Vault of Glass

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

While players can run the raid as many times as they want each week, moving about through various raid groups in order to assist their fellow Guardians with these difficult encounters, they will only be able to receive loot from the raid once per week, due to a weekly raid lock.

The Spire
There are three Sync Plates that must be activated and protected simultaneously. The best way to do this is split the raid group into three groups of two members and each group activates and protects one plate. The zone can be activated by standing in the circle for a few seconds. Once the plate is activated, the Guardians must defend it from Vex, but do not need to stay in it. When all three plates are activated, a message will appear stating "the spire is forming." The zones are visible from each other, so it is possible to provide support for other groups if they are having a tough time. The plate at the top near the gate is typically the easiest to defend, so the two group members who are defending the top Sync Plate should help the others when possible. But one member should stay at the top.

Praetorians, upgraded minotaurs, will spawn with Void shields here, flanked by various other Vex. The Praetorians are the only Vex that can capture a Sync Plate. If a plate is lost to the Vex, the spire will start to deteriorate. The plate must be taken back to continue to form the spire. The spire will take about two minutes to form if not interrupted.

After the spire has completely formed, a beam of light will shoot from it, opening the Vault of Glass. The team can then enter. After venturing into the cave a bit, the team will come upon a chest, which can award Ascendant Materials when opened.

Phase 1
After moving into the vault, the team 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 right where the team lands that the they must defend from waves of Vex. It looks similar to the spire that was built in the first part of the raid, only smaller. If too many Vex sacrifice themselves to the Conflux, the team will all be killed. After completing this, the middle Conflux disappears and Confluxes appear on the left and right. The team must protect both from oncoming Vex. The team will receive a message that "a horde is coming," which will spawn many Fanatics (distinguishable by their green aura). When the Fanatics are killed, a green aura will appear on the ground that must be avoided. Walking into the aura will mark the Guardian. The Templar will occasionally use a skill called "Ritual of Negation" that will kill all marked Guardians. The mark can be cleared by walking into a fountain of light in the middle of the room. Finally, defend all three Confluxes from oncoming Vex.

Phase 2
After all Confluxes have been successfully defended, the team will receive a message to "kill the oracles." The Templar can still not be harmed. Oracles will continue to spawn for a while. They appear as a yellow ball of light, and only appear in certain areas and cannot move. They will be supported by Hobgoblins. When enough Oracles are dispatched, the next phase will start. Failing to kill an Oracle will mark all the Guardians (even the already dead ones, so when revived, they will be marked), similar to before.

After completing this phase, the team will again receive awards. This time, they can receive Ascendant Materials, or legendary items.

Phase 3
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. It can also cause massive melee damage to Vex when used. When the relic is picked up, The Templar will spawn. He fires Void missiles, and has a very powerful melee. He also has a shield that is immune to all conventional attacks.

To remove the shield, the relic super power must be used. When his shield is taken down, Guardians may be surrounded by a red globe. The globe must be destroyed in a short period of time, or it will kill the Guardian inside. If the Guardian leaves the globe without destroying it they will also be killed, therefore it is not recommended to be in the air when the orbs spawn as this will likely force the Guardian out of the globe.

After removing the shield the Templar will attempt to teleport, the location that he teleports to will be marked with a red ring. If a Guardian stands in this ring the teleport is canceled, extending the time that the Templar is without his shield. It is important to note that canceling a teleport will spawn Minotaurs.

The guardian with the relic 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 again marks the Guardians. The grenade for the Guardian is replaced by a temporary shield that functions similarly to the Defender's Ward of Dawn. This shield barrier cleanses the Negation Mark from all Guardians inside it in addition to blocking all incoming attacks.

If the Templar is not killed, he will eventually become Enraged. This occurs at some point after 10 minutes of fighting. While Enraged the spawn rate of all enemies is increased, and minotaurs spawn constantly, and the Templar will use the Ritual of Negation more frequently.

After you kill the Templar, there is a chest 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 you take it, it gives you an alternate route to the Gorgon's Maze, and will take you by the left chest, in the Gorgon Maze.

Gorgon's Maze
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. The second Chest is found by hugging the right wall of the Maze.

The team must work their way through a gauntlet of Gorgons (similar to Harpies, but white), without being seen. If any member of the team is seen, all members will die in 10 seconds and must start the maze from the beginning. If the team manages to kill the Gorgon that spotted them before the death timer expires, they will not die.

After passing the mobs, there will be a large canyon in which rock platforms will appear and disappear in a specific order. The team must work their way across the canyon using these platforms.

The Gate
Next is a room with a Gatekeeper and Hobgoblins. Kill everything. There are two portals, called Vex Timegates, and a column in this room. Activate one of the portals by standing in the circle. A few Guardians should enter the portal, and some should stay out, as there will be Vex on both sides. The group that stays back needs to defend the portal and the middle column from the Vex, and the group that goes in needs to kill a Gatekeeper and retrieve a relic. The group that goes in must act quickly as the screen will slowly be turned black by a debuff called "Marked by the Void" as long as they are in the portal. Once the relic is retrieved, the group needs to exit the portal. The Guardian with the relic can hold the grenade key to bring the vision back to normal at any time.

The Guardian with the relic should accompany a small group into the second portal. The player with the relic should keep everyone's vision clear, and the rest of the group in the portal must kill a Gatekeeper and retrieve a second relic. Once the relic is retrieved, the group must exit the portal.

When back in the room, you must kill the rest of the minions that spawn in order to clear phase 1.

Atheon, Time's Conflux
Shortly after appearing, Atheon will teleport three Guardians into one of the portals. The Guardians inside the portal will appear near a relic, which one Guardian should take to start charging a cleanse to clear any affected players' vision. Seven Oracles will spawn, one at a time, and must be killed. When all Oracles are killed, the fireteam will receive a buff called Time's Vengeance. This buff will increase damage dealt to Atheon, charge all supers and grenades in two seconds, and allow the cleansing shield to block incoming damage.

