The Obsidian Acropolis

Forums: Index → Fan Fiction → The Obsidian Acropolis (activity)

The Obsidian Acropolis
Game:	Destiny 2
Campaign:	New Light
Player(s):	1-6
Location:	Ishtar Sink, Venus
Objective(s):	Charge up your Baryonic Data Sheaf and delve into the Obsidian Acropolis, as you challenge it's inhabitants from across the timestreams.

"Storm the Obsidian Acropolis. Plunder the power and secrets within."

— In-game description

The Obsidian Acropolis is a six-player Arena activity introduced in The Witch Queen, and is free for all players as part of the New Light experience. The Guardians delve deep into the crust of Venus and storm the Obsidian Acropolis proper, challenging the Vex within to both secure loot and further shatter the grip they have on Venus.

In later seasons, a weekly enemy rotator would be added with the activity, with Fallen encounters and bosses joining it with the release of Season of the Haunted, and Taken encounters and bosses being added with Season of Plunder.

Gameplay

The goal of the Obsidian Acropolis is to accumulate enough points to arrive at the boss. To do so, teams of six players must complete various objectives within the varying encounters. When players do well within an encounter, the dominant enemy faction will respond to the threat with increased resistance, where higher power leveled enemies will spawn. There is no darkness zone in the normal variant of the Obsidian Acropolis, however, the respawn time is increased, players will have to pick each other up if one dies to progress more through the encounters. On Legend, however, there will be a darkness zone for every encounter, and a wipe will result in the team being sent to orbit. There exists 2 possible boss fights with each enemy rotation (Komos, Exuberant Mind and Astrapis, Overmind Harpy on Vex weeks, Trojan Shank, Instrument of Amriks and Reltraks, High Priest of House Dusk on Fallen weeks, and Bracus Vul, the Engulfed and Vesikatos, Blighted Mind on Taken weeks). On Legend difficulty, players will instead fight a guaranteed boss with more complex mechanics than their peers (Odigos, Lord of the Acropolis with the Vex, Karkis-2, Will of Amriks with the Fallen, and Tzeinakh, Servant of Ir Azok with the Taken).

Additionally, depending on which Faction rules the Acropolis for the week encounters will vary as well. All factions have 6 unique encounters, all of them having a single one in common: that being the opening encounter.

Activate the Terminus

The very first encounter, shared by all factions within the Acropolis, the team first arrives at The Terminus to power it up and access the rest of the location. The goal is to charge up three spires at each end of the arena with charges. To do so, players must kill enemies within the arena to draw out Acropolis Defenders. Once killed, they will drop an Arc charge, which can be taken to any of the three spires. The charges do expire after 30 seconds, so players must be fast and deposit them into the spires. Each spire requires 4 charges, and the encounter will end once all spires are formed, opening the way to the rest of the Obsidian Acropolis through newly activated Transfer Gates.

Vex Encounters

Living Statues

To complete this encounter, Guardians must defend indicated Sync Plates while fighting off waves of Fanatics, Goblins, and Minotaurs, as well as the odd Wyvern and Timeworn Minotaur. Upon a full charge, a nearby Minotaur statue will be engulfed in a pillar of radiolaria and come to life. The Guardians must eliminate these Reawakened Minotaurs in order to progress the encounter. Once four of the statues are defeated, the Guardians must now defend the middle plate and reawaken a trio of far more powerful Reawakened Minotaurs. The encounter ends once enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Crossroads

This event is functionally identical to the Vex Crossroads event on Mercury. The fireteam must destroy Vex units until a Shepherd of Ages Past, Shepherd of Ages Present, or a Shepherd of Ages Unseen spawns, with two arc charges spawning upon their deaths. Their dropped arc charges must be dunked into receptacles above the four Transfer Gates within the Arena. After shutting down the first four Warp Gates, an Overseer of the Crossroads will spawn in, and, at random, teleport three players to one of the activated islands, now spawning reinforcements to converge on middle. Players must escape a dark corner of time and disable the warp gates on the other island, while players in middle repel reinforcements and help their allies on the other side by destroying oracles supplying the Shepherds with immune shields. Once the warp gates on the one island is destroyed, players are allowed to jump back to the main arena, with the Overseer teleporting the middle players over to the other island. Once all warp gates on the other islands are destroyed, the players are now free to dispatch the Overseer, whose shields are now broken. The encounter ends if enough Vex have converged within the rift in middle, if time runs out, or if enough points have been accrued.

