Root of Nightmares, the headline raid experience for the Lightfall expansion, is finally live in Destiny 2. While a final showdown with Nezarec awaits at the center of this terraformed Pyramid ship, Root of Nightmares’s third encounter against Zo’Aurc is one of the more challenging for players hopping in for the first time.
Not only does the encounter require effective co-ordination and efficient damage phase output, but it also utilizes unique mechanics that aren’t present elsewhere throughout Root of Nightmares. While they’re easy to understand once you’ve pieced together the flow of the encounter, it can be daunting on the first attempt in the face of 12 planets to align correctly and three plates to bring online within the room.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to align the planets in question correctly and how to beat Zo’Aurc, the Explicator of Planets, in the third encounter of the Root of Nightmares raid.
How to align the planets in the Destiny 2 Lightfall Root of Nightmares raid
When you first enter the room, take stock of the fact that six planets sit on both the left and right side of the arena. At the start of the encounter, it’s up to your team to make sure that all 12 of these planets are correctly aligned.
In the middle of the room lie an additional three planets. While these three middle planets won’t be relevant until setting up the damage phase, players will notice that the planets on the left and right side of this trio are highlighted by Light and Dark auras respectively.
This is because the left side of the room is the Light side, while the right side of the room is the Dark side. The goal of alignment is to make sure that all 12 planets correctly reflect this. Without the correct alignment, you won’t be able to charge up the damage phase and you will wipe. However, to know what planets belong on which side and start moving them, you will need a buff called Planetary Insight.
Split your group up into two teams: four “runner” players in charge of planetary alignment and two players in charge of ad clear. As the 12 planets are split up into four triangular platforms, each hosting three planets, all four runner players will be assigned their own platform to start on. When the encounter begins and Cabal start spawning in, among them will be four Honored Centurions. Kill all four Honored Centurions, and a Terrestrial Lieutenant will then spawn on all four of the triangular platforms.
Each player that has been assigned a platform must be the one to kill their Terrestrial Lieutenant, as it will grant them the Planetary Insight buff for the three planets on that platform. Once the Planetary Insight buff has been picked up, the three planets on the platform will now glow either Light or Dark. If you are on the Light side of the room, any Dark planets are the ones that need to be moved across the other side. If you are on the Dark side of the room, it’s the Light planets that need to be switched. Only one of the planets will be misaligned on each platform.
Once you know what planet is not aligned on your platform, call out what planet it is to inform the player who is on the platform opposite to you. At the same time, that player will also need to call out which of their planets is the odd one out. You will be working together to swap the planets around, so these callouts are important. Most teams number the planets on the Light and Dark sides one through six for easy communication, starting from the planet closest to the rally flag.
To “pick up” a planet, approach the base of it and interact with the Planetary Attunement prompt when it becomes available. Picking up a planet will give you the Planetary Affinity buff, which will allow you to move the planet to a spot on the opposite platform. The spot in question will be the one that your teammate called out earlier, which currently hosts a misaligned planet of its own. Approach the spot and interact with the Planetary Alignment prompt to finish moving the planet there. Simultaneously, the other player should be making the same trip over to your platform to perform the same swap.
Once all four players have performed the planetary trades they need to, the planets will be successfully aligned and you can move on to the preparation work for the damage phase.
How to beat Zo’Aurc, the Explicator of Planets, in the Destiny 2 Lightfall Root of Nightmares raid
Once the planets have been aligned, the team will need to continue killing Cabal throughout the arena. Soon enough, another four Terrestrial Lieutenants will spawn in on the four platforms. The players responsible for the final blow on each will once again be granted the Planetary Insight buff, but this time, it will be the three planets in the middle of the room that glow with either a Light or Dark aura.
Three of the previously assigned runner players are now in charge of picking up a planet from any platform to dunk it on the plate under a matching planet in the middle. If a middle planet has a Light glow, for example, a runner should go to the Light side of the room, pick up any planet from it and then place it onto the plate beneath that planet. Correctly aligning the planets on all three plates will charge them with the respective Light or Dark energy, and the damage phase can begin.
The start of the damage phase is marked by the text “The Explicator shifts focus” popping up on the left side of the screen. When this happens, Zo’Aurc will either glow with a Light or Dark aura around him. This aura matches the plate that players need to stand on in order to deal damage to the boss, leading to short damage phases taken on each plate before Zo’Aurc’s aura changes and you need to move to a new plate that matches his transformation.
These are rapid damage phases, meaning that weapons with a high damage output are ideal here—rocket launchers, grenade launchers and certain Exotics like Izanagi’s Burden work great. Once you have performed a damage phase at all three of the plates, the cycle will restart and you will need to re-align the planets once more.
Enough damage phases and you will reach Zo’Aurc’s final stand, a straight damage check that begins after the boss goes through a brief animation set and immunity window. Beat the check, and you will have conquered Root of Nightmares’ third encounter.
