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The final mission of Destiny 2's Witch Queen campaign is one of its hardest. After fighting Lucent Lightbearers and the Scorn, it's time to bring the fight to Savathun herself. This mission is a true test of patience and enemy management, especially on higher difficulties.

Related: Destiny 2 The Witch Queen: The Last Chance Legendary Mission Walkthrough

As with all other Witch Queen missions, bringing a good loadout can make a world of difference. This guide will go over which weapons and subclasses are worth using in The Ritual, and we'll give some tips and tricks on how to best complete each encounter tied to the Witch Queen's final campaign mission, both on Legendary and Master difficulty.

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Storm The Fortress

Savathun has found a way of bringing the Traveler to her Throne World. You must head from the Quagmire into the depths of her fortress to stop her current ritual. Hop on your Sparrow and follow the waypoint on your HUD. You'll want to keep riding your Sparrow until you reach the locked gates to her fortress, which will be hosting a rather large skirmish between the Scorn and Hive.

Hop off your Sparrow and find some nearby cover. Your focus should be on the Scorn Chieftains and Hive Knights first. One of these Knights will be a Barrier Champion on Master, so be careful. The Abomination and Lucent Lightbearer will keep each other busy for the time being. Once you've dealt with the Knights and Chieftains, kill the two Wizards guarding the fortress entrance.

At this point, you should work on dealing with the Abomination, Lucent Lightbearer, and the Barrier Champion if you're on Master. The Lightbearer is easily the toughest enemy of the bunch. You'll want to stick to the edges of the arena and damage it from a distance, preferably with a Linear Fusion Rifle. If the Lightbearer uses its Super, immediately find cover. Be sure to crush the Lightbearer's Ghost when finished. Clearing out all of the enemies will spawn a Hive Ogre that Ikora will make short work of. When she opens the path forward, make your way inside the fortress.

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Stop Savathun's Ritual

If you've played the Wellspring activity at all, this section might look familiar. Your goal is to make it to the other side of the path, picking off enemies from a distance whenever possible. Acolytes buffed by Moths, Knights, and two Ogres will block the way. On Master, the Ogres are Unstoppable. You must kill all of the enemies to proceed. Keep your distance to prevent fighting more enemies. Use your Linear Fusion Rifle and Special to pick away at the Ogres from a distance.

When you've cleared out most of the enemies, push forward to find a Lucent Lightbearer and two Knights. On Master, one of these Knights is a Barrier Champion. For the Lightbearer, its Blade Barrage Super has absurd tracking and can easily one-shot you on Master. Stick to cover whenever the Hunter-themed Lightbearer Supers. Only when its Super ends should you fight it. Crush its Ghost, then deal with the Knights to open the path forward.

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Reach Savathun's Ritual

Encounter Breakdown
Objective Match portal symbols to remove the Lightbearer's shield, allowing you to kill them.
Notable Enemies Hive Knights, Ogres, Shriekers, Wizards
Shields Legendary: Arc, Solar
Master: Arc, Solar
Champions (Master Only) Barrier and Unstoppable

This encounter is a major endurance test if you're playing solo. Whatever you do, do not play this encounter aggressively. Take your time; there's no timer.

Start the encounter by dropping down to where the Lucent Wizard is at. They'll be protected by two crystals shielded by an immune field. To remove them, you'll need to dunk orbs located at certain portals in the upper levels of this arena. Make your way to either the left or right side of the lowest floor; the side you pick doesn't matter. Kill the Wizard miniboss there to open a portal to the upper floors. Above the portal will be three symbols. Record these symbols somewhere. PC users can use text chat, while console users will need to make a mental note or write it down somewhere.

Memorizing Hive Symbols


Hive symbols are easiest to remember through letters and objects that look similar to them. Take the above image as an example. The first and third icons look like a "V." The second icon has a ton of horizontal dashes, so you can call it "Dash." So the symbols you're looking for are "V, Dash, V" on the upper floor portals.

As for recording these symbols, the easiest way is to use text chat. Console users might find it easier to record these symbols on their phone or a piece of paper. Be sure to separate each group of symbols to not get confused with successive callouts. Typing multiple hyphens ("---------------------") is recommended.

When you use the portal, you'll be teleported beside a group of Hive enemies, one of which will be a miniboss. Depending on which side you took, you'll need to fight either a Barrier Knight or an Unstoppable Ogre on Master. You'll want to kill the miniboss unit and all nearby adds. This will remove an invulnerability field on a crystal floating in that area. Break the crystal to reveal one of three symbols on all portals on that floor.

