Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid walkthrough: How to finish all encounters

Destiny 2’s Salvation’s Edge is the first Raid of The Final Shape expansion, so here’s a guide on how to clear every encounter in this activity.

Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge is a Raid where you storm The Witness’ monolith and weaken his hold on the Traveler as a part of the campaign‘s narrative. This entire Raid is split into multiple encounters, each with unique bosses.

Here’s a walkthrough for all of the encounters in Destiny 2’s Salvation’s Edge Raid in The Final Shape.

• How to clear all encounters in Salvation’s Edge Raid
  • Substratum
  • Dissipation
  • Repository
  • Verity
  • Zenith

How to clear Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid

There are five encounters in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid:

• Substratum: Gain Access to the Monolith
• Dissipation: Herald of Finality
• Repository: Carve a Path
• Verity: See Beyond
• Zenith: The Witness

How to complete Substratum encounter in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge

The Substratum is the first encounter you will encounter in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid. This encounter will introduce you to the basic Resonance deposition mechanic that you will come across in all encounters.

The room in this encounter is basically a 3×3 grid, so you can use the following nomenclature to make the entire mechanic easier:

L1	Top	R1
L2	Mid	R2
L3	Bottom	R3

For clarity, the Mid room is where the Resonance box spawns, and where you start the encounter. The room called Bottom is where the Rally Banner spot is. Using these two reference points, mark the remaining rooms.

Apart from Mid, all the other rooms have a pillar and a plate with two flowing wires out of it. These plates will play an important role in this encounter.

To start the encounter, all six players need to arrive in the middle room to get the first Resonance to spawn. Pick it up and dunk it in the box in the middle to start the encounter.

When the encounter starts, The Witness’ hand will spawn in front of the Top room and a timer saying “The Final Shape looms” will appear, while the entrance to two rooms will open. The rooms always open on the same side and are adjacent to each other.

You’ll understand that the rooms have opened because Supplicants will start coming out of them. Divide yourself into two teams of three and head into these rooms. Clear all the ads and then the shielded Hydra to open the door to the next room.

Keep doing so until you come to the fourth room and defeat the Overload Champion that spawns. It’s worth noting that two Overload Champions will spawn in the two ending rooms, but defeating one will cause the other to despawn.

Note down this room, and head back to Mid because a Tormentor has spawned there. Defeat the Tormentor and then repeat the process. However, this time before you head back to Mid, ensure that you’ve killed all Hydras in the arena otherwise it’ll be difficult for you to get to the second part of the encounter.

Once you’ve killed the second Tormentor, the rooms to all the doors will open up if you manage to kill all the Hydras. Now, in the rooms where you defeated the Overload Champions, you’ll notice that the plate is glowing.

Step on the plate once and it’ll send a pulse through one of the wires leading out of it. Depending upon which room it’s going into, have a player go to that room and have a third player stand between these two rooms to help with clearing the ads.

The objective is to send a pulse back and forth between the two plates three times. On the plate that glows, step on it to initiate the pulse. The player on the plate that receives the pulse will have to step on their plate the moment the pulse hits to send it back.

Doing so once will spawn one Resonance in each room. If you get the timing wrong, then a Subjugator will spawn in the room and you’ll have to start over again.

Assuming that you’ve stepped on the plates correctly, the receiver will have to pick up all three Resonances that spawn in their room, then shoot the glowing pillar, and finally stand on the plate for the third time when the pulse is sent to their plate.

If you’re the receiver and you’ve done this correctly, the pillar will start glowing bright golden. Doing so on both sides will call a Subjugator boss in Mid that you will have to defeat. After you’ve defeated it, the Resonance box will spawn again, and you’ll have to dunk all your collected Resonances here.

It’s worth noting that a total of four resonances spawn in each room, so the player clearing ads will also have to pick one up. This is because as a receiver when you successfully lock down a pillar, you’ll lose one Resonance stack.

You’ll have to submit 12 Resonance bits in the box in the middle room and will need to repeat the encounter till you’ve locked down all eight pillars. Now, it’s also worth noting that you can only pick up three stacks of Resonance per player. Picking up more than three will cause you to die.

Destiny 2: How to beat Herald of Finality boss Dissipation encounter

For the second encounter in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid, you’ll need to defeat the Herald of Finality. This encounter serves as the DPS check for the Raid, so make sure you have enough weapons to damage the boss.

There are three sections in the arena namely Left, Mid, and Right, so divide yourselves into teams of two and take a section each. Shoot the Blight in the middle to start the encounter.

