Vault of Glass (raid)

Entrance to the Vault

"Beneath Venus, evil stirs."

— Mission description

The Vault of Glass is a Raid located on Venus. It was made available in Destiny on September 16, 2014, and is one of the three Raids in the game.

Described as the "Vex underworld" by the Ishtar Collective, the Vault is a realm where the Vex can control reality - even erase people from existence. While these powers do not extend to outside the vault, its enigmatic nature has lured countless Guardians, including the ill-fated Kabr, the Legionless. Praedyth, another Guardian, has been trapped within the Vault for centuries.

After Guardians cleared out the Vault by defeating its master, Atheon, Skolas attempted to seize the power of the vault for himself in Wolves' Gambit. Skolas succeeded in tapping into the network and attempted to use it to pull the entire House of Wolves through time, but ultimately failed. Another attempt to seize the vault, this time by Oryx and the Taken, proved a much greater threat. Oryx utilized a corrupted Axis Mind, Morphon, for this task. The Vex believed that this would have truly meant the end for the Vex, for Oryx would have had access to and infected the entire Vex conflux network, until they realized that they could trick the Guardians into entering the Vault and stopping the Taken for them.

Gameplay

The Vault is said to be "the most challenging experience that [Bungie] has ever created," and that players who complete it would "earn Destiny's ultimate rewards." It is a raid that will take "hours upon hours to complete."

According to Eric Osborne, the entrance alone is a challenge in itself, taking his team "forty-five minutes to crack." A well-coordinated team however can open the entrance more quickly.

The Vault of Glass includes a number of challenging puzzles, unique enemies, and boss fights, as well as various traps to instantly kill the entire party if performed incorrectly. Time travel to the past and future also plays an important part in the Vault.

Unique Enemies

• Fanatic
• Supplicant
• Praetorian
• Oracle
• Descendants
• Precursors

Bosses

• Atheon, Time's Conflux (Final Boss)
• The Templar
• The Gorgons

Guide

The Vault of Glass can be broken up into multiple stages, each with a different puzzle and/or boss encounter. There are no objective markers or instructions on how to complete the Vault within the game. Note that the Raid may be entered by as little as one player, but six is recommended if not necessary to complete. The minimum recommended level that players should be is 26 on Normal difficulty, and weapons that do Void damage are recommended, as they will come in handy for dropping Minotaur shields.

Stage 1: Waking Ruins

Players spawn in an open area outside the Vault's entrance littered with Vex ruins. The goal is open the gate by assembling a Spire, which acts as a key. The Spire is built by having all three Sync Plates in the area continuously active for a period of time. Sync Plates are initially activated by clearing them of enemies and standing on them. Once activated, waves of Vex enemies will spawn at points near the Sync Plates and attempt to deactivate them. Players must destroy the Vex before they can force Guardians away from Sync Plates, or the Spire's construction will reverse.

As a puzzle, this stage is fairly simple. The most significant threat to the Sync Plates are powerful Minotaur variants called Praetorians. Once a Praetorian spawns, it will rapidly advance toward the nearest Sync Plate. Players should focus on destroying Praetorians above all else so that the Spire is not interrupted (Praetorians are the only units that can capture Plates). When the Spire is complete, it will link with the Vault portal and open it, allowing the party to proceed.

Stage 2: The Trial of Kabr / Templar's Well

Follow the passageway down. There will be a series of platforms to jump down on first before entering the first major room.

This is the area of the first boss, but the boss will not be open to attack yet. Firstly, the players must eliminate all the lesser enemies. Be warned, there are also a unique Vex type called Fanatics in this room—these are headless Goblins that glow green; if the player touches them, or steps into the green pools they leave behind when destroyed, the player gets the Mark of Negation, and has a few seconds before they are killed. Players who are debuffed need to enter the pool of light in the middle of the map to cleanse themselves; be warned that this takes a small amount of damage. The pool will disappear if used too many times.

After a few waves, the players are prompted to defend the Vex Conflux that spawns toward the front of the room where the players enter, and then later on, two more Confluxes on the left and right sides of the room, from Vex attempting to sacrifice themselves. Each Conflux will allow four sacrifices before the mission fails. Vex will appear in three places: the middle, and a cave area near each of latter two Confluxes.

Once the two Confluxes have been successfully defended, players will be prompted to kill a Vex enemy called the Oracle. Oracles will spawn in one of seven places, three on each side and one in the middle, and every time an Oracle spawns, it makes a distinct musical sound. Players need to kill all the Oracles that spawn as quickly as possible, or else all players will be Marked for Negation. There will also be Hobgoblins appearing on the edges of the room, far out on distant platforms, so be careful of stray sniper shots.

Stage 3: The Templar

After defeating the Oracles, the players will reach a checkpoint and have a break to reorganize before the boss fight. The pool of light will disappear, and in its place will be a relic called The Aegis, a wieldable shield. Once one of the players picks up the relic, the Templar will appear. The relic has a melee attack, a Super (the only way to take down the Templar's shield) attack, and a cleansing attack bound to the grenade button. If anyone drops the relic, someone else needs to pick it up in a few seconds or else the mission will fail. The Templar has a full shield surrounding it that cannot be damaged with any weapon except for the relic's Super, which can be charged fairly quickly by attacking the Harpies in the room.