Defensive Darkness

To complete this encounter, Guardians must lift the Marked by the Void debuff that hangs over the arena. Similar to Vault of Glass, once players have received the Marked by the Void debuff, darkness will slowly cover their screen and kill the player once it has covered the entirety of their vision. Standing in a well of light or in an acquired Aegis' bubble will cleanse the player of the debuff. Guardians must repel the Vex forces, including Timeworn Hydras and eventually spawn a Darkshroud Minotaur. These units will be coated in an immune shield which can only be broken with attacks from an Aegis, with three spawning around the arena over time to allow Guardians to utilize them to their fullest extent. Upon the defeat of a Darkshroud Minotaur, a Spark of Light will drop from them. Acquiring the charge and depositing it into a well of Light will cause it to grow, further expanding it's reach and repelling the darkness further. Upon dunking 6 Sparks of Light, a Darkshroud Wyvern wills spawn, now requiring an Aegis super to destroy its shield. The destruction of the Darkshroud Wyvern will lift the veil of Darkness within the arena. The encounter will end once enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Convalescence

To complete this encounter, Guardians must charge up Vex Relays and connect their tether to others to form bridges and complete a circuit. Unlike Garden of Salvation, not only does tethering not disable the use of weapons or abilities, but also can only happen once depositing Voltaic Motes into the Relay. To begin a tethering, a Guardian must defeat Malignant enemies to acquire Voltaic Motes. Upon gathering 10, they acquire the Voltaic Limit buff, indicating they cannot acquire more and can properly deposit into a relay. Upon depositing, they are tethered, and may link it to another Relay by shooting its Tether cube, forming a bridge to and platform for it. The Guardians must repel reinforcements, especially Timeworn Hydras and connect all Relays to one another and fully bridge the chasm. Every time a connection is bridged between two Relays, a trio of Sentinels of the Gulf will spawn, throwing more chaos into the encounter. Once all Relays are connected, a barrier will divide the gulf, transfer gates will activate and Convalescent Minds will spawn. The encounter ends once enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Static Mines

To complete this encounter, Guardians must destroy Static Mines that will spawn around the arena, which require the use of a charged cranium of an identical element. Much like the first encounter of Argos, Guardians must secure Vex craniums from Resonant Hobgoblins and deposit them into elemental furnaces to charge them with elemental power. The Guardians must then destroy the Static Mines with their freshly empowered craniums to prevent them from detonating. Should there not be enough time to prevent their detonation, Guardians may retreat to a dome-shaped haven to escape death. Once a series of Static Mines are destroyed a Timeworn unit must be dispatched, and a new wave of Static Mines will spawn. The encounter will end if a total of 3 Static Mines detonate, if the timer runs out or if enough points have been accrued.

Disharmony

To complete this encounter, Guardians do jumping puzzles with Arc charges to empower them and disrupt a Vex ritual. Six named Hydras, Negation Minds, will be communing in the middle, connected via three protected Vex cubes. An occasional pulse will go out from the connections, killing any who might have picked up a Mark of Negation from a Fanatic or pulse from a Negation Harpy; similar to Templar from Vault of Glass, this can be cleansed by going through the well of light beneath the Hydras. To break the shields, Guardians must procure an arc charge from a Ritual Cyclops, and take the inertly charged orb across freshly spawned platforms, avoiding fire from Harpies and other Cyclopses. Upon reaching the top, they throw this orb through a jump gate to charge it and spawn the orb at the bottom, which then can be thrown at one of the protected Vex cubes to shatter the shield of one of the Negation Minds. Upon the destruction of one, the cycle begins anew, with another Mind joining the fray with the destruction of another cube. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Fallen Encounters

Berserkers

To complete this encounter, Guardians must work together to defeat Berserkers and use their ionic charges to dispatch other units. Much like their Kell's Scourge counterparts from Scourge of the Past, these Berserkers require coordination with other Guardians to disrupt their immunity and eliminate. Additionally, upon their elimination, they will drop Radiant Batteries which must be carried over to their marked deposits, which grants points, as well as the Ionized buff, preventing the player from picking up other Radiant Batteries, but also allowing them to damage Ionized Servitors, whose defeat also provides far more points to the roster. As more and more Berserkers are killed, Dusk Splicer units will join the fray. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Firewalled Splinter Mines

To complete this encounter, Guardians must disarm splinter mines via different means. Some Splinter Mines can be simply disabled by standing underneath them. Others, however, require the use of Scorch Cannons to enable a disarming sequence. These splinter mines will be coated in an immune shield, which must be broken with the use of a charged Scorch Cannon shot appropriated from a Scorch Captain, House of Dusk. When a splinter mine is 75% disarmed, a Dusk Splicer unit will assault the Splinter Mine, often requiring focused fire from multiple Guardians. When enough points have been accrued, the Guardians must disarm 3 Splinter Mines at the same time, while also focusing fire on a Demolitions Heavy Shank defending them. The encounter ends if 3 Splinter Mines are allowed to detonate, if the timer runs out, or if enough points have been accrued.

