Wrath of the Machine

"Where the Light ends, evolution begins."

- Mission description

Wrath of the Machine is the raid of the Rise of Iron expansion. It was unlocked on September 23, 2016, three days after the expansion's release.

Unique Enemies

 * Splicer Scorch Captain
 * Shock Captain
 * Null Captain
 * Shock Servitor
 * Scorch Servitor
 * Null Servitor
 * Voltage Eater
 * Rahndel, the Perfected

Bosses

 * Vosik, the Archpriest
 * Siege Engine
 * Meksis, Siege Engineer
 * Aksis, Archon Prime

Foundry 113
You will spawn outside the giant transport sphere that serves as a gateway into the lair of the Devil Splicers. Almost immediately, you should notice a number of white pillars of energy jutting up from the ground. These are voltage charges, which you need to accumulate and deposit in one of the generators, of which there are three - one directly ahead of where you start, and two further back to the left and right. Upon picking up a charge, you will have 15 seconds to find and pick up another for a maximum of four, otherwise you will die instantly when the timer runs out because the voltage will have been discharged by the boss that will be fighting soon. You respawn quickly, however. When someone deposits four charges in a generator, the boss, Vosik, the Archpriest, will enter the field. He will attack you with an arm-mounted Scorch Cannon throughout the encounter, but do not focus on him for now.

Divide yourself into teams of two to cover every generator and designate one of your team members as a runner to collect charges and deposit them in the generators, all while remembering to stay away from Vosik. While charges are being collected and while the generators are being defended, priority must be given to special enemies named Voltage Eaters, Fallen S.A.B.E.R. Void Shanks that will drain generators of their voltage if you let them get too close to them. They don't have a great deal of health so taking them out shouldn't be problematic, but you must kill them first and foremost.

Keep an eye out for Voltage Eaters and Vosik's positioning as you clear adds and drop charges in the generators. Once you have fully charged the generators, you will receive a notification that they are producing SIVA Charges, which all players must use. Pick these up and, using your melee button, hurl them at Vosik to drain his shield. These eat through his defenses rapidly, and with concentrated throwing you should get through his shield quickly. Even if you do that, however, don't stop using the charges - they do far more damage than any weapon you have, taking roughly one hundred thousand points off his health per charge thrown when his shield is down. Damage him as much as you can, then rinse and repeat when his shield regenerates, clearing adds, collecting charges and eliminating Voltage Eaters, then throwing the charges once they're generated.

Once Vosik has sustained significant damage, he will retreat and gradually warp inside the lair. Jump up through the open doors and onto the pipes through the central opening, and you will come across a chest that can potentially contain Exotic loot. From there, make your way through the narrow corridors beyond to enter the Splicer's Den.

Splicer's Den
Upon entering this area, you will immediately come across a jumping puzzle. There are a number of platforms you can use to reach the door at the end - be wary, however. Much like the Wretched Eye Strike, some of these platforms may give way beneath your feet, so keep on your toes. There are a couple of ways to the end, from using the platforms on the side and the overturned tank chassis to get to the end to climbing up to the rafters and jumping on from there, but the route is fairly straightforward. Just watch your jumps, stay alert for falling platforms and eliminate the light enemy resistance ahead, and you'll come to a red hallway that leads to a drop.

Continue, and fall down to the next room.

You will come to a walkway terminating at a large platform, two lanes either side of it, and a wall festooned with multiple monitors, as well as two rooms each at the upper and lower right and left areas of the stage. Approaching the platform triggers the encounter, and Vosik will warp in with his health and shield fully regenerated, and will start laying down suppressing fire with his Scorch Cannon. Priority must be initially given to mob clearance, so separate into teams of two for each lane and take out as many Splicer Dregs and Splicer Vandals as you can. After a short time, a trio of SIVA Charges will drop from dispensers on the ceiling - much like the first encounter, one player from each team must pick up the charge and throw it Vosik to drain his shield. It is advised you do so simultaneously for increased damage.