Once the Templar's shield is down, it will summon a red bubble around every player. Players should avoid firing rockets at the bubble, as it will explode inside and kill them. Instead they should attack it with their primary weapons or a Solar-damage non-explosive weapon. After a few seconds, the Templar will attempt to teleport to another part of the room and get its shield back. To prevent the Templar from teleporting, one player stands in the red circle that appears in the map. Teleporting will also make more Oracles appear in the room; if the players do not dispatch the Oracles and get the Mark of Negation debuff the only way to cleanse themselves is with the relic's grenade ability. (Note: The relic's cleanse has a cooldown, so use sparingly and time it right.) It is better to let the other players handle the Oracles, as the player with the relic will have a hard time dispatching them. Instead, that person should focus on the weaker enemies to build up their Super. However, if the players do succeed in preventing the Templar from teleporting, a Minotaur will spawn. Fortunately, the relic is fairly effective against them.

If the players do not kill the Templar within a certain period of time, it will become enraged, and summon a large number of enemies and Oracles. By this point, the encounter will become too difficult as the Oracles will keep reappearing and Marking everyone for Negation. It is best to finish off the Templar before it can become enraged..

Stage 4: The Gorgons' Labyrinth

The players will enter a room with a very large drop to the bottom. Jump down, then double jump before hitting the bottom to negate fall damage.

This next part will require high coordination and quick reactions. The maze ahead is filled with white Harpies called Gorgons. Gorgons will kill the entire party in a matter of seconds if they spot them, so the party needs to exit the labyrinth without being seen. If, for whatever reason, it is not possible to avoid or hide from a Gorgon, the next best thing is to turn away and avoid its gaze.

To complete this puzzle the party must move left from the large rock near where you fall down the chasm; once you find the large hall to the left, enter, and climb to the top of the other large rock in the middle of the room and wait until the two Gorgons are clear to the right. Once they have moved out of range jump down to where they were and keep moving until you find a small alcove on the right. Once there just hug the right wall until you find a hole in the wall.

Another point of note is that if you head right from the large rock in the chasm and move through the tunnels without being seen there is a mainly white room that contains a chest with high quality materials. Also noted that in the beginning of the labyrinth, where the river along the bottom goes back into the cliff. there is a small cliff hole that you can jump into. Enter this hole and follow the cavern to find another chest.

Stage 5: Jumping Puzzle

After exiting the Gorgons' Labyrinth, the next room is a large, bottomless chamber with a platform nearby. Standing on the platform will summon a new platform, but will also make the current platform disappear in a few seconds. The party needs to jump from platform to platform until they reach the narrow ledge on the other side, then follow it until they reach a doorway to the right.

Stage 6: Awaken the Glass Throne

For this stage you are required to kill the Gatekeeper (which is a high-level Hydra without a shield) and open both of the portals within the final room. Once the Gatekeeper is defeated, players must activate one of two (or both) sync plates, which will in turn open the corresponding portals. Both portals are guarded by high-level Goblins and Hobgoblins, but they can be dispatched by activating the portals which kills them. Once a portal is open players will need to enter the portal, kill the Gatekeeper within and retrieve the relic then return through the portal. This must be done on both portals on either side of the room. While this is happening players outside the portals will need to defend the plate next to the portal to keep it open, and defend the Conflux that appears in the center of the room once the relic from the one portal is retrieved. Once both relics are retrieved and the Conflux is completely built players will need to defend against Minotaurs from both portals and from the main room; once this is complete this stage is done.

Stage 7: Atheon, Time's Conflux

For this section the final boss will appear: Atheon, Time's Conflux. Periodically he will teleport Guardians to a point in time, either past or future, where they must pick up a relic and destroy seven red Oracles. In the meantime the Guardians left behind in the Vault will face Atheon and Supplicants, special Harpies that explode upon death or within close proximity to a player. Once the teleported Guardians destroy every Oracle and exit the portal, Atheon will be extremely vulnerable to damage due to a buff called "Time's Vengeance", which greatly reduces all cooldowns, allowing the relic's shield ability to be used constantly, as well as greatly increasing damage to Atheon for thirty seconds. Repeat this process until Atheon is defeated. Like the Templar, he will also become enraged if Guardians take too long to defeat him.

Rewards

Chests

• Ascendant Shards
• Ascendant Energy
• Chance for an Exotic Weapon

Boss Fights

• Legendary Weapons with bonuses against Vex targets
• Legendary Armor sets specific to the Vault

Final Boss

• Chatterwhite Shader
• XV0 "Timebreaker"
• Vex Mythoclast (Hard Mode Only)

Gallery

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  The Glass Throne

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  Map of the Vault of Glass, including all known chest locations

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Trivia

• In the final boss room you will face several different programmings of Vex. As you exit the door leading into the room, they are as follows: left: Sol Primeval, center: Aphix Invasive, right: Sol Imminent. Respectively, these Vex signify past, present and future. This is similar to the last fight in the Black Garden, where you must fight threee bosses who symbolize past, present and future (the Sol Progeny).
• At multiple points throughout the Vault, it is possible to observe specks of light darting in and out of view. Upon closer examination it is shown these are actually projections of Ghosts. It is implied based on lore that these are actually the Ghosts of Guardians who were lost to Atheon and the Vex.

List of appearances

• Destiny (First appearance)