Vow of the Desciple

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by cody and muggs

0. Disciple’s Bog (Payload):

This is practically the exact same as the Preservation mission. Simply kill all the ads, collect the pools of knowledge, 3 stacks max. (Heightened Knowledge, Brimming Knowledge, Overflowing Knowledge) and bring those stacks back to the payload. Continue this process and escort the payload till you get to the pyramid entrance. Don’t forget the bonus chest and the 3 nodes you need to shoot on the way.

1. Acquisition (Obelisks):

Summary: “We have to defend 3 obelisks, while gathering specific symbols from specific rooms. These symbols will then be entered as a type of passcode on the obelisks till all 3 are done.”

  1. Objective: Defend the Obelisks, collect symbols and enter them on the correct obelisk.

  2. Sightseeing: Map of where the rooms are. Take the players on a tour, showing the split between pyramid and traveller sides, where the knights spawn, where each room is. show the 3 obelisks and their associated totems.

  3. Quick Rundown: 2 players per obelisk, 1 runner and 1 defender/reader. The first totem symbol tells us which side the knight is that needs to be killed, the second one shows us which room to go to, and the third one tells us which of the 2 chieftains to kill. Each time does that rotation separately, collecting the symbol left behind by the killed chieftain. The 3 collected symbols will be on one of the obelisks, they then need to be shot to “clear” that obelisk.

  4. In Detail: Encounter starts by shooting the node in the middle. One of the teams at random will get the first symbol on their totem first, this indicates which side the first Knight (Disciple’s Compass, orangebar) has spawned on. All members should have a look and coordinate finding and killing it. Once killed, the second symbol appears for the first team, telling them which room their runner needs to go to. The runner from the first team will head to and enter the room. If the door is closed, shooting the node in the middle will open half of the doors, while closing the other half. Once the runner has entered the room, the reader for the first team will see the third symbol on the totem appear, indicating which chieftain the runner needs to kill. Killing the chieftain leaves behind a further symbol, this should be called out and ideally written down. The other teams will do the exact same thing, albeit staggered and with other rooms. The symbols on the totem are staggered, so by the time the first team has all 3 totem symbols, another team will only have 2, and the final one will be on their first. While all this is going on, the readers/defenders will have to defend their totem from waves of adds. Once all 3 symbols from the chieftains have been collected, players will have to find the obelisk that has all 3 symbols mentioned. These symbols will NEVER be on the same of the obelisk, they will ALWAYS be on 3 separate sides of the same obelisk. Once found, they will have to be shot in quick succession/simultaneously. This essentially “clears” the obelisks, meaning it won’t have the 3 symbols appear on it again. Now the encounter begins anew, and the same steps are repeated until all 3 obelisks have been “cleared”.

  5. Difficulties/Wipe Mechanics: Allowing the obelisks to sustain too much damage, specifically from the orangebar lurkers. collecting the symbol from the incorrect chieftain, which would lead to you shooting the wrong symbol on the obelisk. shooting the wrong symbols on the obelisks too many times causes a wipe. taking too long with all the mechanics and letting the meters on the obelisks fill up fully also causes a wipe (killing any chieftain resets this meter).

  6. Combat: Mainly close-range engagements, with only occasional long-range ones. Adds consist mainly of redbar stalkers and wraiths, with a pair of orangebar lurkers spawning occasionally. They can cause significant damage to the obelisks and are thus a priority target. 2 Unstoppable Abonimations spawn per round. The Knights are orangebars and often far away. The chieftains in the room have solar shields and are yellowbars. Screebs also spawn inside the rooms.

  7. Loadouts: https://cody-1263.github.io/raidguides/votd#chapter-acquisition

2. Collection (Caretaker):

Summary: “We have to collect 9 symbols to clear an obelisk, while also stunning the boss to give ourselves more time. Then we damage the boss, moving from plate to plate. We repeat this entire process on 3 different floors, and then have a final stand.”

  1. Objective: Defeat the Caretaker.

  2. Sightseeing: Show each floor, the first and 2nd floors are very easily accessible, the third is a bit harder but still entirely possible. Show the obelisk area, where the plates are, the doors, the nodes for the doors, and that each node opens all doors.

  3. Quick Rundown: 2 runners, 2 stunners, 2 add-clearers. Runners take turns entering the room, picking up 2-3 symbols, then heading back outside and shooting those symbol on the obelisk. Their teammate shoots the nodes to keep the door open. Boss stunners stand on either sides of the boss, one shoots his face when it glows yellow, the other shoots his back when it opens up. The add-clearers do as their job says, taking extra to care to prevent any orangebar lurkers from getting close to the obelisk. Once all 9 symbols are collected and entered, DPS starts on the plate nearest the side the boss is on, and last for 10s on each plate. After that, stairs drop down and all the same mechanics are repeated on the next floor.

