Gonna just liberally use the spoiler tag to avoid anyone mistakenly clicking a link that takes them here.

The Music/Audio
Holy cow, generally it's amazing in this raid and is perfect for every encounter. I just want to specifically call out the space walk, that straight up evoked Carl Sagan and other space content from that era.

The Encounters/Roles
I love encounters that have some clearly defined roles, some filler roles, and a good amount of space for improvising/comebacks.
For example on our successful clear of the second encounter, our upper scanner sent the augment down to me too early and didn't have it for the damage phase up there. They legit sheepishly guessed annnnnd it worked and it saved a run that ended up succeeding.
That makes for an encounter that's fun to run.

The Environment
Wow, just wow. The frosty wasteland of europa, the clean modern lines of Bray's labs, the majesty of a proper spacewalk, crashing out of orbit, and finishing the fight roundabout where you started?
Chef's kiss.

The datapads
Heartbreaking, loved em.

The caches/rewards
Love all the work bungie is putting into various systems to reduce the sting of RNG.
Allowing you to use the currency you get from the encounters to get rerolls and most importantly to pull a subset of the rewards in case you're chasing a helmet, wonderful.

I think it might be my favorite raid. Aesthetically it definitely. That spacewalk is amazing. The music is fantastic throughout. I love Deep Stone Lullaby, obviously, but the build up that happens after the Pike section before you start the first encounter is also a standout for me.

I agree with you about encounters. They’re nearly perfect. Everyone has a defined role, but chaos allows for improvisation, and no one can have just a single role. It’s very well done without going to the absurd lengths of Last Wish.

Also worth mentioning is the gear. The armor looks great, the weapons all look fantastic. I have the Shotgun and the Scout, both with Reconstruction. I actually masterworked a Scout! It’s great. The shotgun with Reconstruction and Recombination is a monster.

It warms my heart to know at least the raids are still excellent experiences.

It warms my heart to know at least the raids are still excellent experiences.

This is probably my favorite raid ever (yes, even including VoG).

It warms my heart to know at least the raids are still excellent experiences.

This is probably my favorite raid ever (yes, even including VoG).

Are you TRYING to make me relapse?!

It warms my heart to know at least the raids are still excellent experiences.

This is probably my favorite raid ever (yes, even including VoG).

Are you TRYING to make me relapse?!

Not necessarily... but if this is what it takes for you to abandon some of your absolutist world views, then I'll consider it progress! ;-)

It warms my heart to know at least the raids are still excellent experiences.

This is probably my favorite raid ever (yes, even including VoG).

Are you TRYING to make me relapse?!

Not necessarily... but if this is what it takes for you to abandon some of your absolutist world views, then I'll consider it progress! ;-)

Alas there is no chance for it blind, so I am safe after all.

[quote]The Encounters/Roles
I love encounters that have some clearly defined roles, some filler roles, and a good amount of space for improvising/comebacks.
For example on our successful clear of the second encounter, our upper scanner sent the augment down to me too early and didn't have it for the damage phase up there. They legit sheepishly guessed annnnnd it worked and it saved a run that ended up succeeding.
That makes for an encounter that's fun to run.[/quote]

I've now been upper scanner twice, in our blind run and in a follow-up run, and I've gotta say it's sticking out to me as one of the most stressful jobs in any raid, ever. Maybe there's some best practices that will make that final stand more manageable, but phew, having the success of the entire encounter rest only on your ability to spin and pick out which of the 8 bosses is yellow (while not being fooled by the yellow augment terminals) definitely stands out.

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I've now been upper scanner twice, in our blind run and in a follow-up run, and I've gotta say it's sticking out to me as one of the most stressful jobs in any raid, ever. Maybe there's some best practices that will make that final stand more manageable, but phew, having the success of the entire encounter rest only on your ability to spin and pick out which of the 8 bosses is yellow (while not being fooled by the yellow augment terminals) definitely stands out.

