‘Destiny: The Taken King’ Raid Dated, Court Of Oryx Detailed As Escalating Boss Fights


The final Destiny: The Taken King reveal took place Wednesday with Bungie’s dive into the Court of Oryx during a Twitch livestream. The developer dropped details on the new public events that will be found there along with how PlayStation and Xbox players will obtain swords and when they will gain entry into the King’s Fall Raid.

Opening the Raid

The wait for the King’s Fall Raid will not be that long and will be nicely timed. Destiny: The Taken King launches on Tuesday, September 15. The new raid comes just three days later on Friday, September 18 starting at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. You can bet that groups of hardcore Destiny players will be waiting in orbit for the raid to go live.

What little of the King’s Fall Raid was shown revealed a mix of the platforming elements that made Vault of Glass so well loved.

Swinging Swords

Bungie finally showed off and spoke towards the addition of Swords as an equipable item in Destiny. These were only special pickups during certain special events and the Crota’s End Raid. The Taken King will make them the third weapon type that can be equipped in the Heavy Weapon slot, however. Destiny players will not be able to obtain swords through the usual means of loot drops or end of mission rewards, according to Bungie. They can only be forged or earned by completing quests.

An Exotic Sword called the Raze Lighter was demonstrated during The Taken King livestream. I previously covered the addition of swords here, and the livestream matches the original tease that it can be used to block elemental attacks different from its own. Here are the different perks and abilities for the Raze Lighter:

– Base perk: Solar-Forged Guard – Use L2/LT to guard. Effective against Arc and void attacks, less effective against Solar attacks.
– Column 1 perk: Tempered Light – Increased Armor while wielding the sword.
– Column 2 perk: Scabbard – Increased Sword ammo capacity.
– Column 2 perk: Thrive by the Sword – Kills with the sword grant Super energy.
– Column 3 perk: Phoenix Uppercut – Use R2/RT to launch into a Solar Light uppercut.
– Column 4 perk: Warrior of Light – Increased damage for your R2/RT attack.

Destiny: The Taken King - Raze Lighter (PlayStation, Xbox)

Court of Oryx

The Court of Oryx is a new public event space in the Dreadnaught that gives Destiny players a new spin on the arena experience first provided by Prison of Elders. In this case, players can summon three tiers of bosses using runes. Fortunately, it sounds like there are multiple bosses possible at each tier so that you won’t face the same one over and over.

The Runes needed to summon the Court of Oryx bosses are found throughout different activities in Destiny. For example, “Antiquated Runes” are used to start the Tier 3 boss fight and are possible loot drops from the Tier 2 boss, Nightfall Strike, and Raids.

– Tier 1 – Random Boss with unique mechanics at level 36
– Tier 2 – Two random Tier 1 Bosses, enemies boosted to level 41
– Tier 3 – Not shown but will be at the same level as a Raid Boss

The Tier 2 enemies at level 41 is one level above the new max character level of 40. Creative Director Luke Smith explained that the level difference won’t be as severe this time thanks to splitting the light level from a character’s overall level.

This matches with the original assumption that the light level in Destiny will give players a smooth and gradual damage cure instead of the sharp staircase like jumps currently in place.

Multiple Fireteams of three can enter the Court of Oryx to take on the boss. Events in the area will not start until the entire Fireteam is present, but the events will support up to three Fireteams at the same time. The team that summons the event will receive the most rewards, however.

[Images via Bungie]

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