Vault of Glass

Vault of Glass is a raid located in Ishtar Sink, Venus. It first became available on September 16, 2014.

The Spire
There are three Sync Plates that must be activated and protected simultaneously. The best way to do this is to split the fireteam into three groups of two members each and have each group activate and protect one plate. The plates can be activated by standing in the circle for a few seconds. Once the plate is activated, the Guardians do not need to remain inside it, but must defend it from Vex (only Praetorians can take control of Sync Plates, but other Vex will spawn as well). Each zone has line-of-sight of each other, so it is possible to provide support for the other groups if they are having a tough time. The plate at the top near the entrance is typically the easiest to defend, so the two group members who are defending the top Sync Plate should help the others when possible. However, one member should always stay at the top. Praetorians, (upgraded Minotaurs), will spawn with Void shields here and attempt to retake the sync plates; they must be prevented from entering the circles. They will be accompanied by other Vex units, but only the praetorians pose a threat to the plates.

While all 3 plates are held by the guardians, a spire will slowly form on a platform opposite the vault door. If a sync plate is retaken by a Praetorian it will reverse its growth and deteriorate until the plate is returned to guardian control. The guardians must control all the plates for two minutes for the spire to fully form.

After the Spire has formed, a beam of light will shoot from it, opening the Vault of Glass. The fireteam can then enter.

Confluxes
After the first chest and some light platforming, the fireteam will come to a ledge. Dropping down from it will spawn The Templar. At this point, he cannot be damaged. There will be a Conflux where the team lands that the group must defend from waves of Vex. It looks similar to the spire that was built in the first part of the raid. If four Vex sacrifice themselves to the Conflux, the fireteam will all be killed ("wiped").

In addition to the normal Vex, special enemies called Fanatics will appear, distinguishable by their green aura. When a Fanatic is killed, a green puddle will appear on the ground that must be avoided until it dissipates. Walking into the puddle will mark the Guardian with a debuff called the Mark of Negation. The Templar will occasionally use an attack called "Ritual of Negation" that will kill all marked Guardians. In order to get rid of the mark, affected Guardians must cleanse themselves by walking into the fountain of light in the middle of the stage.

After the conflux has been defended for a while, it will disappear. The Templar will then summon its legions, announced with an onscreen message to that effect. This will spawn a large number of Fanatics and a few major Harpies. Once all of these enemies have been killed, or a certain amount of time has passed, two new confluxes will appear, one on each side of the area. Once again, they must be defended against approaching Vex, and four sacrifices on either conflux (counted separately) must be prevented.

Once the two confluxes have been defended, the Templar will summon its legions again, and then the whole cycle repeats itself a third time with three confluxes in play. After defeating the third legion, the fireteam proceeds to the next phase.

Oracles
After all the Confluxes have been successfully defended, the team will receive the objective "Destroy the Oracles." Throughout this phase, the Templar will spawn waves of Oracles, which look like yellow orbs of light. There are seven locations Oracles can appear: three on the left side, three on the right side, and one in the center. They cannot move or directly attack the player. Oracles make a distinctive chime sound when they spawn; each location can be identified by their specific pitch, which is previewed at the start of the phase.


 * C: Center of the stage across from the cleansing fountain ("center").
 * D: Left side of the stage on the top of a small flight of stairs behind the left conflux ("front left").
 * E: To the right of the center oracle ("front right").
 * F♯: Left side of the left conflux area next to a small edge wall ("left").
 * G: Back right corner of the right conflux area ("right").
 * A: Left of The Templar's platform ("back left").
 * B♭: Right of The Templar's platform ("back right").

They will be supported by other Vex units and Hobgoblins that spawn on the platforms that surround the area. Once the Oracles spawn, the players must quickly kill them all within 10-15 seconds. If any Oracles survive for too long, all living players will receive the Mark of Negation and must cleanse themselves or be killed by the Templar's ritual. When seven waves (each of which spawns increasingly more Oracles) are dispatched, the next phase will start.