Funny. I’ve found Scanner at each stage to be the easiest “role” in any raid, and I feel like Bungie did this so that you could give the less-skilled players in a raid something really important to do, without demanding expertise in any area (looking at you, King’s Fall Runner role).

If anything, Suppressor is the most stressful role in any raid. You die? Issa wipe.

I've now been upper scanner twice, in our blind run and in a follow-up run, and I've gotta say it's sticking out to me as one of the most stressful jobs in any raid, ever. Maybe there's some best practices that will make that final stand more manageable, but phew, having the success of the entire encounter rest only on your ability to spin and pick out which of the 8 bosses is yellow (while not being fooled by the yellow augment terminals) definitely stands out.

Funny. I’ve found Scanner at each stage to be the easiest “role” in any raid, and I feel like Bungie did this so that you could give the less-skilled players in a raid something really important to do, without demanding expertise in any area (looking at you, King’s Fall Runner role).

If anything, Suppressor is the most stressful role in any raid. You die? Issa wipe.

I've run both Scanner and Suppressor and believe the reverse is true. Scanner was much harder because of the window of time you have to make the right call out was so small whereas as a suppressor it was like yeah I have years to make it to the right spot, and then it's easy to shoot, pop over to the next spot, shoot, pop to the next, wait for the callout and shoot one final time.

I’ve been scanner through every encounter (although planet side in the second encounter), and it’s been really easy. The stuff turns yellow long before anyone actually needs the information (with the exception of the Atraks encounter, but, at least downstairs, there is a really simple route to run that makes it incredibly easy).

Operator in The Descent has to be the easiest, though.

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I just wanted Cody (and anyone else who won’t see the new raid otherwise) to see this. I love this whole raid, but this a real standout. The music, the AI, it’s all perfect. Every raid has a part that makes me just stop and say “Whoa!” but I think this tops them all for me.

There are definitely better jumping puzzles (will anything ever top King’s Fall?), but this is definitely the best set piece for me.

There are definitely better jumping puzzles (will anything ever top King’s Fall?), but this is definitely the best set piece for me.

See to me watching that I was mostly unmoved. But I am sure if I were there doing it I would have been floored.

And that is exactly how you make an excellent game.

For me it was an amazing experience, especially after the absolute chaos that was the encounter just preceding the spacewalk. I’m sure it doesn’t hit the same way without having played it.

That whole sequence is a great one-two punch, though. During the Atraks-1 encounter, half the team rides launch pods up to the space station. There’s a nice little window in the pod, so you can see that you’re in space. That was a cool realization the first time. Then, once the encounter is over, everyone gets to come up and be on the space station and look out the massive window and see the station sprawling out in front of them, Europa floating in the background. I think everyone had at least a slight feeling that we were getting ready for a space walk. And then it happens, and it’s just this awesome culmination.

Combine that with the fact that I think this raid has the clearest overall narrative, thanks in part the to AI messages that play over the speakers, and I really do like that speech during the spacewalk.

I think all Destiny raids (going back to D1's Vault of Glass) have jumping puzzles. Starting in D2, each raid has a Flawless triumph. (In D1, the triumph was raid-independent; you just had to do A raid flawlessly, not EVERY raid.) Recently, the community has figured out that you can send one or two people through to do it flawlessly, while everyone else goes to orbit, and comes back before the next encounter. (Crown of Sorrows had a jumping puzzle that was pretty difficult to keep 6 people alive in, but some classes could cheese it altogether, so leaving someone in who had that capability saved the Flawless run for the whole team.)

I guess Bungie decided that was unfair. (I mean, they're not wrong, but...)

This puzzle is a requirement if you're going for Flawless. If people who are bad at jumping go to orbit during a Flawless run, they are no longer eligible for the Flawless triumph. (The rest of the team still is, though.)

I'm sort of sad about this. I mean... there's no super-easy way to practice this; the checkpoint is BEFORE the Atraks encounter. (Maybe I'm wrong, and it's possible to save a checkpoint just before the jumping puzzle. If so, that's awesome.)

