The penultimate Raid Challenge for the Vault of Glass Raid is now in rotation in Destiny 2 and takes place in the Gatekeeper encounter. Players need to work together to destroy the Vex Wyverns and Praetorians at the same time as they spawn during this encounter for the “Strangers in Time” challenge.
Destiny 2 players can now put their Vault of Glass raiding skills to the test in the new Master difficulty mode. Playing this version of the Raid allows players to get improved Timelost weapon variants and awards players with certain Triumphs for the Fatebreaker Seal and title.
Gatekeepers Encounter In Brief:
For this two-phase encounter, four Destiny 2 players will serve as the Relic runners, who will pass around the Relic shield to the other runners and will use it to destroy Praetorians and other Vex that try to sacrifice themselves at a pair of confluxes. Meanwhile, the other two players need to defend a plate each that holds open two portals that lead to the Venus and Mars areas where the two confluxes are.
Once the first Gatekeeper Hydra is dead, one player will pick up the Relic that it drops. At the same time, the two portal players will hold open the portals and allow one Relic runner to go through each portal to begin defending the confluxes, leaving one other Relic runner still in the starting room. Eventually, a Praetorian Minotaur will spawn at either Venus (right portal) or Mars (left portal), and a Wyvern will spawn at the other location. The Praetorians’ shields can only be destroyed with the Relic, however. The current Relic holder will then head through the correct portal, destroy the Praetorian, and pass the Relic to the player already there.
The new Destiny 2 Relic holder then goes through the exit portal to get back inside the main room so that they can pass the Relic to the spare Relic holder already in there. This player then heads through the other portal to get the next Praetorian. This Relic relay continues until six Praetorians have been defeated.
Once players use a portal, they will be hit with a timed debuff that prevents them from using another. Gatekeeper Hydras that instantly close the portals will also occasionally spawn in the central floating block in the starting room. The three players that are in the starting room at any time need to always keep an eye out for the Gatekeepers spawning and must destroy them quickly.
At this point, the second phase will begin, and all players will need to get to the central area in the main room where Atheon stands to defend a conflux from waves of Vex, including three Praetorians, followed by three Wyverns. Once they are all dead, the Gatekeepers encounter is over.
How To Complete the “Strangers in Time” Challenge:
This Raid challenge is definitely one of the harder to complete and requires very good communication between teammates. Certain weapons and Subclasses are a lot more favorable than others, so Destiny 2 players need to make sure they can make a good loadout for this challenge.
Once Destiny 2 players have got to the point where the first Relic holder has gone through a portal and is heading to defeat that location’s Praetorian, the Relic holder and the player defending the other conflux need to coordinate so that they can destroy the Praetorian and Wyvern at roughly the same time – the challenge has a short window lasting a couple of seconds after one is defeated before the challenge is failed.
If the players do not defeat the Wyvern and Praetorian within this window, a challenge failure message will appear in the text feed, and the team will need to wipe and start over. To minimize the chances of failing the challenge, the player that needs to destroy the Wyvern should weaken it a bit as soon as it appears, so that it is ready to be defeated quickly.
This challenge also only applies to the first phase of the Gatekeepers encounter. If Destiny 2 players reach the second part without seeing the challenge failure message, they have done it and will get the corresponding Triumph and extra loot, provided they do not fail in the second phase.
Loadouts:
Stasis Subclasses, especially the Shadebinder Warlock and Revenant Hunter, are incredibly useful for their slowing and freezing abilities for this challenge, but also this encounter in general. Stasis abilities can freeze the Praetorians and Wyverns to stop them from advancing on the confluxes, buying the team a lot of time when relaying the Relic. The Shadebinder’s Bleak Watcher Aspect is one of the best abilities as the turret will keep almost every enemy frozen in place for a long time.
For weapons, the Relic runners will need solid primaries and special weapons that can take out lots of enemies relatively quickly. Auto Rifles and SMGs, especially the IKELOS SMG with Warmind Cell mods, pair well with special ammo Grenade Launchers for getting rid of the waves of regular Vex that move towards the confluxes. For the defeating the Wyverns and Gatekeepers, Xenophage is a great choice due to its high damage, but also because a few shots will chip off about half of a Wyvern’s health, leaving it low enough that it can be quickly finished off with more shots.
The two portal players should use any Subclasses that offer support abilities, high burst damage Supers, or crowd control abilities. Supers such as Well of Radiance, Chaos Reach, Nova Bomb, Thundercrash, Golden Gun, and Silence and Squall will all be especially useful for staying alive, quickly defeating the Champions, or slowing down the enemies. As for weapons, any that are good for defeating Champions while they are stunned will do fine, although an Overload Mod and an appropriate weapon are essential.
Strategy:
Before beginning the challenge, the Raid team needs to decide on roles. Two players will have the sole job of defending their plate from Vex Goblins and Overload Minotaurs. The other four Destiny 2 players will therefore be the Relic runners and must decide who is grabbing the Relic first, and who will defend the Mars and Venus confluxes first, leaving one player in the starting room.
The Relic runners also need to decide where they will drop the Relic whenever they are in the starting room so that it can be picked up by the next player. The Relic holder can drop the Relic immediately after they emerge into the starting room, or can carry it to the other portal for the other player to grab it and immediately head through their portal.
When the first Wyvern and Praetorian spawn, the Wyvern player needs to soften up their Wyvern to about half health and should keep it frozen in place if possible. Meanwhile, the Relic holder should be arriving in the correct location, to seek out the Praetorian that should also be frozen. When they are ready to destroy it, they should call out a short countdown to allow the Wyvern player to get ready, and then destroy the Praetorian and Wyvern quickly.
At his point, all players need to look for the challenge failed message in the feed and can carry on if it does not appear. Destiny 2 players need to repeat this for the other five sets of Wyverns and Praetorians, ensuring that they are always slowed down with Stasis abilities to buy as much time as possible. Once the team reaches the second phase, they can continue the encounter normally until it ends.
An example run might go like this: Players 1 and 2 are the plate defenders and will be using their weapons and abilities to defeat Vex, Overload Champions, and Gatekeepers. Player 3 is the first Relic holder, Player 4 is the first Venus defender, Player 5 is the first Mars defender, and Player 6 is the spare Relic runner who stays in the starting room for now.
Player 3 gets the encounter going by defeating the Gatekeeper and grabbing the Relic, while Players 4 and 5 head through their chosen portals to begin defending the confluxes. Eventually the Praetorian spawns in Mars where Player 5 is, meaning Player 1 needs to take the Relic through the left portal to get to Mars. At the same time, Player 4 will be using Xenophage to weaken the Wyvern in Venus.
Player 1 will then get to the Praetorian in Mars and might say: “Killing the Praetorian in three, two, one…” and will then use a couple of melee strikes with the Relic to destroy the Praetorian. As Player 1 reaches the end of their countdown, Player 4 will also destroy their Wyvern and will continue to defend the Venus conflux. Player 1 then needs to immediately drop the Relic and start defending the Mars conflux.
Player 5 will then grab the Relic and take it back through the portal to get to the starting room. They will then carry it to the Venus portal on the right and drop it for Player 6 so that they can take it through to Mars to defeat the incoming Praetorian while Player 1 defeats the Wyvern in Mars, and so on until this phase of the encounter ends.
It might take a few tries for Destiny 2 players to get the communication and timing aspects of this challenge right, but they will get an extra loot chest once everything goes well. From here, players face the final challenge of the Vault of Glass, Atheon, Time’s Conflux. Destiny 2 players also have a chance of getting the Vex Mythoclast Exotic Fusion Rifle for defeating it.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light and Season of the Splicer are available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.