Destiny [PS3,X360,PS4,XO]

[Strange]

I'd like to try the raid on normal. You guys have any tips for how to equip my lvl 26 Warlock? Weapons, strats, how to be a good teammate, etc? Is lvl 26 high enough, or should I grind more?

I've got a Pocket Infinity, and I'm not afraid to use it, LOL!

Also, my Titan is almost to lvl 20, and I've been working on the Defender subclass, mainly because I thought it would be useful for raiding. Although the Titan won't be ready for a while, you guys have any suggestions for that build as well?

How to be a good teammate: Hit LV27 before you try. Gatekeeper is LV27 and Atheon is LV28. You don't want to be the LV26 that can't do anything at Atheon.

Go to LV28 weekly heroic strike with your LV26 character to get an idea of how your LV26 character will fare against Atheon.

 

[orangpelupa]

Grind to 27 if needed.
Make sure become sunsinger to revive yourself when needed. In normal it is very helpful to revive yourself and in hard, it's awesome to be a to revive yourself.

Equip 2nd gear with praetorian sniper so you can kill oracles quickly.

Don't be ashamed to use the environment/terrain /level design to your advantage when facing gorgon, templar, and atheon.

Gorgon: use Hill to advantage view, pillars to hide and seek

Templar: use the 1st ledge spawn area as vantage point for snipers and let him/her screams where the Oracle is. Use the area near bath water to group together and keep getting cleansed. There's a small area to your right that is outside of enemy's pre-determined route. Don't forget to use the spirit bloom chest area to hide from enemy after killing all oracles (then kill Vox one by one) if two or more team-mate dies.

Atheon: seriously, make yourself familiar with the environment at least to prevent you from killing yourself by slipping into the void. And use the radar to quickly see where your friends are teleported.
Left arrow = left gate, right arrow = right gate.

 

[djskribbles]

Out of all the people I've played Destiny with, orangpelupa is the master of finding good spots.

BTW, thanks Nisaaru for that little VoG glitch. Not that I need ascendant material, but why not.

 

[NRP]

Ok guys, I'll grind a bit more before I jump in. I definitely don't want to be *that* teammate. Besides, it will give me time to acquire some good weapons and level them a bit.

I took the opportunity to scout the area thanks to Nisaaru's glitch. Holy shit, how the hell are you supposed to fire and maneuver on that narrow ass treacherous terrain?!?

 

[orangpelupa]

^^ also a tips, in case you did not know.

when you grind bounties or get "mail" in postmaster, you get experience for your weapon when you report the bounty or receive the mail.
so make sure you equip the weapon you want to level up before report the bounty or receive the mail.

Destiny have a auto-hide and pop-out feature. So if you find someting that a waist high.. most of the time it can be used to auto-hide and pop-out.
Simply crouch to that object, Press R2 to Aim, release R2 to hide, then Press R2 again to pop your head out. (this feature is finicky, you need to get accustomed how to "Stick" your position to trigger this feature).

Enemies that suicide to you (for example supplicant in Vault of Glass) have "countdown animation" before explode in your face. So when you see this "countdown animation", don't run. Simply jump as high as you can and you will be completely safe. no damage. (i think they also have countdown sound before explode but its hard to discern with loud Destiny music mid-battle).

@djskribbles
thanks, but lol... thats simply because i can't stand the repetition so i try my best to keep alive by finding cheese spots

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Out of all the people I've played Destiny with, orangpelupa is the master of finding good spots.

BTW, thanks Nisaaru for that little VoG glitch. Not that I need ascendant material, but why not.

Yeah Lupa is the shizzz ! You know you have to follow him if he is the game , cos he will know something no one other knows !

 

[Rangers]

Templar: use the 1st ledge spawn area as vantage point for snipers and let him/her screams where the Oracle is.

For the oracles part you can position all snipers up top and snipe all the oracles, all are viewable. Easy as pie.

And I assume everybody knows for the legions summoning part you can just jump into that little cave area. Though, at least on normal imo it's better/more fun to just kill them.

 

[NRP]

So as far as weapons go, it seems like you need a good maxed out sniper, and a good elemental fusion rifle (is void best, or does it change depending on the mission?). What else? Machine guns or rocket launchers (or both)? Are auto rifles useful? What about scout rifles? I assume shotguns are worthless. Hand cannons?

I'm trying to get an idea about what to acquire and level up.

 

[Rangers]

So as far as weapons go, it seems like you need a good maxed out sniper, and a good elemental fusion rifle (is void best, or does it change depending on the mission?). What else? Machine guns or rocket launchers (or both)? Are auto rifles useful? What about scout rifles? I assume shotguns are worthless. Hand cannons?

