Destiny 2 Shadowkeep Raid Guide: How To Beat The Garden Of Salvation

The first raid of the new era of Destiny 2 is here–and like most of the game’s tough, six-player activities, it’ll test your team’s coordination, communication, skills, and patience. Shadowkeep’s Garden of Salvation raid sends you to the home of the Vex, and it adds some new mechanics we haven’t seen in the game before. Your reward for beating the Vex on their home turf is a bunch of raid-specific armor and weapons. These are also considered Pinnacle drops, which are the only way you can advance your character’s gear beyond the Power level cap of 950.

Garden of Salvation is a very complicated activity and will require you and your teammates to know and fulfill your roles along the way. We’ve broken down every single encounter you’ll fight through in the guide below, which will tell you how to handle both bosses, as well as where to find the raid’s two hidden chests. While you’re in Garden of Salvation, you can also grab some hidden chests, as well as Divinity, the raid Exotic trace rifle–but you’ll need to complete a bunch of puzzles to do so. Here’s everything you need to know to invade the Black Garden, kill the Consecrated and Sanctified Minds, and beat Garden of Salvation.

The First Encounter: The Consecrated Mind Chase

Summary of Steps

• Split into two teams–Team 1 stays with the boss, Team 2 opens the first door and clears the next room
• Team 1 picks up Voltaic Overloads dropped by the boss
• Team 2 shoots the floating cube and creates a chain from it to the plus sign-shaped lock on the barrier door
• Team 2 clears the next room and kills the Angelic there, then makes another chain to open the next door
• Team 1 runs through to the next room and clears it
• Team 2 stays in their room and picks up Voltaic Overloads
• Team 1 kills the Angelic, then opens the next door by making a chain
• Team 2 runs forward and clears the next room; they’ll need one extra person to open the last door
• Team 1 stays in their room and picks up Voltaic Overloads
• Both teams open the last door together, then run across the field picking up Voltaic Overloads until they reach the end to finish the encounter

Detailed Steps

As you come over a hill at the start of the raid, you’ll see a giant Vex harpy seemingly consuming a minotaur. That’s the Consecrated Mind, and you’ll be dealing with it for a lot of the raid. In this first encounter, you can’t kill the boss–instead, you need to chase it (or maybe it chases you) to the end of the area in order to complete the fight. The struggle here is that you’re working against the clock to move forward, because the boss produces an object called a Voltaic Overload at regular intervals, and if one sits on the ground for more than a few seconds, it’ll explode and wipe out your whole team.

To stop the boss from killing you, someone on your team needs to pick up each of the Voltaic Overload charges when it hits the ground. When you pick up a charge, it starts a timer on your screen, and until that timer runs out, you can’t pick up another Overload without dying from it. Thus, you need one team of at least two or three players to take turns picking up the Overloads.

Your second team of players has a different job: charge forward and open the path through the encounter. You do this with a special mechanic unique to the raid. If you look around the area with the Consecrated Mind, you’ll see a glowing cube floating in the air, and a forcefield at the far right side of the room with a plus sign-shaped object in the middle. If you shoot the cube and stand near it, you’ll see a line of energy extend from the cube to your character. Bring another person nearby, and the line will jump from you to them, creating a chain. The idea here is to make a chain from the cube to the plus sign (we’ll call it a “lock” from here on out). The energy from the cube will open the lock, bringing down the forcefield. It’s worth noting that while you’re making the chain, you’re “tethered,” which means you can’t shoot or use Supers. You can switch the cube on and off by shooting it to avoid accidentally wandering too close and having it render you unable to defend yourself.

So while one team of players picks up Voltaic Overloads, the second team opens the first gate and races into the next room. There, the job is to clear out all enemies. Watch out for Cyclopes in particular, which can one-shot your team from great distances–make them your top priority. You’ll also need to pack Overload Rounds to deal with a couple of Overload Minotaurs throughout this encounter, so make sure both teams have them.