The Guardians outside the portal should open the portal the others have been teleported into, so they can get out, while also killing additional Vex.

When all Guardians are outside the portal, all damage should be concentrated on Atheon. The relic's super attack is very strong against Atheon. When Time's Vengeance runs out, three more Guardians will be teleported into a portal, and the process must be repeated until Atheon is defeated.

Its very important that three people specialize in portals and the other three specialize in gatekeeping, so it is advisable to break the group into two teams.

On the Normal difficulty, seven minutes after Atheon spawns, "Enraged is Near" will alert, and after Eight minutes he will be 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, and pick up the relic and call out which portal to open (Red/Mars or Green/Venus) as soon as possible. Inside the portal they are responsible for melee'ing down the 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 most likely wipe, due to the relic sitting for too long causing the entire team to die, and cleanse starting a new cooldown when it is picked up again.

The other two are oracle hunters. Failing to kill an oracle within 10-15 seconds will cause the fireteam to wipe. In the desert section, the shield-bearer should be able to easily kill the Hobgoblins, but in the forest section, they will most likely need some assistance in killing the Minotaur; grenades can a quick and easy way to support them, due to some grenades causing the Minotaur to brace against the damage. Additionally, they need to stay next to each other so that one cleansing will cover both of them. If a screen is going black, calmly 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.

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 very effective, with 1-2 shots between throws to maximize DPS. When the buff begins to run out, this team should return to the back of the room to ensure that they are sent through the time stream again.

Gatekeeper Team:

Their main tasks are to ensure the portal is up as soon as possible, and to kill any supplicants that are near the portal to ensure a safe return trip. As soon as the shield-bearer calls out which side they're in, open the respective portal (red/mars is the left portal, green/venus is the right one) and make sure all nearby supplicants are dead. 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, "Lost in time."

When the supplicants are dead and 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, making a wipe much more likely, so try to finish as quickly as possible.

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.

Gaining Rewards
There are four loot drop points during the raid: Additionally, there are three raid chests and one regular Venus chest. When completing the raid on hard difficulty after having completed it on Normal difficulty all four loot drop points will pay out again as well as Chest#2. There are several loot items unique to hard mode.
 * After Oracle Phase in Templar Battle
 * After Defeating the Templar
 * After completing the Gate
 * After Defeating Atheon
 * Chest #1: Located on the path to the Templar after completing the Spire Phase - Contains Ascendent Energy/Shards
 * Venus Chest: Located in a hole in the wall to the left of the Templar after he is defeated - Contains Typical Dynamic loot + Spirit Bloom
 * Chest #2: Located on the left side of Gorgon's maze - Contains Loot OR Ascendent Energy/Shards
 * Chest #3: Located on the right side of Gorgon's maze - Contains Ascendent Energy/Shards

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 #2 will give two rewards, one a Normal reward and the other Hard. Subsequent attempts on Normal mode will not drop any loot, nor will any chest contain a reward.

List of Rewards

 * Weapons
 * Atheon's Epilogue, Legendary Auto Rifle
 * Vision of Confluence, Legendary Scout Rifle
 * Found Verdict, Legendary Shotgun
 * Praedyth's Revenge, Legendary Sniper Rifle
 * Corrective Measure, Legendary Machine Gun
 * Hard Light, Exotic Auto Rifle
 * MIDA Multi-Tool, Exotic Scout Rifle
 * The Last Word, Exotic Hand Cannon
 * Universal Remote, Exotic Shotgun (Primary Weapon)
 * Patience and Time, Exotic Sniper Rifle
 * Plan C, Exotic Fusion Rifle
 * Thunderlord, Exotic Machine Gun
 * Gjallarhorn, Exotic Rocket Launcher
 * Truth, Exotic Rocket Launcher
 * Red Death, Exotic Pulse Rifle
 * Ice Breaker, Exotic Sniper Rifle
 * Remote Control, Exotic Shotgun
 * Vex Mythoclast, Exotic Fusion Rifle (Primary Weapon, only possible to receive from Atheon on Hard difficulty).
 * Armor
 * Titan
 * Light of the Great Prism, Legendary Titan Badge
 * Battlecage of Kabr
 * Kabr's Brazen Grips, Legendary Gauntlets
 * Kabr's Wrath, Legendary Chest Armor
 * Kabr's Forceful Greaves, Legendary Leg Armor
 * Hunter
 * Shattered Vault Cloak, Legendary Hunter Cloak
 * Prime Zealot Gloves, Legendary Hunter Gauntlets
 * Prime Zealot Cuirass, Legendary Hunter Chest Armor
 * Prime Zealot Greaves, Legendary Leg Armor
 * Prime Zealot Helm, Legendary Hunter Helmet
 * Warlock
 * Fragment of the Prime, Legendary Warlock Bond
 * Gloves of the Hezen Lords
 * Cuirass of the Hezen Lords, Legendary Chest Armor
 * Tread of the Hezen Lords
 * Cowl of the Hezen Lords
 * Other
 * Chatterwhite, Legendary Armor Shader White
 * XV0 "Timebreaker", Legendary Sparrow
 * "Glass Minuet", Legendary Ship
 * Aspect of Glass, Legendary Ship

Trivia

 * Gaming clan PrimeGuard was the first to finish the Vault of Glass raid on the afternoon of September 16, 2014. Each person had nearly 1,000 kills each and 1,600 deaths all together.
 * 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 was 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.
 * The current record fastest completion time is between 31 and 37 minutes, which is about how long it takes an average three-man Fireteam to complete a strike.