I'm trying to get an idea about what to acquire and level up.

My answers, though I'm hardly a "Strange" in expertise...

The elemental part mainly matters for two things, the weekly heroics and nightfall (I think always the latter) have some kind of damage burn, where weapons of that damage do 3X damage. It's random, so to be really suited for those you need good weapons of every element, because this week it may be arc burn, next week solar, etc. Personally I'm just trying to get together a good sniper of each type, for a good base, and since I'm a very sniper-heavy player. So for example my Ice Breaker was already solar, I bought P&T for arc, and I'm still looking for a void sniper. But yes ideally you want good weapons of every elemental, so that you're prepared for whatever burn is on the weekly/nightfall that week.

And then there's the Raid...one of the main concerns there, in several segments, is pratorians or minatours with void shields, so in general, void damage weapons are very positive for the raid. One of the better primaries there is Atheons Epilogue, because it's a primary with void damage. I think you can only get AE from the raid itself though, so it's kind of a catch 22. I have it twice now though and got it I think on my first ever raid.

So you want good weapons of every elemental, and void weapons are even more valuable because they are also good in the raid.

I relied heavily on machine guns rather than rocket launchers throughout the game. I am not sure which is "better". I am trying to explore and understand which situations RL's are best for, because I feel like I could improve my game by incorporating them.

As for what main weapon type is best again I'm not sure. I think pre-nerf it was auto rifles. Post nerf, I have a feeling it might be hand cannons, probably either them or scout rifles. Vision of Confluence which is a scout, seems like probably the best primary in the game from what I can gather. I happen to think they nerfed AR's a bit too far. A lot of top level players on YT seem to use hand cannons. Pulse rifles definitely seem the odd man out.

Having said all that, I rock auto rifles because that's the way I like to play, I like to run in and spray bullets. It's just more fun for me, than peering down the site trying to do precision damage with a hand cannon.

I think that's the way the weapons should work ideally, all categories should be effective, so it comes down to your play style, not one class being best. I do feel like post nerf AR's may be a little underpowered, but they're still effective. But I use them anyway because I like the way they play/feel/etc.

I haven't even experimented much with shotguns, they seem pointless to me in PVE. I believe they're very good in PVP. I completely ignore them basically, I tried one early on and it just seemed like garbage.

I'm also not experienced with Fusion rifles, but like RL's, I feel like I'm missing a capable tool by not using them, so I'm trying to use them more. I think I get the point, it's almost like making your special slot a 2nd heavy slot in terms of dealing damage.

 

[orangpelupa]

For the oracles part you can position all snipers up top and snipe all the oracles, all are viewable. Easy as pie.

And I assume everybody knows for the legions summoning part you can just jump into that little cave area. Though, at least on normal imo it's better/more fun to just kill them.

yups thats the trick to cheese templar* and oracle. on normal is more fun to play normally with strategy but for hard.. man... much better to take the cheese

*best cheese for me is hiding on the area near cleanse-pool while a friend bringing Relic. Basically we just ignore the oracle and keep attacking Templar until it slipped to the hill.

advantage:
fast, sure to success, will spawn the hidden chest located on broken Vex gate.

@NRP
handcanon is awesome in VoG as long as you already accustomed with the auto-aim to get sure-fire critical every shot. Its the most effective weapon to clear up minions rapidly. The 2nd best is Scout Rifle because it did not give hard punishmen if you missing shots (it have lots of ammo).

but for crowd control, AR or pulse rifle is great. Basicaly you shoot the minions rapidly, lower their health then finish them all with grenade.

about element,
as explained by Rangers, Void element is a good fit for VoG due to enemy shield are in void.

For 1st timer, i recommend heavy machine gun. But try to accustom yourself with RPG. This is because i often see new VoG players killed themselves by shooting RPG. On the other hand, if you can handle RPG well, its awesome to quickly kill a group of enemies and take down praetorian/terminator/minotaur*.

*they will try to take over your access-key to Vex gate. So you need to kill it ASAP or at least distract it by melee-ing it.

 

[Xalion]

So as far as weapons go, it seems like you need a good maxed out sniper, and a good elemental fusion rifle (is void best, or does it change depending on the mission?). What else? Machine guns or rocket launchers (or both)? Are auto rifles useful? What about scout rifles? I assume shotguns are worthless. Hand cannons?

I'm trying to get an idea about what to acquire and level up.

Rangers had some good advice. Just wanted to add my own $0.02.

The first set of weapons you level depends almost entirely on your play style - and a bit on your luck.

