‘Destiny: Crota’s End’ Raid Guide Part 4: How To Kill Crota

You’ve made it through the first four parts of Crota’s End in Destiny and now you are ready to take on the Hive god himself. This is the final part of the Destiny raid guide for The Dark Below. PlayStation and Xbox owners looking for earlier parts of the raid should check click over to Part 1 – How to Traverse the Abyss, Part 2 – How to Cross the Bridge, and Part 3 – How to Enter Crota’s Chamber.

The Setup

The final stage of Crota’s End will be a test of your fireteam’s cooperation and timing. The first thing you will notice is that the fireteam is locked in the summoning crystal room and everyone is afflicted with the “Presence of Crota” curse. This curse prevents the team from regenerating health.

Player health can only be regenerated by picking up the Chalice of Light that’s on a pedestal in front of the door where you first entered the chamber. That means the Chalice will need to be passed from player to player to regenerate health, so be careful.

The team will want to designate one member as the Swordbearer. This needs to be a level 31 Guardian if at all possible to do maximum damage to Crota. A player with high agility, like a Hunter, helps as well to get quickly away from Crota’s one-hit strikes.

Since health regeneration is not possible, it’s advisable to choose the Guardian configuration with the lowest health regen.

Barrier Drop

Once the fireteam gathers around the Summoning Crystal, a horde of enemies spawn and the body of Crota will be summoned. The barriers in the Summoning Crystal room will drop off after a brief pause. The fireteam needs to drop this mix of Knights and Acolytes. Remember, you do not regenerate health, so try not to take any unnecessary damage here.

Make your way out to the entrance of the chamber and have the designated swordbearer grab the Chalice. This will activate another wave of Hive including two Boomer Knights on each platform on either side of the chamber.

Positioning

Depending on your team’s strategy, you’ll want one or two snipers to take out the Knights on one platform or both. The rest of the team will want to hide in the doorway to the entrance of the chamber or alongside the walls.

Be careful when outside of the doorway. Crota will move to the left and right sides of the platform he is standing on and can easily kill someone who is out in the open in this part of the map.

The swordbearer can find a good position on a ledge on the backside of the chamber to wait and attack after picking up the sword and waiting for Crota’s shields to be brought down.

There are two videos at the bottom of this guide showing these tactics. One is from Team Invigorate, who was the first to bring down Crota, and the other is from EndoreFTW who took Crota down in just six minutes.

Attack

The general pattern is that the fireteam needs to kill the Swordbearer Knight in a spot where Crota can’t shoot at anyone. The designated swordbearer picks up the sword, moves into position, and waits for the rest of the fireteam to drop Crota’s shield. This stuns Crota and allows the swordbearer to attack and do damage.

The consensus so far is that the sword slam attack (R2 on PlayStation, RT on Xbox) is the most efficient attack. Depending on the timing, the swordbearer should get in 2-3 attacks each time Crota is stunned. If the fireteam brings Crota’s shields down fast enough, the swordbearer should be able to get in two sets of attacks.

When Crota’s shield drops, he will begin to kneel. The swordbearer does not need to wait until Crota kneels all the way down. They can attack as soon as Crota’s shield comes down.

Crota will begin to glow red when his shields are coming up. That is the sign to the swordbearer to bug out quickly. Hunters that can turn invisible have a real advantage here because Crota will not see them.

Communication is key to getting in the maximum number of sword swings on Crota. Someone on the fireteam should call out when Crota’s shields are halfway down and when they are about to drop so that the swordbearer can move in. They should also call out when to open fire on Crota again as soon as his shields regenerate.

As a general rule of thumb, the fireteam will want to wait until Crota is in the middle of the platform before attacking. A Titan bubble with Weapons of Light will also help bring Crota’s shields down faster.

Rinse, Repeat and Don’t Forget the Ogres and the Oversoul

The Swordbearer Knight will spawn again shortly. This is a good time for the fireteam swordbearer to share the Chalice of Light with any team members that need to regenerate their health.

Two level 32 Ogres will spawn with a large number of Thrall after every two Swordbearer Knights been killed. Once they are taken out, the Swordbearer will spawn once again.

If someone on the fireteam dies, Crota will summon his Oversoul. This is a huge glowing white entity in the middle of the platform that can’t be missed. The entire team should focus their fire on that to bring it down quickly and continue the attack on Crota.

If the team fails to bring Crota down after five or six sword uses, Crota will Enrage and summon waves of Oversouls, Ogres, and Thralls. It’s pretty much a guaranteed wipe for the fireteam, currently. That’s part of the reason why you’ll want a level 31 handling the sword. There’s a greater chance of beating Crota before he Enrages.

This is Crota’s End

Congratulations, you’ve taken down Crota and should have gotten plenty of loot in return. If you have any additional tips you’d like to share, please post them in the comments below.

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

[Images via Planet Destiny]