Forum:The Black Garden (Twisted Fate)

The Black Garden is the first Raid in Destiny: Twisted Fate. After conquering Atheon in the Vault of Glass, the Guardians must push back the Darkness by invading the mysterious Black Garden to destroy the dark heart within, before a fanatical sect of Vex can use its power to unleash an unstoppable evil upon the solar system.

Bosses

 * Divisive Mind
 * The Consecrated Mind, Sol Progeny
 * Cleansing Mind (Miniboss)
 * The Sanctified Minds
 * Eschaton Mind, Sol Progeny
 * Primeval Mind, Sol Progeny
 * Imminent Mind, Sol Progeny
 * The Black Heart (Final boss)

Enter the Black Garden
Players begin the Raid spawning in the Lost Oasis on Mars, deep into Vex territory. The goal here will be to open the entrance into the Black Garden while fending off continuous Cabal and Vex forces. To activate the gate, players must run to and stand on two large Sync Plates on either side of the map to assemble a Spire in the center, which acts as a key. Players must stand continuously on their sync plates for an extended period of time while eliminating any adds that get close to assemble the Spire.

Phase 1
In order to first start the encounter, players must first clear out the Vex standing over one of the Sync Plates - sometimes Cabal. When both plates have been activated, they will be assailed by several large waves of Virgo Prohibition Vex with the occasional Cabal platoon. It is recommended that each plate be defended by teams of three.

Spawning with the continuous waves of Vex will be powerful and aggressive Minotaurs known as Praetorians, which will rush toward one of the plates. When a Praetorian successfully reaches a plate, they will lock it down, preventing it from being used to build the Spire until they are killed. Because of this, and because of their high durability, movement speed and damage output, it is recommended that Guardians kill Praetorians as soon as they are spotted. Squadrons of shielded Vex will also spawn around Praetorians that have successfully captured their plates to protect them.

After enough time and with enough enemies slain, the Spire will be fully assembled and will open the portal to the Black Garden....allowing an army of Sol Divisive to march out onto Mars through it.

Phase 2
Players will have to deal with an enormous wave of Vex emerging from the portal, shooting every single one of them until there are none left. One the initial waves of Vex are all cleared out, a large Hydra known as the Divisive Mind will materialize from the gate.

Immediately upon first spawning, two purple, diamond-shaped Oracles will appear high above each Sync Plate, which will lock down the plates and force Guardians to stand on them again to continuously keep them active. If both plates have been deactivated for too long, the Spire will disappear - along with all of the Sol Divisive Vex - and the portal will close once more, forcing players to repeat the entire encounter. The Oracles are encased within shields and thus cannot be damaged.

The Divisive Mind itself will rapidly shred through the health of any Guardians it bombards with its Aeon Maul, sending them flying backward with a shockwave should they get too close. It will also be accompanied by squads of ads, including explosive Harpies known as Supplicants, which will rush towards the nearest player and self-destruct, dealing tremendous damage. The Divisive Mind itself will be completely enclosed within a round shield that protects it from any damage. The shield will only lower when all of the surrounding ads are killed, thus opening the Hydra to attack until the next wave of Vex spawns in.

One player from each of the previous three teams will have to stay behind and stand on their respective plate to ensure it stays activated, while the remaining two members are tasked with clearing out each wave of ads along with the Divisive Mind, all the while keeping their attention off of the two sync plate defenders.

Once the Divisive Mind has been destroyed, the two Oracles above the plates will disappear and the gateway will remain open, allowing all six players to proceed into the Black Garden. As the boss is destroyed, a chest will also appear as a reward for finishing the first encounter.

Garden Descent
Upon arriving into the Black Garden, the fireteam will have to navigate through a series of tunnels and passageways containing large amounts of Vex, which will initially remain inactive until Guardians draw near. Some Champions, most commonly Overload Minotaurs, will also be encountered in these passages.

Upon exiting through the last tunnel, players will arrive onto a cliff overlooking the entirety of the Black Garden, where they will be able to see black tendrils of Darkness rising from the center in the distance. To progress forward, they must jump down into the chasm below them.

