The Salvation’s EdgeRaid finally brings Guardians face to face with the Witness for the final showdown in Destiny 2, but getting to the Witness requires completing a series ofencountersthroughout the Raid first. Salvation’s Edge is one of the coolest Destiny 2 Raids Bungie has ever created, but the mechanics take some getting used to for new players.
Thankfully, Salvation’s Edge is a fairly straightforward raid once you get the hang of things, and there are a lot of repeated mechanics fromThe Final Shape campaignso you should be at least somewhat prepared before going in. There’s a lot of loot on offer — including anall-new Exotic weapon— so here’s what you need to know about Salvation’s Edge in Destiny 2 The Final Shape.
How to Start the Salvation’s Edge Raid in Destiny 2
To start the Salvation’s Edge Raid in Destiny 2, you must first completeThe Final Shape campaignon any difficulty. You also need to complete theWild Cardpost-campaign Exotic Quest to obtain theStill Hunt Exotic Sniper Riflebefore you can start the Raid as well. After completing both prerequisites, you can find Salvation’s Edge on the Director map in thePale Heart of the Traveler. It has arecommended Power levelof1965. If you need more help, we have a full guide onhow to start the Salvation’s Edge Raid.
How to Complete the Substratum Encounter in Destiny 2
After the initial platforming section, you’ll arrive at theSubstratumwith the objective of gainingaccess to the monolith. This isn’t a boss encounter. Instead, it’s apuzzlewith a very stricttimerthat requires your fireteam to split up and activate pads throughout the arena to gain a special buff required to progress. Here’s a helpfulmapof the encounter created by an anonymous contributor on the Destiny Raid Secrets subreddit.
To begin the encounter, grab theResonanceand interact with theglowing orange boxin the center of the room to deposit it. To complete the encounter, you need to gainResonanceand deposit that buff into this box three times before the “Final Shape Looming” timer reaches zero and your group instantly wipes.
Once the encounter begins, a bunch ofVexwill spawn and your team will be swarmed by explosive Supplicants.Split the group into teams of threeand pursue the Vex. In each of the rooms, there will be aHydraandMinotaur. Killing these enemies will open doors for each group so they can progress further.
After taking them down, aTormentorwill appear in the center of the arena near the Resonance box. Defeat the Tormentor and more rooms will open up. Repeat the process and kill the Vex, but be prepared for a Champion to appear this time. Defeat the Champion and another Tormentor will appear in the center of the arena.
Once you kill the Threshold Sentinel Tormentor, you’ll receive a notification that says, “Energy flows into the architecture.” More Vex will spawn. Follow them into their respective rooms, clear the area, and you’ll find aglowing orange plate.Step onto the plateand it will send apulsealong theorange wireson the floor to another plate. Coordinate with your fireteam toping-pong the charges back and forthbetween the plates.
As you move the charge between plates,small triangleswill appear throughout the arena. You need to collectno more than three of these trianglesto gain stacks ofPyramidal Resonance, so coordinate with your fireteam to decide who’s going to grab them. As you charge the plates and grab triangles, you’ll come across black monoliths. Shoot them to reveal a glowing golden weak point. The more stacks of Pyramidal Resonance you have, the more damage you’ll do to the pillar. Breaking the pillar will give you a new Resonance buff that you can take to the center of the arena to deposit into the box.
After you shoot the final totem, you’ll see notifications saying, “The resonant conductor sparks to life” and “You are beckoned toward the center.” Return to the middle of the arena and defeat theSubjugatorto activate the box.Deposit all stacks of Resonance. Repeat this entire processthree timesto complete the encounter and proceed with the raid.
How to Defeat the Herald of Finality in Destiny 2
The second Salvation’s Edge encounter pits you against theHerald of the Finality, the first real boss fight of the raid. This boss battle involves many of the same mechanics from the previousSubstratumencounter, just with a few twists. To start the encounter, shoot theTaken blightin the center of the arena.
Split your group into threeteams of twoand send each pair to a differenttotem. One is in themiddle, one is on theleftside, and the last is on therightside. Each area has twoplates, so each player is responsible for one of them. It’s the sameping-pong mechanicas the previous encounter, only now bothResonance trianglesandResonance orbswill spawn.
Three players will get a buff calledCall to Reckoning. To determine which Resonance shape you need to collect, the players with Call for Reckoning need to go to thecenter of the arenawith the boss. Look around forTaken blightsand destroy them to make the boss vulnerable, thenshoot him in the head for a critical shotthat gives you a buff calledStolen Favor,which will reveal thecorrect shapefor your totem.
Once you learn the correct shape, use theplatesto spawnResonance buffs, collect theright shape, and thenshoot the totemslike last time. Each side also has a large enemy called theTrammel of Conflict(Phalanx, Wizard, or Ogre) to deal with. Focus on these enemies and do not let them stand on the plates and reach the totem or theentire team will wipe.
