Crown of Sorrow (raid)

The Crown of Sorrow is the latest Raid in Destiny 2, released in the Penumbra expansion. Taking place once more on the Leviathan, the Guardians are tasked by Emperor Calus to clear out his ship of a Hive infestation. At the center of this infest, the Guardians must contend with a terrifying foe, Gahlran, the Sorrow-Bearer.

The raid features Guardians moving through the Leviathan, as they tackle an onslaught of Hive hordes.

Layout

 * TBA

Bosses

 * Gahlran's Deception
 * Gahlran, the Sorrow-Bearer

Hive Ritual
There is a circular green pool of hive energy just inside the entrance of the first room of the Crown of Sorrow raid, alongside two blessed knights. Standing in this pool will grant any players inside of it the "Witch's Blessing" buff. After having the buff for 1 minute, players will receive the "Witch's Curse," causing the player to die shortly after. On the opposite end of the room, just in front of the large ravine, is a spherical crystal called the "Witch's Vessel". To kill the blessed knights, and any other blessed enemies that spawn throughout the encounter, players must have the Witch's Blessing buff. Inversely, non-blessed enemies can only be damaged by players who do not have the "Witch's Blessing" buff.

In order to get rid of the Witch's Blessing buff, blessed players must stand in a small radius near the Witch's Vessel (marked on the ground) and damage the Vessel at the same time (roughly) as a non-blessed player. Any players within the radius of the Witch's Vessel at the time that it is damaged by both a blessed and a non-blessed player will either lose their Witch's Blessing buff if they already had the buff, or gain the buff if they did not have the buff prior. Players will have to continuously swap between the two states by damaging the vessel, maintaining players of both states.

After a short time, three crystals will spawn in various locations around the room denoted by a distinct sound. There will always be one in the center of the room, one to the left of the Witch's Vessel, and one to the right of the Witch's Vessel. Each crystal requires damage from both a blessed and non-blessed player at roughly the same time in order to be destroyed. If any of the three crystals are not destroyed in a short period of time a team wipe will occur.

After destroying the crystals, more blessed and non-blessed enemies will spawn on both sides of the Witch's Vessel, alongside both a blessed and non-blessed mini-boss Ogre. After killing these Ogres another wave of crystals will spawn. When these crystals are destroyed the message "Ritual Phase Completed" Repeat this entire process 3 more times, for a total of 4 completed rituals, to complete the encounter.

Infiltrating the Kingdom of Sorrow
This encounter is a rather simple jumping puzzle utilizing the Witch's Blessing and Witch's Vessel from the previous encounter. Much like the previous encounter, there will be a green pool that will grant players the Witch's Blessing. After grabbing the Witch's Blessing, a crystal inside of a spherical shield will spawn. At least 1 blessed and 1 non-blessed player must enter the shield and damage the crystal at roughly the same time to destroy it.

After this crystal is destroyed, 3 crystals will spawn without a shield in the air in front of the raid group. These crystals must be damaged by both a blessed and non-blessed player to be destroyed. Once all 3 of these crystals are destroyed, small circular platforms will rise from the abyss and two more shielded crystals will spawn. Just like before, at least 1 blessed and 1 non-blessed player must enter the shield and damage the crystals to destroy them. Players will need to take caution and jump from platform to platform to advance.

This pattern repeats until a large platform rises with a Witch's Vessel in the center. Guardians must reach this platform and destroy the Witch's Vessel to swap their blessed states and create a checkpoint, keeping all platforms up until that point raised. This entire process of damaging shielded crystals, non-shielded crystals and destroying the Witch's Vessel is repeated two more times before reaching the end of the chasm.

Failing to destroy crystals in time, or being slow, will result in any platforms after the last checkpoint to fall and the team will die.

Gahlran's Deception
The team arrives into a triangular-shaped arena. Once everyone arrives to the middle, Gahlran will arrive at the top section of the arena and summon his Deceptions. One of these deceptions is the real one, the rest are fakes that will dissappear when the encounter starts.

The fireteam should split into 3 groups of 2, one group in each portion of the arena. Coordinate with your fireteam to find out which Deception is real. (This will prevent someone getting gimped by not being ready.)

There are three different responsibilities you must be aware of, depending on what side you are on.

If the real Deception is on your side, you must avoid him at all costs. One hit is fatal, with two being fatal only at around 740 and above. The tall pillars can be stood upon safely as long as the Wizard and Ogres that spawn won't kill you (explained below).