The Templar
A relic will spawn in the middle of the room. One Guardian can pick up the relic, which will give that guardian a shield weapon while it is held. While holding the relic, the player will only have access to melee attacks. The relic-holder will have three types of melee attacks: the melee button will perform a quick dash that deals minimal damage in exchange for high speed, the fire button will perform a stronger dash attack with a longer range that deals massive single-target damage and is capable of killing all enemies barring Praetorians instantly, and pressing the fire button in midair will perform an AOE ground slam attack that deals massive damage to nearby enemies. Note that the quick-dash can also be used as a sort of glide that allows the relic user to quickly escape from sticky situations, or to cross large distances quickly.

When the relic is picked up, The Templar will spawn. He fires Void missiles, and has a very powerful AOE melee attack. He also has a shield that is immune to all conventional attacks.

To remove the shield, the relic's super attack must be used, which fires a projectile much like a rocket launcher. While holding the relic, the player's super meter will rapidly refill itself, and can be refilled faster by killing the Harpies which spawn frequently. When his shield is taken down, some Guardians will randomly be surrounded by a red globe ("detained") which disables movement and blocks their shots. The globe must be destroyed with short-range attacks to free the Guardian. If the Guardian leaves the globe without destroying it, they will be killed in a matter of seconds. It is therefore not recommended to be moving or in the air when the globes spawn as the Guardian will fall out and into certain death.

After its shield is removed, the Templar will begin to teleport; if he succeeds he will regain his shield. The location that he teleports to will be marked with a ring. If a Guardian stands in this ring for a few seconds the teleport is canceled, extending the time that The Templar is vulnerable but spawning a Minotaur.

The relic-holder should concentrate on the additional enemies, as killing them will give bonus super energy. Oracles will also spawn during the fight. Failing to kill them in time results in them marking the Guardians. Note that during this phase, the fountain of light will not be present. In order to cleanse, the relic-holder is given a special shield similar to Ward of Dawn that replaces their grenade. This shield barrier cleanses all Guardians inside it and blocks all incoming attacks, although Guardians inside the shield can still shoot out through it. When the barrier is used, a cooldown will occur, preventing the user from activating it again for a short time. The duration of this cooldown depends on how long the barrier was previously used for.

If the Templar is not killed within eight minutes, he will become Enraged. While Enraged, the spawn rate of all enemies is increased, and minotaurs spawn constantly. The Templar will also use the Ritual of Negation more frequently.

Once the Templar is killed, the team will automatically receive rewards. Additionally, there is a chest containing Spirit Bloom in a small hole in the wall on the left side of the room about 10 feet up, by where the left Conflux spawns. There is also a tunnel in the room that, if taken, provides an alternate route to the left chest in the Gorgon's Labyrinth. This route also leads to a "mysterious" chest platform that is only accessible through this tunnel. This chest will only be available to the raid group if the Templar was unable to teleport during the battle.

The Gorgon's Labyrinth
The team must work their way through a maze filled with Gorgons (which resemble glowing white Harpies) without being detected. If any member of the team is seen, all members will be killed after 10 seconds and must start the maze over from the beginning. It is possible to kill Gorgons despite their immense amount of health, but if a Gorgon is killed all others will gain increased damage resistance.

There are two Chests in this maze: the first is to the left after you get to the bottom at the start of the maze. You will have to scale a short portion of the wall and go through a short tunnel. If you took the tunnel leading from the Templar area, then you will not have to scale the wall and will be near the chest before dropping to the floor of the Labyrinth. The second Chest is found by hugging the right wall of the Maze.

Disappearing Platforms
After passing the Gorgons and locating the hidden exit, the team will enter the Vault of Glass proper and encounter a large canyon in which floating rock platforms appear and disappear in a specific order. The team must work their way across the canyon using these platforms to proceed to the final area.


 * Agility affects jump height, so adjust your subclass to maximize agility. If you can, equip a weapon with a +2 Agility bonus.
 * Guardians can travel down a series of platforms along the right-side wall and Lift/Jump/Glide across the canyon.
 * Hunters with the Bladedancer subclass equipped can use Arc Blade to get across the canyon without using the platforms.
 * Titans with the Striker subclass equipped can use Shoulder Charge or Fist of Havoc to get a slight distance increase after Lift is exhausted.

