Destiny Weekly Reset May 17th, 2016

Let’s start off with the weekly Nightfall for this week which is the Bond Brothers Strike.

Since the April update the Nightfalls have gotten a bit harder, not in terms of overall enemies or difficulty but more so in terms of Light Level requirement. The NEW recommended Light Level for the weekly Nightfall is 320. This is due to the fact that the new max Light Level was increased to 335 with the April update. If you were already 320 before the April update, the Nightfall should be only be slightly more difficult, barely noticeable if you are 320. The problem arises if you are below 320, then you can still do it, depending on what Light Level you are, you just have to be more cautious and take your time with it.

From my personal experience every 5 Light Levels makes the biggest difference, so if you are 315 you should be able to complete the nightfall with a few struggles. At 310 it becomes MUCH more difficult as you will find yourself dying more often, depending on the special perks of the nightfall. Being 320 doesn’t guarantee that the nightfall will be easier; it just means that you have more of a margin for error. Similarly being ABOVE 320 Light level and closer to the max of 335 gives you an even greater advantage for the nightfall and you should really have no trouble whatsoever doing it at those Light Levels.

With that in mind, the nightfall this week is one of the more challenging strikes so it might be harder to complete it with 310-320 Light Levels. It’s not impossible, it might just take you slightly longer and you would have to play more conservatively and have a proper game plan. Those who are above 320 Light level however should not have any major problems.

The perks for this week’s Nightfall include:

Epic – As with any Nightfall, enemies are heavily shielded and highly aggressive enemies appear in great numbers.

Arc Burn – Arc Damage from any source is greatly increased. Think Zhalo Supercell or Bolt Caster the Exotic Sword. A 1000 Yard Stare with Arc burn would be really helpful as well. Warlock Stormcallers are probably the most effective of the Arc subclasses for this one but the Titan’s Striker and Hunter’s Bladedancer can be decent as well.

Juggler – No ammo drops for your equipped weapon. This one is especially annoying for Bond brothers, but the bright side is you see a lot of Heavy and secondary ammo drops when using your primary and vice versa.

Ironclad – More enemies have shields. This just means even more of those annoying Psions will have shields and be harder to kill.

Catapult – Grenade recharge rate is greatly increased. This is a blessing especially for Bond brothers as you can use all the help you can get. Sunsinger warlocks can have a field day with this one but remember this week’s Nightfall favors Arc damage so see what will suit you best, the double grenades with revive OR the Stormcaller subclass. Try using exotics that give an additional grenade for Titans such as the Armamentarium and max out Discipline to take full advantage of this perk.

The Shield (BOND) Brother Strike is one of the most challenging, if not the MOST challenging Strike in Destiny Taken King and there are a few things you need to watch out for especially on Nightfall. Most of the Strike is fairly straightforward and can be completed with little to no problems. It is just the final part of the Strike with the boss or bosses encounter that is somewhat challenging.

The majority of enemies, if not all of the enemies, are Cabal with very few taken enemies throughout the Strike. With that said, the most troublesome of the lot are definitely the Psions, Centurions because of their shields and Colossi because they have missiles and a machine guns. The Colossus hit hard and are extremely aggressive on Nightfall as they will more than likely chase you down while firing missiles at you. The Psions will shoot at you when you are far away or in the air and although they are fairly easy to kill, be mindful of their ground attack as it is devastating and usually a one hit kill if you are a lower light Level. Getting surrounded by Psions and other enemies will ensure you’ll be dead in no time. The sheer number of enemies that spawn for this strike is one of the reasons that make it so challenging. Another factor is that there aren’t many places to hide or take cover behind and you have to constantly stay on the move because of the way the bosses fight.

The game plan should be to take out the most dangerous of the adds first and leave everyone who is not an immediate threat for later. I usually start with the Colossi and any shielded enemies and then leave the Psions for cleanup. Save your heavy and Supers primarily for the adds and use your Primary and Sniper for the bosses.

This Nightfall boss encounter is unique in the sense that is actually has two bosses that take turns coming out and engaging you, until the very end of the strike when they both come out at once along with some adds and that’s when things really get challenging. The trick is to do as much damage to the bosses BEFORE the final phase. So when they come out individually use a good sniper like a 1000 Yard stare or Black Spindle and do as much DPS as possible. You can’t actually kill them during this phase as after they take a certain amount of damage they automatically retreat and are immune to further damage, but what most people miss is you can get a few extra shots in as they are retreating as well. This way when they both come out at the end they are severely weakened and you can finish at least one of them off relatively quickly. Keeping them both alive at the end for a long time with loads of health will just make your job that much harder.

