Forum:Xol, Will of the Thousands

Xol, the Binding Worm is one of the five Worm Gods, ancient beings second only to the Darkness itself in the hierarchy of the Hive pantheon. He leads the Grasp of Nokris, and is the main antagonist of the Warmind expansion as well as the final boss of the Spire of Stars Raid Lair.

History
Xol originated as one of the great Worm Gods trapped beneath Fundament by the Leviathan, who helped orchestrate the rise of Oryx, the Taken King and the corruption of the Hive precursor race. At some point prior to the events of Destiny 2, he became trapped under the Hellas Basin of Mars.

Primary Attacks
Xol's main method of attack is a stream of Void bolts fired from his eye; these bolts inflict a highly-damaging poison effect upon contact. Occasionally, he will charge up a massive Void blast projectile that leaves behind a large energy dome upon detonation, which inflicts a temporary debuff that decreases Light-based ability damage by a significant margin. When faced at close range, Xol releases a shockwave which sends forth multiple corrosive fumes that briefly reduces Guardian resilience and recovery by 100%.

Sword Logic
Xol, immune to all weapons and resistant to abilities, will bind to all Guardians, creating a link that will briefly slows them to a crawl, before they are infected with a Hive Worm. Infected Guardians have 30 seconds to kill unique Major Vanquishers called Soulfire Guards, which are armed with Splinters instead of Cleavers and use shield bashes to knock targets back at close range; no attempts to kill them will lead to death within that time frame. Killing a Soulfire Guard gains the player one stack of the "Ascension" buff, and resets the timer on their infection; these stacks are not shared with the fireteam. Earning 5 stacks of this buff will get rid of the infection, and the buff will change from "Ascenion" to "Ascended", which grants 300% increased weapon damage. Once all the Soulfire Guards have been slain, Xol will use Darkness Links to project a giant sphere of dark matter that will charge up a devastating blast that will instantly kill every Guardian in the field. The link generators are found in random spots around the arena; standing near these generators causes a short suppression effect until they are destroyed. Once the generators are done, the sphere drops on Xol, removing his defenses for 25 seconds, making him fully vulnerable to all damage.

Shadowrifts
Xol's tactics change once he reaches 50% health. He will unleash a pulse wave that will decrease the player's current Power Level by 25% for the remainder of the encounter, and the surround himself in a Darkness cloud which will protect him from all incoming damage for the rest of the fight; the only damage he can take at this time will come from the giant Darkness spheres. Entering the cloud inflicts a poison effect that also drains ability charge if it is not exited. Before killing the Soulfire Guards, Xol will summon Shadowrifts that must be closed; being in the presence of a shadowrift inflicts the "Shadow Touched" debuff as it brings out more Hive reinforcements. They are closed by standing on the glyph plates and shooting the surrounding crystals. Closing the rifts will summon Severing Knights, who drop their Ascendant Sword Relics upon death. These swords are used to kill the Soulfire Guards, which can now only be killed with the swords.