I recently applied for a job that seems perfect for me. The gist of it is this: I’ll learn about a difficult subject and explain it simply and concisely in a way that is fun to read. I’d like to take a moment to explain a raid boss fight simply, and at the end, you can leave a comment and let me know if it makes sense to you or not. If I can explain this easily and post it before the company looks at my website, maybe they’ll see it and interview me for this position!
The first thing I’d like to do is write about how the fight was explained to me when I first learned it. After all, it would be difficult to judge whether or not my explanation is better or worse than others.
How I Learned It
Key things to remember:
- A Destiny raid team consists of six people
Here’s how the boss fight was explained to me:
- The raid leader demonstrated where the damage phase areas are. He said that players with the “parallel” buff would stay to the right (point P), players with the “angular” buff would stay in the middle (point A), and players with the “continuous” buff would stand to the left (point C).
- The boss fight starts by defeating the initial “bad guy,” which is called a Berserker (this won’t be explained because it is a recurring theme from earlier fights, and I am making this post strictly about this specific encounter). Grab the orb he drops, carry it to the map area, and insert it into the receptacle.
- Two people stay at the map. One player will read the map, and one player will defend the map-reader.
- Two people are responsible for sniping/destroying glowing parts on the main boss. Failure to do so will end in a team wipe.
- The last two people are responsible for defeating specific Berserkers, retrieving the orbs they drop, and placing them into the proper receptacles. The battleground contains three receptacles in different areas.
- The two snipers leave and take their places—near the top of two buildings on either side of the boss (closest to point 1).
- The map reader directs the two orb collectors to the proper Berserker. Three Berserkers will be on the field, but they must kill the correct one in order to get the orbs to drop.
- The first orb carrier will pick up an orb, and the map reader will direct them to receptacle 1, 2, or 3. The second carrier will pick up their orb, and the map reader will then direct them to the proper receptacle. Note that this is random—the carriers can have different destinations or the same one. It is crucial that the orbs are not picked up at the same time; failure to wait long enough could result in the map reader not knowing where to send each carrier.
- The map reader will direct the carriers to the next Berserker—again, making sure it is the correct Berserker. After the carriers have completed two drop offs, it’s time for the damage phase. A tank will spawn.
- One of the snipers will hop inside the tank and shoot the boss, which stuns it so that the group can do damage. While this is happening, other players are grouping up for the damage phase. Note: the boss’s shields must be down—indicated by all the glowing parts being destroyed—to be effectively damaged by the tank shot.
- Players will initially group somewhat close to each other and start doing damage—the boss’s eye/stomach ball is the point to aim for. The boss will then send out a blast wave—this will give each player a buff.
- The buff appears over the battle log. It will say “continuous, parallel, or angular” for each player. The team has six players, so only two people will have each buff.
- The people with the angular buff will group up on their designated point; the same is true for the others. It is critical that players with different buffs do not stand near each other, else they will start taking damage from each other and die.
- The damage phase continues. The boss will then send out another wave blast that will change some players’ buffs. When the second blast comes, immediately look a your battle log to determine whether or not you need to move.
- After two damage phases, your boss is likely defeated, so this is the last bit.
That’s how I learned it.
However, the part that never made sense to me was how to know where to stand for the damage phase—I had to ask where to stand every time we did damage. I couldn’t remember where the angular/parallel/continuous spots were located.
The part that was most confusing to me was that we had an angular buff—and if you had it, you’d stand on point A—but that point A wasn’t on the left. Point A was the middle area. My English-loving brain could not fathom A not being where it should be—on the left, before all others.
So, when I lead a raid group through the raid, this is how I explained it:
How I Explained It
Most of the explanation was the same. It was only in regards to the damage phase placement that I changed things:
- When the boss performs its blast wave, we will all get a buff. We can get one of three buffs. The buffs have long names that you probably won’t remember. What you should do is look at the first letter of your buff. It will be an A, P, or C.
When you get a buff, you need to take note of it immediately. We must stand with the other person who has the same buff. If we stand next to someone with a different buff, both players will die. The display message for player death is “crossed streams,” or something similar. Two people will have each buff. Come with me. (Takes players to the far side of the map) - After the orb carriers drop the orbs into the receptacles for the second time, it’s time for damage phase. I will call it out. All players will make their way to this general area. We will do this because the boss will follow us, so when we all come to one designated location, we guarantee that the boss will be facing the way we want it to face.
- People with the “A” buff will stand here (I stand near a pile of debris). People with the “P” buff will stand here (I stand near the middle). People with the “C” buff will stand here (I stand to an area on the right that is near a building).
- So, when it is time for damage phase, remember A-P-C. It’s like A-B-C, but not quite the same—it’s A-P-C.
Since I struggled so much with the “true names” of the buffs, I decided it would be easier to organize the proper standing places based on the first letter alone. It’s too weird and non-intuitive for someone to think, “I have angular, so I go to point B” and “I have continuous, so I go to point A” than it is for them to think, “My word starts with an A, so I’m going to point A.”
So, when I was taught the fight, I learned:
- Continuous = Point A
- Angular = Point B
- Parallel = Point C
When I taught the fight, I taught:
- Buff starting with A = Point A
- Buff starting with P = Point B
- Buff starting with C = Point C
A, P, C…. easy as 1, 2, 3.
Aftermath
In the end, I successfully and easily taught this fight to the team. However, we didn’t get the boss kill with this strategy because we had one player who could not un-learn the original way of doing the fight (with my placements). In fairness, I suppose it isn’t completely his fault–the Destiny community and most of the raid guides do teach it the “confusing” way. The way it was originally explained to me did not make sense.
I told the team that we would change the points to CAP (continuous on Point A, angular in point B, and parallel in point C) since the player was struggling to change his positioning.
I told them that instead of remembering A-P-C, they should remember C-A-P and to still disregard the word. I taught them that only the first letter really matters. Once players understand that, the positions can be changed any way a team wants as long as they remember where to go. There is no strategical difference between C-A-P and A-P-C.
How could they remember C-A-P? Maybe the boss needs a ball cap. Who knows?
In the end, we did get the kill, and the shiny new loot.
Side note: though this is a long post, it should hopefully demonstrate conciseness and the simplicity of the explanation.
How did you first learn the last Scourge boss fight?
Thanks for reading!