Destiny's King's Fall Raid guide - the Basilica door puzzle

S**t's getting real, dog. In all seriousness. Bring spare pants.

Destiny's King's Fall - the Basilica door puzzle

After running through from Portico, a door will open and you’ll see a large green door with a bunch of crouched Acolytes praying in front of it. Don’t shoot anything yet, as doing so will start the instance.

This is King’s Fall’s first major puzzle. The object is to open the door. I’m going to explain the mechanics of this section first, and then offer tips for play.

Mechanics

• You need to split your fireteam into two groups.
• There are three plates in this instance: left, centre and right.
• The left and right plates are in rooms separate from the main area, and they’re full of poisonous gas that slowly depletes your health.
• At the entrance to each side-room is an orb. Picking this up creates a bubble which protects everyone inside it from the poisonous gas.
• You can tell when you’re standing in the bubble because you’ll see Aura of the Unraveler on the left of your HUD. You can tell when you aren't because you'll start to die.
• Whoever’s holding the bubble will see a countdown from 30 seconds called Brand of the Unraveler. When this reaches zero, they will receive Deathsinger’s Power.
• Whoever has Deathsinger’s Power runs to the central plate to deliver it. When you’re standing on centre, you’ll see the Deathsinger’s Power decrease from ten to zero.
• Do not leave the plate until the Deathsinger’s Power has been completely delivered and the marker has disappeared from your HUD.
• Once it’s gone, you need to shout out that you’re returning to whichever plate you were designated at the start.
• The two players who now have the Deathsinger’s Power leave the left and right plates and run toward the centre.
• If you’ve got this right, the people leaving the central plate and those running towards it should pass by each other in the room full of gas.
• Every time someone delivers the Deathsinger’s Power to the central plate, a symbol will light on the corresponding side of the door you’re trying to open.
• Each side needs to deliver the Deathsinger’s Power ten times to open the door.

Notes

• Every time someone new receives the Deathsinger’s Power, a Knight will come through the door above the left and right plates.
• Wizards will come through the left and right doors above the central plate.

Play tips

Unless you’ve run this as a group several times, you’re going to die here. There are any number of mechanics that can kill you and you’ll be facing some tough adds, so be patient and concentrate.

When you begin, you need to kill the adds in front of the door. They’ll kill the first players returning with the Deathsinger’s Power if you don’t. Unfortunately, as soon as anyone shoots at them the plates activate. If you don’t have at least one person on both left and right plates at all times from then one, the Raid will wipe.

Two people should pick up the bubble and run to the plate on each side, but two shooters, probably the two with the best rocket launchers, should stay in the centre and kill the adds before joing them on the plates.

Now kill adds until whoever picked up the bubble has the Deathsinger’s Power. As soon as they do, they need to run to the centre and start their delivery. As noted above, a Knight will spawn on the upper platform in the left and right rooms each time the Brand of the Unraveler counter reaches zero, so take care of it as soon as you can. A good sniper or scout rifle is best for this.

The people on the central plate need to be shooting adds as they come through the main door, and especially focusing on Knights with swords. These won’t attack you on the central plate, but will rather amble down into the left and right rooms to attack people in the bubble. Even if you only get a few shots on them, it’ll make them easier to drop as they approach the bubble.

Also, if you’re on the centre, you’ll be attacked by Wizards from the upper left and right. Again, drop them. If you don’t, the next people arriving to deliver their Power will walk straight into a stream of arc bombs.

The people on the left and right plates need to be organised about clearing the adds. Kill the Boomer on the upper platform as soon as it appears, but it’s best if one person does this while the second person keeps their eyes on the ground to kill Thrall, Acolytes and, most importantly by far, the Knights with swords. These guys can one-hit you and wipe the Raid. Whoever’s watching the floor needs to be able to drop a yellow Knight solo. You’ll need a high-powered fusion rifle or shotgun, ideally, and be able to use either a sword, heavy machinegun or rocket if they make it to the plate.

The adds get very tough during the last few Power deliveries. It’s wisest here for the centre guys to ignore the Wizards and focus on the Knights. The left and right plates can get easily overwhelmed at the end. Remember: if you don’t take down the Knights you’re going to be in all sorts of trouble. If one makes it to the plate you can probably deal with it. If two turn up and you’re on your own, you’re going to to have to employ ninja skills to survive. If the team’s playing well you shouldn't be in that situation.

Once the tenth Power’s been delivered, you’ll see a message saying, “The Warpriest deems you worthy,” and a chest will appear in the centre. The King’s Fall fusion rifle, Midha’s Reckoning, drops from this chest. Fingers crossed. You’ve earned it.

Now walk forward for the first boss. It’s time to kill the Warpriest.

Head back to our King’s Fall Raid guide, or on to the next stage: the Warpriest.