Salvation's Edge raid guide - Destiny 2 (2024)

The Salvation's Edge raid has arrived mere days after the release of Destiny 2’s last expansion, The Final Shape. This Salvation's Edge guide will cover the entire activity, from starting it and recommended weapons to explanations of the mechanics and how to defeat the bosses. Use the following links to jump to the relevant sections of the guide:

1. Substratum - Gain Access to the Monolith
2. Dissipation - Defeat the Herald of Finality
3. Repository - Carve a Path
4. Verity - See Beyond
5. Zenith - The Witness

Last updated: June 13, 2024 at 8:03 p.m. EDT.

Shacknews World’s First Salvation's Edge raid attempt

Tune in to the following stream of my mates and me attempting to clear the Salvation's Edge Day One raid. The livestream is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET on June 7, 2024. Salvation's Edge unlocked at 10:00 a.m. PT. If you’re reading this guide in the future, take a look at the VOD embedded below! During the first 48 hours, Contest Mode is active, which limits player Power to a maximum of 1965.

Salvation's Edge weapon & build recommendations

This section will be updated over time once more weapons cycle into the meta and players get a firm grasp on the power of the Prismatic subclass. For now, it’s best to stick with proven builds and strategies established in previous raids.

Titans will no doubt have a lot of flexibility as Pyrogale Gauntlets remain a great one-off Super for Solar Titans, as does Cuirass of the Falling Star Thundercrash for Arc Titans. Additionally, Sentinel Titans with Sentinel Shield will help boost your team’s damage output while Berserker is just great at DPS and survivability.

For Hunters, Star-Eater Scales remains an excellent choice on Arc while Celestial Nighthawk can dish out big damage with Golden Gun and the new Exotic, Still Hunt. Nightstalkers with Shadowshot are also valuable when it comes to debuffing bosses and controlling enemies.

Warlocks, while Well of Radiance has been nerfed, it still provides some nice healing and good damage for your team. Want to lean into DPS? Broodweaver remains an excellent choice with its neutral game and big Super. Even Voidwalker with Nova Bomb could be a good choice, providing you can harness Devour to keep you alive.

When it comes to Exotics and other Legendary weapons, the ones you want to have on-hand remain the same as always:

• Divinity
• Gjallarhorn
• Outbreak Perfected
• Witherhoard
• Izanagi’s Burden

For Legendary weapons, The Final Shape might add a few new interesting options, but the usual suspects remain useful: Apex Predator, Cataclysmic, Commemoration, Edge Transit, The Mountaintop, The Supremacy, Indebted Kindness, Zaouli’s Bane, and more.

We’ll have more clarity on what weapons you should have for each encounter as we clear the raid.

The goal of the Substratum encounter is to lock six Conductor pillars that appear in the surrounding rooms. To do this, players will need to do laps of the surrounding rooms and then bounce a signal back and forth between plates.

• Plates: Standing on an active plate sends a signal to another plate. Standing on the new plate sends the signal back again. Sending a signal spawns Resonance shapes.
• Resonance shape: Deposit in the central box to extend the Final Shape Looming encounter timer. Players can only hold three at a time. Collecting four or letting the timer expire results in death.
• Conductors: Can be locked by shooting the center node and then standing on an activated plate.
• Subjugators (Harbinger of the Witness): These enemies spawn if a plate receives a signal and is not stood on within a few seconds.
• Hydras: Defeating a Hydra unlocks a door for the opposite team.
• Final Shape Looming: If this reaches zero, you die.

The Substratum encounter is laid out like a tic-tac-toe grid, with the center square being the starting point. The center room has eight doors that lead to each of the eight surrounding rooms. Each time you return to the center room, two side-by-side doors will unlock and teams will need to go through each door and clear three rooms with one team going clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.

Begin by splitting your fireteam in two teams with three players in each team. Collect the Resonance shape and deposit it in the box to start the encounter, at which point two doors will unlock and Supplicants will enter. Defeat the Supplicants and then send one team through each door.