For play style, do you take the minimum number of shots possible (everything is a headshot) or do you spray bullets?

If you spray bullets:
Primary - use an Auto Rifle. This will give you maximum ammo capacity and a fairly decent hit rate. Pulse rifles are supposed to be slightly more accurate Auto Rifles, but currently they are very under powered.

Secondary - I would choose a sniper. You will do most of your damage with your primary, so you won't be pulling this out much - but when you do you want it to hit hard. Note that if you find yourself needing heavy hits up close you may want to swap this with a fusion rifle. But an auto rifle can drop most targets up close to mid range really well. So this gives you a long range option.

If you play for accuracy:
Primary - once you can use one, it is really hard to beat a good hand gun. They hit hard, and crits can one shot most mobs in the game. There are also good ones that you don't need to rely on drops for. The Devil You Know can be purchased for Vanguard Marks. I have Hawkmoon, The Last Word, and Thorn - and I still use my The Devil You Know most of the time when I am running with a handgun.

That being said, the auto-aim on a hand gun really gets some people. Scout Rifles are a good alternative. Since the buff, they are almost as effective as a handgun - and more effective at mid to long range.

Seconary - I would run a fusion rifle. These have relatively large clips, can kill most things in one shot, and carry a good amount of ammo. Sniper is not ideal, because you can use your primary almost like you would use a sniper. Shotguns are up close weapons and practically worthless in PVE.

For your heavy weapon - start with a machine gun. My reasoning is quite simple - for the strats most people use for VoG and Nightfalls, rocket launchers are extremely difficult to use. For instance, the most common VoG Atheon strat is to have everyone hide inside the relic bubble and shoot Atheon. You will kill yourself if you try this with a rocket launcher. I've seen more people die to their own rockets trying to imitate the "Take Atheon down in 17 seconds with 6 Gjallahorns" video than to Atheon himself. Machine guns are also great for dropping shields and then switching to something else. So you tend to get more bang for your buck with heavy ammo packs.

That is general advice though. A lot of this depends on what you have access too. For example, Thunderlord is overpowered as a machine gun - so I like using my exotic slot on it if I can. Other machine guns (For instance The Swarm) are nice but seem to run out of ammo too quickly for my liking. If you happen to have a Gjallahorn, that is heads and shoulders better than any other heavy (except Thunderlord ). If you happen to get one of the better exotic primaries (The Last Work, Hawkmoon, or even Suros) then you may consider running with it instead. I know many people who won't unequip Ice Breaker because of ammo regen.

I think most people build weapon sets around their exotic. The important thing is to balance your set. Have at least one weapon that is good at mid-long range. Have one that is good at close range. The other pick to balance the strengths of your other two.

For the record, I typically run 3 sets of weapons:

General Purpose - handgun (The Devil You Know), fusion rifle (Light/Beware), machine gun (Thunderlord)

Good balanced set. Gives me solar and arc damage - and I can always swap in Atheon's Epilogue if I need void. I use this for pretty much every encounter except Atheon in VoG. (for Atheon, I use Atheon's Epilogue, Ice Breaker, and Thunderlord - but that is a special case based on what I end up doing the most). This was the set I leveled up with. I did my first raids with it and it worked great. Now that I have more weapons, I specialize more, but this is a great set.​

Precision Set - Scout Rifle (A.1F19X-Ryl), Sniper (Ice Breaker or Patience and Time), Machine Gun (Thunderlord).

Really good at long distances. Thunderlord is insurance in case things get close. You could call this my "solo the nightfall" set. It takes forever, but I never need to get close enough to anything to let it shoot me.​

Crowd Control - auto rifle (Aetheon's epilogue / Suros Regime), fusion rifle (Light/Beware or Pocket Infinity), Rocket Launcher (Admonisher III)

This set sprays bullets. I honestly don't get many precision kills with this set - but I can eat through an angry pack of hive or fallen in seconds. Really ammo intensive though. I always make sure I have a half dozen of each type of ammo pack if I'm running this setup.​

For elemental damage, Rangers is correct. Doesn't matter in most places. I would recommend never leaving home without solar - because hive wizards are the worst mob in the game. But other than that, having a variety of types available is good - but don't stress it if you end up with all solar for your first set.

 

[djskribbles]

rocket launchers may be dangerous to use, but if you can get used to them, they are far more effective and useful IMO. Lots of damage to a large area in a short amount of time, and they have more range. For a first set of weapons, I would go with a rocket launcher and try to get used to it quick, but that's just my opinion.

For secondary, I prefer fusion rifles most of the time. But snipers are great for bosses and soloing nightfalls/strikes (or for doing difficult strikes in general).

