With the launch of Destiny’s House of Wolves DLC expansion earlier this week, Bungie paved the way for a fresh new perspective on their hugely popular shooter. They added new story missions, new gear, and even a set of unique experiences that will challenge Destiny players in fresh ways.

Of course, the House of Wolves DLC was not without its expected add-ons as well, like the new Shadow Thief Strike. As the only new strike added to the game this time around, Shadow Thief represents a new challenge for Destiny players, especially those hoping to complete the Weekly Nightfall Strike.

Since the strike itself is new, many players might not yet have formed strategies for how best to tackle the experience. That’s where we come in. As part of our ongoing Destiny House of Wolves coverage, we have put together a useful guide for how best to beat the Shadow Thief Strike.

Preparing for the Shadow Thief

Now, as a general strike, the Shadow Thief cooperative experience is fairly simple. Players advance through a few self-contained combat areas before eventually reaching the final showdown with Taniks, a Fallen Kell. There are certainly some tough enemies scattered throughout the level, including a Fallen Walker tank, but by and large most level 32+ players should have no trouble getting through the vanilla version of Shadow Thief. As a Nightfall Strike, however, the strike can get a little tough.

Much like the Will of Crota Strike – in which Omnigul faces off with the Guardians several times before the final showdown – the Shadow Thief features a couple early appearances by the final boss Taniks. However, unlike Omnigul, Taniks will actually take permanent damage during these early encounters and not replenish his health. So, for Nightfall Strikes it behooves players to do as much damage early on, so as to make their job easier by the end. Granted, there are certain caps on how much damage can be done – Taniks will eventually become ‘Immune’ and leave the area – but it’s still worth focusing on him while he’s present.

Slow and Steady Wins the Destiny Race

For the first few sections, we recommend hanging back in the entrances to each main area. The showdown between the Hive and Fallen provides a perfect opportunity to pick off enemies from afar and the teleporter room (underneath the Fallen Ketch) has a long slope down which players can retreat when in trouble. This teleporter room is the first place that Taniks appears so make sure to do as much damage to him as possible. Be careful, though, he does have a Scorch Cannon and can take players out quickly.

After Taniks beams up to his Ketch, follow the light bridge up to the Fallen ship and head to the next combat area. Once again, players can take sanctuary in the doorway, picking off enemies from a distance and retreating when necessary. Taniks will be in this room for a short while so focus fire on him with sniper rifles to get the most damage. Eventually, he will retreat and the team can focus on the regular enemies.

However, it’s important to be careful because several waves of charging enemies – Shanks, Dregs, and Stealth Vandals – will charge at the team during certain stages. So it might look somewhat safe to creep forward, but be prepared to run back at the first sign of trouble. If the Nightfall Strike is an Arc Burn with ‘Lightswitch’ even just one hit from a Stealth Vandal can be certain death.

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Page 2: The Most Challenging Parts of the Strike

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The Fallen Walker Tank

After clearing the room, players will advance forward to what is probably the most challenging area of the whole strike. Unlike the other parts of the level, this area does not let players stand in the doorway and retreat. If they do, the game will eventually teleport the team into the room and shut the door behind. So it’s best to prepare to enter the room rather than be teleported unexpectedly.

There are a few worthwhile areas to hole up in the room, but we’d recommend the small tunnel on the left. The large box in the space provides ample cover from enemies in the opposite end of the room and lets the team pick off any Fallen that spawn from behind.

Working from this space, players can methodically pick off all the enemies within the room and eventually work on the Fallen Walker min-boss in the center area. Again, be careful of the Walker tank’s attacks – they can be devastating – and always keep an eye out for new enemies. At least two times during the Destiny encounter, Stealth Vandals should charge the player, so be prepared to pull out a Heavy Weapon and dispatch them as quickly as possible. Depending on if there is an elemental burn for the Nightfall, we’d recommend a heavy machine gun of that element, as it will make quick work of the group.

After clearing the room, the team will want to send one player down the hallway, but carefully. Taniks will spawn at the end of it, so that player will want to be prepared to retreat as soon as he appears. The other team members will use sniper rifles to do more damage from afar, focusing on Taniks until he teleports away again.

Showdown with Taniks

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Then advance through these last tunnels and into the final area. Here, players can hole up with decent cover, but they can’t retreat back through the door. However, if they have done enough damage to Taniks this fight should be over quickly. Focus fire on Taniks for as long as possible before he teleports over to the far right (if facing out from the entryway). Then snipe him with reckless abandon and Taniks should fall before any enemies come near the team’s hideout. Be careful of those enemies, though, as they can get aggressive. If Taniks hasn’t gone down yet, make sure to clear them out from within this staging area, before focusing on Taniks again. Also, once the Shadow Thief Strike boss does die, keep an eye out for enemies; they will not de-spawn and can still kill players.

After that, prepare to collect the Nightfall Strike reward, and hope that it’s a piece of Etheric Light. Etheric Light will help players reach level 34 and will upgrade Legendary Weapons to max attack power.

Overall, the Shadow Thief Strike is manageable, even as the Weekly Nightfall Strike, but it has a few spots where players’ reflexes will need to be extremely fast. Bungie has also tried to throw a wrench in Destiny veterans’ regular approach, by keeping them from retreating back through the level when this get tough, which invariably makes the Strike faster paced but also more challenging. We can only imagine how difficult it could be to solo this particular strike as a Nightfall.

What do you think of the Shadow Thief Strike? Have you beat is as the Nightfall? What strategies did you use?

Destiny – House of Wolves is out now for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.