The goal for each team is to fight through three rooms and defeat the Champion at the end (only one team will have a Champion). To access the next room, the opposite team will need to defeat a Hydra on their side of the map to unlock a door in your room (you must defeat a Hydra to unlock a door for the team on the other side too).

When you reach the third room, you will either face a Minotaur or a Champion. Defeating the Champion opens a door back to the center room and also spawns a Tormentor. When the Tormentor spawns, all of the rooms begin to lock again, so you must return to the center.

Defeat the Tormentor in the center room to open two new doors. Again, your teams will need to fight through three rooms, defeat Hydras to unlock doors, and then defeat a Champion at the end to summon a Tormentor. However, take note of the final room this time, as this will be where the active plate spawns.

When the Tormentor is defeated, go back into the room you just exited to find an active plate. Standing on the plate will send a signal to another plate – you can either stand on the plate and follow the signal or check the rooms on either side of you to see which one has the active Conductor.

Have one player stay in the room with the active plate, another one goes to the room with the Conductor, and the third player floats between each room helping defeat enemies. At this point, stand on the active plate to send the signal to the other plate (the one in the room with the Conductor). When the signal reaches the second plate, the second player has a few seconds to stand on the plate to send it back again.

Each time you send a signal, a Resonance shape will spawn in both rooms and in the center. After you send a signal, quickly collect a Resonance shape in your room. The player clearing enemies can return to the center room to collect any shapes in there. Once all players have three Resonance shapes, the Conductor can be locked. To do this, shoot the center of the Conductor and then have the starting plate send a signal to the Conductor room plate. Stand on the plate when it receives the signal to lock the Conductor.

When both Conductors are locked, return to the center room. A Subjugator will be present, defeat it to summon the box you used to start the encounter. Deposit your Resonance into the box to extend the timer. The more Resonance you deposit, the more time you get.

At this point, you have done one successful rotation of the rooms. You will need to do it two more times for a total of six Conductors locked. The encounter will end once all players have deposited their Resonance shapes in the box.

One additional thing to note is that if your plate receives a signal, you must stand on it. Failing to stand on the plate will cause a Subjugator to spawn in your room and the other player will need to send the signal again.

The Herald of Finality is the second fight in the Salvation’s Edge raid. The goal of this fight is to defeat the Herald of Finality while also depositing Resonance shapes to extend the encounter timer.

• Plates: Stand on an active plate to send a signal to its partner. Sending a signal spawns a Resonance shape. Failing to stand on a plate that receives a signal summons a miniboss.
• Resonance shapes: Deposit at the box to extend the timer. This encounter now has two shapes: Pyramidal and Spherical. The last one you collect will turn your stack of shapes into that shape.
• Call to Reckoning: One player from each side will receive Call to Reckoning. Only these players can damage the boss’ head. Shooting the boss in the head will summon Blights, once Blights are gone, the boss can be shot in the head again.
• Blights: One Blight spawns on each side. These must be destroyed so players can shoot the Herald in the head to get the Stolen Favor buff.
• Stolen Favor: This buff allows players to see the shape that appears on the Conductor.
• Conductor: Will now display a shape. Players must lock the Conductor while in possession of this shape. Only a player with the Stolen Favor buff can see the shape.

Split into three teams of two and send a pair to each section of the arena. One pair will stay in the middle, another two will go to the left, and the last set will go to the right. Shoot the Blight in the middle of the arena to begin the encounter.

Each section of the arena will face basically the same situation: Attendants and Taken Knights will spawn on the left and right. When these are defeated, Attendants, a Knight, and a Trammel miniboss will spawn on either the left or right. The left section will have a Wizard, the middle will face a Centurion, and the right will deal with an Ogre.

The first Trammel to be defeated will cause the Herald to summon three players to battle. These three players will have Call to Reckoning and must now go to the fit pit. Only these players can currently damage the boss. Shoot the boss in the head the first time to summon three Blights, one in each section. Destroy the Blights to make the boss vulnerable. At this point, the three players with Call to Reckoning must deal consistent damage to the boss’ head to crack it, which will give them the Stolen Favor.