Each section will now face a Trammel boss which is either a Taken Ogre, Wizard, or a Centurion. Once you’ve defeated them, the Herald of Finality will select one player at random and summon them to a pit where only they’ll be able to damage the boss. These players will have the “Call to Reckoning” buff.

Shoot the boss in the head to summon a Blight, and then kill this Blight by shooting at it. Once the Blight has been removed, shoot the Herald of Finality till you crack its head and get the “Stolen Favor” buff.

Now, you’ll have to head back to your plates, and you’ll see that the conductor pillar there is glowing and there’s a symbol above it. You’ll need to collect the Resonance matching that symbol to lock it down.

In this encounter, you’ll come across two different Resonance shapes: Spherical and Pyramidal. Stand on the plates in your sections to generate the Resonance and then pick and shoot the pillar to lock it. However, if you’re planning on locking down the pillar, you need to be careful of which Resonance you’re picking up.

For example, if you need Pyramidal Resonance to lock the pillar, but you’ve picked up two Spherical Resonances, you can pick up a third Pyramidal Resonance to convert all your charges into Pyramidal Resonance, and then shoot the pillar.

After you’ve locked all three pillars, the Resonance box will spawn in the middle and you’ll have to dump the charges in this box. Doing so will increase the timer and trigger the damage phase. After a short time, the boss will go immune again, so you’ll have to repeat the process.

When you eliminate the last bit of its health, you’ll trigger the final stand. Clear this last bit of health and you’ll have finished this encounter successfully.

How to complete Repository encounter in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid

This is the simplest encounter in Destiny 2’s Salvation’s Edge Raid. The plate mechanic is present in this encounter as well because you’ll need it to spawn Resonances. However, there are two new Resonance types you’ll be introduced to in this encounter: Cubed and Hexahedral.

The room has three pillars that you need to lock and is laid out over three levels. On each level, you’ll notice that a Tormentor spawns. Defeating the Tormentor will unlock the plates around these pillars, and the player who gets the final blow on the enemy will get the “Stolen Valor” buff.

The player with the buff will be able to see which pillar requires which Resonance symbol to be closed. After you generate the Resonance on the plates and lock all three pillars, the Resonance box will spawn in the middle, and you can dunk all your collected buffs in this.

Once you’ve deposited all the buffs in this box, an Unstoppable Incendior and some smaller enemies will spawn. Defeat them to move to the next level. You’ll have to repeat the steps for all three levels and completing it on the third level will complete the encounter.

Bear in mind that if you don’t step on the plate or fail to get to the plate on time while generating the Resonances, the plates will stop glowing, and a Subjugator will spawn. Defeat this enemy to restart the mechanic once again.

Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Verity encounter walkthrough

The Verity encounter is the most complex encounter in the entire Raid and can take a lot of time getting used to. Most Raid teams were stuck here at this encounter during the Day 1 Raid Race.

This encounter takes place in a white room that is filled with podiums on which statues of the Guardians in your fireteam are seen standing.

Before you start this encounter, ensure that all six Guardians look unique, in terms of the armor cosmetics that you have on, because that’ll help you identify which statue represents which Guardian easily. Make sure you have unique Ghost shells as well as they will come in handy later on in the encounter.

Start the encounter by moving to the front of the room and interacting with the three statues placed there. These statues represent the three Guardians that will be transported into the solo rooms.

Players in the solo rooms will be able to see 2D symbols on the hands of the three Guardian statues within the room. Use the chat to write the symbols down from left to right. The three symbols that you see will either be a circle, a triangle, or a square, so if you see them in the mentioned order from left to right, write CTS in the chat.

This encounter needs a lot of communication because to escape the solo room, you’ll need to make a 3D shape that is made up of the 2D shapes that your character statue isn’t holding. So, for example, if your statue is holding a circle, then you will have to combine a square and a triangle to make the 3D shape.

You can get these shapes to drop by defeating orange bar Boomer Knights inside the solo rooms, but if the team on the outside hasn’t dissected the statues properly, they won’t spawn for you. We’ll get to that section in a bit.

Now say, for example, you need a square and a triangle, but the Boomer Knights are dropping circles, you need to send that shape away to some other room to a player who needs it. To do so, you’ll have to pick up the circle when the Knight drops it and then interact with the statue of the player who needs it.

