Taniks, the Scarred

"Taniks has no House. He kneels before no banner, owes allegiance to no Kell."

- Variks, The Loyal

Taniks, the Scarred is an infamous Fallen mercenary that worked for the House of Wolves during the Wolf Rebellion, though he will hire himself out to any House. He is encountered in The Shadow Thief Strike as well as the Deep Stone Crypt Raid.

Biography
"He is a murderer...and very good at what he does."

- Variks, the Loyal

Taniks was once a Dreg in service to a Kell who docked his arms on a regular basis. Having built himself prosthetic arms he would kill the Kell with his own bare hands. Renouncing his House and their bygone traditions, Taniks had since garnered himself a reputation as an undying huntsman among the Eliksni. His physical body would become further augmented by a mixture of technologies pilfered from legendary treasure troves to the extent he was considered more machine than Fallen.

Taniks became inspired as a Fallen mercenary after the accomplishments of Sekris, Baron of Shanks, whom he modeled his own brutality after.

He would later become acquainted with the infamous Eramis, the Shipstealer at some point and even presumably follow her to battle at Twilight Gap.

Vanguard Dare
"Taniks didn't announce himself. Didn't say a word. Just laughed a few times and tried like hell to kill us all. But we knew it was him. The stories matched the story, ya know? Which meant the boogeyman had a face—the boogeyman was REAL."

- Cayde-6

During the early City Age, Taniks sought to claim the bounty on an infamous crew of Hunters, including Andal Brask, Shiro-4, and Cayde-6. During a mission where Andal led to raid one supply cache while Cayde, Shiro, Nian Ruo, and Lush hit another, the Fallen mercenary ambushed Nian and Lush; murdering the former and destroying the latter's Ghost before they escaped. Even Osiris and the Speaker had brought in Saint-14, an infamous Guardian known amongst the Fallen, to find and kill the mercenary himself.

Despite their losses, Andal and the others decided to personally hunt down Taniks in retaliation. One night, Andal and Cayde stayed up late drinking and decided to make a Vanguard Dare, as the position of Hunter Vanguard had been empty for two years following Kauko Swiftriver's disappearance. They decided that whoever failed to kill Taniks would have to become the new Hunter Vanguard while the winner would live the life of a free Hunter. Taniks was killed twice by Cayde's hand; leading Andal to become the new Hunter Vanguard while Cayde continued to enjoy life as a free Hunter.

However, Taniks survived both his encounters with Cayde after his crew rebuilt him back from the dead. He then proceeded to murder Andal in cold blood, to which Cayde took up the mantle of Hunter Vanguard in memory of his fallen friend.

Prison Breakout
"You'd choose Aksor over the Shipstealer?! Eramis, who led the charge at the Final Attempt? Who hurled herself at the wretched Lightbearers, who moved so quickly I would've sworn she had eight arms? When your pathetic Winter-ones followed in her footsteps, they had to wade through the flood of life-force she left in her wake. And still you wonder why I refuse my house-pledge. You could conquer the system, but you'd rather adhere to these arbitrary customs. Aksor belongs to Winter, and Eramis does not."

- Taniks, the Scarred Taniks would later be hired out by Draksis, Winter Kell of the House of Winter to break Aksor, Archon Priest out from the Prison of Elders. Taniks would take the job charging twice his usual price out of anger; having a missed opportunity to free the fiercest of the imprisoned Eliksni including Eramis, the Shipstealer.

Wolf Rebellion
"I remember Taniks from the Reef Wars. Many Awoken dead. Clever, clever creature."

- Variks, the Loyal

Hired by the House of Wolves, Taniks would lead the Wolf-born Fallen to plunder the Hellmouth before a fireteam of Guardians, sent by Variks, arrived to kill him. Taniks, relishing at the challenge of the Lightbearers, would briefly engage them before retreating aboard his Ketch. As the fireteam pursued the mercenary through his ship, Taniks calls upon the Wolves to unleash their military might and impede their progress by sending waves of Fallen, including a Walker upon them. With tremendous effort, the Guardians destroyed the Walker and wiped out their enemies before cornering Taniks as he issues orders and taunts the fireteam in Fallen dialect. He is eventually killed much to Variks' delight.

