Run #2 (1-Gaze, One Orb, Fireteam distracts from back right)
As usual, this worked well, but required 4 cycles of damage. It's a timing issue; the DPS team looses 4-5 seconds getting from the back right to the pool. This approach does make it easier on the gaze holder, as they don't need to drop the orb, and the target for grabbing the gaze is much larger.

Run #3 (1-Gaze, One Orb, Titan bubble only to distract from back right)
This was almost as good as the first run damage-wise. It took 3 cycles, but it was much easier on the gaze holder. The single Titan and bubble on the back right kept Golgoroth's attention, so we had the benefits for the gaze holder and the fast access to the pool for the team (but lost some DPS as the distraction titan has less time in the pool).

In all 3 runs, we had a Weapons of Light Titan Bubble and a hunter tether during the DPS phase. We had a person dedicated to thrall control for the taken round, and the second gaze holder (for the challenge) had to abandon the pool early to get the gaze in time.

All three strategies are viable; we had some wipes but they were just normal mistakes (a missed unstable light, a couple of accidental deaths, and an early gaze grab). We took some time at the beginning trying variations in the first run, seeing if the fireteam can assist with the timing of the orb drop/gaze grab, but ultimately the best run for that strategy came when the gaze holder dropped the orb and got the gaze quickly solo. In any case, if you've got 2 Titans, give the Distraction bubble a try!

Many thanks to Zero Point Fox, Doooodbruh, DiscipleN2k, unoudid, nico, ParticleDuality and Squidnh3; great raid everyone!

Goloroth's beam didn't take down the bubble, but it did generate 7-9 orbs.

2-Gaze, 6 Orb:
This was popular for a time, but I don't see it very often on heroic difficulty (perhaps due to the increased risk to the fireteam). One gaze holder positions on the right side of the room, while a second gaze holder positions at the left. The DPS team drops one of the front orbs, and the corresponding gaze holder takes the gaze while the DPS team enters the pool and begins damaging the boss. With 5 seconds left on the countdown, the DPS team drops the opposite side orb and moves into its pool, as the second gaze holder grabs the gaze before the timer runs out. Cursed thrall begin to spawn, requiring one team member to focus on enemy control for the remainder of the cycle. The gaze is passed left and right as the DPS team drops each orb in succession until all orbs have been used.
Pros: This offers the most time to do damage to Golgoroth - enough that the DPS team will likely run out of sniper ammo by the end of the 3rd pool.
Cons: This requires more coordination and communication across the fireteam than other methods. There is more risk, as cursed thrall spawn nearby at every gaze switch.

I kinda miss running this strategy. I got really good at being the gaze holder, especially on the right side. Best setup for doing it was to use Red Death for Golgoroth's poison darts, Long Far Gone for dropping the orbs (4 shots, so I'd always have mine down before the switch), and Quillim's for emergencies. I think you are right though, ammo and risk are problems.

I'm always up for trying another method. I know I've used the bubble on the bridge as a distraction before. But for some reason I was thinking Golgoroth destroyed it pretty quickly. Maybe that was only during the venom ball stage when holding his gaze?

Those venom balls tear a bubble apart. Not sure about his eye blast though.

Will require two titans, I imagine.

One of the most obvious and easily-fixable mistakes that people make is running their Mains by default, and then their Alts.

If the team organizes it, it should be easy to always have two of each class every run.

Assuming everyone has one of each class, of course...

Anyway, try to do it how Durandal suggested tonight? It's possible that may invalidate the argument completely and it will emerge as the far superior method. Will require two titans, I imagine.

It really comes down to how well the current team works together. Is your team sloppy or a well oiled machine?

As far as the timing on orb drop stage goes. If you are the primary distraction person on the bridge then you'll typically have a much better idea of when the gaze is going to be grabbed. the rest of the people hiding on the bridge are clueless until either they see the text on the screen or the gaze holder calls it out. Most of the time, they won't be in the ideal spots to quickly make it to the puddle. I could be wrong, but that has been my experience most of the time. When I'm on the bridge and then it's time to go down to the puddle I'm running around multiple obstacles in order to make it to the puddle to then turn around, make sure I have a clear shot, aim, then pull the trigger all while hoping to either tether or get a WoL buff. Whereas if I'm hiding up front, I can drop down, tether and get WoL and be ready to shoot within 2 seconds since it's a single motion to do all of that on the way to the puddle.