When you’ve killed every enemy (including the hobgoblins hiding up high), a Vex hydra called an Angelic will spawn. Kill that, and you’ll unlock a second cube in this room, floating in one of several positions. Find it and make another chain to the nearby forcefield to open it.

At this point, the Consecrated Mind will teleport from the first room to the second. The team that cleared the second room now switches jobs with the team from the first room; since whoever stayed in the first room will have Voltaic Overload timers, they won’t be able to keep picking up what the boss drops. The second team has to take that role, while the first team clears out the next room. Kill all the enemies, taking special care to eliminate Cyclopes (and note that more Cyclopes spawn after you kill the Angelic). Once that team opens the third forcefield, the team from the last room again moves up to the next area, clearing out enemies. The team in the third room has to keep picking up Voltaic Overloads in the meantime.

The fourth room has a forcefield with three locks instead of one, with three corresponding cubes that will unlock one at a time as you clear each lock. Those cubes are also farther away, so you’ll need more people to make your chain. When the team in the last room is ready, it should call for one of the Voltaic Overload team members to run up and help them to chain to the first lock. Once the first lock is cleared, the Consecrated Mind will again teleport away, and the Voltaic Overload team can run forward to meet the rest of the squad.

You’ve got a breather here until you clear the last two locks on the forcefield, so feel free to take a minute. The next area is the toughest. Once you clear all three locks, you’ll have to sprint across an open field filled with Cyclopes, Overload Minotaurs, and other enemies. Meanwhile, the Consecrated Mind is going to teleport out into the middle of the field and start dropping Voltaic Overloads. Basically, as a team, you need to race for the Overloads and pick them up to avoid being wiped and starting the whole encounter over. You also need to keep from getting sniped by Cyclopes and other enemies along the way. It’s basically an explosion-filled foot chase.

First, make sure you check who has Overload timers and who doesn’t before you start this section of the encounter–remember, there’s no rush. Whoever doesn’t have timers should run straight for the Voltaic Overloads as soon as you drop the forcefield. You’ll probably pick up a total of three, so make sure you have enough players at the ready to deal with them. Everyone else should provide cover and try to draw fire. The Cyclopes here are a particular threat, because they can knock out one of your Overload runners and easily lead to a wipe. My team found the best way to deal with them was with quick, decisive sniper rifle action: we used Honed Edge rounds in Izanagi’s Burden to one-shot the Cyclopes and quickly thin out the number of threats on the field. Remember, however, that speed is the key here and Voltaic Overloads are most important. Given the choice between picking one up and dying because of the timer, or letting it explode, it’s better to sacrifice one player. No matter what, you’re going to be running through a lot of danger.

Everyone should generally race for the far end of the area. Pick up all the Overloads along the way and keep going until you run out of runway. When its back is against the wall, the Consecrated Mind will teleport away and escape, ending the encounter and rewarding you with a loot chest.

The Undergrowth

The next section of the raid is a jumping puzzle through an area called the Undergrowth. The path forward isn’t too confusing–you need to move generally forward from the spot where you first drop down underground. If you see moving walls that are trying to knock you to your death, you’re going the right way.

This area also has a hidden treasure chest to find. It’s actually pretty simple to locate, but it can also be easy to miss.

How To Find The First Hidden Chest

When you first enter the Undergrowth, you’ll see a path heading away to your left along one wall, and one following the wall to the right. To get to the chest, you want to head left onto the big tree root that leads out over the abyss. Walk to the end of it and look out over the gap toward the bronze Vex machinery just over in the distance. That’s your destination.

On the right side of the bronze structure, you should see a square platform moving up and down like an elevator. It hangs at the top but reverses pretty quickly when it hits the bottom, so you’ll need to time your jump to land on it. You’re actually trying to go just past that elevator. Land on it when it hits the bottom, then get off of it to find a small hole in the wall right next to where it stops at its lowest point. Slip through that hole to find the chest. Note that this hidden chest will give you things like mods and shaders, but no Powerful drops. It seems you might get additional copies of raid loot you’ve already unlocked from other encounters, but it’ll only drop at your current level.