Players with the Stolen Favor should now return to their section and call out the shape displayed in the Conductor: sphere or pyramid. The shape that is displayed is what is required to successfully lock it. Players will now need to send the signal back and forth from the plates to generate Resonance shapes. Once players have collected three shapes, lock the Conductor. The player who locks it must have a buff that matches the Conductor (if the Conductor shows a sphere, you need Spherical Resonance).

Remember, the last shape you collect is what matters! If you collect two Pyramidal Resonances and then a Spherical Resonance, your 2x Pyramidal Resonance will turn into 3x Spherical Resonance.

As you send the signal back and forth, enemies will spawn around each plate. Additionally, if you fail to stand on a plate that receives a signal, another miniboss will spawn at the lower plate.

When all three Conductors are locked (one in each section), a box will spawn in the fit pit. Deposit your Resonance shapes in the box to extend the Final Shape Looming timer. In addition to this, the damage phase will begin. When the damage phase ends and the boss goes immune, return to your section and repeat the process.

When the boss’ health reaches the last chunk, the damage phase extends (but the encounter timer keeps ticking down). During the final stand, Taken enemies will spawn in the arena. You will now have the remainder of the encounter timer to defeat the boss. You are going to want as much time for the final stand as you do a normal damage phase, so don’t try to push through a damage phase and into the final stand if you don’t have enough time on the encounter clock.

Herald of Finality DPS strategy

Players will now need to deal damage to the Herald of Finality. The prevailing strategy is to use Falling Guillotine with one player providing Wolfpack Rounds via an Ergo Sum. Any Hunters on the team should utilize Golden Gun with Celestial Nighthawk and Still Hunt for even more damage.

It’s also critical that players debuff the boss using Weakened effects such as those from Void grenades, Sentinel Titan’s axe from the Twilight Arsenal Super, or even a Nightstalker’s Shadowshot. In addition to this, you need damage buffs like Radiant, Blessing of the Sky, Surge mods, and more.

In terms of survivability, Duskfield Grenades will provide Frost Armor, a Warlock with Speaker’s Sight can summon a Healing turret, even a Well of Radiance can offer a bit of Restoration while a Ward of Dawn nets a Void Overshield.

The goal of the Repository fight is to fight through three rooms, sending signals to plates and depositing Resonance shapes. Each room will have three Conductors to lock, with each one requiring a different shape (Triangle, Circle, and Square).

Each of the three rooms in the Repository fight has three Conductors spread across the left, middle, and right side of the arenas along with a set of plates. As before, split your team into three groups, with each pair responsible for a set of plates.

A Tormentor will be on each lane and the player that defeats the Tormentor will receive a Stolen Favor buff. This allows them to see the shape on the Conductor.

Bounce the signal back and forth between the plates to generate Resonance shapes. Once the shapes on the Conductors are known, have players collect the Resonance shapes and lock the correct Conductor. This last part will require players to change lanes, as the Conductor connected to your plates may not have the same shape that your plates generate (the left lane might generate Hexahedron Resonance but its Conductor might display a triangle).

Once the Conductors are locked, clear the enemies and defeat the Champion to unlock the door. The following rooms will require the exact same strategy, the only difference is that the layout will be different and the signal between the plates might be crossed over (the right plate might connect to the far left plate).

The Verity encounter is all about freeing the solo Guardians from their rooms. To do this, the Outside team must make the correct 3D object on each statue. The Inside solo players must make the correct 3D object in their pocket.

The 3D object held by your statue on the Outside and the 3D object in your pocket must match. This object will be a combination of the two 2D shapes not being held by your personal statue on the Inside.

To put it another way: The Outside team will be making sure the matching pair of statues is collectively holding the three different shapes: triangle, circle, and square. Meanwhile, the Inside team is making sure that the shadow shapes on their walls are the two shapes not shown on their personal statues in their room.

The mechanics of this encounter must be performed three times to move on to the final fight.

Verity room layout

The encounter automatically splits the team into two groups. Three players remain together and are the “Outside” team. The remaining three are sent to individual rooms by themselves and are hereby the “Inside” team.

The main room is the Outside and has a statue for each member in your fireteam near the spawn point. It also has three statues a bit further back – these three statues are replicas of the three players taken and placed in their own, solo rooms. The solo rooms are the Inside and have the same three statues that were in the Outside.