  4. In Detail:

I. For the runners:

They will have to take turns going into the room, collecting 2-3 symbols each. While inside, there are yellowbar wizards which are practically unkillable which will try to kill you, along with the debuff “Pervading Darkness” which kills you at x10. The runner inside will have to remember which symbols they called out, since they and their teammate will shoot those symbols on the obelisk to clear them. The runners will have to shoot the nodes for each other to keep the door(s) open.

II. For the boss stunners:

The player facing the caretaker will eventually get a buff called “Caretaker’s Gaze”, which lets them shoot the Caretaker in the face for the first part of the stun. Their teammate (or any other player) will need to have line of sight on the coffin on the Caretaker’s back, which will open after his face has been shot, revealing a lumpy knot inside, which will need to be shot to complete the stun. Once stunned, the Caretaker will essentially stand still for a few seconds, while a small amount of darkness darts will be released from his coffin. These can be shot so as to not cause any trouble for others. This stunning process can be repeated over and over until all 9 symbols have been cleared.

III: For the add clearers:

They will mainly stick to the sides of the room, elimating the add spawns as quickly as possible, while also keeping an eye out and killing any orangebar lurkers since they can once again damage the obelisk. They can also help shoot the darkness darts if there are no adds around.

Once the runners have cleared the obelisk, everyone will group up near the plate on the side the boss is on. The boss will be damageable as soon as the plate glows yellow, at which point players have 10s to damage the boss from the moment the first player steps on the plate. After 7s, “The current well begins to fade..” appears in the text chat, and after a further 3s, the boss will be immune on that plate, meaning players need to move to the next one. After damage has been done on all 3 plates, the Caretaker disappears, stairs drop down and players must do the same mechanics on the next floor. Final stand simply consist of 3 plates where it’s “do or die”.

  1. Difficulties/Wipe Mechanics: Dying to stacks of Pervading Darkness as a runner. Getting locked inside. Falling to your death inside. Getting killed by the wizards inside. Not shooting the correct symbols on the obelisk. Failing to stun the boss, specifically the first part of the stun. Letting lurkers damage the obelisk too much. Letting the Caretaker reach the obelisk before it is cleared will wipe the team.

  2. Combat: Low add density, with mainly medium length engagements. Primarily taken psions, orangebar taken vandals and orangebar lurkers. The lurkers are mechanically relevant, so they are a priority target. darkness darts are generally harmless but can do a lot of damage and give a player stacks of pervading darkness if several hone in on one person. wizards in the rooms are practically unkillable but hurt a fair bit. shadow thrall inside the rooms.

  3. Loadouts: https://cody-1263.github.io/raidguides/votd#chapter-collection

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3. Exhibition (Relics)

Summary: “We need to fight our way through 4 rooms, finding matching glyphs in order to unlock doors, while doing a few mechanics along the way.”

  1. Objective: Fight through the 4 rooms to reach the end.

  2. Sightseeing: The only things that can be shown are the door and its glyph nodes, along with the laser relic.

  3. Quick Rundown: Set an order for who takes which relic when before starting. In each room, the focus is to clear all adds as fast as possible. In each room, two glyphkeepers, one taken and one scorn, will spawn twice in separate waves, these are mechanically relevant. We need to gather the symbols from each wave, find the common one from each, and enter those two to proceed. We will also need to cleanse ourselves from stacks of Pervading Darkness, destroy taken anchors to stop adds from being immune, and kill special taken knights to give ourselves more time.

  4. In Detail: A glyphkeeper always leaves behind a set of 3 glyphs. These symbols need to be matched within the wave, i.e. the 3 glyphs from the first scorn and the 3 glyphs from the first taken glyphkeeper need to be compared in order to find the common symbol, which is then ideally written down. These 2 glyphs will then be shot on the doorframe in order to proceed further, as such, the obtaining of the glyphs is the objective in each room. The relics are present in order to deal with further mechanics:

I. The Laser Relic:

Also known as the nut, it’s introduced in the starter room, and its sole purpose is to kill the “Disciple’s Hourglass”, which is a shielded taken knight which grants you +45s of time after killing it. This relic can also be used for a bit of add clear during downtime since one can shoot with it.