Cross To The Next Encounter

The path forward is best accessed from the right side of the area from the start, crossing over the big tree roots to jump to the areas with moving walls that will try to kill you. It can be tough to cross, but the path forward is pretty clear. On the other side of the Undergrowth, you’ll hit the second encounter, which has you defending a series of Vex spires from incoming enemies.

The Second Encounter: Spire Defense

Summary of Steps

• Split into two teams: Two people stay at the first spire (Spire 1) as Team 1, the other four take the left path to the next spire as Team 2.
• Team 1 kills the Angelic and defends their spire. If Vex sacrifice themselves to it, team wipes.
• Team 2 kills enemies at the next spire (Spire 2), including an Angelic
• Both teams make a chain from the cube to the spire to get the Enlightenment buff
• Use Enlightenment to break the shields on invulnerable Vex attacking the spires
• Team 2 leaves one person at Spire 2 and continues on the path to Spire 3, repeating the process.
• One defender from Team 1 uses the Vex gate to help defend Spires 1 and 2, while making the chain to rebuff both defenders
• When Team 2 opens Spire 3, one defender from Team 1 uses the Vex gates to defend it.
• All three spire defenders clear their spires and use the Vex gates to assist each other and make chains to rebuff.
• Team 2 continues to Spire 4, clears it, and leaves one person to defend. The remaining two members of Team 2 are now floaters who assist at all four spires using Vex gates
• Angelics will spawn at one of the spires. Floaters help clear them while defenders continue to protect their spires. This repeats once for each spire.
• When the path to the center opens, everyone converges there at a fifth spire and defends it.
• Kill Angelics, watch out for Vex Supplicants, and use the cube to get the Enlightenment buff. After three or so waves, the encounter ends.

Detailed Steps

When you enter the area of the second encounter, you’ll see three Vex praying to a spire. Don’t shoot them or venture too far forward or you’ll start the encounter. This large area is shaped like a huge diamond, and you’re currently standing at one of its points. To your left and right are paths that lead to the middle points, with their own spire at each one. From there, you can continue on to the final point. My team numbered these locations, starting by calling the first spire “1” and going clockwise from there.

This encounter is like a four-way version of the Vex Spire public event you see in places such as Nessus. Vex are trying to reach the spire, where they start praying and then disappear. If enough of them sacrifice themselves to the spire, your team will be wiped. Thus, you need to clear enemies from each of the spires and then defend them throughout the course of the encounter. To start, split your team into two, with two players staying back to defend Spire 1, and four heading down the left path to Spire 2. This team will need Barrier rounds, but not Overload, so feel free to swap your mods accordingly.

Basically, what you’re doing here is capturing each of the spires in turn, and then defending them for the rest of the fight. When the capture team leaves Spire 1, the defending team will clear out various small enemies, as well as an Angelic Hydra that spawns down the center hallway. Killing the Angelic triggers the chain tether mechanic for this encounter, unlocking a cube in the middle hallway.

Each person defending a spire will have to periodically activate the cube to create an energy chain to their spire. That will give them the Enlightenment buff. As you defend your spire, enemies will appear with unbreakable shields, rendering them invincible unless you have Enlightenment. The tough part of this encounter is that no person alone can make a long-enough chain to get the buff; you need at least two people to do it. Luckily, as you capture more and more spires, Vex gates will become active near each one, allowing you to quickly teleport between neighboring spires so you and your teammates can help each other regain the buff.

For loadout here, we found success with The Recluse for its enemy-clearing capabilities, and some spire defenders also used Tractor Cannon for its ability to kill multiple small enemies in one shot; it’s also good for knocking shielded enemies away from the spire, even if it doesn’t kill them. Sniper rifles are also recommended for killing Angelics and distant enemies, as are grenade launchers. Make sure your team has a good balance of weapons for defending the spire from small enemies, as well as a few big damage-dealers for killing Aneglics as quickly as possible.