The fireteam will then arrive to a massive, bottomless chamber with several twists and turns. To cross the void they are able to leap across hovering platforms which periodically fade in and out of existence, as well as larger platforms attached to the ceiling of the chamber which don’t disappear. The room gradually and continuously stretches in a downward direction towards a massive cylindrical structure with a portal that the team must reach. While traversing the room, players must also watch out for Hobgoblins stationed on the larger platforms, Harpies flying in midair, and occasionally even Cyclopses floating on their own small platforms off to the sides.

Survive the Consecrated Mind
After crossing through the portal, players will arrive into a large open arena containing the Consecrated Mind of the Sol Progeny. The boss will not initially attack when players enter the arena, and instead can be seen doing....something to a Minotaur in the center of the room. Upon entering, a shieldless Hydra distinguishable with their white chassis known as an Angelic will spawn in either one of several different spots across the room. When this Hydra is killed, the barrier at the back right corner of the arena blocking off the next area will disappear, and the Consecrated Mind will then turn its attention to the intruding Guardians.

As the battle starts, the players must split into two teams of three; one team stays behind with the boss while the other proceeds ahead through the room that was blocked off by the barrier at the start. The team staying in the room with the boss will have the objective of ensuring that the entire fireteam doesn’t die. The Consecrated Mind will be invulnerable to all damage as it moves around the room, occasionally pausing to unleash a barrage of lasers from its Slap Rifles. As it does this, continuous waves of enemies will spawn, including Finalizers, which are special Fanatics that glow and sparkle green. If a player is caught in a Finalizer’s explosion or steps into the pool of radiolaria left behind, they will receive the Mark of Negation debuff and only have a few seconds before they are killed instantly by the Consecrated Mind’s Ritual of Negation.

The Consecrated Mind will also routinely summon a Voltaic Charge, which will resemble a small Conflux. A player must run over to the Voltaic Charge, where it will be absorbed into the Guardian’s body and they will be afflicted with the Voltaic Overflow debuff, which lasts for approximately twenty minutes. If no player has run over to a Voltaic Charge to absorb it in time, it will explode, wiping out the entire fireteam. After receiving the debuff, one player cannot pick up another Voltaic Charge until said debuff wears off, meaning it will have to be split evenly between the three teammates. Furthermore, if a player with the Voltaic Overflow debuff also receives the Mark of Negation from a Finalizer and then is eventually killed by the Ritual, the entire team will also be wiped from the resultant blast.

Second team in the next room, meanwhile, must progress through a large passageway loaded with enemies, including Champions, Supplicants and more Fanatics. At the end of the room will be another barrier blocking the way forward along with an Angelic guarding it. The Angelic will be surrounded by a spherical shield that will only lower when all of the ads in the chamber have been killed. Once this is done, the Angelic itself must be destroyed to lower the barrier.

Once the barrier lowers, the Consecrated Mind will teleport into the next room. At this point the team’s roles will have to be switched; one team stays behind with the boss to collect its Voltaic Charges, the other pushes forward and defeats the Angelic to unlock the barrier to the next room. This process will repeat for several times with the team roles changing each time.

Finally, all six team members will reunite at the penultimate room for the encounter, however the boss will not appear. Instead, there will be three barriers blocking progression into the next room and a massive horde of Vex ads, including Finalizers. There are three Angelics scattered across this room, and killing them will lower all three of the barriers, and the team will progress into the final room for this encounter.

They arrive onto a large walkway with an overhead view of the Garden. The boss will reappear once more and the team must chase after it, picking up all of the Voltaic Charges it spawns and running through the blasts of the Cyclopses that spawn on either side. Eventually when they reach the end of the room, the Consecrated Mind will flee through a portal and a chest will teleport in, signifying the end of the encounter.

Jumping Puzzle
After traversing through a cavern, the fireteam will arrive into another large bottomless chamber crawling with all kinds of foliage, this time with a pool of radiolaria beneath that will instantly kill anyone who falls. To cross the chasm, players must leap between platforms by bouncing on large flower-like objects. While there are no enemies, they will still have to be wary of pillar-like objects that will routinely burst from holes in the walls to launch players into the lake below.