SIVA Perfected
During the aftermath of the SIVA Crisis, the Devil Splicers had rebuilt the Fallen mercenary into a SIVA-enhanced version titled Taniks Perfected.

Nightmare of Isolation
"Years ago, Taniks tore the Vanguard apart over a mere bounty. Andal Brask was murdered in cold blood, and the Hunter Vanguard was left without a leader. Taniks would ultimately die on the orders of Cayde-6. But the scars he left among all Guardians would never fully heal. Once again, the Pyramid takes advantage of our collective pain. We will not succumb."

- Eris Morn

Taniks's infamy among the Guardians would carry on, as his form would be taken as a Nightmare that the Guardians would face in the newly discovered crimson fortress on the moon. The Nightmare of Taniks, the Scarred, representing the Essence of Isolation, would be hunted down by Guardians sent by Eris, as she needed the essence to forge armor needed to resist the Nightmares and breach the Pyramid.

Beyond Light
"There is evidence of Fallen giving themselves to technology. Becoming other—becoming more—as they marry their physical selves to enslaved mechanics. The mercenary Taniks is one example—more machine than Fallen now, an abomination in the eyes of traditional Fallen belief."

- Excerpt from "A Blind Eye Towards Tomorrow"

Five years after his demise, Taniks' corpse was recovered by the House of Salvation led by Eramis, Kell of Darkness. Having uncovered the Deep Stone Crypt during their tenure at Europa, Taniks was rebuilt utilizing resources found at the site. The deaths of Phylaks and Praksis would prompt Eramis to retaliate against The Guardian that killed them, ordering Atraks, the Wildcard to return to the Crypt and prepare Taniks' body as their biggest trump card against them.

Later, in an ongoing raid upon the Deep Stone Crypt, a fireteam of Guardians would discover to their horror that Atraks-1, Fallen Exo having reawakened Taniks yet again, who immediately begins angrily banging on a window in Clarity Control after spotting them. After Atraks-1 was killed, Taniks breached the control room of the Morning Star Station; an act that would prompt the Clovis-AI to activate the orbital station's nuclear descent protocol and decimate Europa upon impact. The team of Guardians managed to disarm the station's nuclear protocol just as the Morning Star descends to the surface, leaving Taniks to seemingly perish when the station broke apart upon reentry. At the crash site Restricted, However, Taniks survived the impact by merging himself with a Heavy Shank at the last minute, and re-emerges as a monstrous hybrid now dubbed Taniks, the Abomination once the fireteam goes to investigate a pile of rubble. Desperate to succeed where he had repeatedly failed years ago, Taniks puts up a last stand in the crash site, but is finally dismantled for good at the hands of the fireteam.

Personality and Traits
Taniks is a lawless murderer with no moral code, ethics or even loyalty but to the highest bidder. As a mercenary, he is ruthlessly driven and bloodthirsty to fulfill his given contract by any means necessary. Not wanting to fight for Glimmer however, Taniks seeks to hone his skills in combat for fun and relishes the challenge against his enemies in blood and battle. He especially holds killing Guardians such as Andal Brask to a high standard as he considers them trophies of conquest.

He also worships machinery to the extent that he augments himself with new technologies from his exploits, including salvaged tech from the Fallen, Vex, and Humanity. This is believed to be out of necessity according to Eris Morn, whom she identified the mercenary as a survivor much like herself.

Strike
He and his Ketch, Kaliks-Syn, are found on the Moon. Unlike most Fallen commanders, he is armed with a Scorch Cannon, which he uses with devastating effect. With this weapon, he can effectively hold down an area at any range. In addition, he will smash the ground if a Guardians wanders too close to him. Like many Captains, he can teleport. Unlike most Captains, though, he can teleport long distances. He uses this to avoid being defeated in one confrontation, requiring players to wear down his health until he can be cornered.