The Gate
The final area is a room that houses a Gatekeeper and a swarm of Hobgoblins and Goblins. Clear the room of all enemies. There are two portals, called Vex Timegates, with corresponding Sync Plates that function identically to the ones at the beginning of the raid. After killing the Gatekeeper, the Sync Plates activate and may now be used to open the portals by having a Guardian stand in them for a few seconds.

A group of Guardians should enter one of the portals while the remaining members stay outside. The group that stays back needs to defend the sync plate from the Vex. If a Praetorian regains control of the plate and closes the portal, an oracle will spawn above the now closed portal. If the oracle is not destoyed, the group of guardians protecting the plate will die. This leaves the group inside the portal "forever lost in the dark corners of time", killing them. The group that enters the portal needs to kill a Gatekeeper and retrieve a relic (which functions identically to the relic from the Templar phase) that spawns upon its death. Once the Gatekeeper is killed, the portal members will be given a debuff called "Marked by the Void" that remains as long as they are in the portal. This debuff will gradually cloud a player's vision until the screen is completely black, but can be removed by the cleanse function of the relic. Once the relic is retrieved, the group must exit the portal. The Guardian with the relic must activate a barrier to cleanse the afflicted members, bringing vision back to normal at any time.

After you kill the first Gatekeeper, a Conflux will spawn in the center of the area that must also be defended. Minotaurs will constantly spawn and attempt to sacrifice themselves, so assign someone to defend the conflux while the others proceed to the second portal. If four sacrifices occur the entire team will be killed.

The Guardian with the relic should accompany at least one other player into the second portal, leaving the rest of the team to defend both the corresponding sync plate and the conflux. The player with the relic should keep the portal team's vision clear, as all members in the portal will constantly be debuffed by Mark of the Void. The rest of the group must kill a Gatekeeper and his minions, and retrieve a second relic; the use of the first relic will make this task much easier. Once the second relic is retrieved, the group must exit the portal, cleansing all marked members upon returning.

An alternative, more advanced strategy is to send a team of two Guardians in to each portal at the same time, coordinating Gatekeeper kills, since its death triggers the Conflux. Then, both teams must exit the portals as quickly as possible, and both relic holders defend the Conflux after cleansing the team. Occasionally, something will cause a party wipe after utilizing this strategy. If the loot has already been given, the game will recognize the checkpoint, and continue on to fighting Atheon after the team respawns.

When back in the room, you must kill the rest of the minions that spawn in order to clear phase 1. Once this is achieved, both relics and the conflux will disappear, and loot will be given.

Atheon, Time's Conflux
Shortly (about 20 seconds) after appearing, Atheon will "open the timestream," teleporting three random Guardians into one of the portal regions. The Guardians inside the portal will appear next to a relic, which one Guardian must take. Mark of the Void will again continuously inflict its debuff on all portal members. Seven Oracles will spawn, one at a time and in a fixed location, and must be killed. When all Oracles and enemies in the portal are killed, the entire fireteam will receive a buff called "Time's Vengeance" for 30 seconds. This buff will dramatically increase all damage dealt to Atheon, charge all supers and grenades in two seconds, and allow the cleansing shield be used for its entire duration.

The Guardians outside the portal are required to activate the timegate the others have been teleported into in order for them to escape; the portal team must communicate which portal they have been sent to upon arrival. During each teleport phase, Harpy variants called Supplicants will spawn three at a time alternating between the right and left. Supplicants are extremely agile and will explode when killed or if they are in close proximity to a guardian, usually resulting in the player's death.

During "Time's Vengeance," once all Guardians return from the portal, all damage should be concentrated on Atheon. The relic's super attack is very strong against Atheon and the shield function can be used constantly for the duration of the buff, allowing the team a safe refuge from which to fire on him. It is recommended that the team go to the small floating platform between the time portals as they will be out of the reach of supplicants there. When Time's Vengeance runs out, the process repeats, and continues until Atheon is defeated. Use of rockets while inside the shield is strongly discouraged as the players are tightly bunched together and the shooter is very likely to hit a teammate and kill themselves.

On the Normal difficulty, seven minutes after Atheon spawns an alert will appear that enrage is near, and after eight minutes he will become enraged. While enraged, Atheon attacks more frequently and spawns significantly more Supplicants.