My primary is the weapon I switch the most, probably because it gets, by far, the most use. I use my hand cannon (The Devil You Know) or scout rifle (The Calling or A.191FX) the most. I still use my ARs once in a while (Shadow Price/Grim Citizen/Suros depending on character). And for PVP, I mostly use Monte Carlo and sometimes The Devil You Know.

Just my opinion, but if I had to choose a first set to roll with, I would go with either a hand cannon/sniper/rocket launcher, or scout rifle/fusion rifle/rocket launcher.

 

[NRP]

Great stuff guys! Thanks.

I've already got a pretty mean hand cannon (Lord High Fixer), and I have Pocket Infinity, and I am currently leveling up a void Swarm and a solar Swarm (yay for duplicate drops). The one thing I don't like about the Swarm is the shallow clip and low ammo total capacity. Seems like I might be good to go once I get to lvl 28.

 

[djskribbles]

Yeah, The Swarm has a small clip, and has low reserve ammo (you basically have 2 clips unless you have an armor perk to hold more reserve ammo). But it has higher impact, good stability and can be upgraded to have good range for an MG. Not the greatest MG, but should suffice for strikes at least where ammo isn't really an issue. Remember to always have ammo synthesis for secondary and (more so) special weapons. Primary ammo usually isn't an issue because they drop more often.

 

[Strange]

So for example my Ice Breaker was already solar, I bought P&T for arc, and I'm still looking for a void sniper. But yes ideally you want good weapons of every elemental, so that you're prepared for whatever burn is on the weekly/nightfall that week.

The go-to void sniper rifle is Praedyth's Revenge. It's essentially a slightly weaker hitting Time and Patience that blows the enemy up when you precision them.


My sets during the Raid:

Outer gate: Atheon's Epilogue, Pocket Infinity, Hezen Vengeance
Close range maximum firepower

Conflux Defending/Oracles (left side, sometimes right side): Vision of Confluence, Pocket infinity, Exodus Plan RS/1 (Void Rocket Launcher)
VoC is used because of the long range engagements needed in the staircase. Also helps to kill hobgoblins due to the hard hitting.

Conflux Defending/Oracles (Middle or right side): Atheon's Epilogue, Pocket Infinity, Exodus Plan RS/1 (Void Rocket Launcher)
Close range type. gives up effective killing of sniping hobgoblins for a bit more close range flexibility

Templar/Oracle spawn sniping: Vision of Confluence, Ice Breaker, Hezen Vengeance
Obvious choices

Gatekeeper: Vision of Confluence, Praedyth's Revenge, Gjallahorn
VoC for yellows outside, and Gjallahorn + Praedyth's Revenge to make short work of the Gatekeepers in side the gates.

Atheon 1: Atheon's Epilogue, Time and Patience, Exodus Plan RS/1 (Void Rocket Launcher)
Atheon 2: Atheon's Epilogue, Ice Breaker, Exodus Plan RS/1 (Void Rocket Launcher)
Atheon 3: Atheon's Epilogue, Praedyth's Revenge, Gjallahorn

Really depends on what I feel like bringing. Atheon's Epilogue is just the go-to weapon to kill oracles so that's why I use it in all three builds. Rocket launchers are mainly used to help kill the Praetorean during the Venus teleport.

 

[NRP]

So are Vision of Confluence and Atheon's Epilogue only available from raid chests/drops/end-of-mission rewards?

 

[Strange]

So are Vision of Confluence and Atheon's Epilogue only available from raid chests/drops/end-of-mission rewards?

Raid boss only I believe. Atheon drops both of these. Not chests.

 

[orangpelupa]

It's very random thought.. I keep getting oraedith revenge again and again, same with vision of confluence.

Play the raid properly for the experience, not the loot.

 

[Nisaaru]

About the RNG. It looks to me as if the RNG itself depends on unspecified factors. I didn't get a new ship specification for some time(maybe 2 weeks or more) and since yesterday I suddenly received about 7-8.. And there were times when they came like a flood in small timeframe. I haven't seen a shader for a LONG time and since yesterday I got 2.

 

[Strange]

About the RNG. It looks to me as if the RNG itself depends on unspecified factors. I didn't get a new ship specification for some time(maybe 2 weeks or more) and since yesterday I suddenly received about 7-8.. And there were times when they came like a flood in small timeframe. I haven't seen a shader for a LONG time and since yesterday I got 2.

What you're experiencing is typical of RNG. It's human nature to try to spot patterns even when there is none.

I've gotten two Fatebringers (the only two I've seen) at one loot point on a single run, same for helmets, and same for boots.