The three statues in the Outside and the three statues on the Inside can be thought of as three pairs. The left statues are paired together, the middle statures are paired, and the right statues are paired. There is one key difference: The Inside room statues are holding 2D shapes and their Outside partner is holding a 3D object.

Each solo room on the Inside has the 2D shapes in the same order. Example: If the left statue is holding a square, it will appear that way for all three solo players. The Inside rooms will also have shadow shapes cycling through on their walls.

Outside Guide

The goal of the Outside team is to ensure the Outside statue is holding the two shapes missing from the Inside statue. The confusing part is that the Outside statue holds a 3D object. This object is the combination of two 2D shapes. Use the following image to learn what shapes make a 3D object.

Example: If an Inside statue is holding a circle and the Outside statue is holding a cone, then you know that this pair of statues is holding two circles and a triangle. There is an extra circle and a missing square in this combination. You must dissect a circle from the cone and replace it with a square (making a triangular prism).

To put it another way: The Outside statue must not hold a shape that is being held by its partner on the Inside and it must not hold two of the same shape.

To remove a 2D shape from a 3D object, you must swap the 2D shape with a 2D shape from another statue’s 3D object. This will change the 3D objects that both statues are holding.

Example: Statue 1 is holding a cone. Statue 2 is holding a cube. Collect a circle and deposit it at the cone. Collect a square and deposit it at the cube. This tells the statues you want them to swap these specific shapes. The statues will swap the 2D shapes and new 3D objects will appear. Statue 1 will be holding a prism and statue 2 will be holding cylinder.

The Knights and Ogres in the encounter drop 2D shapes. Think of these as a knife. The square knife lets you cut a square from a 3D object.

Inside Guide

The goal of each solo player in their Inside room is to collect the two 2D shapes not being held by their statue. This creates a 3D object in their pocket and will be the same 3D object that must be displayed on their statue Outside.

Example: Their statue is holding a square and the shadow flicks between a square and a circle. They must get rid of the square and acquire a triangle.

The shadows on the wall show the 2D shapes dropped by the Knights in your room. To remove a shadow shape from the wall, defeat a Knight, pick up its shape, and deposit it at a statue. This will send that shape to the solo player whose statue that belonged to. You will now see one less of that shape on your wall.

When someone sends you a shape, it will start to appear on your wall and Knights you kill will drop that shape. Whenever a shape is sent, it also sends an Ogre to the player.

To solve this part easily, the Inside players should begin by killing Knights and depositing the 2D shapes in the statues holding the same shape. Each solo player will now be hogging all of the same shape. Now, kill the Knights in your room and send the shapes to your friends.

Example: Your statue is holding a square. You send the triangle to the player holding a triangle and a circle to the player holding a circle. The other solo players will send you their squares. You now have all the squares. Now, send one square to each solo player (they send their shape to you). All three solo players will have evenly distributed their shapes.

After acquiring the two missing shapes from your solo allies, the shape your statue is holding and the two shadow shapes should all be different. Now, kill two Knights and pick up both shapes, this will combine them in your pocket.

All you need to do now is wait for the Outside team to make the correct 3D shape on the statue. This 3D shape should match the one you’ve got in your pocket. The 3D object in your pocket and the one on the Outside statue should be a combination of the two 2D shapes not being held by your personal statue. When everything matches correctly, pass through the wall and return to the Outside.

Example: Your statue holds a square. Your shadow shapes are a triangle and a circle. You have created a cone in your pocket. Your replica statue in the Outside is holding a cone. You are now free to pass through the wall/mirror and return to the Outside.

Catatonic Decimation

Another wrinkle in this fight is the Catatonic Decimation. While you’re solving this puzzle, some players on the Inside will be randomly killed by the Witness with its Catatonic Decimation ability. Players on the Outside are able to revive them by taking their Ghost to the correct statue.

Unfortunately, players on the Outside cannot see the statues, only the pedestals. Players that are dead will need to communicate which Ghost belongs to which player and which statue belongs to which player. Take a player’s Ghost to their statue to revive them. Putting a Ghost in the wrong statue will cause that player to die.

