteam should handle a countdown to throw charges. Something like: âOkay, pickup your charge. (pause as you pick up your charge.) Okay, three, two, one, throw.â
After throwing charges, there will be a brief intermissionâ kill as many of the adds as you can, then identify which monitor needs to be disabled and hit it with fusion or sniper rounds. The whole team needs to help with this. I put at least two fusion rounds into it each time. Reload your special weapon after the monitor breaksâ regularly pick up special ammo packs from the field to keep your ammo reserve full.
Following the 2nd SIVA charge volley, a void-shielded spliced captain will appear before the 3rd SIVA charge drops (and another will appear following 4th SIVA charge volley, before the 5th SIVA charge drops). This captain is hard to kill, but a damage-over-time grenade helps soften him a bit, and Dark Drinker works really well to take his shield and finish him. Note that the use of Outbreak Prime on this captain can cause him to teleport and in some cases fall off the platform. If that happens, he will reappear, and when you least expect it.
âSafeâ Safe Room Selection
For a non-challenge run, hereâs the playbook I use for deciding which safe room to go to when the whole fireteam is using a single room. As the charges drop during a damage phase, one person in the group should stop and start monitoring the back right doorway. If it lights up, everyone should use that room. If it doesnât light up, then call to run left and once you see the left side, youâll know if youâre using the back or front left safe room (thereâs a chance of course, that the front-right safe room is lit, but if it is, there will also be 1 safe room on the left, guaranteed⌠so instead of wasting time seeing if the front-right room is available, run toward the guaranteed room). After that first room is used, plan to run to the opposite side for the next round, and continue alternating from there.
Once shanks show up, just focus on killing the exploding shanks to take out other repeater shanks near them. Use the Titan bubbles and shields from them whenever you can.
The most important part of this fight is staying alive. If your health is low or there are too many adds to safely pick up the âfarâ SIVA charge, then donât risk your life to get it that round. There are some good methods for grabbing that charge more safely:
Nightstalker: use Sealed Grasps of Ahamkara gauntlets (and boost your strength to tier 5) to employ smoke grenades to make yourself (or the person grabbing the front charge) invisible to pick up the front charge.
Defender / Sunsigner: Use a melee kill on an enemy to get an overshield. Alternatively, get a blessing bubble shield.
Use a sword for an offensive run to the charge, then retreat with it quickly.
Use the raid chest piece, which gives you added armor when carrying a SIVA charge.
Use the raid helm piece, which gives you temporary immunity from Fallen when you pick up an orb of light.
Following the Vosik fight, be sure to pick up the two chests along the way to the Siege Engine.
This fight is broken into two parts. Disabling the siege engine, and repairing it. I recommend at least one Sunsigner switch here to a Stormcaller subclass to help manage the dregs and vandals. As the encounter starts, a Nightstalker tether should be fired to trap as many adds as possible, then the Stormcaller should use their super to keep the adds dead/occupied as the rest of the team is shooting the siege engine. A Defender should drop a blessing bubble near the crate by the special ammo box. The fireteam can stand on that crate, and should be able to shoot over the top of the blessing bubble (shielding them from adds on the ground). Once the siege engine is damaged, board it (picking up orbs to replenish health), and ride it to the next half of the fight.
The main change for heroic difficulty here is the spliced spider tank you have to destroy. Fortunately, more time is given to do this.
The next thing youâll see after disembarking the siege engine is a Fallen skiff fly in and drop off more adds. Everyone should shoot at the guns of this skiffâ theyâre quite deadly to the team if left alone. After taking out the skiff guns, advance on the Fallen crew it dropped⌠tether them and clear them with swords or rockets. Replacement parts will immediately drop from the skiff as it leaves. DO NOT PICK THEM UP YET. The next skiff flys inâ immediately start sidestepping to avoid fire from the skiff guns, and shoot at them to disable them. More adds are left from it, and they should be cleared. Then, another skiff flys in. Disable those guns as well. After that third skiffâs guns are disabled, now it is time for three to pick up the parts that were dropped (Warlocks and Hunters should be carrying the parts. Warlocks with Transversive Steps can move faster with a part while crouched. A Nighstalker with the âKeen Scoutâ perk can do the same). One additional fireteam member should be ahead of the part-carriers and should trigger and shoot the spider mines that are set along the left-hand path. Advance the parts down the left alley, then rightward, then forward along the right side until the skiff with the spider tank warps in.
At the same time the third skiff is handled, one brave member of the fireteam should break off and intercept Meksisâ a Fallen captain that is attempting to take control of the siege engine. They should be able to kill him and the other adds on the siege engine by sword. After Meksis is dead, the ramp will extend from the siege engine, making it possible for the fireteam to carry their parts to their destination.
When the tank appears, get out of the line of fire from it and start sniping its front-left leg as safely as you can (front-right leg from your vantage point). Disabling this leg first causes the spider tank to be vulnerable longer. Once it is damaged with its core exposed, start hitting it as hard as you canâ tether if possible, then snipe or better yetâ use the raid machine gun (âIF MATERIAâ) to fire on it until it is dead. Be sure your heavy weapon is reloaded prior to the spider tank attack, or youâll have to wait through a reload animation at the wrong time.