Hijacked Oracles

To complete this encounter, Guardians must expose trapped Oracles and destroy them before they complete their refrain. Upon beginning the encounter, Fallen devices will activate, with an oracle spawning with protection from a dome barrier. If the Oracles are allowed to detonate, all players will be Marked for Negation, where a Oracle Harvester Servitor will shortly do an animation and kill any player who still has the debuff. Much like Templar, running through the pool of light will cleanse the player of the debuff. In order to expose the Oracles, Guardians must procure charges from Dusk Splicer Captains and deposit them into the devices protecting the oracles, thus disabling the shield and allowing damage to the Oracle. After 6 Oracles are destroyed, Oracle Harvester Marauders will begin to defend the receptacles, preventing any depositing as long as they are alive, with more spawning once 12 Oracles are stopped. Dusk Splicer units will also join the fray as more Oracles are destroyed. Once 18 Oracles are stopped from detonating, the Guardians must then swiftly dispatch the Oracle Harvester Servitor for the final bit of points. The encounter ends if 3 Oracles are allowed to detonate, if the timer runs out, or if enough points have been accrued.

Radiation Spike

To complete this encounter, Guardians must quickly gather up nuclear cores and safely dispose of them around the arena. The arena will have a Radiation hazard save for safe zones scattered around the area, which will kill Guardians if the stack reaches 100. After enough mechanical Fallen forces have been dispatched, either a Radioactive Heavy Shank or Radioactive Brig will spawn. Upon destroying the Heavy Shank, they will drop a Nuclear Core. Any guardian that does not pick up the core and is outside of a safezone will be killed via Nuclear Catastrophe, so a Guardian must swiftly pick one up. Guardians with a Nuclear core will be unable to sprint and their radiation debuff will sharply increase with time, so they must be quick to reach the designated depository or rely on the aid of a Guardian to pick it off of them when the Radiation gets too high. Upon the destruction of a Radioactive unit will spawn scattered Security Turrets. Depositing a Nuclear core will cleanse all nearby Guardians of 70 stacks of Radiation. In the final leg of the encounter, a Radioactive Walker will join the fray, requiring the focused fire of all Guardians to destroy. With its destruction, 6 cores will drop, requiring all Guardians to pitch in to dispose of the cores; another Radioactive Heavy Shank will spawn any cores that were lost or allowed to detonate. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

The Spinnerets

To complete this encounter, Guardians must charge up Charge Spinnerets around the arena with Voltage and defeat the Dusk Splicer Priest. This encounter is fundamentally identical to the first phase of Vosik from Wrath of the Machine, requiring players to collect and max out their Voltage from energy puddles around the arena, which then must be dunked into one of the three spinnerets around the arena. Also like Wrath, Voltage Eaters will also make their way to the Spinnerets in order to set the team back. Once the spinnerets are fully charged, the fireteam must then throw the created charges at the shielded Dusk Splicer Priest in order to break their shields and shortly dispatch them. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Cannon Empowerment

To complete this encounter, Guardians must power up Fallen devices with maxed out Scorch Cannons to get enough power to dispatch Dusk Splicer units. Much like the Scorch Cannon and the devices they power up from Grasp of Avarice, Guardians must procure Scorch Cannons from Scorch Captains, and charge up these scattered devices to drop Harvested Temporality to grant Guardians a damage boost against Dusk Splicer shields in order to expose them to damage proper. This buff also allows Guardians to damage Fractal Fallen units, while also making them immune to normal Fallen, almost identical to the Witch's Blessing from Crown of Sorrow. Also similarly, Harvested Temporality will also kill a Guardian if it is not refreshed with more or if not disposed of, which can be done with a Vex structure in the middle of the room. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Taken Encounters

Beckoning Whispers

To complete this encounter, Guardians must make use of Taken Essence to destroy blights and eliminate certain units. After eliminating enough Taken forces, Attendants of Whispers will spawn in. Eliminating them will drop Taken Essence which Guardians may pick up and begin mechanics. Firing is used to eliminate initially immune Acolyte's Eyes, called Vector of Whispers, the grenade function clears the Guardians of the Essence, and strips Archaic Taken of their shielding. Once enough Archaic Taken are eliminated, a Chimera, called the Locus of Whispers will spawn in, requiring the super function in order to strip it of its shield, as well as grenade functions in order to destroy the shield blights it spawns in for additional immunity. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