This mechanic also occurs after all solo players have been freed and Unstoppable Ogres are defeated. Only one player will be alive and will need to quickly revive the fireteam using this Ghost-statue matching mini-game.

The final fight in Salvation’s Edge is against The Witness. The goal of this fight is to destroy the six glyphs on the Witness’ body and then deal damage. This continues until the final stand, where players will need to do roughly a sixth of the boss’ health within the time limit.

Only a player with Glyphbreaker can destroy a glyph on the Witness. In order to get this, you must perform a few actions.

1. Stand in an arm’s attack and shoot the bracelet
2. The bracelet will reveal a Resonance you need, collect that Resonance buff
3. Stand in the arm attack again and shoot the bracelet again

Here is an explanation of what all that means along with additional information for each step.

To begin with, each arm has a different attack type and generates a different Resonance shape. If you stand in the telegraphed attack for a few seconds, you will gain the associated Resonance buff:

• Arm pointing up: shoots bees at a circle and gives Spherical Resonance
• Arm point down: makes triangles and gives a Pyramidal Resonance
• Arm pointing sideways: shoots a beam and gives Hexahedron Resonance

The first time you stand in the zone and shoot the bracelet, it will glow a color that signifies what Resonance shape you need to collect and then come back with:

• Red: Hexahedron
• Yellow: Spherical
• Green: Pyramidal

A bracelet you shoot will never display its own color. For example, the arm that creates the circle on the ground will never glow yellow, it will always want you to get one of the other two shapes. So if you’re assigned to stand in the beam, you know you’ll need to collect Spherical Resonance or Pyramidal Resonance.

To collect the Resonance you need, go and stand in the telegraphing of the attack until you receive it. For example, if you need Spherical, you stand in the circular zone where the bees would land – but don’t get hit by the attack! If you’re not sure how long the attack has been telegraphed and are worried you’ll actually get hit by the attack, then wait for the attack to finish and then get it the next time it appears.

Once you have the correct Resonance, go back to the arm you needed to shoot and then quickly stand in the zone and shoot the bracelet. You’ll need to be quick, because standing in the zone for too long will give you that Resonance shape!

Completing this will give you the Glyphbreaker buff. This will let you destroy a buckle on the Witness. Destroying a glyph will spawn a Subjugator, however, if you destroy three Glyphs at once (if three people had the buff), then you can limit how many Subjugators spawn. For this reason, it’s a good idea to wait until a few other people have the buff and are ready.

While you are collecting the Glyphbreaker buff and destroying glyph buttons, the Witness will randomly test you. When he tests you, 14 Resonance nodeswill appear in front of the Witness. Your goal is to create a shape by removing excess nodes (remove a node by shooting it). The nodes left over will form a shape. Here are the shapes:

How do you know what shape to make? The attack of the arm that was most recently shot to get Glyphbreaker is the shape to make.So if you shot the arm that blasts a beam across the arena, you would make a square. Failing to make the correct shape will wipe the team. Successfully making the shape will cause the Witness to send out a pulse, jump over it to avoid taking huge damage. There is an audio cue as well: the arm that screams is the shape you must make.

When all six glyph buttons on the Witness are destroyed, damage phase will begin. This takes place on the center platform. During the damage phase, the Witness will attack you, dealing near-lethal damage across a large portion of the platform. He telegraphs it quickly, so be prepared to move.

The Witness will follow up an attack with its opposite. So if he targets the right side of the platform, he’ll then target the left. This keeps you on your toes, so stay mobile. Three sets of attacks will be sent out, followed by a plate-smash, which will kill you. Jump off before this happens and repeat the whole thing.

The Salvation's Edge raid is the ultimate endgame experience in Destiny 2. This raid sets to fit in perfectly alongside The Final Shape campaign as players attempt to defeat the Witness once and for all. Be sure to check back with us frequently throughout the Day One raid and afterwards as we keep this updated with relevant information including any hidden secrets and red border chests. Take a look at our Destiny 2 Strategy Guide for raid challenge guides, loot tables, and more.