‘Destiny’ Crota’s End Hard Mode: What’s Different, New, And More Difficult

Hard Mode finally hit the Crota’s End Raid in Destiny on Wednesday. Bungie flipped the switch for both PlayStation and Xbox players who quickly took and defeated the new mode in a race to be first. There are a few tricks that the developer added to the raid to make it more difficult beyond just raising the level from 32 to 33. Come find out what’s in store.

First, congratulations to the “One and Done” fireteam for being the first to complete Crota’s End Hard Mode. They completed it with four level 32s and two level 31s (unless somebody swapped out armor) proving that the mode is not limited.

Bungie User Research has confirmed the World First finishers for the Hard Mode version of Crota’s End. One and Done. pic.twitter.com/jRxFsUcPxN

— Bungie (@Bungie) January 21, 2015

Now, on to what is different. Bungie did more than just scale enemies. They made things generally more difficult and added new enemies to deal with as well.

General

All enemies are level 33 throughout Crota’s End

Revives are not available. Once you are down, you are out until the section you are in is completed or your fireteam wipes

Part 1: The Abyss

• Thralls will not flinch even if you use a weapon that causes flinching like the MIDA Multi-tool
• The Cursed Thralls and Ogress are Majors (Yellow bar)
• The Weight of Darkness still maxes out at 10, but appears to increase faster
• The first chest will only drop for you once. You don’t get a loot drop in Normal Mode and Hard Mode.

Part 2: The Bridge

• Thralls do not flinch and are more aggressive.
• The Cursed Thralls and Ogres are Majors (Yellow bar)

Part 3: The Hallway to Ir Yut

• Shriekers will respawn.
• Possibly a third Shrieker has been added

Part 4: Ir Yut, The Deathsinger

• Thralls do not flinch
• Cursed Thralls are Majors
• Like the Abyss chest, no loot drop if you already completed this section on Normal Mode

Part 5: Crota’s End

• There is no Chalice. That means there is no ability to heal unless you use something like the Red Death or Suros Regime Exotic Rifles or armor perk that allows you to heal when you pick up orbs.
• All Knights are Majors
• A Wizard Major spawns in place of the Sword Knight that would jump from the side ledges onto the platform where Crota stands.
• Gatekeeper Knights now spawn with the Swordbearer Knight. Apparently, it is not required to take him down though as one group was able to beat Crota while ignoring the Gatekeeper.
• The enrage timer for Crota appears to have been shortened. By how much and if there are any special circumstances are still be looked at.

Please check out this guide for completing Crota’s End on Normal Mode and all of the encounters in the raid. You can check out all of the new loot drops for Hard Mode here.

Thanks to Datto Does Destiny and Dads of Destiny for providing streams to watch. Also thanks to the Destiny subreddit and Slippery Sherpa for additional tips and confirmation.

[Image via Bungie]