The contest mode for Destiny 2's Raid Vow of the Disciple is over. The World First race culminated with the victory of Clan Elysium, and a close second place for Datto's team, Clan Math, but the contest was held in place longer than intended due to all the glitches that came up during the Raid's launch.
Because Vow of the Disciple is now available in normal mode, and Destiny 2's community eventually figured out all the mechanics of each fight, it's useful to have a guide on how to approach each encounter. This guide explains how to defeat The Caretaker and avoid wipes.
How to Complete The Caretaker Encounter - Caretaker's Gaze and Stun Mechanic
There are a few different jobs Destiny 2 players have to undertake when trying to complete The Caretaker encounter, and all of them are equally important. The one role that prevents the whole team from wiping, if done correctly, is taking care of The Caretaker by stunning them and preventing them to reach the obelisk before all symbols have been collected and offered.
In order to stun The Caretaker, one player should go near the boss to make them use their melee attack, a powerful slam that will almost kill most Guardians. For the person dedicated to this job, it might be a good idea to have two Melee Damage Resistance mods in order to reduce the amount of damage The Caretaker's slam deals. It can also help to run to The Caretaker and then run back, sliding, in order to further reduce the damage taken.
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Once the boss does the melee slam animation, Destiny 2 players can shoot them in the face and in the back, which will be glowing until they can no longer be shot. At that point, The Caretaker will be stunned for a few seconds, which is a perfect time to focus on adds and the missile Worms shot by the boss for all players outside the symbol room.
It's worth noting that when the Raid boss uses their slam, the player taunting the boss will receive a debuff called Caretaker's Gaze, which means that The Caretaker will attack the player until they are stunned. This also includes shooting missile Worms at the player, which deal substantial damage and also apply each one stack of the Pervading Darkness debuff.
It's not mandatory to have just one person do this, but it's preferred because the encounter is filled with adds, and other players will have to take care of the symbols at the obelisk. If The Caretaker reaches the obelisk before all the symbols have been offered, they will wipe the entire team and the encounter will start from scratch, which is why stunning the boss as often as possible is so important.
How to Complete The Caretaker Encounter - Symbol Room and Offerings to the Obelisk
Another big part of The Caretaker encounter is the symbol room and making offerings to the obelisk outside. Destiny 2's new Vow of the Disciple symbols and callouts are the main focus of the first major encounter in the Raid, which takes place in Acquisition, before gaining access to The Caretaker encounter.
The symbols are all located within a room with the obelisk outside, and players have to find three symbols, remember them, and then shoot them on the obelisk when they get out. Because spending time in the room applies Pervading Darkness stacks onto the players, they have to be quick to find symbols to grab and then offer at the obelisk.
It's still possible to find less than three symbols within the room and come back later for more, though, meaning that if a team's strategy is to have a given player find all three symbols (top, middle, and bottom) on a single side of the obelisk, it's still doable in multiple runs. It's also worth noting that there is no limit to how many players can get inside the room, and in fact it can be helpful to have two runners go inside at once to speed up the obelisk phase, especially if The Caretaker is approaching it outside.
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The main reason why it's best to have just one person go inside the room and alternate with another player on the team is that this allows for more control over the adds. Actually, because one of the most pressing issues during The Caretaker encounter is ammo economy due to how many adds are present and to how much DPS Destiny 2 players are required to have when facing the boss, having dedicated add-clearers can be very beneficial.
As such, it can be helpful to have players with mods like Special Finisher to provide ammo to the whole team, and especially so if players are using a Special-heavy strategy with sniper rifles and the Exotic trace rifle Divinity.
Lastly, Vow of the Disciple's The Caretaker encounter has several phases, and players will need to take turns in the symbol room during three of said phases. What's important about this is the layout of the symbol room, which will always feature Taken Hive Wizards inside, but the room itself will become bigger and more dangerous to travel, particularly if afflicted with multiple stacks of the Pervading Darkness debuff.
The second phase of The Caretaker encounter features pitfalls and is bigger overall, whereas, during the third phase, the symbol room is much larger and has multi-level platforms where symbols can be found, and plenty of places where players can fall to their death.
How to Complete The Caretaker Encounter - DPS Phases
There are four DPS phases within The Caretaker encounter, and players are limited in how much damage they can deal to the boss in each phase. The Caretaker's health bar will start glowing when the DPS phase is about to begin, and the glowing bit is a way for Destiny 2 to signal just how much damage can be dealt to the boss before the next phase begins.
The first three DPS phases take place when The Caretaker finally reaches the obelisk and all the offerings have been made and accepted, which is the only way to avoid a wipe. At this point, the boss will take damage if players are correctly standing on one of the glowing platforms designed for the phase, which will all start fading soon, and leave the team with only three platforms to damage The Caretaker.
When the final platform deactivates or when the glowing bit of The Caretaker's health is fully chipped away by players, this signals the end of the DPS phase and the beginning of the next stun and obelisk phase. However, this is not the case for the fourth and final DPS phase, which takes place on a floor where the boss is the only enemy, and no more stuns or obelisk offerings are required. This floor will have once more three plates where players can stand to deal damage, but if the last plate stops functioning, the boss will wipe the team, restarting the encounter.
In terms of Destiny 2 builds and loadouts to use, it's worth always having a Primary weapon in the Kinetic or Energy slot because of ammo economy and the fact that a lot of shooting will be involved between adds, missile Worms, stunning The Caretaker, and shooting symbols at the obelisk.
As for which Exotics are worth using, Divinity is going to be very helpful in increasing the team's damage output. Witherhoard can also be used by one player to deal damage over time to the boss, and for those who like shooting rocket launchers it's good to have one player use Gjallarhorn and the others using Legendary rocket launchers like Hothead or Palmyra-B.
Another good strategy is to use sniper rifles and linear fusion rifles for larger reserves and precision damage, which can help in defeating the boss in a timely manner. If players find themselves out of ammo before the final DPS phase, a good way to deal with The Caretaker is having everyone on the team who is out of Special and/or Heavy ammo use Outbreak Perfected as their Exotic of choice. This helps because the gun's nanites deal more damage the more players use the weapon.
As far as sublcasses and Supers go, it's always helpful to have Warlocks with Well of Radiance and Titans with Banner Shield, with the Titans' Ward of Dawn being detrimental to the fight because it would cover the plate where players stand for DPS. Hunters have one of the best DPS Supers in Destiny 2 with Moebius Quiver now, as they can pair it with Orpheus Rig to shoot an additional volley of three arrows, effectively increasing their damage output by a lot.
Thundercrash Titans are always good to have in any DPS phase, and the same goes for Celestial Nighthawk Hunters. Overall, with Destiny 2's Void 3.0 changes and the new Void debuffs it's not going to be hard to weaken The Caretaker, increasing all the damage they take in each DPS phase.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.