While two players stay back at Spire 1 to defend it and start activating Enlightenment, the capture team takes over Spire 2 by clearing out the enemies there, including Barrier Hobgoblins. Each Spire also has an Angelic; once you kill that, the place is considered captured and you can start activating the Enlightenment buff and using the Vex gates to access other spires. When you capture Spire 2, leave one person from the capture team behind to defend it while the other three players on the capture team continue to Spire 3. You should have at least one defender at each spire, and one of the two defenders at Spire 1 can now float back and forth between 1, and 2, helping to rebuff people and defend. When the capture team takes Spire 3, the floating defender from Spire 1 can make it their home, so three people are left to take Spire 4. At that point, the defenders at 1, 2, and 3 should clear the waves that attack their spires, then jump through the gates to help each other out and rebuff each other with chains. You’ll need to move fast, as waves keep coming, but you should have ample time to help each other and keep your buffs refreshed.

Once all four spires are captured, you’ll have one defender at each spire, plus two players floating between them to help rebuff and defend. Now the encounter will change, with three Angelic hydras will spawn at one of the spires, so keep a lookout and make sure you and your teammates are vocal about where they are. When this happens, the two people who are not dedicated to defending spires should go to the location with the Angelics, using the Vex gates, and help defend it. Everyone else will need to clear a wave of shielded enemies before they can leave their posts if they’re needed. Keep coordinated and help to clear out the Angelic enemies as quickly as possible, then rebuff everyone before the defenders head back to their spires for the next wave. Keep repeating this process until you’ve killed Angelic enemies at each spire. When that happens, the barrier blocking the way to the center of the arena will fall.

Everyone should now rush to the middle, where you’ll find another spire to defend and another cube to use for buffs. Angelics will spawn down the hallways and more shielded enemies will come your way–this is your last stand. Work together to buff at least some of your teammates so they can knock out shields (a single shot will take shields down, so if you’re low on buffs, concentrate on destroying as many shields as possible and let unbuffed people finish off the enemies).

You’ll fight off three waves of Angelics and other enemies in this center area, including Vex Supplicants, which are harpies from the Vault of Glass that fly straight at you and explode. Titan Bubbles and Warlock Wells of Radiance are helpful here, as are Hunter Shadowshot tethers, but a coordinated team that’s at level shouldn’t have much trouble fighting off all the enemies. Once you’ve cleared enough waves, the encounter ends and grants you a reward chest.

The Third Encounter: Killing The Consecrated Mind

Summary of Steps

• Split into two teams of three. Team 1 shadows the boss; Team 2 kills Vex minotaurs and to collect five Voltaic Motes it drops.
• Team 1 goes with the boss when it flies away from the center and drops a Voltaic Charge. One person picks up the charge and becomes trapped.
• The trapped person looks at the boss and identifies whether the “inner” or “outer” eyes light up red, then tells their teammates.
• Each person on Team 1 shoots the corresponding eye on the boss to stun it. This repeats with each member of the team picking up a Voltaic Charge.
• Team 2 finds which of the spires from the last encounter is glowing and deposits their motes there, Gambit-style. Depositing motes gives the Enlightenment buff.
• When a member of Team 2 deposits their motes, they stay at the spire and defend it until the next teammate with motes arrives to take their place.
• When 30 motes are deposited, the boss will be drawn to the spire. Both teams converge there as quickly as possible.
• Shoot all the boss’s red eyes to trigger the damage phase.
• Shoot the boss’s white weak point with best weapons. It will fly back toward the middle, so follow it.
• Repeat the steps until the boss is dead.

Detailed Steps

Your next encounter happens in the same place, but the mechanics change significantly. You’ll again deal with the Consecrated Mind, but this time, you’re going to kill it. To do that, you need to again stop its Voltaic Overload attacks, and you’ll have to work to make it vulnerable to attack. Activate the fight by creating a tether chain from the nearby cube to the spire in the center of the arena.