Resume moving the parts, but be mindful of when you will become exhausted and have to drop a part. If a part is dropped while on the ramp to the siege engine, it can fall through the ramp and under the ship. If this happens, it canât be retrieved, since the engine has an electrical field surrounding it that will kill on contact. Better to drop a part before the ramp, and have someone else carry it forward than to lose it like that.
If youâre running out of time carrying parts, have those not carrying a part swing an exotic sword behind you to âpushâ you forward faster. Yep, that works.
If all goes well, you will repair the siege engine and ride it to the next part of the raid: Aksis. (Warlocks: don't forget to switch back to your Sunsinger class.)
Be sure to grab the chest in the pipe high above the entrance to the Server Farm.
For Heroic difficulty, the new wrinkle here are SIVA turret guns. There is one of these at each of the three areas of the arena, and they must be dealt with. SIVA turret guns can be disabled with a sniper round or two. Doing so will buy you 20 seconds of turret-free life. After which time, they spin up again and must be disabled again. Charge throwers: be sure you have a good 10+ seconds left to throw your charge before the turret on your side spins up again. If not, wait and disable the turret before picking up a charge to throw.
The fireteam breaks into three groups of two to cover left/right/middle areas of the arena. For those groups, one person should be responsible for using a cannon, and the other should be responsible for throwing SIVA charges; those roles will not change for the rest of the Aksis fight.
After the major vandal is killed for your side, itâs time to advance and take out a Fallen captain that will emerge, carrying a cannon. Heâs really good with this cannonâ donât underestimate him. You have to take him out quickly. A Nightstalker tether fired near him is super helpful, whether it is you or your teammate that is actually clearing the captain. I recommend using Dark Drinker for that.
The first two rounds of servitors are simple: three servitors each round. The third round will have nine servitors. Note that cannon holders will never have a servitor at their side matching their cannonâs element. That means you have only two possible places for the first servitor to kill. If youâre at left/right, itâs easy to spot both locationsâ you donât have to wait for a spotter to call out servitor locations for you. If youâre working center, just immediately jump up to the left and see if your first servitor is there. If not, itâll be on the right. Subsequent servitors are also easy to spot and clear without people telling you where they are. Also note that when a servitor comes out of the left/right door, they pause for a couple of seconds at a spot. Itâs this time you can use to target, fire, and kill a servitor from the opposite side of the arena. This is a huge time-saver for the nine servitor rounds in Aksis phases 1 and 2.
For the first two rounds, just throw charges at the center targets. For the third round, charge throwers should do this:
Left and right charge throwers should work inward. The left side charge thrower should take out the left-most target , then the one closer to the center, then the left-most target on the center area itself. Same for the right side charge thrower: take out the right-most target, then the one closer to the center, then the right-most target on the center area itself.
The center charge thrower should work outward. Take out the target dead center, then the target to the left of center, then the one right of center.
Not everyone will hit 3 targetsâ there are only 7 in total. So if the left/right side take out two targets each, that leaves 3 for the center charge thrower. But if left/right get a third charge to throw, feel free to hit one of the center targets.
And cannon holdersâ please help with disabling turrets whenever you see one starting to spin up again.
After hitting all your targets after rounds 1 and 2, group up in the center to take out the shanks that are dropping above Aksis. This is a great opportunity to tether with 1-2 tethers (ideally at the same time, to get orbs to recharge both Huntersâ super), and shoot at the tethered adds. Everyone will be able to charge their super again before the next round begins.
The main difference between normal and heroic here is that you will continue to get 9 servitors each round. Youâll need 7 charges to throw at Aksis to make him teleport.
For the Aksis challenge, the requirement is that you stun Aksis without fail for every teleport, and you also use the âsuperchargeâ plates with each teleport. Positioning and calling out teleport location is key for doing this right. Speed is also important. I recommend using Jolderâs artifact to eliminate sprint cooldown. Other than that, practice and patience should eventually teach you this method.
As this phase begins, a bunch of shanks will start trickling out. It really helps you in this raid if you can find a good weapon to handle these shanks more easily. I tend to use a high-impact hand cannon (and gauntlets with a hand cannon loader perk) with explosive rounds (many of these exist: Palindrome, Imago Loop, The Wail, etc.). Other options are a high-impact scout rifle with explosive rounds or crowd control. Between rounds of damage on Aksis, the shanks are a good way to recharge a depleted super. If one of the pair of Guardians at a given side lacks their super, they should be shooting all the adds here to recharge again, while the other Guardian just holds off and helps only if too many are grouping up.
Make sure to adjust your position as Aksis teleports to the left/right side. Remember: if you can see Aksis, he can see you and will shoot SIVA swarms at you.
After Aksis teleports the 3rd time, things will move quickly:
3 random Guardians become empoweredâ they should report their empowerment and which side theyâre at (a simple âempowered leftâ, for instance is enough). If two are empowered at a given spot, the cannon holder should be the one to reposition after killing 2 or 3 servitors (the 3rd only being required when it is the center servitor).
The person with the cannon holder role should advance on the Fallen captain that holds the cannon.