As a bad jumper who occasionally has a good run, I can see this being a major impediment to a Flawless completion for me.

For me it was an amazing experience, especially after the absolute chaos that was the encounter just preceding the spacewalk. I’m sure it doesn’t hit the same way without having played it.

That whole sequence is a great one-two punch, though. During the Atraks-1 encounter, half the team rides launch pods up to the space station. There’s a nice little window in the pod, so you can see that you’re in space. That was a cool realization the first time. Then, once the encounter is over, everyone gets to come up and be on the space station and look out the massive window and see the station sprawling out in front of them, Europa floating in the background. I think everyone had at least a slight feeling that we were getting ready for a space walk. And then it happens, and it’s just this awesome culmination.

Combine that with the fact that I think this raid has the clearest overall narrative, thanks in part the to AI messages that play over the speakers, and I really do like that speech during the spacewalk.

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Thanks for that. I’ve been looking for something like this for a week now.

I could see using this as a bedtime screensaver.

I also watched clip simllar to the one cheapLEY posted (with no deaths--a line of good jumpers just making their way with the dialogue playing). The title of it was "The moment I fell in love with the DSC raid."

I was sure this was going to say "...is waiting for Kermit to finish it." ;)

I was sure this was going to say "...is waiting for Kermit to finish it." ;)

It's me too, dude. It's me too.

The darkness is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

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Is that with the four core method? Looks like they had much more DPS time.

How did they get multiple stomps and why wasn't the Divinity shooting at the crit?

If you pop four cores out of Taniks and deposit them instead of just two, you get an extra damage phase.

As for Divinity, I’m not sure what you mean. If you’re using Divinity, I don’t think you have to hit the crit spot—I don’t think it matters at all. For everyone else the Divinity ball appears right below the boss.

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If you pop four cores out of Taniks and deposit them instead of just two, you get an extra damage phase.

Gotcha. Was not aware. Doing 4 cores sounds like a nightmare, though.

As for Divinity, I’m not sure what you mean. If you’re using Divinity, I don’t think you have to hit the crit spot—I don’t think it matters at all. For everyone else the Divinity ball appears right below the boss.

You get about 20% more damage. I mean, the Outbreaks are definitively the ones doing the heavy-lifting, but why not, right?

If you pop four cores out of Taniks and deposit them instead of just two, you get an extra damage phase.

Gotcha. Was not aware. Doing 4 cores sounds like a nightmare, though.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I want to. It means you can ignore scanner, as the bins are just the four bins in the areas where Taniks isn’t. Operator and Suppressor really have to be on their game, though. Getting detained at all might be enough to screw you, as depositing four means every carrier needs to make it without handing off. I suppose the Operator and Suppressor might be able to grab after Taniks is suppressed, but that seems like a long shot.

As for Divinity, I’m not sure what you mean. If you’re using Divinity, I don’t think you have to hit the crit spot—I don’t think it matters at all. For everyone else the Divinity ball appears right below the boss.

You get about 20% more damage. I mean, the Outbreaks are definitively the ones doing the heavy-lifting, but why not, right?

In my experience, Taniks moves around enough that it can be tricky to hit his head. Probably just safer to hit him and not have to worry about the chance of missing in exchange for the little bit of extra damage from Divinity itself.

If you pop four cores out of Taniks and deposit them instead of just two, you get an extra damage phase.

Gotcha. Was not aware. Doing 4 cores sounds like a nightmare, though.

So I just did the 4-bomb method with my clan a couple nights ago. It was my first time trying it, but the rest of the group had some experience.

It was a chaotic, frantic mess that worked beautifully lol.

