Destiny 2's The Witch Queen is arguably one of the best expansions the franchise has ever seen. This is because of the tone set by the narrative, the compelling villain that is Savathun, the moral ambiguity confronting players, and its setting of Savathun's Throne World where players fight mirror Guardians in the form of the Lucent Hive. A lot of the story for The Witch Queen also revolves around the Traveler, the Darkness, and The Witness - a mysterious being with the power to move worlds.
The Witness seems to be the major threat that Bungie is building up to for Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion next year, and it makes sense because of what this alien entity says during the cutscene at the end of the campaign. The Witness is an extremely powerful being that has disciples, such as the final boss of the new Vow of the Disciple Raid - which had a World First race culminating with the victory of Clan Elysium. Vow of the Disciple is a groundbreaking Raid on multiple levels, but it does take elements from previous pieces of content, such as relaying information to other players in the form of callouts for various symbols.
Why Vow of the Disciple's Symbols are Important
There are currently twenty-seven symbols in Destiny 2's Vow of the Disciple Raid, and the first major encounter it features is one where players have to find the correct symbols scattered throughout an area of the Pyramid Ship called Acquisition. They are found in various places, and players need to first defeat Taken Knights called Disciple's Compass to learn the room where they need to find containing Scorn Chieftains called Glyphkeepers. This eventually leads to players finding three specific symbols to offer at the obelisk.
The encounter can be extremely challenging to learn, and it can be harder still when playing with different teams that use their own callout methods. This is what happened during the World First race, and for most of the contest mode, because the official names for all the symbols had not been discovered yet. However, Destiny 2 fans were quick to discover that every symbol has its own in-game name, and seen in the room prior to the obelisk encounter within the Raid or during the Preservation weekly mission.
Preservation is a particularly great spot to check all the Raid symbols because it's a slower-paced version of Vow of the Disciple that can be completed completely solo, regardless of Destiny 2 players' builds, and it has a maximum fireteam size of three players instead of six. Aiming down sights with any gun will reveal the official names just beneath the radar.
Because information is such a key part of Raids, and Vow of the Disciple specifically, having a visual chart with all the various symbols and their names can be invaluable, as players can easily check it on-the-fly during an encounter. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the same symbols from the encounter in Acquisition are needed to complete the encounter with The Caretaker, which comes immediately after the obelisk and also takes a few elements from it. While Destiny 2 players don't necessarily need to use callouts during The Caretaker fight, it's still helpful to visualize all the symbols and their names before delving into the room with the Pervading Darkness debuff.
How Callouts and Symbols Work in Destiny 2's Vow of the Disciple Raid
Among the most important symbols that players will see during the encounter in Acquisition, there are those for Light and Darkness, serving the purpose of allowing players to identify which Glyphkeeper they should defeat. Both will reveal a different symbol on death, but only one is needed. Similarly, there are a few buildings within Acquisition where players need to enter, and all of them are marked by their own symbol. Thus, having a streamlined chart to use can be vital in finishing the encounter in a timely manner.
The way the obelisk encounter works is based on which symbols appear on the obelisk itself, with the first (top) providing information regarding the area of the room where the Disciple's Compass spawns, such as Traveler or Pyramid. The second symbol on the obelisk (middle) tells players which room they need to go to find the symbol needed for the offering to the obelisk, which the obelisk will only accept if the correct sequence is chosen. Lastly, the third symbol (bottom) tells players which Glyphkeeper they should eliminate to find the correct symbol. In this case, the third symbol will always be either Light or Darkness.
Overall, it was a good move on Bungie's part to have official symbol names for Vow of the Disciple, which does make the first major encounter more feasible. This standardized chart is also a good way to provide all Destiny 2 players with the same names for every symbol, making it easier to run the Raid in LFG groups or in fireteams that are not using voice chat.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
