Crota's End Raid Guide: Encounters, Loot and Necrochasm

Crota's End is the Hive raid on the Moon: four encounters, one Chalice buff you pass around all night, and a final boss you can only hurt with his own Swordbearers' swords. It came back to Destiny 2 from the original Destiny and it's open to everyone.

This guide walks you through every encounter in order, what each one drops, how to get Necrochasm, and the small habits that stop your team from wiping on the last few seconds of a timer.

How the Chalice and Enlightened work

Almost every mechanic in Crota's End runs on one item: the Chalice of Light. Hold it until its bar fills, then have a teammate take it from you, and you become Enlightened. That buff is what lets you light lamps, pick up swords and damage the things that matter.

• Engulfed in Light: once the Chalice bar fills you get a 10-second timer; if nobody takes the Chalice from you, you die.
• Enlightened: after you hand the Chalice off, you keep the Enlightened buff to use on the next mechanic.
• Drained of Light: after you use your Enlightened buff, you can't pick up the Chalice again for 45 seconds.
• Preservation node: drop the Chalice here to store it safely when nobody can carry it.

Crota's End encounters, step by step

Encounter 1: The Abyss

You run through a pitch-black cavern while a darkness debuff stacks on you. Lighting a lamp or dunking the Chalice adds time to your Engulfed in Darkness timer, so keep moving as a group.

1. Move from lamp to lamp, but don't linger: a lit lamp explodes after about 12–15 seconds and kills anyone next to it. Away from light you build Weight of Darkness stacks; at high stacks you're slowed and can't sprint or jump.
2. Have your Enlightened players activate each new lamp.
3. Keep the Chalice moving between players so nobody hits the 10-second limit.
4. At the end, stand on the plate and use Enlightened buffs to build the bridge, then cross it.

Encounter 2: Oversoul Throne Bridge

Here you build a bridge across a chasm and send players over with swords. Gatekeepers on the far side can only be hurt with a sword.

1. Stand on the plates to build the bridge while two players stand under the Annihilator Totems (an empty totem wipes the team) and the rest clear ads.
2. Kill a Swordbearer. An Enlightened player grabs the sword it drops.
3. The sword carrier crosses the bridge and kills the Gatekeeper.
4. Swords get stored on the far side. Bank five, then the team crosses and deals with the last wave of Gatekeepers.

Encounter 3: Ir Yût, the Deathsinger

Ir Yût starts her Dark Liturgy death song once you kill a hidden wizard or take too long. Your job is to kill her wizards, then burn her down before the song wipes the team.

1. Clear Knights and the Shrieker in the side rooms.
2. Pass the Chalice so several players become Enlightened.
3. Send Enlightened players into the wizard rooms. There are three wizards in phase one, four in phase two and five in phase three.
4. Finish the wizards at the same time, then meet at the damage plate.
5. One Enlightened player walks up to Ir Yût and uses Expunge for a big hit, then everyone damages her from a Well of Radiance.

Final encounter: Crota, Son of Oryx

You break Crota's shield with swords, damage him, and then destroy his Oversoul just before its timer ends. If the Oversoul timer hits zero, everyone dies.

1. Everyone touches the crystal in the starting room to begin.
2. Kill the four Knights in the side towers. Two Ogres and a Swordbearer spawn in the middle.
3. Kill the Swordbearer when an Enlightened player is ready to grab the sword. Repeat until you have three swords.
4. Under the Presence of Crota debuff you can only swap the Chalice inside a small circle of light, so call out where it appears.
5. All three sword users hit Crota at once to drop his shield, then the team damages him.
6. An Enlightened player destroys the Oversoul with a few seconds left on its timer. Repeat until Crota falls.

After you push Crota through his health bar split, he goes immune for a moment. Then his shield drops again and a 20-second Oversoul appears. Destroying it gives you about ten more seconds of damage.

Crota's End loot

Each encounter drops three of the raid's six Legendary weapons, along with armor.

• The Abyss: Song of Ir Yût (machine gun), Fang of Ir Yût (scout rifle), Abyss Defiant (auto rifle)
• Bridge: Swordbreaker (shotgun), Fang of Ir Yût, Oversoul Edict (pulse rifle)
• Ir Yût: Word of Crota (hand cannon), Song of Ir Yût, Oversoul Edict
• Crota: Word of Crota, Abyss Defiant, Swordbreaker

How to get Necrochasm

Necrochasm comes from the Bottomless Pit quest, which you pick up from the raid vendor. It costs no currency, but you need Essence of the Oversoul, which drops from raid encounters and Triumphs.

1. Pick up Bottomless Pit from the raid vendor.
2. Collect Essence of the Oversoul from encounters and Triumphs.
3. Finish the quest steps to get Husk of the Pit, a fully Masterworked Eidolon Ally and Necrochasm.
4. Keep collecting Essence of the Oversoul for the catalyst objective.

Want the catalyst finished without the Essence grind? CarrySquad can complete the Necrochasm catalyst with you.

Tips for a clean clear

1. Name your Chalice order before you pull. "Enlightened 1, 2, 3" calls save every encounter.
2. Watch the 45-second Drained timer. Plan the rotation so the next carrier is never locked out.
3. Bring at least one Well of Radiance for Ir Yût and Crota damage.
4. Give one player the Oversoul job and nothing else during Crota damage.
5. Look for the secret chests in the Abyss and at the end of the Shrieker sprint for extra loot.

If your group keeps stalling on Crota's timers, CarrySquad can run Crota's End with you with a full team.

More Destiny 2 raid guides: King's Fall, Vault of Glass and Deep Stone Crypt.

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