The first boss that comes out to greet you is Valus Mau’ual, an enormous Cabal, even as far as Cabals go he’s HUGE. His game plan is to charge at you head on and punch you in the face, which is usually a one shot kill if you are below 320 Light Level. Now usually you are supposed to run around to avoid his melee to the face, but there are a few game plans that make this encounter much easier. One plan would be to climb atop one the pillars in the room and just snipe/shoot him from there. This works fine until the adds show up and then you are in the open, atop the pillars, and you make a very easy target. 

The better plan is to let Valus ,au’ual run out and then just jump and stand near the door he comes out from. For some reason if you stand there he just does not charge at you, broken game mechanics I guess. By doing this you can safely shoot him much better with a sniper without fear of getting pummeled in the face. This spot is also especially helpful when the adds come, as there are a few boxes you can duck behind and shoot them from and they spawn on the other side of the room so you have ample of time to shoot them before they reach you. One thing to remember with this method is that after all the adds have been dealt with and Valus Mau’ual has lost enough health he will then retreat, which means he will head to this door which he came from, so at this point he CAN and most often WILL attack you as he is retreating. So as soon as you see the prompt that he is retreating you know it’s time to get out of that spot and into the room to wait for the next phase.

After Valus Mau’ual retreats, Valus Tlu’urn, his brother arrives to take care of business. This guy is a bit annoying to deal with as he fires projectiles into the air to ensure you are always moving around and unlike is dumbass brother, he will attack that spot by the door where you were hiding before so that’s a no go. Thankfully he seems slightly easier to deal with, than his brother, as he is not constantly charging at you and his projectiles are easy enough to avoid as there is a big blue circle on the ground where he is about to attack, so just don’t stand in the circle. The problem occurs when the adds for this phase come, because now you have to deal with the adds as well as avoid the shots and there isn’t a suitable place for cover because you can’t stay in one place too long or risk taking a rocket to the face. This is where heavy weapons and/or your super will come in handy, so you can clear the adds with relative ease and then just focus on the boss until he retreats as well. Again remember that you can get a few shots in to this boss as well while he is retreating. After the second boss retreats it’s time for the final phase.

For the last phase BOTH the brothers come out at once, BUT Valus Mau’ual comes out slightly before his brother so if you did enough damage to him during the first phase then he should only have about a quarter of his health left, if not less. The best thing to do is snipe him as soon as he comes out from the door for the final phase. Use everything possible at your disposal to kill him as quickly as possible as he’s the most problematic. As soon as you are done killing him or even before, adds should spawn again, so if you have any heavy or supers left use them to clear the adds. Then all you are left with is a weakened Valus Tlu’urn and you can just take your time finishing him off.

There are obviously many ways to approach this Strike and the boss encounter, but I found that using a good high-impact sniper is a MUST, especially for the Tank that shows up in the middle of the strike as well as for the boss encounter. The Raid machine gun is my heavy of choice or sometimes the Exotic Sword depending on whether I’m using the Black Spindle or not. Either are good choices and the Solar Exotic sword has a devastating upper cut and the Arc exotic sword has a good ranged attack to deal with adds.

Like I mentioned, one of the more challenging Nightfalls, but with a solid game plan it is definitely doable even at lower light levels.This is one of the strikes that drops some strike specific Legendary gear, one of them being Mau’ual’s Maulers which are gauntlets for the Titan and look extremely cool, similar to Valus Mau’ual arms. This strike also has a chance to drop Treads Upon Stars but that is not specific to this striker but rather can be found in ANY Cabal Strike.

Weekly PvP: This week the weekly PvP mode is Zone Control, one of my personal favorites. You ONLY get points for capturing zone and not actual kills. This game mode I found was an especially good place to get the sword kills for the Exotic Sword quest as most people will be more focused on capturing zones and you can just ambush them. You should play a few games or at the very least one game, in order to get your weekly Sterling Treasure Chest.

Lord Shaxx and Petra will also have new bounties for the week so remember to pick them up as well.

Since the April update, there is a new weekly activity called Challenge of Elders and the bounties and event Sigil that is handed out by Variks each week. These reset on a weekly basis and will usually be different levels and bosses on a week to week bases. The bounties will also ask you to complete different tasks for each of the three bounties from week to week.

Remember to collect your Sterling Treasure Chest from the postmaster as well as 1 from doing the Prison of Elders Level 41 once this week and then another Treasure Chest for doing the weekly Crucible activity like I mentioned earlier.

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