II. The Shield Relic:

This second relic is introduced in the second room, is called the shield and serves the exact same purpose as the relic in Atheon in VOG does. Throughout the encounter, you will build up stacks of Pervading Darkness, whereupon reaching 10 will kill you. The shield bearer can use their block button to cleanse players of this effect if they are within the range of the block bubble. This relic shouldn’t be used for any real add clear since it is melee only. It’s also important that the shield bearer makes both their location and intent to cleanse known to prevent any deaths from stacks hitting x10 or players shooting rockets again the bubble.

III. The Taken Relic:

The third and final relic is introduced in the third room, and it is the taken relic. Its job is to destroy/cleanse taken “anchors” on the ground which cause adds to be immune. This relic functions very similarly to the Taken Essence from Morgeth in that sense. A player with this relic will walk up to the “anchor”, stand next to it and press grenade to cleanse it. This relic can also be used for a bit of add clear during downtime since one can shoot with it.

The flow of each room goes a little like so: Players will pick up their relics, and the entire fireteam will spread into the room to clear adds and kill the two glyphkeepers for each wave, after which two things will happen: Each will leave behind a set of 3 glyphs, with any players holding a relic being able to see the ones from the Taken and any players not holding a relic being able to see the ones from the Scorn glyphkeepers. Furthermore, a Disciple’s Hourglass will spawn at a pre-determined point in the room, allowing the team to extend their timer. Simply carry on moving forwards clearing adds as you do, and once all glyphkeepers and the 2nd Disciple’s Hourglass are dead, send one relic-bearer and one regular player back on their respective side to check the glyphs left behind.

  1. Difficulties/Wipe Mechanics: Dying to stacks of Pervading Darkness. Accidentally dropping a relic, which causes mechanics to be executed in a delayed manner, causing more deaths. Allowing the overarching Terminal Resonance timer to expire wipes the team. Reading the wrong sets of glyphs resulting in timeloss and potential wipe due to the timer. Falling into the abyss in the later rooms.

  2. Combat: High add-density, mainly close and medium range engagements. Overload Champions are present. Most enemies are simple redbars, the mechanically relevant glyphkeepers are yellowbars.

  3. Loadouts: https://cody-1263.github.io/raidguides/votd#chapter-exhibition

4. Dominion (Rhulk)

Summary: “We need to defeat glyphkeepers to find a particular glyph, then collect, charge and dunk 6 buffs on pillars with the corresponding glyph. We then move to the boss arena, where we collect, charge and dunk 4 buffs on their respective pillars to unlock damage phase on the boss.”

  1. Objective: Defeat Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness.

  2. Sightseeing: it is possible to show all 6 pillars, along with the central plate, and roughly outline the locations of the crystal.

  3. Quick Rundown: Set an order and assign the 2 dunkers, the giver and the helper. The main mechanic to understand is that of splitting the buff, where the giver shoots the main crystal to obtain the uncharged buff, then stands on the plate to spawn the 2 side crystals, which are shot by dunker 1 and helper to obtain an uncharged buff while giver loses theirs, then helper steps on the plate to spawn 2 more crystals which are shot by dunker 2 and giver to obtain the uncharged buff while helper loses theirs. Glyphkeepers are killed and the matching glyph is identified, with a non-buffed player calling out the 2 pillars with the corresponding glyphs, which is where the dunkers will deposit after having charged their buffs in the boss’ beam attack. Immediately after dunking, the splitting process begins again, so dunker 1 will have to look up shoot their crystal almost right away after dunking. This is repeated till 6 buffs are dunked. In the top arena, simply shoot his glaive to get the buff and then charge the buff, other players call out the symbol they see, and the player with the buff dunks on the corresponding pillar. Do this 4 times to reveal his 4 crit spots, which after they’ve been shot unlock the damage phase.

  4. In Detail: As explained above, the splitting the buff mechanic is the main difficulty in this encounter. Players with no buff will be able to see the glyphs left behind by the scorn, and players with a buff (Leeching Force or Eminating Force) will be able to see those left behind by the taken glyphkeeper. These sets of glyphs don’t spawn where the glyphkeepers are killed, instead they spawn in the same spot on a pillar on either side of the arena. Once the matching glyph has been communicated, any player without a buff will be able to see the glyphs on the 6 pillars, and will have to find 2 pillars that have the symbol that was previously communicated. The 2 dunkers will have obtained their Leeching Force buff from the splitting mechanic, and will have to charge it to an Eminating Force buff by standing in the boss’ beam attack, only then will they be able to dunk at the 2 pillars that were called out. Charging their buff also resets its timer back to 45s. While there are multiple ways to time things and coordinate, we generally coordinate it so that the dunks are nearly simultaneous, since it is relatively easy and also completes the weekly challenge. There is also a “mercy” built into the encounter, so if there is a mishap, it won’t instantly result in a wipe. In the top arena, Rhulk will dash around, and after each dash he will leave his glaive behind. Shooting it gives the player the Leeching Force buff, and the other players will see 1 of 4 possible glyphs in that area, corresponding to 1 of the 4 pillars in the corners of the arena. The buffed player will charge their buff to Eminating Force, and then dunk at the pillar with the corresponding glyph. After dunking, Rhulk is briefly staggered, and a glowing yellow crit spot will appear which should be shot and destroyed. This process is repeated till all 4 have been shot, after which players will be able to damage Rhulk freely. Once Rhulk turns immune again, players should quickly head back down the stairs as far away as possible, since Rhulk will summon the same pushback shield that was present at the beginning. The encounter now also starts from the top again.

