Crown of Sorrow

Raid Themes

There are a number of mechanics that you will see repeat themselves in most Destiny raids. These are what we call raid "themes". The Crown of Sorrow raid is no exception and may be the most compounding of all. Almost every aspect is built upon until the final encounter where you will use every single one.

Witch's Blessing Buff

This buff is initially gained from standing in a green circular area on the ground. The buff allows you to damage Blessed enemies that would otherwise be immune. However, while you are blessed yourself, you will not be able to damage Tempered enemies. Usually there are major adds that only blessed guardians can damage or vice versa, so it's very important to stay on top of killing whatever you can damage. The blessing lasts for 60 seconds and once it runs out you will die within seconds.

Witch's Vessel

To keep from dying, you need to transfer the blessing to another guardian. In order to do this, you'll make use of Witch's Vessel. These cauldron-like structures will contain a sphere and have a circular marker around them on the ground for its area of effect (AoE). When the sphere is damaged by both a blessed and non-blessed guardian, all those within its AoE will either gain or loss the blessing. Usually this is called a "switch". Once a switch happens, the sphere will be destroyed and take some time to respawn.

There may be a scenario where you want to give someone or cleanse a blessing, but not lose/gain it yourself. In order to do this, simply stand outside the vessel's AoE and shoot the sphere. The person within the AoE will still lose or gain the blessing, but you will be unaffected.

Crystals

Crystals will spawn throughout all encounters of the raid, even the jumping puzzle. Like the Witch's Vessel spheres, they need to be damaged by both blessed and non-blessed sources. If the crystals are left up too long or destroyed without damage from both sources, it will result in an automatic wipe. Any amount of damage, as long as it's from both blessed and non-blessed sources, will destroy the crystal.

There are two types of crystals, shielded and unshielded. The shield is a bubble, much like the counselor psions in The Leviathan raid. You must be on the inside of it to do damage. Many people use their melee, however I've experienced inconsistencies and prefer to hipfire my primary.

What's Next?

The blessing switching, damage source pairing, and crystal management are all core mechanics of every encounter. If you don't understand how it works, make sure to ask and experiment on the first encounter before continuing on. Now, check out the loadout page and make sure your guardian is squared away.