Portal Team:

One person on this team should be designated as the shield bearer, pick up the relic and call out which portal to open (Red/Left/Desert/Mars or Green/Right/Jungle/Venus) as soon as possible. Inside the portal, they are responsible for killing the non-Oracle enemies and cleansing the other two people in the portal team. This player must also be extremely careful; if they ever die, it means the team will wipe unless the relic is picked up by another player within 5 seconds.

The entire team should agree on a method for choosing which of the teleported players picks up the relic, since this must be done as quickly as possible. Up to two players may be exempted from relic duty entirely and the four possible holders should establish a hierarchy to quickly determine who should pick up the relic among different combinations of team members.

The other two are oracle hunters. Failing to kill an oracle within 10-15 seconds will cause the fireteam to wipe. In the desert portal, the shield-bearer should be able to easily kill the Hobgoblins, but in the forest portal, they will most likely need some assistance in killing the Minotaur. Grenades from the other players can be a quick and easy way to give support, interrupting the Minotaur's attack and taking down its shield. Additionally, they need to stay next to each other so that the relic carrier can cleanse both of them together. If a screen is going black, call out for a cleansing.

Sometimes players will not be able to kill all the minions in the portal before too many oracles spawn. If this happens, call out for assistance from players outside the portal and run by the remaining enemies while strafing down the oracles as they spawn. The relic-holder can also skillfully use their super in order to take out one Oracle per use.

Once players have killed all of the oracles (triggering the 30-second buff), they should exit through the portal. Sprinting, jumping, or sliding through the portal can sometimes cause players to glitch and not correctly exit. Do note that the mark will continuously apply to players within the portal area, so they will need to be cleansed again once exiting.

The buff, Time's Vengeance, makes supers and grenades have a short two-second cooldown and causes players to deal significantly (~4x) more damage. Grenades can be effective, with 1-2 shots between throws to maximize DPS. However, Atheon will move away from grenades that cause AoE duration damage, thus forcing team members using sniper rifles for precision damage to constantly realign their shots.

Gatekeeper Team:

The Gatekeeper team should listen for the portal team to call out which portal they were sent into. Alternatively, the portal team will appear as an arrow on the Gatekeeper team's radars. A back-left arrow indicates players in the left portal, and a forward-right arrow indicates players in the right portal.

This team's main tasks are to ensure the portal is opened as soon as possible and to kill any Supplicants that are near the portal to ensure a safe return trip. Standing on top of pillars will cause Supplicants to not trigger their explosive attack, though they can still shoot the player (this being especially useful for keeping a portal open, since standing on the pillar in a portal ring registers the Guardian as being in the circle). If everyone on the gatekeeper team is dead, the entire team will wipe, being "forever lost in the dark corners of time." Grenades are especially useful for killing Supplicants, as they typically travel in a pack of 3. As soon as Time's Vengeance is active, all Gatekeepers should throw grenades at the base of the gate, as Supplicants will hide behind it waiting for the return of the Portal Team.

When the Supplicants are dead and a portal is open, they should return to attacking the boss. This is a battle against time, so every hit counts. After he enrages, he will spawn many more Supplicants.

Killing Atheon (Strategy One):

The entire team should spread out to draw aggro from as many sources as possible, while the relic-bearer uses their super repeatedly. This maximizes the total DPS to kill Atheon as quickly as possible, but also leaves the team more exposed to damage.

Killing Atheon (Strategy Two):

After coming through the portal, the shield-bearer leads the charge onto the middle platform in front of the boss, and holds down their grenade button to produce the cleansing shield; with Time's Vengeance active, all incoming damage will be blocked while all outgoing damage continues as normal. This allows the majority of the team to safely attack Atheon while one or two members pick off Supplicants to keep the group safe from suicide-bombings.