Raid
Phase 1: Descent

After successfully navigating the space-walk portion of the Morning Star, the fireteam will find Taniks at the station's command deck about to plunge the station into Europa. The encounter can be started by shooting Taniks. Taniks takes no damage during this encounter - the goal is to survive the Descent. To do this, sets of nuclear cores need to be deposited into the correct bins in order to prevent a wipe.

The Guardian can pick up a nuclear core from one of four terminals around the room - one on the far left wall, one on the far right wall, and one on each side of the upper catwalk. Holding on to a nuclear core gives the Guardian increasing ticks of Radiation - once Radiation hits x10, the Guardian will die, and the core will be dropped on to the ground. If the nuclear core is not picked up from the terminal, or from a dead Guardian's body in time, the core will explode and cause a wipe. Guardians can take nuclear cores from each other by interacting - given how often the runs have to be made, it is advised that Guardians either carry their cores halfway to a bin and then swap with a partner, or simply alternate who deposits the cores each time.

The Operator and Scanner augments return from the previous two encounters and spawn on Hacker Vandals in the same manner. The Operator's role this time is to shoot a glowing red panel next to the nuclear core spawn terminals. This will prevent a nuclear core from spawning, so only two are in play at any given time instead of three. More experienced teams may wish to ignore the Operator augment in order to complete the encounter faster. The Scanner augment simply locates which bin the nuclear cores will be deposited in - these bins are located in the center of the room, and the correct ones will glow yellow. If the Operator augment is being used, only two bins will be glowing - if not, a third one will eventually also appear.

New to the encounter is a third augment known as the Suppressor, which is blue. Located directly in the middle of the room, and the elevated platforms on the left and right, are three white and yellow security drones. Once the nuclear cores have started to spawn, the Suppressor will stand under each drone and shoot Taniks, who will be glowing blue. Once the Suppressor has shot Taniks from each drone, he will be stunned, and the nuclear cores will be able to be deposited into their bins. Failure to suppress Taniks will keep the nuclear core bins locked, with the runners unable to deposit the cores into them.

Each time Taniks is suppressed, he will randomly deactivate one of the three augments, meaning the Guardian cannot use it for a time. The afflicted Guardian should then deposit their augment into one of the augment machines scattered around the room, and another Guardian should pick it up and take over their role.

The remaining three Guardians without an augment will be in charge of killing the waves of enemies that spawn, as well as running the nuclear cores to the correct bins. Overload Champions are present in this encounter so appropriate mods are advised. Since there is no damage phase, load-outs that prioritize mob-clearing and survivability are recommended.

Once 12 total nuclear cores have been deposited (indicated by the lights on each bin, with one light corresponding to two cores), the Crypt AI will indicate that the nuclear descent protocol has been deactivated, and a hatch in the middle of the room will open. The fireteam must jump down and quickly make their way to the escape pod before the ship crashes into Europa.

Phase 2: The Abomination

After the fireteam stumbles out from the wreckage and collects their loot, they will find themselves returned to the entrance of the Deep Stone Crypt, now littered with the remains of the Morning Star. Taniks will be found in the middle, under a pile of rubble, and upon shooting him to start the encounter, he will have now been fused to a Heavy Shank and be capable of flight.

Before the encounter starts, the fireteam should familiarize themselves with the layout of this encounter. The area is divided into four sections - the spawn side immediately in front of the raid banner, the orange/building side, the blue/ruined side, and the center where Taniks is. Each side except the middle has two nuclear core bins, and the fireteam should designate some method of identifying these. The objective for the encounter is to deposit a set of nuclear cores into the bins in order to be able to damage Taniks.