You’ll know which symbols your Boomer Knights will drop when you look at the screen at the back of your room. It’ll keep transferring between two shapes. Once you’ve picked up the two shapes that you need, they’ll form a 3D shape, and you can finally exit the solo room by exiting through the shattered wall at the back.

Things are slightly complex on the outside because they’ll be seeing a 3D shape on your statue. However, they’ll have to make the 3D shape on your statue correspond with the 3D shape that you’re trying to make inside the solo room.

So, tell the players on the outside what shape you’re trying to get rid of, and the players on the outside will have to defeat Unstoppable Ogres to get the Boomer Knights to spawn. Once they defeat the Knight and pick up the shape that you need removed, they’ll have to go to your statue and dissect it.

The player will then have to go and kill another Boomer Knight and pick up another shape that someone else needs dissecting, and will have to interact with their statue to dissect it. Doing so will swap the shapes between these two statues.

At this step, you’ll have one statue that’s complete, with incomplete statues. Perform the same steps between these two statues, and the outside statue segment will finally be done.

After you’ve made six switches in the solo room, The Witness will notice your progress and will cause all the players in the solo rooms to die. At this point, your teammates in the outside room will be able to see your Ghost. Here’s where unique Ghost shells come into play.

They’ll have to pick up your Ghost and deposit it on your statue. Doing so will revive you and bring you back into the fight. If you’re dead, then inspect your alive teammates because you’ll be able to see the highlight of one Guardian on the glowing pedestals at the back of the room.

You need to instruct them and tell them where to place each Ghost, which will revive you and then you can go back to making your shapes inside the room. After you’ve successfully come out of the rooms, five Guardians will experience the fake death again, so you’ll have to use the Ghosts to bring them back, just like you did the previous time.

This will complete the encounter and you will be able to move on to the final encounter in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s End Raid.

How to beat The Witness in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid

For the final encounter in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid, you’ll need to divide the team into two runners and four ad clearers. There are a lot of ads that spawn in this encounter so you’ll have to make sure that the site remains clear at all times.

As a runner, you’ll be presented with three different buffs that you need to collect. There are three Witness hands that spawn; one from the sky, one from the ground, and one from the wall. Here are the buffs they provide:

• Ground hand: Circle buff (Orange)
• Sky hand: Triangle buff (Green)
• Wall hand: Square buff (Red)

Depending upon the hand that spawns, you’ll see a pattern form on the floor. Step into this pattern, stay for a second, and leave, otherwise you’ll take damage and die.

If you want to destroy the ground hand you need to stand in the circle attack and shoot the bracelet, it’ll show you a color. Now, based on the color, identify the buff you need from the list above, and go stand within that shape when The Witness performs that attack.

With the correct buff collected, you will have to head back to the circle attack zone and then shoot the bracelet once again to destroy the Ground Hand. Once you’ve done this, you’ll get the Glyphbreaker buff.

With this buff, head to the small island in front of The Witness in the Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge Raid. Stand in the Fount of Light and then shoot one of the buttons on The Witness. In case you’re clearing ads, and you’ve accidentally collected one of the Resonance buffs, wait until the runner heads to the Fount of Light, and then head in with them while they’re destroying the button on The Witness to cleanse your buff.

Now sometimes, you’ll see a message that says, “The Witness tests you.” This will cause the boss to spawn a grid of cruxes, and you will have to form the pattern of the last shot arm by destroying the wrong ones. The patterns are as follows:

• If the last shot arm was a square: Shoot all the cruxes on the inside to form a square
• If the last shot arm was a circle: Form a diamond structure by shooting all the cruxes except the middle ones on the four edges
• If the last shot arm was a triangle: Shoot the cruxes on the outside and the inside to create a triangle

If you do this successfully, then The Witness will slam his hands on the ground and you will head into the damage phase. If you fail then you’ll die and you will have to start the encounter from the beginning once again.

During the damage phase, The Witness will also attack you, so here’s how you can predict it:

• If the left hand glows: Diagonal attack coming in from the left side
• If the right hand glows: Diagonal attack coming in from the right side
• If both his hands glow: Jump up because he’ll slam the ground

After you’ve done enough damage The Witness will start to back up so you’ll have to get off the central plate otherwise you’ll be thrown off to your death. Now it’s all about rinsing and repeating.

That sums up everything that you need to know about how to defeat The Witness and complete the Salvation’s Edge Raid in Destiny 2 The Final Shape.

Here’s a list of all the rewards that you will get for completing all the encounters successfully and how you can get Still Hunt, a Sniper Rifle that works well in all DPS phases.