Again, split into two teams. Your first team’s job will be to shadow the boss and pick up Voltaic Overloads when it drops them. The Consecrated Mind will fly to the end of one of the short hallways surrounding the center of the arena, and you’ll have to jump over a bottomless pit in order to follow. When it gets to the far side, the Consecrated Mind will drop a Voltaic Overload, which one player will have to pick up. This time, however, the Overloaded player will be trapped and unable to move, while the Consecrated Mind prepares to one-shot kill them.

To stop the Consecrated Mind from killing your trapped teammate, you have to shoot its glowing red eyes. There are six eyes that appear on the boss during this portion, arranged in a triangle–two on its “fin” on the top, two on the left-side fin, and two on the right-side fin. Each time you pick up an Overload, you’ll need to shoot one of the eyes on each fin in order to stun the boss. The best way to do this is to assign a side to each member of your Voltaic team, with the trapped person being responsible for the top fin.

The trapped person’s job is to look up and see which of the two eyes on the top fin is lit up red–either the outermost eye, or the innermost eye. This is the signal for which eye to shoot on each fin; when you’re not trapped, both eyes appear red. The trapped person calls out which eye to shoot, and all three players shoot their eye to stun the boss. Shoot the wrong eye or take too long, and the trapped player dies.

While the Voltaic Overload team is chasing the boss around, the rest of your team is executing something similar to a Gambit match. One of the four spires you previously defended will start to glow white at the beginning of the encounter, signaling that it is the one you have to defend from approaching shielded enemies, just like in the last encounter. You’ll be able to see all four spires down the hallways leading from the center of the arena.

You can’t use the chain to gain the Enlightenment buff to defend the spire this time, though. Instead, you have to find and kill Vex Minotaurs, who drop Voltaic Motes, similar to Motes of Darkness in Gambit. Each Minotaur drops five motes at a time. When the Gambit team kills one, one player should grab all the motes and then run straight for the spire. You’ll be able to bank the motes in the spire just like you do in a Gambit match. Banking any motes (even just one) will give you a full dose of the Enlightenment buff. Whoever banks motes then stays at the spire to defend it from approaching enemies, while the rest of the Gambit team has 40 seconds to find another Minotaur, kill it, and bank its motes to relieve the first person.

You’ll need to protect the spire throughout the fight to keep from getting wiped out, but banking motes has a secondary effect. When you’ve banked 30 motes in total, you’ll see a message telling you that the boss is being drawn to the overloaded spire. When that happens, everyone should immediately run to the spire, because you’ve reached the damage phase and you’ll need to attack the boss to avoid getting wiped. It’s a good idea for the Gambit team to keep a running tally of the motes they’ve banked, since there are no count indicators provided for you. When you’re about to hit 30, you can start pulling the rest of the team to the spire.

When the Consecrated Mind reaches the spire, it’ll spread its fins and reveal a bunch of red eyes. As a team, quickly shoot out all of the eyes. The boss will reveal a white weak point in its center, and this is what you want to hit–but the Consecrated Mind will also retreat backward toward the center of the area, making it harder to shoot as it goes.

Right before this point, you quickly want to drop a Titan bubble with Weapons of Light and fire a Shadowshot tether at the boss to slow it down. As the boss retreats, step into the bubble to get the Weapons of Light buff, then shoot it in the face with sniper rifles; we found success using those with the Firing Line perk, Whisper of the Worm, and Izanagi’s Burden. Grenade launchers with spike grenades also fair pretty well, as does a Hunter with Golden Gun and Celestial Nighthawk. You must do enough damage to stun the boss during this phase, or it’ll wipe you; it’s also important that you start to move forward before too long because a Vex barrier will trap you by the spire if you linger.

Once the boss becomes invulnerable again, you’ll need to repeat the process with another spire until you’ve killed it. You’ll need to finish the job in three rounds in order to avoid allowing the Consecrated Mind to become Enraged, and therefore much more deadly.

