Design a Raid Encounter: Hive (Destiny)

by Harmanimus , Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 18:44 (3439 days ago) @ Dan de Board

So, I haven't had a chance to get through King's Fall yet. But I do enjoy me some encounter theory.

One I've had floating around for awhile would be about as follows:

You enter a large, irregular elliptical room. Think egg shaped, and you're at the skinny end. There are sections of pillars and holes (that lead to some catacomb-like paths) sort of like an evil Stone Henge. Though the space between the larger pillars and pits are enough for an Ogre to comfortably move around. In this space there are three Altars which work as focal points. One at the back, and two up front.

Wandering around the arena is the boss, an Ogre of an unusually bubbling nature. It has a Mechanic shield. It isn't terribly aggressive at chasing Guardian's, either. It has it's eye blast and ground smash as usual.

Now, the real danger is the army of Thralls roaming the rather large play space. Most of them are regular Thralls. About 1/10 are Cursed Thralls of random damage times for their explosions, and of the overall spread, about 1/15 are Majors (some cursed, some regular) and they are all aggressively spawning and chasing the players. With the initial spawn there is also a Husk Bearer Cursed Thrall. This Thrall will have a random shield of the three regular selections that will recharge on a very active basis. When they explode the explosion is about twice the size of a regular Cursed Thrall. This repeats for the remaining 2 shield types through the rest of the fight, and will cycle to other random shields if necessary.

Now, once that Thrall explodes he leaves a Tomb Husk-style relic. Thralls are repulsed by it, so it will have a safety ring around it for pick up, but the Ogre is drawn to it when it is available and will very aggressively pursue it. If the Ogre picks it up it will eat it, it regenerates a portion of health at that time. But when a Guardian picks up the relic one of the Altars will become active, and they will have to run it to deposit it.

You get a damage Buff that allows for you to break the Ogre's shield at this point, and that Altar becomes a safe haven from the Thralls. When the Ogre's shield breaks, it "pops" and he turns into a Giant, Running Thrall and worms are spread around the arena. Killing the worms damages the Boss, who will also take direct damage while the initial shield-breaker buff is still active. The Giant Thrall will flee you and attempt to recover and re-consume as many worms as possible. Once it has consumed about 10, it regains the shield and bubbles back up to being an Ogre.

After this the Altar is still safe, but the number of Thralls in the Arena is now focused around the other two Altars. Repeat this process with a more substantial damage buff for the second, and an unlimited duration Buff with the third and the Mechanic shield doesn't return.