After all three totems are charged, aResonance boxwill spawn in the back of the arena. Once everyonedeposits their Resonanceinto the box, thedamage phasewill begin. Rinse and repeat until the Herald of Finality is slain to complete this encounter.
How to Carve a Path in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge
Thethird encounterin the Salvation’s Edge raid requires you tocarve a paththrough theRepositoryyou continue toward the Witness, and there are even more plates and pads waiting for you in this room. Ads will constantly spawn during this encounter, so stay on your toes and help your fireteam so they don’t get overwhelmed.
A Tormentor namedThreshold Sentinelwill appear at the start of the encounter, and it’s a good idea to kill it quickly so your group can focus on mechanics. The plate mechanic is the main focus of this encounter again, only there are nowtriangles,orbs, andcubesforResonance. Ping pong the charges between each plate and shoot the totems to get Resonance, then deposit the Resonance in the box at the back of the arena to access the next part of the encounter.
After you climb up to thesecondroom, just repeat the process again. Watch out for theTormentorand theWitness‘ attacks, ping-pong the plates, and bank your Resonance. There’s a lot ofplatformingin this room, so watch your step. Once you bank your Resonance, you can proceed to the final part of this encounter.
Thethirdand final section of this encounter involves a lot of platforming and jumping, so try not to fall and ruin things for your group. There arethree totemsto activate andthree yellow bar Tormentorsto deal with. Now that you have the ping-pong mechanic mastered by this point, you’re able to focus on platforming and surviving the Tormentors. After activating all three totems and banking Resonance, aChampionwill spawn as the final roadblock. Take it out to complete the encounter.
How to Solve the Verity Puzzle in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge
TheVeritypuzzle encounter is one of the toughest in Salvation’s Edge, and streamers were stumped for hours during the World First race when they first reached it. When you arrive, you’ll see a bunch of tall whitestatues of Guardians. They’re actuallyyou and your fireteam! One of them has aglowing yellow base.Interact with this statue to start the encounter.
Your group will be split up into ateam of threethat stays in the main room andthree solo playersthat are teleported into their own rooms. The players in the solo rooms will see threestatues, one for each of the solo players. One of the solo players should call out the order of the shapes held by the statues from left to right (e.g. circle, square, triangle) because the trio in the main room will need that information.
Each of the solo players should look for thestatue of themselvesand note whichshapeit is holding. The main goal of the solo players for this phase is totrade shapeswith each other so that theshapes on the wall match the shape held by their statues. For example, if you’re a solo player and yourstatue is holding atriangle, you wanttwo triangles on the wallas well.
To trade symbols, you can kill theSplintered CuratorKnights, grab their shapes, and deposit them into the statues. It’s very important that youdo not pick up more than one shapeat a time, otherwise they will combine into a 3D object (this is important for later). Also,don’t grab your own shape. Just kill the knights anddrop their shapes into the matching statue. For example, you shoulddeposit a triangle into the statue holding a triangle.
After you trade enough shapes with the other solo players, each solo player should havetwo shapes on their walls that match the shape held by their statue. At this point, your next goal is to trade shapes again so that each solo player hasone of each shape(one on the statue, two on the wall). To do so, kill the Splinted Curators and pick up your shape from the statue. Deposit it into one of the other statues and then do the same for the third statue. This will make your shapedisappearfrom the statues in the other rooms, and each solo player will end up withonly one statueholding their shape.
The Witness will notice your actions as you keep trading shapes, and he’ll periodicallykill some of the solo players. Thetrio of players in the main roomcan revive dead solo players by finding theirGhostin the main room and then bringing it to the statue of the dead player near the entrance of the room. Ghosts should be deposited in order fromleft to right, otherwise the depositing player will be killed. The depositing player will also be killed if they bring the Ghost to the wrong Guardian statue.
While all this is going on, the trio of players in the main room need toDissectstatues and swap shapes between them. Each statue in the main room is holding a 3D object comprised of two shapes. Dissecting two statues in a row will swap the shapes between those statues and change their 3D objects, so coordinate with your group to determine which order you want to Dissect. For example,cone=triangle+circleandcube=square+square. If you Dissect atrianglefrom the cone and asquarefrom the cube, you’ll swap them and the statues will now have acylinder(square+circle) andpyramid(square+triangle) instead.
Ultimately, the goal of the trio of players in the main room is to Dissect statues so that they end up holding 3D objects made out ofshapes not held by the statues of the solo playersin their solo rooms. For example, if the statue of a solo player in a solo room is holding atriangle, then the corresponding statue in the main room should be holding acylinder(square+circle). This is why a solo player needs to call out the shapes of their statues in order from left to right, so the main room team knows which 3D objects to create.
