Destiny 2 Vault of Glass raid guide: How to beat every encounter

Destiny’s original raid returns. Here’s how you and your fireteam can beat it.

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The Vault of Glass raid was one of the best (and most impactful) activities in the original Destiny since it introduced the community to the potential of blending MMO-style raid design with first-person shooter mechanics. Seven years later, the releases of each new Destiny raid have become internet-dominating events, with countless fans either tuning in to watch World’s First raid races or participating in raids themselves. To celebrate, Bungie has brought the Vault of Glass raid into Destiny 2 for all players, modernizing it with some tweaks to the raid’s mechanics and combat as well as some updates to theVault of Glass raid weapons, perks, and modsto make them more desirable in modern Destiny.

Raids like the Vault of Glass are tough and require strong combat skills, excellent team coordination, and a focused mind. Fear not, though, because we’re here to help aspiring Guardians understand what they’ll need to do (and what their ideal loadouts are) to successfully beat the raid and take down its final boss: Atheon, Time’s Conflux.

Europa awaits

Beyond Light is the next big expansion for Destiny 2, introducing a new element for Guardians to wield, a new area on the Jupiter moon Europa, a new story, and plenty of loot to go around. You don’t need it to play the Vault of Glass, but it’s an excellent expansion regardless.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass: Loadout recommendations

In the Vault of Glass, you’ll be fighting plenty of ads, some of which are a bit tanky. Therefore, you’ll want well-rolled primary weapons that come with great PvE perks like ones that boost your reload speed, damage, and ability regen. You’ll also need to take down two bosses, and since the DPS phase windows for them aren’t huge, you need strong special and heavy weapons that can do a lot of damage quickly. Here’s a full breakdown of what weapons we recommend you keep in your inventory.

Primary weapons

Special weapons

Heavy weapons

Armor and weapon mods

Best subclasses

In addition to having the right gear, you’re also going to want to make sure you and your teammates are using the right subclass during each encounter. Here’s what’s optimal:

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Encounter Guide: Opening the Vault

When your fireteam loads into the Vault of Glass, you’ll find yourselves in front of the entrance to the Vault. There’s one issue, though: it’s closed off. Therefore, your team needs to open it while fighting off the Vex that try to stop you.

Once players stand on the plates for long enough, the door to the Vault of Glass will open.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Encounter Guide: Defending the Confluxes

Once you’ve entered the Vault and have traversed its platforms, you’ll eventually reach the boss arena where you fight the Templar. However, it’s not time for that boss battle just yet — you’ll need to complete two other encounters first. The first involves defending the confluxes, and the second is destroying the Templar’s Oracles. Let’s go over defending the confluxes first.

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This process will continue until the original conflux disappears and two more spawn in — one on the left and one on the right. These need to be defended like the first conflux. However, the Vex’s spawn points don’t change, so keep your fireteam spread out so that you can kill ads right when they spawn in. Eventually, the original middle conflux will spawn back in, making it so that your team has to defend all three. Note that one Wyvern will spawn per active conflux.

After you successfully prevent Vex from sacrificing themselves on the confluxes for a few minutes, you will successfully complete this encounter.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Encounter Guide: Destroying the Oracles

Now that you’ve defended the confluxes, you’ll need to destroy the Templar’s Oracles, which are bright blue objects that appear in the arena alongside a musical cue (see above).

This continues five times, but each wave of Oracles has one more in it than the previous wave. The first wave of Oracles only has three to keep track of, but by the end of the encounter, you’ll need to destroysevenOracles in the right order. Therefore, make sure that your communication is clear and that everyone assigned to the Oracles is in a good position to see Oracle previews and then destroy them when they appear fully.

Throughout the encounter, hordes of Vex will be spawning in to try and distract the team (including deadly Hobgoblin snipers located on perches in the distance). The two ad clearing players should be killing these Vex as fast as they can so the Oracle team can focus on the Oracles. If you’re able to destroy all five of the Oracle waves, you’ll complete this encounter.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Boss Guide: The Templar

It’s finally time for the first boss of the Vault of Glass: The Templar. This unique Hydra can be difficult for inexperienced raiders to take down, but once you know what you need to do, the fight isn’t actually that bad at all. Here’s how to take the Templar down.