We had our fireteam split into pairs, each pair was assigned to one corner of the map. Once the boss started moving towards one of the 3 corners, we all knew we’d be planting the bombs at the other 2 corners. As soon as the boss’ “legs” became vulnerable, we all rushed him, shooting as we went. Every time a bomb dropped out of him, one of us would pick it up immediately and rush back to our corner. If 2 players were running to the same corner at the same time, they’d work out who was going to which bin on the way over. There was always a bit of a scramble under the boss as we raced to pick up the bombs, but the general rule was “pick up the bomb that you knock out of him”, so it wasn’t too bad, and everyone was proactive about grabbing a bomb if it looked like nobody else was about to grab it. Our operator would hang back and pop bubbles as the bomb carriers ran, but I don’t think he ever had to pop more than 2 bubbles per bomb phase. Occasionally a bomb carrier would die on their way back to their corner, but someone else was almost always close enough to grab their bomb and deposit it in time.

We probably wiped 4 or 5 times attempting this method, but i think the damage phase caused more wipes for us than the bomb phase. Once we had a good, smooth damage phase we beat him (1-phased him, in fact). We then switched characters and ran the raid again. This time we 1-phased the boss our first try.

In my experience, Taniks moves around enough that it can be tricky to hit his head. Probably just safer to hit him and not have to worry about the chance of missing in exchange for the little bit of extra damage from Divinity itself.

Not his head, the Divinity bubble

So you basically pray your hardest the Operator doesn't disabled and run like hell?

So you basically pray your hardest the Operator doesn't disabled and run like hell?

More or less, lol

I could be wrong about this (I don’t have a firm grip on the subtleties of the encounter yet) but I believe that if all 4 bombs are released at nearly the same time, and all 4 bomb runners grab their bombs instantly and rush to their bins as fast as possible, you’ll be able to deposit all 4 bombs before any of the buffs are deactivated.

I think the issues that are most likely to cause problems with this method would be if someone took too long shooting the boss to release one of the bombs, and/or if they’re too far away from the boss to grab their bomb promptly after it falls. Anything that drags out the total length of the bomb phase could cause big problems.

In my experience, Taniks moves around enough that it can be tricky to hit his head. Probably just safer to hit him and not have to worry about the chance of missing in exchange for the little bit of extra damage from Divinity itself.

Not his head, the Divinity bubble

I could be wrong about this, but I always thought that the Divinity bubble was just a visual indicator that Divinity’s exotic perk was active. I thought it turned the whole target into a giant crit spot.

Now, during this specific boss fights (Taniks), I have noticed that when I’m shooting the boss with my slug shotgun, I get higher damage numbers when I shoot at or near the Divinity bubble vs when I shoot higher up at the boss himself. But I was under the impression that this difference was due to the extra range. At that angle, the boss’ upper body is further away from me than the divinity bubble (which is almost under the boss). And that extra range is enough for my slug shotgun to experience some damage drop off.

Is that not the case?

So you basically pray your hardest the Operator doesn't disabled and run like hell?

More or less, lol

I could be wrong about this (I don’t have a firm grip on the subtleties of the encounter yet) but I believe that if all 4 bombs are released at nearly the same time, and all 4 bomb runners grab their bombs instantly and rush to their bins as fast as possible, you’ll be able to deposit all 4 bombs before any of the buffs are deactivated.

I think the buffs still get deactivated the same way - that is, as soon as the Suppressor stuns Taniks. The teams I have been watching on Twitch pretty much always do the 4-bomb method, and they are usually calling out the 2nd bubble pop so that the timing isn't an issue. I am convinced that once he is stunned, he will not make any more detainment bubbles -- so the problem really only ever occurs when the detainment bubble is getting deployed right as he is getting stunned (or if the Operator is not on his/her game in shooting them).

The other benefit to doing the 4-bomb method is that you don't really ever have to worry about swapping the buffs. Even if you don't one-phase the boss, there is more than enough time for the deactivated buff to stick theirs in the terminal and pull it back out fresh before the next phase, so you can have just two people focus on the two buffs that matter and the other four focus on just getting the cores and depositing them.

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When are we reading again? We should try it.