At the start of a new round after a damage phase, check in on your team’s Voltaic Overload counters, as you might need to switch players around briefly to make sure someone can pick up the Overloads to keep from wiping. Similarly, the Overload team should try to help kill Minotaurs whenever possible (but avoid picking up the motes), and one member of the Gambit team should be ready to switch over and pick up a Voltaic Overload if all three members of that squad already have a counter. It’s worth noting that if you die, your Overload timer goes away, freeing you to take the drop again. Through this whole process, watch out for Vex Supplicants, which move fast and can blow you up before you realize they’re there. They spawn down the long hallways to the spires and like to head immediately to the middle. Supplicants will often also hang out in your way as you jump back from picking up a Voltaic Overload, where they can kill you as soon as you land.

The Climb To The Final Boss

When the Consecrated Mind goes down, you’ll be able to leave through the door behind the rotating hallway. The path from there will take you back through another jumping puzzle, but again, it’s a relatively simple one. Continue forward until you hit a field with flowers, trees, and a couple of big waterfalls of white Vex milk. Your second and final hidden chest of the raid is located here.

How To Find The Second Hidden Chest

From here, climb the big tree on the right side of the area, fighting your way past a few enemies. As you make your way up the hill, you’ll see two openings up ahead. Go through the entrance on the left, which will take you inside the big tree. If you turn around and face the opening, you should see a platform up above the door with a glowing chest on it.

You can reach that platform by taking a circuitous route around the outside of the tree, or you can hop up on the stump on the right side of this room and just leap straight up to it. As a Hunter, I got this one with almost no effort and without the use of ST0MP-EE5 or adjusting my specs for mobility.

Continue back up the hill and you’ll eventually climb up to a huge new arena and a fight with the final boss: the Sanctified Mind.

The Fourth Encounter: Killing The Sanctified Mind

Summary of Steps

• Split into three teams of two. Team 1 rebuilds the arena; Teams 2 and 3 alternate going through portals and collecting motes.
• Shoot the Angelic enemy to unlock the two cubes and Vex spires. All teams need to constantly clear enemies to keep them from sacrificing themselves to the spires.
• The boss will destroy portions of the arena. Team 1 uses the Vex spires to make chains to the corresponding plus sign-shaped locks to restore the destroyed sections.
• Team 2 shoots the boss’s right shoulder weak point, creating a portal, and jumps through.
• Team 2 kills enemies and collects their motes. They must collect at least 15. When they have enough, they signal the other players to shoot the boss’s right shoulder again, which teleports them back.
• Team 3 jumps through the new portal and repeats the process Team 2 did.
• Team 2 deposits their motes in the orange spire on the right side to get Enlightenment, then clears shielded enemies.
• Team 3 signals for the other teams to return them, deposits their motes, and clears Enlightenment shield enemies.
• Team 2 shoots the boss’s left hip weak point to open the blue portal and goes through to collect motes. Repeat the steps above for the left side.
• When both spires have 30 motes, shoot the Angelic that spawns and keep clearing enemies.
• The boss will create a big plus sign-shaped lock. Its color will be either blue or orange, corresponding to either the left or right Vex spire. The build team and one other person creates a chain to the lock to start the damage phase.
• The chain team should then immediately run to the other Vex spire and create another chain when the boss creates a new lock.
• Everyone else shoots the boss’s white weak point with best weapons.
• If both locks are successfully cleared, the damage phase will be extended. Everyone should shoot the boss with best weapons.
• Repeat the process until the boss dies. Note that two new Vex spires will become active, changing where Teams 2 and 3 should deposit their motes.

Detailed Steps

This final fight brings in a few more mechanics and includes a whole lot of things you need to keep in mind, while also mixing in elements of everything you’ve done in the raid so far. First and foremost, note that there are several Vex spires in this area, all of them with the port for accepting motes. During each phase of the fight, two spires will be active, designated by the chain cubes above them, and those are also the only two that will allow you to deposit motes. You’ll need to defend both the spires from approaching Vex Goblins that will try to pray and sacrifice themselves to them; if they succeed, you’ll be wiped. So job one in a lot of cases is to keep the area clear of enemies.

