‘Destiny: Crota’s End’ Raid Guide Part 1: How To Traverse The Abyss

Destiny Guardians have been diving into the Crota’s End raid since The Dark Below expansion was released. While it was initially beaten in only six hours, some PlayStation and Xbox owners have beaten it in as little as 30 minutes. This is the first part of a multi-part guide with tips to help you get through Crota’s End.

Getting Started

Bungie’s newest raid is another test of teamwork and communication, just like Vault of Glass. While not required, at least one level 31 player is desired to wield the sword during the final encounter with Crota.

It will also greatly help in the Crota fight to have at least one person who can run as a Defender Titan with Blessing of Light enabled for their Bubble Shield. If they have a Helm of Saint-14, that will greatly help as well. The Flashbang grenades of the Striker Titan will be of great use during the run to the final fight, as well.

Using Legendary and Exotic weapons with the new 31 Attack level will be of great help, naturally. If you don’t have one yet, Legendaries can be purchase from the faction vendors in the tower or Exotics from Xur when he arrives on Friday.

The Hellmouth

Your raid group will first spawn on the moon in front of the Hellmouth. Don’t go running in yet though. The raid fireteam will need to stand on a plate to summon a bridge. Unlike the Vault of Glass, you will not have to hold back waves of enemies to get started.

Wait until the “bridge is fully formed” message to run across. You’ll fall through if you go too soon. Once the bridge is formed, run across and drop through the hole at the end. It’s a long drop, so enjoy.

Traverse the Abyss

The challenge of Crota’s End truly begins once you reach the bottom of the Hellmouth. The entire team will be afflicted with a curse called “Weight of the Darkness.” This curse can stack up to 10 times and will prevent you from jumping and running once it stacks enough.

There are light posts forming a path through the Abyss that the raid team will need to move through to get through the Abyss while fighting off waves of Thralls and Knights. As a general rule, the fireteam should focus on the Knights first and then the Thralls if at all possible.

The “Weight of Darkness” will be removed when players stand near the lamps. However, the team can’t stand near a lamp too long or will turn red and then explode. It’s important to move together as a group because of this.

Maneuvering through the Abyss is complicated by large holes in the ground that will send you to your death with one misstep.

Shotguns, Machine Guns, Fusion Rifles, and the Vex Mythoclast work well through this portion of Crota’s End.

Another bridge-building plate will be at the end of the Abyss. Your fireteam will have to endure waves of even stronger enemies while the bridge materializes. This includes Thralls, Knights, and Ogres. Again, the fireteam will want to communicate and focus fire on the deadliest.

Once the bridge is fully formed, dash across and don’t worry about the Hive behind you. They will not pursue.

Update: Redditor WeepingHoney and friends in the Destiny sub-Reddit have already managed to come up with this quality map of the Abyss.

Chests

The area after you first drop down into the Abyss from the Hellmouth is where you’ll find the first Crota’s End chest. It’s not as easy as the first Vault of Glass chest, however.

After the fireteam drops in, everyone will want to move to the left-hand side of the room and follow the wall. There are five doors to little rooms on this side that may contain a chest. We say “may” because which room the chest appears in is random. There will be a light glowing above the door where the chest is located, however, to make it a little easier.

You’ll want to move as a team to find this chest. The “Weight of Darkness” curse will affect you as wave of Thralls come in so it’s easy to die when going solo.

This chest does drop raid items including armor and exotic weapons. So, it’s worth your time to go find.

Not the End

Congratulations, you’ve now made it past the first part of the Crota’s End Raid. The mechanics and difficulty only ramp up with Part 2 – How To Cross The Bridge.

[H/T: DattoDoesDestiny YouTube, Destiny sub-Reddit, Planet Destiny for help with this guide]

[Images via DattoDoes Destiny]