I'll still argue that moving around in this fight causes way more trouble then it helps. Whether on the bridge or up front. You move and golgoroth sees then he'll look at you instead of where he should look. Also, if you move down in the puddle you are screwing up someone's shot. heck, even up when you are divided into two teams to shoot the hive that are funneling down the firing range if you move, you are typically getting in the way of a teammates shot.

The mechanics of this fight are beyond simple. Shoot orb, stand still and shoot down a firing range. hide by standing still, Jump down in a pit, stand still and shoot in a puddle. then rinse and repeat. I'm so used to strafing from my Halo days that I actually have to conscientiously focus on not moving while doing this fight.

You can easily do the 1 orb strat with one distractor this way.

Kermit's annoyingly good ...

Wow. Words never spoken together before now. :)

- If everyone stands on the bridge then you lose 4-5 seconds of potential damage just running across Golg to the puddle and getting set. Not to mention trying to run through a bubble to get the damage buff.

The only way you'd lose 5 seconds there is if you walked backwards to get there. Something I don't get is that I'm consistently the guy on the bridge, and I lead in damage numbers virtually every time, if people look. I've got the same damn gun as everybody, and I have never walked into a weapons of light bubble on him. On the bridge, you can start going towards the puddle in good faith that the gaze getter will snipe the guy, and it's reliable.

The vast majority of the time I've had people in the front, it takes a lot of work to get the gaze, often requiring several magazines, a grenade, and many lost seconds trying to get the guy to turn around. If you can trust your team enough to hide successfully, you can trust your team enough to time it well from the bridge.

Furthermore, DPS isn't normally a huge problem. The first team we got him to the taken part in two damage phases, and had plenty of leisure time on the third, so we could play it safe with the taken, then we killed him on the fourth. This is plenty of time. We were tight. Kermit's annoyingly good at getting the gaze, we all did our jobs, the tethers were solid, and so on.

The second time, we were shit because we were sloppy, not because either strategy was bad. DPS was, again, not a problem. The problem was dying.

- If you place the bubble in the left tunnel and dip back and forth for WoL this causes you to lose potential shots on Golg. People ducking back in there also can cause other people to miss just by bumping them or walking in front of their shots. Having to reload due to other people making you miss your shots just kills the DPS Flow.

I'm not sure anyone actually does this. People place the bubble and afaik nobody uses it. I certainly never have.

I have an aversion to strategies that are any tiny bit more complicated than necessary with not obviously tangible benefits in practice, because I know who I play with, and I know who I am. The more steps we add, the worse we get. The more one guy can fuck it up, the less likely it is to work.

If 5 guys are at spawn side, if one of them makes a wrong move, the strategy's benefits erode, and it becomes a detriment. If 5 guys are on the bridge, if 3 people fuck up, it's largely identical to if nobody did, and we don't necessarily need that extra damage. Furthermore, it's consistent. The benefits of consistency in a less-than-perfect team cannot be overstated. The less precise our play, the more we depend on consistency.

I've done Golgoroth with most of these at one point or another, and on good days, the strategy you suggested works exceptionally well, but most days aren't good days. Note that we did two sister runs first try. The sisters can be done with high skill and sloppy play, which is what we had in our group. As long as we can jump and not die, we're golden.

Golgoroth, in my opinion, has only one reliable method for sloppy play, and it's guys on the right bridge. The best part about it is that unlike other strategies that are employed for sloppy play, like the oracles cheese or the right side Templar, or jumping the bridge, or skipping lights, this one is also usable by perfect teams, with benefits, and usable by wildly incompetent teams as well.

This is the whole reason we do one gaze. For most teams, the simpler the strategy, the better the end.

I've never tried this, but is there any reason you can't just pop the bubble on top of Gorgoroth and then have everyone just sit in the bubble and hit him? I know that's not ideal for snipers at point blank range, but it would mean you have constant WoL active.

Pool of light buff.

Oh, duh. Yeah, just ignore I just said that. I thought I had made an amazing discovery. Turns out people weren't cheering for me, they were laughing :-)

I've never tried this, but is there any reason you can't just pop the bubble on top of Gorgoroth and then have everyone just sit in the bubble and hit him? I know that's not ideal for snipers at point blank range, but it would mean you have constant WoL active.

Pool of light buff.