  5. Difficulties/Wipe Mechanics: The splitting mechanic requires concrentation from the 4 players involved, a lack of focus can cause missed splits, delayed timings, which causes issues. Mainly this is due to the fact that both Leeching and Eminating only have 45s timers, which when expired cause the player to die, and the buff to essentially disappear, causing the encounter to partially reset. Dunking on the wrong pillar also kills the player in question, which again causes a buff to essentially disappear, which results in the same type of partial reset. If the mercy is used and players fail again, it will wipe the team. Failing to pass the damage check in final stand also causes a wipe.

  6. Combat: Mainly close range engagements, mainly with redbar taken enemies. The glyphkeepers are yellowbars, and occasionally a yellowbar scorn abomination spawns in the middle of the main arena. Shadow thrall spawn in the boss arena, which allow for elemental well creations and such.

  7. Loadouts: https://cody-1263.github.io/raidguides/votd#chapter-dominion

5. Bonus Chests:

Disciple’s Bog Bonus Chest:

This chest is located in the Payload Encounter and is activated by shooting 3 crystals. The first crystal is located at the second stop, head left from the payload, past the fallen tree, tucked in a small alcove. The second crystal is located at the third stop, to the right of where the adds spawn, on the far side of the pyramid that has sunk into the ground. The third and final crystal is located between stops 4 and 5, underneath the walkway connecting the two pyramids. Drop down from the payload once you’ve gotten over the walkway, there will be an entrance and at the end of the hallway is the 3rd crystal. The chest itself is at the 5th stop, in the right monolithic building.

Jumping Puzzle Bonus Chest:

Once you’ve reached the 2nd crystal location, head right, sticking to the right-side wall till you reach a section where you need to jump from pillar to pillar. Do as such, and then on the left side, there’ll be a hole in the wall containing the chest. This room is directly above the 3rd crystal room, meaning it is possible to backtrack from there.

Red-Border Chest:

After completing the Payload Encounter and entering the pyramid, before dropping down, there will be a totem displaying 3 symbols. These correspond to specific locations containing a crystal, which when shot will reveal a room, in which there’s a plate on the wall that contains a specific glyph. The rooms are as follows:

  • Pyramid: After dropping down, turn around. The room and crystal are in the opposite direction of where you would normally go.
  • Give: After the symbol room, just before you head to Obelisk encounter. Crystal is above the doorway.
  • Darkness: Inside of the first encounter, on the left side. The crystal will be right by the “Sphinx” statue, with the room just to the left of it.
  • Traveller: Between Obelisks and Caretaker, just before hooking a right to head into the hallway to the Caretaker encounter. Run past the statues, jump and over the doorway, the crystal will be behind a pillar, with the aforementioned doorway leading into the room.
  • Worship: In Caretaker, in the final stand area. The crystal will be to the left, closer to the stairs, with the room on the right, also closer to the stairs.
  • Light: After reaching the first crystal room/area in the jumping area, the crystal will be to the left, over a statue. The room will also be on the left, just a bit further forward.
  • Stop: After reaching the spinny pillar room in the jumping puzzle, there will be a doorway, with the crystal right next to it.
  • Guardian: After completing 3rd encounter, head up the left stairs, and head to the left edge. The crystal will be a bit further down the road. To get to the room, simply go back the way you came and it’ll be there as you go back down the left stairs.
  • Kill: Just before reaching Rhulk, as you are scaling the platforms upwards, the crystal will be on the wall in the opposite direction of where the final encounter takes place. The room itself is on the top floor on the left.

After successfully activating the 3 symbols, you’ll get a message saying “The Disciple recognizes your offering…”, allowing you to get a bonus reward in the form of a deepsight weapon after defeating Rhulk.