Your loadout for this fight should be similar to what you used for the Consecrated Mind. You’ll want powerful sniper rifles like Izanagi’s Burden and Whisper of the Worm for damaging the boss (and killing Cyclopes), and something like The Recluse, The Huckleberry, or similar guns for killing a whole lot of smaller enemies and defending spires. Shadowshot tethers can be useful here again, but especially if you wind up on the mote-gathering team, you might want to go with a roaming Super that will let you kill a lot of enemies fast. Titan Bubbles are great for Weapons of Light during the damage phase, but other stationary Supers like Well of Radiance might not be as effective thanks to the way the arena shifts around you.

You’ll need three teams of two for much of this fight. Two of the teams will be responsible for mote collection, and once they’ve turned their motes in at a spire, for clearing out shielded enemies using the Enlightenment buff–just like in the last encounter. But the two spires are not the same; one is a regular Vex spire that you’ve seen throughout the raid so far, and one is a “dark” version of the spire. The dark version is orange and only accepts “dark” motes, which are also orange. Luckily, you’ll know which kind you have based on where you get them; more on that in a minute. What’s important is that more of those plus sign-shaped locks will appear in front of the boss, and their color will correspond to the color of the spire you need to use to create the chain that unlocks them.

The two mote teams will alternate leaving the main arena to go for motes, while the other four players stay back and defend. When the fight starts, everyone will shoot at enemies until an Angelic spawn, at which point you’ll need to kill it to unlock the chain cubes above the spires. That will also light up two red weak points on the Sanctified Mind: one on the right shoulder and one on the left hip.

Concentrate fire on the right shoulder first. When it explodes, a piece will fall off the boss, which will open a big orange portal in the middle of the radiolarian lake near him. The first mote team should immediately head for the portal and go through, staying together; the portal will only stay open for a short time so you need to get both players through quickly. That’ll transport them to a distant island full of enemies. Clear out the enemies and pick up as many motes as you can–these will be the orange “dark” Voltaic motes, and therefore will correspond to the spire on the right side of the arena when facing the boss. You need to get at least 15 between both players, but each of you can only carry 10 at a time. Meanwhile, back at the boss, activating the portal will spawn a distant Cyclops high above the arena on the right side, so make sure to take it down immediately, or it will snipe your teammates and wreck your run. Every time a portal opens, a cyclops spawns on its corresponding side, so make sure to always be ready to kill it fast.

When the mote team has enough, they should tell the players who stayed behind to shoot the Sanctified Mind’s shoulder again (Note: In a pinch, you can snipe the weak point on the boss from the island, but this can throw off your rhythm so do it very sparingly). Blowing up the shoulder will instantly teleport the first mote team back to the arena, where they can jump down and head to the glowing orange spire to deposit their motes. Depositing will give them both Enlightenment, and they should immediately spread out across the arena and start shooting shielded enemies. Since a new portal opened, a Cyclops will again spawn; my team was successful when one of the returning mote collectors stopped to kill the Cyclops as soon as they arrived, while the second person jumped down to bank their motes.

Meanwhile, as soon as the shoulder is blown up and the first mote team is teleported back, the second mote team should jump into the portal and repeat the process. They should gather motes as quickly as possible and then signal for the rest of the team to bring them back by shooting the shoulder. Alternatively, if your team’s Enlightenment buff is running out, you should shoot the shoulder and bring the mote team back immediately. Keeping shielded enemies away from the spire is essential because Vex sacrificing themselves to the spires is the quickest way for your team to get wiped out. It’s possible to recover if you have less than 30 motes after two portal visits, but it’s highly recommended you try to get all the motes in just two trips.

Once both teams have gone through the orange portal and deposited 30 motes, that spire will be fully charged–you won’t be able to deposit more motes into it at that point, which means if you’re stuck carrying unneeded motes, you won’t be able to get the Enlightenment buff to kill shielded enemies.