After the initial shield damage phase, focus must be placed on the wall of monitors. A screen will illuminate, and if it isn't destroyed within the next few seconds Vosik will trigger critical SIVA density, which will cause a wipe if you don't make it to a safe room in time, and which will greatly reduce the amount of potential damage you can do and use a safe room if you avoid dying regardless. Calling out the screen is imperative. After it has been destroyed, clear adds and wait for the second wave of charges, doing the same as before. Keep your eyes on the monitors after the charges have been thrown.

For the third wave of charges and onward, until either the critical SIVA density is triggered or Vosik's shield is destroyed, Splicer Captains will start spawning in with the mobs. Eliminate them swiftly - their toughness and damage output can torpedo your efforts. When you've thrown enough SIVA charges at Vosik to completely drain his shield, he will be stunned for a brief period. Damage him as much as you can, and amplify the damage with a Shadowshot if your team has a Nightstalker Hunter. In addition, charges will drop from above, and these can be thrown at Vosik to damage him further. After the damage phase has elapsed, Vosik will activate the critical SIVA density. To avoid it, you have to run into the lit room on the left or right hand side, with the room being called out beforehand, and shoot the glowing lock to activate a safe room. Ride out the attack, assume your previous positions, and rinse and repeat; whittle away at the adds and at Vosik's shield when the charges arrive as before, all the while watching the monitors.

When Vosik is below half health, numerous varieties of Splicer Shanks will begin drifting down from the ceiling. Destroy the Exploders first - both to stop them cold before they do serious damage, and to occasionally take out other Shanks in the blasts they create. When you kill Vosik, he drops rewards and a SIVA cache also appears on the middle platform. These rewards can include the raid boots, fusion rifle and shotgun.

Apex
Upon exiting the Splicer's Den, you will reach the top of the wall in which the Devil Splicers have holed up. Turning around once you get outside will reveal a giant Fallen assault battery lying immobile. Progress along the wall, being careful not to touch the sides as they are electrocuted, and being wary of fires across the area. Clear the handful of Splicers present and reach the barrier on the opposite side.

On doing so, a short cutscene will play and the Siege Engine will activate and begin advancing towards you, laying down fire with its Arc siege turrets. To be touched by it brings about near-instantaneous death, so do not venture near it. At the same time, a massive horde of Splicer Dregs and Splicer Vandals will spawn crawling up from pits in the floor, while Splicer Skiffs in the air provide fire support. Be as far back as possible to avoid Skiff fire. Two or three members of the team should prioritize mob clearance using appropriate classes and builds - Sunbreaker with Explosive Pyre, Stormcaller, Voidwalker with Bloom, Bladedancer with Hungering Blade, etc. You must also be careful of the gaps in the floor down which you can easily fall. The others, potentially bolstered by Weapons of Light, must focus on taking out the Siege Engine's turrets situated on either side of its head. When both turrets are destroyed, the head of the Engine will rip open, and more firepower must be poured into that wound. Once you have done sufficient damage, the Siege Engine will suffer a hull breach. The electrical field surrounding it will dissipate, and you must jump up onto the Engine itself to continue forward.

The Engine will knock the first barrier down - do not stand near the head when this happens, as the resulting explosion can potentially kill you if you are underleveled. You'll come across a Skiff in the distance, a handful of adds and a winding set of passageways riddled with mines. Race to the Skiff while being wary of its guns and its own arc mines, and kill the regular enemies and the Splicer Captain below it. After doing so, the Skiff will drop three items, the Engine Block, Warhead and Driveshaft and then leave. These items are crucial - they are components of the Siege Engine that you must transport back to it in order to repair it and continue.

Upon picking up one of the parts, you will receive the "Encumbered" debuff which lasts nine seconds that will greatly reduce your speed at the cost of you being able to carry the part around. After the timer has elapsed, you will then receive the "Exhausted" debuff, leaving you unable to carry a part for nine seconds. The team must juggle the parts between fresh and exhausted players, calling out the parts they carry, while simultaneously being wary of more Skiffs jumping in, Splicer Captains lining the way back that must be killed, and the mines. If at all possible, given room, one player should scout ahead and eliminate as many mines as possible in order to ensure that progress isn't slowed.