Once the encounter starts, Taniks will once again be immune to damage, and will shoot at the Guardians continuously. Hacker Vandals will spawn amongst waves of enemies - the Suppressor Vandal will spawn on the orange side, the Scanner Vandal on the blue side, and the Operator Vandal on the spawn side. The fireteam should divide themselves into three teams of two, with each team taking a side and being in charge of one augment respectively, with an active and a backup. The Scanner will start by identifying which two nuclear core bins are glowing and relay this information to the fireteam.

Shortly afterwards, Taniks will move to one of the sides without a glowing nuclear core bin, and will start to rain purple meteors on to the arena - these should be avoided. As Taniks is doing this, the engines of his lower-half will be exposed. The Guardians should shoot two of these engines in order to spawn nuclear cores. These cores should then be picked up and taken to the corresponding nuclear bins identified by the Scanner. It is recommended to run these particular cores in a tag-team format, swapping halfway. The four runners will be the two Guardians on the Scanner team, the backup Suppressor and the backup Operator - the Operator and Suppressor will be occupied with other tasks.

The Operator now has an additional task during the running period. Taniks will target one of the Guardians holding a nuclear core and encase them in a purple sphere. The Operator must then shoot the circles rotating around the sphere in order to free their team-mate. It is imperative that the Operator frees their team-mate quickly as their Radiation stacks will continuously build the longer it takes for them to be freed.

The Suppressor has the same role from the Descent encounter, and each side will have its own set of three security drones to shoot Taniks from. Taniks can only be suppressed once the cores have started to be ran, so the Suppressor will need to be fast. It is also recommended to either wait for Taniks to encase runners twice with his purple spheres, or for both runners to reach their respective bins, before the Suppressor suppresses Taniks - this is because Taniks will once again deactivate an augment upon being suppressed, so if the Operator becomes deactivated and cannot free their team-mate in time, this can cause a wipe.

Once the nuclear cores from all four of Taniks' engines have been deposited into their respective bins, Taniks will migrate to the middle of the arena to begin the damage phase, creating two spheres of swirling debris around him. In order to do damage, the fireteam must position themselves between the two spheres - too close to Taniks and they will take damage from his lightning, too far away or outside of the sphere and he will remain immune, or the Guardians will be hit by the rotating debris. Half-way through the damage phase, Taniks will slam himself into the ground, causing the fireteam to be sent into the air and outside of the sphere - they must carefully re-enter the sphere by either jumping over or waiting for the debris to pass, and continue damaging Taniks. If Taniks has not been pushed to final stand, the damage phase will end, and the encounter will repeat, with four more nuclear cores needing to be deposited. The fireteam has three damage phases until Taniks enrages.

Once Taniks has been pushed to his final stand, he will teleport from the middle of the arena to one of its sides. The fireteam should continue to damage him as he teleports around. Once he has teleported five times, he will wipe the group if he is not killed. Upon killing him, the Deep Stone Crypt will have been completed, and the Guardians can approach the final chest to spend their Spoils of War on gear and weapons from the raid.

Trivia

 * Taniks' cloak is orange and features an insignia not belonging to any known House. Whether it belongs to the House Taniks originates from, or is unique to Taniks himself, is unknown. It is also a random strike-exclusive Legendary drop for the hunter.
 * Taniks' is one of three Fallen Ultras found with Scorch Cannons, the others being Skolas and Vosik.
 * Taniks is one of the only Fallen enemies to kill a high authority of the Last City.
 * He leads his own group of loyal Fallen called Taniks' Crew.
 * He is the first Strike Boss to become a Raid Boss.
 * Taniks is believed to have once been a member of an extinct Fallen house called the House of Scar.
 * According to the flavor text of the Legendary Auto Rifle Does Not Bow, Taniks was punished with docking by his Kell; subsequently he built his first mechanical arms and took revenge.
 * It is suspected that Taniks was infused with darkness from the statue in the crypt, for he used void and arc energy in the raid.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * House of Wolves
 * The Taken King
 * Rise of Iron
 * Destiny 2
 * Curse of Osiris
 * Forsaken
 * Shadowkeep
 * Beyond Light