Destiny’s Wrath of the Machine raid has now been updated to include the much-anticipated hard mode update, which has unsurprisingly already been conquered by some of the toughest fireteams out there.
Destiny Raid Hard Mode differences
So, what’s changed about Wrath of the Machine? Quite a few things, actually, and we’ve outlined them below in our Destiny Raid hard mode guide.
Loot chests
These chests yield some of the tastiest loot available in Destiny, so you’ll need your SIVA Cache Keys to open them. However, as there are now two chests, only one of them contains the loot you’ll be wanting to get your hands on. Be careful to open the new, Heroic chest as opposed to the standard chest, or you won’t be able to get your hands on the 400 Light Level gear.
Archpriest Vosik
As you might have expected, Vosik is now a hell of a lot tougher to defeat, boasting additional health and dealing more damage out to Guardians as a result of the increased difficulty. Aside from that, the first encounter plays out identical to the regular mode, so be sure to hit up our Destiny Wrath of the Machine guide for more details.
Things get a bit more complicated for his second encounter, however. In addition to his increased attack power and strength, Vosik is even harder to defeat due to the following changes
-Six SIV grenades will now drop compared to three in the original raid. As such, every member of your fire team will now need to lob one of these grenades.
-Once each SIVA Charge (grenade) round is complete, the large central monitors will activate. Previously, only the outer, smaller monitors would do this.
-Each monitor can absorb more damage
-Guardians must now slide or crouch to enter safe rooms.
Siege Engine
During the carry phase of this battle, Guardians will now have to deal with a Fallen Walker that drops in front of the ramp leading onto the Siege Engine. You don’t need to defeat it outright, but it must be incapacitated by shooting it in the legs to allow you sufficient time to run past it. Finally, the Death Zamboni now boasts additional health and can deal out extra damage.
Asksis, Archon Prime
Hard mode introduces one major difference to this battle. Three SIVA turrets will now be present, one at each end of the arenas. While they don’t possess much health themselves, they can deal out a lot of punishment to players and regenerate every 20 seconds. As such, Guardians will have to keep an eye on them and neutralise them as they respawn. Fortunately, they will not appear in the second encounter.
Speaking of the second encounter, nine Servitors will now appear in every SIVA Charge phase, similar to the third round of the first Aksis battle in the standard difficulty. What’s more, Guardians must now chuck nine Charges at Aksis instead of three.
Finally, when Aksis is on low health and attempts to activate the SIVA Destiny, he will fade in and out for a few seconds. It is crucial not to waste any ammo at this point; do not fire unless you are sure of hating your mark.
Good luck!