If you spawn with the pool of green light, you have the Witch's Blessing. One partner should grab it once the fake Deceptions dissapear. You must coordinate with your partner to swap the buff. There are swapping stations identical to those found in the first encounter and the jumping puzzle on the borders of the magic walls that now separate each side.

If you have neither of these, kill the adds that spawn as fast as possible.

The encounter itself begins when the Deception is "awoken" by one of them being hit. Waves of adds will spawn on all three sides, along with the aforementioned items above. The adds will usually be Acolytes and a Wizard. (If you are on the side with Witch's Blessing, the wizard will be Blessed and the Acolytes will not be.) There will be two waves of Acolytes and Wizards, after which an Ogre (also Blessed if you have the Blessing) will spawn. Take this ogre out on all three sides as fast as possible. Once all three ogres are dead, the side with the buff will transfer the buff to the side WITHOUT Gahlran's Deception. To do this, BOTH members of the side that started with the Blessing will stand in the circle, and ONLY ONE from the receiving side will stand in the circle. This will ensure that the original side can still kill the Blessed enemies, which will continute to spawn in the waves of adds after the first round of Ogres has been defeated. Repeat the add wave, killing the Ogres as quickly as possible. Once ogres are dead, have all six members of the fireteam make their way to the swap station along the wall currently separating one third of the stage from the other two. (The more Blessings you have, the longer the damage phase.) Have ONE Blessed member and one NON-BLESSED member step inside the shield and quickly melee the Deception. It is vitally important that all other Blessed members back away, as standing too close when the Deception's shield is broken will cause you to lose your buff and reduce the length of the damage phase. (Save Melting Point, Wells, etc for the final few shield breaks.) Once the Deception's shield is back up, repeat the process of breaking his shield with another Blessed member and a non-Blessed member. Once there are only two or three Blessed members left, deploy Wells and Melting Point to increase damage. (Blessed members CAN NOT do damage to the Deception while they hold the Witch's Blessing buff. This is why you should save the DPS enchancers until most members of the fireteam no longer carry a Blessing.)

Once all of the Blessed members have used their blessing, run to your sides and repeat the process until he is dead.

Gahlran, the Sorrow-Bearer
The encounter starts by shooting Gahlran starting in the segment with the rally banner. Players should remain in the same teams in the same segments as the last encounter. Both players will work together while one remains buffed and one remains non buffed. Each segment should assign their own witches vessel which they will always return to to switch buffs.

3 waves of hive will spawn close to Galhran's feet. Acolytes for the non-buffed player and a Knight for the buffed player. You should have enough time to kill all three waves on one "round" of buff. Periodically throughout this encounter shielded crystals will spawn in various places across the segments. These need to be cleared. When one is cleared the crystal will always move to the next segment clockwise.

After clearing the waves on two segments ogres will spawn. On the side without an ogre, a Gahlran's Deception will spawn. All segments get two cursed thrall that need to be dealt with. Players with the Deception should hit it at the same time. One with buff and the other without. Note here that if a crystal appears on your side prioritize it over the Deception as breaking the shield removes buff and then the crystal cannot be broken. One player should get buff by standing in their vessel and having another player with buff shoot from outside the vessel. The other player should shoot Galhran's green hand. He will slam an axe and destroy the deception. 3 Deceptions need to be killed to start the damage phase.

Once the damage phase starts each segment should look at Gahlran. He will raise his hands. Both players should shoot the left hand, right hand and then his face. This will either destroy Galhran or reveal the real one. All players should swap buff to reset the timer. Keep a watch for crystals as they can still spawn at this time.

Boss DPS is done by performing the same action of shooting Galhran's hands left to right and then the main DPS phase is shooting his face. Repeat the cycle of hands then face 2 additional times. However if you take too long breaking his hands the first time you will only get one addition chance at DPS.

With Swarm of the Raven and Tractor Cannon it is possible to one phase Galhran. However if not then as with the deceptions repeat the process again to access a second damage phase.

Strategies

 * TBA

New Mechanics

 * This raid contains a new and unique effect called "Witch's Blessing" which allows you to damage "blessed" enemies but does not allow you to damage non-"blessed" enemies while the player has the effect
 * If the timer for the effect "Witch's Blessing" runs out, the player will acquire a debuff called "Witch's Curse" that will cause the player to die after having it for a few seconds.

Trivia

 * The Crown of Sorrows is the third raid in the Destiny series where the Hive are the primary foe, after Crota's End and King's Fall.
 * Though the Hive is the main enemy encountered in the Raid, the final boss is actually Cabal.
 * This is the fourth Raid to take place on the Leviathan.
 * This is the first Leviathan raid where Calus does not provide any commentary.