However, there is something else to factor in - as you advance, a Skiff will warp in behind the Siege Engine and dispatch a small boarding party. Among this group of enemies is a unique Major named Meksis, Siege Engineer. It is risky to charge ahead past the other adds and try and kill him first, but if he is not eliminated before he reaches the bridge of the Siege Engine, he will lock it down, retracting the ramp you need to climb up to deliver the parts. If you receive a notification that he has locked down the Engine, have people with effective shotguns and heavies or active Supers race over to where he is in order to kill him as quickly as possible so the ramp can be lowered.

As you do all of this, the Siege Engine is on a timer - failure to get at least one of its parts in place before the timer runs out results in it detonating, wiping the team. The extension you are offered if you get a part in place just before the timer passes is brief, so try and get there as quickly as possible without hindrance. Gjallarhorns, Raze-Lighters and high-end shotguns are effective at dispatching Captains, and Shadowshot, Stormtrance and Blessing of Light help immensely here for mob clearance and increased survivability. Be careful of the pitfalls, though. If you end up dropping a piece of the Engine down a hole, the run is unsalvageable, and the Engine immediately detonates.

Upon clearing the passageway and the adds, the parts must be placed. The Driveshaft goes in a receptacle to the right of where you climb up the ramp, the Warhead goes in a slot in the center, and the Engine Block goes in a port at the Engine's back right, or back left from the perspective of players. Once you have all three parts in place, the Siege Engine will move again, and you must ride it through the second barrier as before.

After the second roadblock is cleared, you will almost immediately notice that the wall terminates in a steep and sudden drop. Staying on the Siege Engine all the way down will guarantee your death, so get off it - or even hop off mid-fall, if you're a thrillseeker - and land carefully on the rocky outcroppings below, whereupon you'll find a chest and a SIVA cache next to it containing either the raid rocket launcher, an artifact, or gauntlets or a chestpiece. A Dormant SIVA Cluster is also located on a small platform on the opposite side of the place you land on, and a chest is hidden in the large pipe hanging overhead. Once you're done, head onwards, and after some light platforming, you'll subsequently enter the server farm.

Perfection Complex
Head down the outer walkway into the Perfection Complex, and jump down carefully. You will come to a nearly lightless room, and the boss encounter will not commence until a player steps into the swirling cloud of SIVA mites just ahead. When you do, the room lights up, and the raid's final boss - Aksis, Archon Prime - is revealed.

Coordination and communication are paramount across this entire encounter. As Aksis awakens, multiple adds will spawn soon after - Dregs, Vandals, and a Vandal Major on each lane. Organize the squadron into three groups of two, one for each sector, left, right and middle, and kill as many adds as you can, prioritizing the Major. Afterwards, a Scorch, Shock and Null Captain will spawn, one in each area and in a random order. The Captains are to be killed as quickly as possible, with heavies and shotguns being effective in dispatching them, and three players across the three teams pick up the cannons they drop. The other players are to guide the cannon-bearers to the Servitor they need to kill, which will spawn in whenever a Captain dies. They are Scorch, Shock and Null, they also appear in a random order, and they can only be harmed and destroyed by their corresponding cannon. They must be killed before reaching a red panel on their side, otherwise this will lead to Aksis initiating critical SIVA density that will lead to a wipe.

The players who are not holding the cannons need to pick up the SIVA charges that the Servitors drop and throw the charges at the glowing red panels that surround Aksis. When a cannon is dropped by a player, they receive a Charge Lockout debuff that prevents them from picking up a SIVA charge for 30 seconds. It is therefore vital that one player in every group of two is designated as a cannon user, and the other as a charge thrower.

This phase must be repeated three times: the first time, you need to throw two charges. The second time you need to throw three, and the third, where callouts are more vital than ever, requires seven charges thrown at all of the corresponding panels. After both the first and second phases, a large number of Shanks will descend down to the stage from openings above Aksis. Focus on killing as many as you can until the adds come again.

