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It's a new season for Nightfall strikes and Grandmaster Nightfalls in Destiny 2, and that also means a new rotation of strikes for players to challenge themselves with. One of the new strikes to the Nightfall and Grandmaster rotation this season is the Shadowkeep DLC's Scarlet Keep strike.
Players who have yet to attempt this strike on higher difficulties will have a rocky start jumping right in, especially for Grandmaster difficulty. Luckily, the map of Scarlet Keep is large and vast, meaning players can often find cover and put distance between themselves and their enemies. These tips should help players survive through the Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike at higher difficulties in Destiny 2, including the Grandmaster Scarlet Keep Nightfall.
These tips have been written with the Grandmaster level difficulty in mind. Lower difficulties may have fewer champions or will require less strict strategies to complete the Nightfall strike.
7 There Are More Barriers Than Unstoppables
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Those taking on the Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike on Grandmaster difficulty will immediately notice the sheer abundance of Barrier Knights. In contrast, there are only a handful of Unstoppable Ogres scattered around the strike. This means that having consistent anti-barrier damage is absolutely key to having a smooth run of the strike.
While there are decent seasonal weapon mods for Barrier Champions, the best recommendation for any Grandmaster Nightfall or even lower difficulties is to use the Arbalest. Not only does Arbalest have intrinsic anti-barrier capabilities, but it also one-shots any elemental shields (of which there are many in this strike), and it also does fairly decent damage. Here's a guide on the Arbalest and its catalyst as well for players interested in knowing more about this Kinetic linear fusion rifle.
6 Ranged Weapons Are Key
Another observation to make about the Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike is the map and the environment itself. This strike takes place on the Moon, inside the Scarlet Keep, which means most of the areas are quite large with massive sightlines. That said, there's usually decent cover around as well, but players should still be mindful of where they stand due to enemies having powerful sightlines across the map.
As such, having good ranged weapons such as pulse rifles or scout rifles is a must for this strike. Although many players might be wanting to bring their explosive Void builds with Funnelweb into this Nightfall strike, they might struggle due to the lack of range the SMG has. Even hand cannons will work better for this Nightfall strike, though scouts and pulses will reign supreme without a sliver of a doubt.
5 Activate Each Plate And Void Charge As A Team
The Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike has a few different mechanics that players need to complete:
- Lower the bridge with Void charges
- Activate the three plates
- Destroy the crystal holding the elevator still
In normal difficulty strikes, players typically split up to handle these mechanics on their own, but given the sheer number of enemies and Barrier Knights, it's advised that players stick together. For the Void charge part, players should stay as a group and handle one side at a time.
However, for the three plates that need to be activated, due to Barrier Knights spawning in front of the plates when they're charged up and doing huge splash damage that can kill multiple players at once, it's advised to have one player, preferably a Hunter with good mobility and invisibility, charge up the plate, while two other teammates take angles on each side of the plate to kill the Barrier Knight that spawns in.
In the elevator sequence, there are more champions and ads, and while killing a Wizard on one side of the elevator floor, ads and Barrier Knights from the other side can sometimes kill players while they have their back turned. Make sure to push back enemies on both sides first before committing to one side as a team.
4 Beware Of The Elevator Sequence
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Image courtesy of Reddit user Snakeyes3
Another quirk with the elevator sequence of the Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike is the fact that the Acolytes spawning in the crevices of the elevator shaft can easily spam down players on Grandmaster difficulty. Placing down wells, rifts and bubbles is futile, since they will just go through the moving platform. Players can use the three pillars to quickly run and take cover from enemies depending on which side the Acolytes spawn in.
Having a Warlock who can apply Divine Protection healing nades is also a small help in this part, or conversely, Hunters can apply a short invisibility on their fireteam to protect them from the incoming spam damage.
3 Apply Sniper And Arc Resistance
Aside from the sheer abundance of Barrier Knights and regular enemies, Acolytes sniping the players from afar and incoming Arc damage from Wizards are both major obstacles players will have to get through to complete the Scarlet Keep Nightfall strike. Here are a few protective armor mods that are recommended for the strike:
- Sniper Resistance: Great against Acolytes, especially prior to the boss room in larger areas of the strike where Acolytes can snipe players.
- Arc Resistance: Great against Wizards, of which there are many throughout the strike.
- Concussive Dampener: Great against Barrier Knight spam, which is considered splash damage by the game.
2 Make Sure To Have Solar Damage Available
Speaking of Wizards, players will encounter an absolute abundance of Wizards with Solar shields in this strike. While Arbalest is great for taking care of them, it's always a good idea to have at least one person running some type of Solar weapon.
Warlocks can also get away with running middle tree with Well of Radiance, even if their Super will only really see use in the final part of the strike. This means they can use their melee or grenade to remove the shields off of Wizards easily.
1 The Final Boss Room Requires Major Add-Clear
The toughest part of this Nightfall strike is without a doubt the boss room. The main reason for this is that its relatively small space makes it unbearable for players to survive given how many ads spawn in this section of the strike. On the bright side, the pillars in the back provide a ton of cover to play around. Once the two Wizards are dead and Hashladun's first chunk of health has been deleted, champions, orange-bar knights and ads will spawn in abundance.
Players should stand in the back, opposite where Hashladun initially stands with her two Wizards. Warlocks can plop down a Well of Radiance in cover for quick healing, but standing still and camping in one spot is actually not advised in this part. Players should rotate back and forth in this back portion of the boss room and focus down champions and the orange-bar majors first.
Witherhoard or any other ad-clearing tool works brilliantly in this part since the enemy spawn doors are so easily visible for players and can be reached from the back of the arena. One player can spam these doors and kill off the small ads before they even walk out, making this whole section more bearable. The key, as usual, is to target the same enemy, and not to get too comfortable standing inside a Well, since most damage goes through it.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.