Once the statues are holding the correct 3D objects, the solo players canexit their solo roomsand return to the main room by killing Knights andcollecting both shapesto gain a3D shape aura. This buff lets you run through the glass wall at the back of the room so you can regroup with everyone in the main room.
Finally, once the entire fireteam is back in the main room,the Witness will freeze and kill five players. The surviving player has to resurrect everyone else by grabbing their Ghosts and depositing them at the corresponding statues fromleft to right. Once everyone is alive again, three new players will be taken away to solo rooms. Completethree full cycleslike this and you’ll complete the Verity encounter.
How to Defeat the Witness in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge
It all comes down to this. In theZenithencounter of Salvation’s Edge, you and your fireteam will face off against theWitness. This encounter is actually fairly straightforward, especially compared to what came before it.
The entire encounter revolves aroundshooting the Witness’ handswhile you have the correctResonanceshape buff. This will get you a buff calledGlyphbreakerthat lets you destroy the glowing buttonson the Witness’ body, enabling theDPS phase. Just like the rest of the encounters in this raid, there’s aFinal Shape timerthat will wipe you when it reaches zero.
When the encounter begins, a bunch of theWitness’ armswill appear on each side of the arena. They repeatedly perform attacks withglowing telegraphed damage zoneson the ground. Stepping into one of these telegraph zones will give you aResonancebuff. The circular zone will give youSpherical Resonance, the triangular zone will give youPyramidal Resonance, and the beams from the horizontal arms grant youHexahedron Resonance.
Standing in the glowing zones lets you shoot the wrists of the arms to reveal a colored wristband adorned with shapes. If you have Resonance that matches the shape on the wristband, you may shoot and destroy them. The yellow wristband requiresSpherical Resonance, the red wristband requiresHexahedron Resonance,and the green wristband requiresPyramidal Resonance. Once you’ve obtained the correct Resonance buff, step into the glowing telegraph zones for the corresponding arm and shoot the bracelet to break it.
Breaking a wristband will grant you a special buff calledGlyphbreaker, which is the key to activating the DPS phase. With the Glyphbreaker buff, you may enter thewell of light in the center of the arena and destroy one of theglowing buttonson the Witness’ body. Breaking one of these glyphs will spawn a pair ofSubjugators, so be ready. You can break multiple glyphs at a time if you’re fast enough, too.
Periodically throughout the encounter, you’ll see a notification that reads “The Witness tests you.” This will spawn a bunch of totems in front of the Witness. If you don’t do this mechanic correctly, you’ll be killed. Depending on which wristband you last broke to gain the Glyphbreaker buff, you need todestroy the totems to create the shape of the corresponding Resonance.
For example, if you used Pyramidal Resonance to destroy a wristband last, you’d need to shoot and destroy the totems to leave behind a triangle. Spherical Resonance requires you to create a diamond, and Hexaderon Resonance requires you to make a square. Do not destroy the totems that create your shape.Shoot the totems that are not a part of your shape.
Once all six glyphs on the Witness’ body have been destroyed, theDPS phasebegins. The Witness will lift aplatformup to its chest and reveal a glowing weak spoton its torso. The DPS phase is exactly the same as it is in theExcisionmission, so you may already know what to do.
The Witness will repeatedly attack your fireteam with itsarmsduring the DPS phase, so be ready to dodge. It’llswipe large sectionsof the platform and basically instantly kill you if it touches you, so be careful. You’ll also need to time yourjumpsto avoid some of these attacks since there won’t always be a safe space to stand. Just rinse and repeat until the Witness is defeated to complete the encounter and finish the raid!
How to Get the Euphony Exotic in Destiny 2 Salvation’s Edge
Euphonyis the Raid Exotic for Salvation’s Edge. It’s aStrand Linear Fusion Riflewith a perk that causesThreadlingsto spawn at your target’s feet as they take sustained damage. It’s great for DPS phases, andboth Strand andPrismatic Guardianscan easily fit it into their builds.
Like all Raid Exotics, Euphony hasa random chance of dropping from the final boss of Salvation’s Edge. It comes down to good RNG whether you get it or not. Good luck!
If you miss out on Euphony, there are still plenty ofother weapons and items to earn from the Salvation’s Edge Raid. The Pale Heart of the Traveler is also home to plenty of other Exotic weapons and sweet gear that you can’t get anywhere else, so don’t forget tokeep farming between weekly runs of Salvation’s Edge.
Diego Perez
Currently serving as a Senior Staff Writer at PC Invasion, Diego Perez has been writing about video games since 2018, specializing in live service games like Destiny and Final Fantasy XIV. His work is featured at publications like Game Rant and Attack of the Fanboy (where he served as Associate Editor), but PC Invasion is home to his best work. When he’s planning content or writing guides, he’s yelling about Ape Escape or grinding Lost Sectors in Destiny. Plus, he has a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Media Studies for Texas A&M University.