Throughout all phases the strategy remains the same, but in the third phase it is up to both cannon bearers and charge runners to call out the positions and elements of Servitors once the captains have been killed and their guns obtained. When all seven charges have hit the SIVA containment cores, Aksis seemingly dies - but the encounter isn't over yet.

A chest will spawn in the middle of the room that can contain an artifact or a Ghost shell. Aksis lies still, but the second phase of the encounter begins when his chestplate is shot off. Aksis will detach from the wall and fuse his body with a set of mechanical legs, gaining both the ability to teleport and the ability to attack you directly with his own cannon which launches both regular solar projectiles and clouds of SIVA mites that will damage players over time the longer they stand in them. There is a distinctive charging sound before each mite shot which gives you time to relocate. Be wary of where Aksis teleports to between the central, left and right platforms, shield yourself from his fire as best as you can, and dispatch the horde of Shanks that spawn. After a short while, Captains will spawn in again, and just like the first phase it's up to one player on each team to pick up the cannon and destroy the matching Servitor.

However, here is where things deviate from the first stage - as the Captains spawn, three random players will glow blue and receive an Empowered buff. The players with the Empowered buff cannot hold the cannons under almost any circumstance, as the Charge Lockout debuff will cripple your chances of effectively taking down Aksis' shield and stunning him afterwards. As the assignment is random, call out Empowerment, and where you are - if there is more than one player empowered on a certain side, have them swap places to a side that needs them, replacing a player that isn't empowered. While maintaining positions and clearing Shanks near the back on the right and left side, and hovering in between back middle and center middle for the center lane, the empowered players are to take the charges the Servitors drop and throw them at Aksis to destroy his shield. Meanwhile the cannon bearers are to drop their cannons at the middle in front of the stairs. Upon this being done, Aksis will teleport to one of four areas in the room - back right, back left, back middle or center middle. The nearest empowered player has roughly five seconds to jump on top of Aksis' glowing back and stun him, done by holding square for PS4 players and X for Xbox One players. This will leave him vulnerable and damage can be done, but do not use any hard-hitting weapons just yet. Empowerment also shifts with each stun and new players are affected - call out empowerment, where you are, and if any empowered players are needed on lanes that don't have them. Move quickly.

Aksis will do this twice more, and players must maintain their positions so they can stun him quickly. After the third stun, the true DPS phase begins - use the cannons to maximize your damage output, as well as tethers and Weapons of Light. The cannons alone do far more damage to Aksis than any gun in the game, but lay on heavy and sniper fire as fast and as hard as you can. After the third phase elapses, Aksis will trigger critical SIVA density, which you must avoid by retreating to one of the pillars of light in the back of the room, of which there are four in total. It is imperative that you must all gather on the same platform - if anyone else is on another platform by the time the wiping attack occurs, that platform will be used as well and there will be even less safe space to go to when Aksis tries to wipe again. Use the platform on the back left first, then use the others from there at the end of each new phase.

Again, the process needs to be repeated - clear adds continuously, call out and kill your Captains fast, have the cannon-bearers call out and eliminate the Servitors, have the Empowered players throw the SIVA charges at Aksis while holding position around the left, middle and right, and stun him as quickly as possible after he teleports, with players being sure to call out empowerment and where empowered players are needed if there is more than one in a certain area. Repeat this process, using the pillars at the back to shield you from the wipe.

Once you have got Aksis down to 5-10% health, he will warp to the middle of the arena and initiate a self-destruct sequence in a last-ditch effort to kill you. Open up on him with everything you have to kill him before he wipes you - high-impact snipers, machine guns and the Simulant or Gjallarhorn are your best options for this phase. If sufficient damage is done, Aksis should fall dead, and you will have conquered the raid. Aksis will drop loot and there will be another SIVA cache, and you can get the raid auto rifle, scout rifle, helmet or class armor. In addition, for players who have fulfilled all the prior steps, a passageway will open up below, not far from the platform you dropped down onto at the start, which leads to a well-hidden exotic chest, and the start of the quest for the Outbreak Prime Exotic pulse rifle.

Congratulations!