The Cleansing Ritual
The fireteam will then arrive to a large, diamond-shaped arena, with a relay in the corner of each of the four points on the map. At the center of each relay is a Conflux and two Warp Gates on either side. The goal of the players will be to defend each of the confluxes from hordes of Vex that will attempt to sacrifice themselves to them. If enough sacrifices have been performed on any of the four confluxes, the entire team will be wiped. Initially, all six players will be prompted to defend the conflux at the first relay, before after enough waves, the east and west relays must also be protected, and then finally, all four relays at each corner of the map. To reach each relay in time, players must use the warp gates.

A large horde of Finalizers will also spawn after every few waves, and Angelics will also spawn routinely, making their way to one of the four confluxes. Like before, the Angelic will have an invincible shield over it that will only lower when all of the surrounding Vex at the relay it is in are killed. When the Angelic spawns at a relay, the warp gates will be locked down. It is imperative that players focus on destroying Angelics when they spawn, for when one successfully reaches a conflux, it will erect an electrical suppression field over it that causes any Guardians to take damage when they draw near the conflux, forcing them to the edge of the relay. After some time the Angelic will then sacrifice itself. If at least two Angelics manage to sacrifice themselves, the entire fireteam will be wiped.

Finally, after enough waves, all six players are directed to proceed to the center of the map, which contains another, larger relay. Here, they must fend off several large waves of enemies, including more Finalizers and multiple groups of Angelics. They will also face an enemy returning from the Vault of Glass: the Oracles, which will appear in several different spots around the relay with each wave. If not destroyed in time, these Oracles will kill all six players. At the final wave, a Major Hydra known as the Cleansing Mind will appear, accompanied by a squadron of Finalizers. Once all waves have been cleared, a final Oracle will appear directly over the conflux, and once it is destroyed, a chest will spawn in, signifying the end of the encounter.

Defeat the Consecrated Mind
After some time, a small white Conflux-like object will appear in one of several different spots around the central relay. Shooting this Conflux will cause it to disappear, and in its place the Consecrated Mind will reappear through a portal, beginning the encounter.

Once more, the players will have to split into two teams of three; one team stays in the center relay with the boss, while the other will be prompted to head to one of the four relays, which will be indicated by a white beam of light shooting up from the designated conflux.

At the indicated relay the second team must head to, Vex will once again attempt to sacrifice themselves to it, although this time they will be surrounded by immunity shields. A Major Minotaur, indicated by its glowing white aura, will also spawn at the start of the encounter. This Minotaur must be killed for it to drop an orb of Arc energy that must be carried and deposited to the target Conflux. Doing so will cause it to emit a pulse of light that will bestow the ‘Enlightened’ buff to any nearby players, allowing their weapons to break through the shields of the encroaching Vex and kill them. This buff will last only for 10 minutes, which is helped only by that the Minotaur needed to acquire it will constantly respawn. Angelics will also occasionally spawn among the continuous waves of Vex, as well as swarms of Supplicants from the sides pathways, both of which needing to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, the first team will be forced to fight off several waves of enemies, all the while evading the boss’ occasional barrage of laser fire. After some time it will once again create a Voltaic Charge, and one player must run over to it. This time, however, the moment a Guardian touches it they will be Detained. The boss will then float over to the detained Guardian and open up all of its fins, revealing six glowing eyes on them, three of the eyes being colored red and the other three blue. The detained player will only be able to see either the red or blue cluster of eyes, while any player will see all six lit up. The detained player must call out which set of eyes they see to shoot at (either red or blue), and if they are not shot enough in time, or if the wrong eyes are hit, the trapped Guardian will die.

Trivia

 * The Black Garden Raid is a mix of canon Destiny’s Garden of Salvation and Vault of Glass Raids, as well as the Black Garden final mission of vanilla Destiny.

List of Appearances

 * Destiny: Twisted Fate