The person who will be throwing charges should continue to kill any remaining shanks and give aid to the cannon holder who will be tackling the captain.
Once the captains and shanks are down, the dance of destroying the servitors and throwing charges starts.
Some notes on dealing with these shielded, cannon-holding captains:
A Nightstalker can tether a spot near where the captain comes out. This can fail if the tether misses itâs mark. For left/right sides, I recommend hitting the top of the door where the captain emerges. The Black Hole perk is important to keep the captain tethered longer. Another option is to use a smoke grenade to sneak up to the captain and use Dark Drinker to kill him quickly.
A Defender should try and get a Force Barrier from a melee on a shank prior to approaching the captain. If they can get a Nightstalker hit them with a smoke grenade, that can give them a safer approach. Again, use Dark Drinker to kill the captain.
A Sunsinger can just take the captain head-on⌠maybe hit it with a solar grenade first to weaken him. If the Sunsinger dies to the captain, self-res and finish him off. They can also get a Nightstalker to apply a smoke grenade for a safer approach.
The center captain can be particularly hard to kill, because it is a little more hesitant to leave the door it comes from. Aksis also seems to shoot more at the center players trying to kill that captain. If you find it challenging to handle this one, just let the left or right cannon holders use one of their cannon charges to kill the center captain.
The strategy I like to use for non-challenge mode runs tries to minimize player movements, particularly for the left/right sides. I also assign any less-experienced players the left/right charge-thrower role. Hereâs how it works:
Whoever is empowered on the left and right side need only worry about covering the side they are on. If these players are less experienced, this will be helpful, since it keeps their job simple and they donât have to move much. As empowerment shifts, they still remain to their sides, until the third teleport/stun and then they move in for the attack.
The two people in the middle spot should be more experienced, and they will need to cover both middle teleport positions as they would for an Aksis challenge mode (ideally 4 in the fireteam should be comfortable with this, since the cannon-holder on left/right may be called on to handle the middle position).
Of course, after the initial teleport, empowerment shifts. Each time, all empowered players should call out the position they intend to cover (closest first). If the last person to call a location finds they have to cross the entire map, they need to call middle and the middle person will know they have to relocate to the unclaimed side.
Again, the left/right charge throwers should automatically just handle their position if empowerment shifts and they become empoweredâ they are not to move from their side.
Left and right charge-throwers should only being throwing two charges each. The middle charge thrower will be responsible for throwing three charges. This will make a total of 7, which is the magic number to cause him to teleport (for Heroic, on Normal mode, you only throw three charges). The last charge thrown in the middle should be thrown after announcing it with enough time to allow empowered people to get into position (this is the point where any side changes happen, if two were empowered at one spot, and a cannon-holder needs to take a new side to stun). Left/right charge throwers should still pick up any additional SIVA charge they can but hold it to throw along with the 7th charge. It does damage Aksis some, so it's "free" damage, and sometimes if a charge throw misses, you may need two thrown at the last second to get him to teleport.
The left/right stun should be easy, since those empowered players will only be looking at that location and should reach it with plenty of time. Middle stun positions will be riskier and all non-empowered players should help call out the teleport location as soon as they observe it.
Note that the button to use to stun is used for many other things in Destiny. One of them being reloading your weapon. If your active weapon is not reloaded when you move to stun, thereâs a chance you will trigger a reload animation and miss the stun. This is one reason why I always switch to my sword when getting ready to stunâ no risk of a reload, and it is useful for swinging to get away quickly and avoid his recoil which can sometimes throw you and kill you.
As Aksis teleports around, empowered players should not be doing any damageâ they need to focus on getting into position and being ready to stun him, and not getting headshots. Non-empowered players should be doing damage as he takes damage all through these teleports. I recommend hitting him with cannon charges, and then switching to sniper fire if you have no more cannon shots.
After the third teleport, itâs time to attack. Sunsingers should be using Viking Funeral and grenades. Nightstalkers should tether (again, with Black Hole turned on). Ideally, if there are two Nightstalkers, they should stagger their tethers to improve all-around damage on Aksis. Defenders should be using a weapons of light bubble, and if the team is using Dark Drinker to attack, setting that bubble right at the feet of Aksis will be most effective. The team should also prioritize the use of any remaining cannon rounds ahead of their own weapons.
The team should agree on which pillar to use beforehand. Either a consistent order, or a policy. One I use is to go to the pillar closest to the side Aksis last teleported to. But if he was at a center position, just go to the right-most pillar still available.
If all goes well, one of the damage rounds will push Aksis to move back to his stage for a final stand. Anticipate this, and intentionally save a cannon or two for this final attack. Throw everything you still have into thisâ itâs always feels like a close call. If you run out of sniper rounds, switch to primary and keep shooting since you may not have enough time for a reload.
If you did all that right, you should have your raid completion!
(One final tip: if you're needing to make a SIVA cache key from SIVA key fragments, be sure to have an open spot in the "Consumables" side of your inventory to receive the new key. Otherwise, it goes to your Postmaster and for some reason, you can't get new ones from that point without leaving the raid. Consider just making keys before the raid starts to avoid that kind of problem altogether.)