Hard Mode
In addition to the Heroic modifier, playing the Vault of Glass on the level 30 difficulty causes the following changes:
 * Revival is disabled. While inside darkness zones, fallen Guardians cannot be revived by their teammates. Anyone who dies will stay dead until the remaining team members complete the current raid phase or wipe and revert to the last checkpoint. Sunsinger Warlocks can still use Radiance to self-revive.
 * Two Oracles accompany The Templar. Normally, during the phase in which players fight The Templar with the Relic, only a single Oracle at a time will spawn before he casts the Ritual of Negation. In hard mode, there are two. If neither Oracle is killed, the Guardians will be marked for negation twice.
 * Additional Gorgons in the Labyrinth. These new Gorgons are stationary and permanently watch certain spots in the maze, further restricting the paths that Guardians can take.
 * Atheon detains Guardians. When Atheon opens the timestream, the three Guardians who are not sent into a portal will be detained inside red bubbles and must shoot their way out, just like during the fight with The Templar.

Reward Points

 * After defeating the Oracles
 * After defeating The Templar
 * After completing the Gate
 * After defeating Atheon

Chests

 * Raid Chest #1: Located on the path to The Templar after completing the Spire Phase. Contains Ascendant materials.
 * Venus Chest: Located in a hole in the wall to the left of The Templar after he is defeated. Contains Spirit Bloom and random Venus chest loot.
 * Raid Chest #2: Located in the same hole as the Venus chest near the bottom of the run to Raid Chest #3. You must keep the Templar from ever teleporting to cause it to spawn.
 * Raid Chest #3: Located on the left side of Gorgon's maze. Contains loot or Ascendant materials.
 * Raid Chest #4: Located on the right side of Gorgon's maze. Contains Ascendant materials.

When completing the raid on Hard difficulty after having completed it on Normal difficulty, all four loot drop points and Chest #3 will pay out again.

When completing the raid on Hard without having completed normal, at each drop point the player will receive a loot reward for both Normal and Hard. Chest #3 will give two rewards, one for Normal and one for Hard. Subsequent attempts on Normal mode will not drop any loot, nor will any chest contain a reward.

Titan

 * Light of the Great Prism, Legendary Mark
 * Kabr's Brazen Grips, Legendary Gauntlets
 * Kabr's Wrath, Legendary Chest Armor
 * Kabr's Forceful Greaves, Legendary Leg Armor

Hunter

 * Shattered Vault Cloak, Legendary Cloak
 * Prime Zealot Gloves, Legendary Gauntlets
 * Prime Zealot Cuirass, Legendary Chest Armor
 * Prime Zealot Greaves, Legendary Leg Armor

Warlock

 * Fragment of the Prime, Legendary Bond
 * Gloves of the Hezen Lords, Legendary Gauntlets
 * Cuirass of the Hezen Lords, Legendary Chest Armor
 * Tread of the Hezen Lords, Legendary Leg Armor

Other

 * Chatterwhite, Legendary White Armor Shader
 * "Glass Minuet", Legendary Jumpship
 * XV0 "Timebreaker", Legendary Sparrow

Primary Weapons

 * Vex Mythoclast, Primary Exotic Fusion Rifle (Atheon drop)
 * ARC undefined Praedyth's Timepiece, Legendary Pulse Rifle (Atheon drop)
 * ARC undefined Fatebringer, Legendary Hand Cannon (Templar drop)

Special Weapons

 * Praetorian Foil, Legendary Fusion Rifle (Oracles drop)

Armor

 * Battlecage of Kabr, Legendary Titan Helmet (Atheon drop)
 * Prime Zealot Helm, Legendary Hunter Helmet (Atheon drop)
 * Façade of the Hezen Lords, Legendary Warlock Helmet (Atheon drop)

Other

 * "Aspect of Glass", Legendary Jumpship (Atheon drop)

Trivia

 * Gaming clan PrimeGuard was the first to finish the Vault of Glass raid in the afternoon of September 16, 2014. Each person had nearly 1,000 kills each and 1,600 deaths altogether.
 * Prior to Destiny 's release, there were several misconceptions about the difficulty of the Vault of Glass. Eric Osborne stated that he and his team "spent over 45 minutes just cracking the entrance." Luke Smith clarified that the group probably "had some communication issues," adding that "once your group understands how to open the Vault, it's not going to take anywhere near 45 minutes." Eric also claimed that during a playtest, a group of players were not able to complete the raid even after sixteen hours. Luke clarified this also by saying that those particular players were not given any help or advice about the gameplay or the raid's mechanics and that once a group understands the encounters, it shouldn't take longer than three hours to complete.