False Platforms

To complete this encounter, Guardians must make use of Torn Between Dimensions in order to seize power over a chasm and defeat the Taken protecting it. After facing off against Taken forces, Guardians must eliminate a Divided Minotaur and gather its Shard of Rifts. Upon collecting it, the Guardian will be torn between dimensions, immune to most attacks save for those from Ascendant Hunters. These Torn players must parkour their way across ascendant platforms over the Echoing Gulf and reach points at the top to garner power. After which, they will be teleported back down and are free to strip the shields off of the Archaic Taken that must be killed. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Twinkling Light

To complete this encounter, Guardians must make use of captured light in order to defeat the Taken within. Almost similar to Golgoroth, Guardians must conjure forth Light-charged Blights in order to drop pools in order to eliminate Engorged Ogres, which can only be damaged by Guardians in these Light pools. Rather than imminently detonating Unstable Light, however, a random Guardian within these pools will be unable to attack anything with this seemingly permanent debuff. However, they will be able to see pillars of Taken energy similar to Taken Strength and may run through them to charge their Unstable Light and exploit its volatility against the Engorged Ogres properly. Once all three Engorged Ogres in the area are eliminated, Guardians may face off against the far more formidable Devourer of Hidden Light. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Blighted Blades

To complete this encounter, Guardians must use Taken empowered blades to cut down empowered foes. After eliminating enough Taken, Blighted Swordbearers will join the fray, and will drop Taken Cleavers. Similar to the Cleavers from Pit of Heresy, the blades have a simple cleave function, ranged heavy, block, and super function. Normal melee is used to strip Swordbound Taken Knights of their shields, ranged function is used to destroy shield blights protecting the Swordbound Taken Minotaurs, and the block function is used to turn Acolyte Eye fire back against Swordbound Taken Centurions. After enough Runebound units are eliminated, a Swordbound Exemplar will spawn in, and must be defeated using a combination of all attacks in order to break their shield. The encounter ends if enough points have been accrued or if the timer runs out.

Neutrino Crystals

Similar to the Void Crystals from Crown of Sorrow, destroying Neutrino Crystals will build up energy over time and kill any Guardian not inside of a safezone, and also requires the teamwork of both non-buffed and buffed players to destroy. Around the arena, Neutrino Harvesters will hide until engaged and, upon their defeat, will drop the Destabilizing Neutrinos buff, allowing the player to pitch in in destroying the Neutrino Crystals. Unlike non-buffed players, however, when a buffed player damages a Neutrino Crystal, their tag on it lasts as long as the crystal is active or until a non-buffed player finishes it off. When enough Neutrino Crystals have been destroyed, a Crystalline Demolitionist will spawn in, alongside 6 other Neutrino Crystals. The encounter ends if 3 Neutrino Crystals detonate, if the timer runs out, or if enough points have been accrued.

Stolen Wells

Almost a hybrid between Blind Well and the Aura of Immortality mechanics from King's Fall, this encounter calls for keeping sanctums up by stealing auras of protection from Taken in this encounter. Upon beginning the encounter, a single safe haven will be present for the Fireteam, where the Guardians must hold down against their assailants. Over time, the sanctum will shrink until it vanishes entirely. Being out in the open too long will deal compounding damage similar to that of Touch of the Deep from Blind Well, but will damage to a point healing will not save a Guardian from death. In order to restore a new haven elsewhere, a Guardian defeat an encroaching Darkstalker Captain and retrieve their Ecliptic Mark, which must then be used to hunt down a Sanctum Thief, where then the Guardian must use their mark to strip them of their haven-bestowing-powers, also rendering the Wellspring Taken Knight vulnerable to damage. The buff will vanish with time, so the Guardian must be quick and restore a Haven at a designated location, creating a new safe zone for Guardians to retreat to when threatened with death. As the encounter progresses, Archaic Taken will assault the havens, requiring teamwork to dispatch. When enough havens have been restored, the fireteam must now face off against the Sanctum Scourge and the Sanctum Hoarder, where a Guardian can strip both bosses of their immunity and become the new havens to defeat the bosses. The encounter ends if there are no sanctums for an extended period, the timer runs out, or if enough points have been accrued.