It’s worth noting thatTemplar’s teleport can be interrupted by standing in the circle of light that indicates where he’s going to teleport. This allows your team to continue doing damage, but new Oracles will spawn in , and continuous waves of Minotaurs will appear as long as you keep delaying the teleportation. Templar will also continue to detain players. Therefore, only extend your DPS phases if your team is prepared to juggle the teleport blocking, Oracles, and detainments at the same time.

If you do everything right, you’ll take down the Templar boss. Now it’s time to enter the Gorgon maze and make your way to Atheon, Time’s Conflux.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Encounter Guide: Gorgon’s Labyrinth

To reach Atheon, you’ll need to make your way through the Gorgon Labyrinth. Follow the map below to find your way to the maze’s exit, but watch out for theGorgons, which are glowing Vex Harpies that willwipe your fireteam in several seconds if they detect you.

Notably, the Gorgonscanbe killed if your whole fireteam uses supers and heavy ammo on them. However, the danger of this is that other Gorgons may hear you, and you won’t have enough damage to destroy multiple Gorgons in a short amount of time. Therefore, it’s better to avoid them entirely. Here are some tips on getting past them without being detected:

If you make it to the end of the maze without being spotted, you’re in the clear. Now it’s time to go to Atheon’s arena.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Encounter Guide: The Gatekeepers

Once you make your way to Atheon’s final boss arena, you’ll find one more obstacle between you and the final boss of the Vault of Glass: The Gatekeepers. These Hydras prevent you from using the portals you’ll need for killing Atheon in the final boss fight, so it’s time to take them down.

Something important to note is that Gatekeeper Hydras will occasionally respawn in the boss arena during the encounter. These Vex forcibly close the portals while alive, often interrupting your team’s flow if you don’t take care of them quickly. Therefore, the players in the boss arena should use supers and heavy weapons to take them down fast.

Now that you’ve overcome the Gatekeepers and have control over the portals, it’s time to face Atheon, Time’s Conflux.

Destiny 2 Vault of Glass Boss Guide: Atheon, Time’s Conflux

After prevailing against everything the Vex have thrown at you in the Vault of Glass, only one foe remains — Atheon, Time’s Conflux. Here’s how you can defeat the Vault of Glass' final boss and claim the Vex Mythoclast Exotic fusion rifle (if you have good RNG, that is).

Watch the video below for an example of what the DPS phase looks like:

Once the DPS phase ends, everyone should kill any remaining ads and reset, preparing for another encounter cycle. Rinse and repeat until Atheon is dead. Run forward into the triangular glass door to collect your loot. Congratulations — you’ve completed the Vault of Glass raid!

Any questions?

Do you have any specific questions about the Vault of Glass raid? Let me know, and I’ll do my best to help guide you with advice.

Destiny 2: Beyond Lightis available onXbox Series X,Xbox Series S, Xbox One consoles, PS4 and PS5, and Windows 10 PCs. It costs $40, but you can also play it through anXbox Game Passsubscription. If you’ve never tried out Destiny 2, you definitely should, as it’s easily one of thebest Xbox One shootersand also one of thebest looter shooters for Xbox.

If youdodecide to check the game out, make sure you review myDestiny 2 beginner’s guide on how to get into Destiny in 2021for helpful tips, tricks, and information that will help you get acclimated with its systems. Also, if you’re looking to try out Beyond Light’s raid, don’t miss myDestiny 2 Deep Stone Crypt raid guide on how to beat every boss encounter.

Welcome to Europa, Guardian…

In Beyond Light, players will encounter a dark Fallen faction, travel to new locations, and go beyond the Light to wield the power of the Darkness. You don’t need it to play the Vault of Glass, but it’s an excellent expansion regardless.

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).