If you’ve done things correctly, quickly start repeating the process with the weak point on the boss’s left hip–you need to move fast, since you’re on the Enlightenment timer. That’ll create a blue portal and spawn a Cyclops on the left side of the arena. Send the first team through to get motes again, which you’ll deposit in the blue spire on the left side of the arena when you return. Again, make sure you get 30 motes in total; if you don’t, send another person through the portal again until you have enough. Both spires must be fully charged with 30 motes or you won’t be able to trigger the damage phase or stop the boss from wiping you during the next portion.

While the mote teams are doing their thing, the last team has a whole other job to do. These guys are the Builders, and their job is to clear enemies and to keep the boss from destroying the arena. As you work through the fight, the boss will cause sections of the arena to turn orange, which will make those areas disappear and kill anyone who’s standing on them. The back sections of the arena matter less, but losing the front portions makes clearing enemies and staying alive very difficult. The builders’ job is to use the spires to make chains to different floating plus-shaped locks around the area in order to restore the land the boss destroys. They should do this as quickly as they can, but only between waves of enemies if possible–activating the cubes and getting in the chain will mean you can’t shoot enemies, which can create sticky situations if you need to protect the spires.

For the most part, two people should be able to make a chain to almost any of the locks, but have a third person who’s currently defending on-call should you need a longer chain. The builders will need to be highly coordinated to deal with the boss destroying the arena, and it’s important that they also make it clear where they’re working. You’ll want to keep the other defenders well away when you’re creating the chain so that you can quickly get it where it needs to go and you don’t accidentally disrupt anyone’s ability to shoot enemies. Whenever the building team is not restoring land, it should be shooting goblins to defend the spires, and helping to activate the portals to bring back the mote teams so they can deposit.

Damage Phase

After a specific period of time–it seems to be about around four or five enemy waves–the boss will create a big, colored plus sign-shaped lock in front of it. This is the boss’s big wipe mechanic. You need to clear that lock before it fully charges or you’ll die, but it takes a long time for that to happen, so you have time to clear out enemies before you worry about it. Another Angelic enemy will spawn, along with more shielded goblins that’ll try to reach the spires. Keep clearing them and take down the Angelic to re-open access to the cubes.

Once you’re in the clear, you need to make a chain to the boss’s lock from the spire of the corresponding color. The best way to do this is to assign one person to be the first link in the chain, and one person to the last link. Both those people get into position, one near the boss and one near the spire. Then, the two players who do not have Enlightenment fill in the chain between the beginning and end players. Four should be enough to link to the boss’s lock, and the fewer players you can use, the better, as it’ll create the chain more quickly. But be ready to shift this if you need more people, as you need to be close to the boss’s lock to chain to it and might need the extra distance.

When the boss’s lock is cleared by the chain, you can shoot its big white critical spot. After just a few seconds, though, the boss will rise into the air and a second plus sign lock will appear before it. You have a couple of seconds to repeat the same process as with the first lock, but from the other spire. The best way to handle this is as follows: Destroy the first lock, then have the chain team run to the other side and prepare for the second lock. The two or three players who don’t need to help with the second lock should stay behind at the first spire and shoot the boss as much as they can. When you clear the second lock, your opportunity to damage the Sanctified Mind increases significantly, and at this point everyone should fire away.

Use a Titan Bubble with Weapons of Light to maximize your sniper or grenade launcher damage. Golden Gun and Celestial Nighthawk is recommended, as are rally barricades to make sure you do as much damage as possible. With one properly executed damage phase, my team was able to knock out fully half the Sanctified Mind’s health. Once the boss becomes invulnerable again, you’ll have to repeat the whole process. If everyone is coordinated enough, you should be able to take the boss down in two or three phases. Note that after you complete a damage phase, the active Vex spires will change, so you’ll need to deposit motes in a new place on both sides of the arena.

When the Sanctified Mind goes down for good, you’ll have beaten Garden of Salvation, but that’s not all there is to do in the raid. Check out our guide for unlocking Divinity, the raid’s Exotic trace rifle, which requires quite a bit of work–and six-player puzzle-solving–to get.