Enemies

Vex - Sol Collective

• Harpy
  • Negation Harpy
• Imp Swarm (Lawless Update)
• Fanatic
  • Negation Fanatic
• Goblin
• Hobgoblin
  • Barrier Hobgoblin (Legend)
  • Resonant Hobgoblin
• Minotaur
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Darkshroud Minotaur
  • Overload Minotaur (Legend)
  • Reawakened Minotaur
  • Shepherd of Ages Present
  • Timeworn Minotaur
• Wyvern
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Darkshroud Wyvern
  • Shepherd of Ages Unseen
  • Timeworn Wyvern
• Hydra
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Negation Mind
  • Overseer of the Crossroads
  • Shepherd of Ages Past
  • Timeworn Hydra
• Cyclops
  • Convalescent Mind
  • Ritual Cyclops
  • Sentinel of the Gulf

Fallen - House of Dusk

• Shank
  • Exploder Shank
  • Fractal Shank
  • Heavy Shank
    • Demolitions Heavy Shank
    • Dusk Splicer Heavy Shank
    • Radioactive Heavy Shank
    • Voltage Eater
  • Tracer Shank
• Dreg
  • Fractal Dreg
• Wretch
• Vandal
  • Fractal Vandal
• Marauder
  • Oracle Harvester Marauder
• Corsair (Lawless Update)
• Captain
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Berserker, Dusk Splicer
  • Dusk Splicer Captain
  • Dusk Splicer Priest
  • Fractal Captain
  • Overload Captain (Legend)
  • Scorch Captain, House of Dusk
• Servitor
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Barrier Servitor (Legend)
  • Dusk Splicer Servitor
  • Fractal Servitor
  • Ionized Servitor
  • Oracle Harvester Servitor
• Security Turret
• Walker
  • Radioactive Brig
• Brig
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Radioactive Brig

Taken

• Acolyte's Eye
  • Vector of Whispers
• Taken Thrall
• Taken Psion
• Taken Goblin
• Taken Acolyte
• Taken Vandal
• Taken Hobgoblin
  • Overload Taken Hobgoblin (Legend)
• Taken Phalanx
  • Archaic Taken Phalanx
  • Unstoppable Taken Phalanx (Legend)
• Taken Minotaur
  • Archaic Taken Minotaur
  • Divided Minotaur
  • Neutrino Harvester
  • Swordbound Taken Minotaur
• Taken Knight
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Archaic Taken Knight
  • Blighted Swordbearer
  • Sanctum Thief
  • Swordbound Exemplar
  • Swordbound Taken Knight
• Taken Captain
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Archaic Taken Captain
  • Crystalline Demolitionist
  • Darkstalker Captain
• Taken Centurion
  • Acropolis Defender
  • Archaic Taken Centurion
  • Swordbound Taken Centurion
• Taken Wizard
  • Ascendant Hunter
  • Attendant of Whispers
  • Sanctum Scourge
• Taken Ogre
  • Devourer of Hidden Light
  • Engorged Ogre
• Taken Hydra
  • Sanctum Hoarder
• Chimera
  • Locus of Whispers

Bosses

• Komos, Exuberant Mind
• Astrapis, Overmind Harpy
• Odigos, Lord of the Acropolis (Legend)
• Trojan Shank, Instrument of Amriks
• Reltraks, High Priest of House Dusk
• Karkis-2, Will of Amriks (Legend)
• Bracus Vul, the Engulfed
• Vesikatos, Blighted Mind
• Tzeinakh, Servant of Ir Azok (Legend)

Rewards

Weapons

• Single.Deviant - Hand Cannon
• Leftover Reward - Pulse Rifle
• Ivory Tower Praetorian - Scout Rifle
• Testament Infinity - Sniper Rifle
• Cinder's Forge - Rocket Launcher
• Simplistic Conclusion - Sword

Armor

• Quantized Explorer Suit
• Quantized Juggernaut Suit
• Quantized Prowler Suit

Legend Rewards Only

• Praetorian's Ruin - Fusion Rifle, during Vex week
• Splicer's Desire - Machine Gun, during Fallen week
• Whisper of Grask - Shotgun, during Taken week

Triumph Rewards

• The Buried Stronghold - Complete a run of The Obsidian Acropolis on any difficulty
• Acropolis Conquered - Complete a run of the Obsidian Acropolis on Legend difficulty
• Obsidian Phaeton - 200 Data Shards slotted in Baryonic Data Sheaf
• Quantized Shell - All Legend bosses defeated

List of Appearances

• Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (First appearance)
  • Season of the Haunted
  • Season of Plunder
  • Lawless