You'll need to make your way around that floor, killing minibosses and breaking crystals as you go (locations shown above). Destroying three crystals will activate multiple portals on each segment of the floor you're on. You must enter the portal that matches the symbols you recorded. If you enter the wrong portal, you'll be teleported to the Lucent Wizard and hear Savathun's laughter, forcing you to backtrack.

Using the correct portal will bring you to a small room with an orb you can grab. You'll want to grab that orb and bring it to one of the dunking stations where the Lightbearer is. Deposit the orb, kill the adds, and repeat the process on the other side of the arena. Be sure to kill the adds near the Lightbearer, or else the next part is going to be much harder.

Depositing both orbs and breaking the Lightbearer's crystals will let you damage the boss. It has a fairly weak health pool, so burst the boss down with everything you've got. Supers and Heavy weapons make short work of the Wizard. Crush its Ghost to end the encounter. If you're on Master, you might want to take this part slowly, damaging the adds first before the Wizard.

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Related: Destiny 2: Ability Cooldowns And Super Tiers Explained

Reach Savathun's Ritual (Continued)

A portal next to the slain Wizard will take you to a nearby elevator. Use it to reach the upper levels of Savathun's fortress. This area is guarded by a small army of Hive, containing multiple Hive Knights, Ogres, and Moths. Those playing on Master will need to deal with an Unstoppable Ogre and Barrier Knight at this part.

Your best chance of survival is to deal with the enemies from range, picking them one-by-one with a long-range weapon. Bows are especially useful here. If you have your Super charged, now is a good time to use it. Break any Moths that appear to deal massive AoE damage to nearby Hive, and remember to only fight from afar. There aren't any Lightbearers here, so take your time. Jump into the green pillar of energy at the end of the platform to ascend the fortress.

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Confront Savathun

Encounter Breakdown
Objective Defeat Savathun and her Lucent Brood.
Notable Enemies Lucent Lightbearers (Every Type), Ogres, Knights
Shields Legendary: Arc, Solar
Master: Arc, Solar
Champions (Master Only) Barrier and Unstoppable

Before you fight Savathun herself, be sure you use the Rally Flag right before the staircase. If you're on Legendary, make sure you have a Linear Fusion Rifle or some long-range weapon equipped for this part.

Savathun will spawn at the center of the arena, infused with the Traveler's Light. She is capable of using Stormtrance, Nova Bomb, Nova Warp, and Blade Barrage at any time. Do not let Savathun get close to you. Her deadliest attacks are Stormtrance and Blade Barrage. You can avoid Stormtrance by keeping your distance and standing between the lightning fissures. Blade Barrage can be countered by luring the knives into a nearby piece of cover. Once again, distance is key here.

The outskirts of the arena will be guarded by Ogres, Knights, and typical Acolyte fodder. We recommend defeating the adds before damaging Savathun, as lowering her HP will spawn much tougher enemies. The Ogres are only red bars for this part, so clearing each side shouldn't give you much trouble. Find cover once the adds are dead and damage Savathun.

Lower Savathun's HP to 75% will spawn a wave of enemies, one of which will be an Ogre miniboss (Unstoppable on Master) at the left-hand side of the arena. Immediately deal with the Ogre before it starts to attack. You can use the towers on the edges of the arena as cover. Another Ogre (Unstoppable on Master) will spawn when Savathun reaches 50% HP, this time on the right-hand side. Use the same strategy as before.

At this stage, we highly recommend you scavenge for ammo and reload all of your weapons. When you're ready, lower Savathun to 20% HP. She will then vanish, spawning three Lucent Lightbearers at the center of the arena. A Hunter, Warlock, and Titan variant are all present. The Titan variant is arguably the most dangerous, capable of one-tapping you with its Super. Deal with the Titan first, then the Hunter. The Warlock Lightbearer isn't particularly aggressive, so just keep your distance from it. Use the towers on the edges of the arena as cover from the Hunter's Blade Barrage attack.

You'll want to lower all three Lightbearer's to 15% HP or so before landing the final blow on them. This gives you enough time to crush all three Lightbearer Ghosts before they get a chance to respawn. Defeat the Lightbearers, then remove the last 20% of Savathun's HP to start the next section. You don't get a Rally Flag for the next part, so grab any ammo bricks here before proceeding.

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Defeat Savathun's Illusions

Encounter Breakdown
Objective Acquire damage buffs from nearby Wizards to kill Savathun.
Notable Enemies Hive Ogres, Knights, Wizards
Shields Legendary: Arc, Solar
Master: Solar
Champions (Master Only) Barrier and Unstoppable

While this technically isn't an encounter, it features multiple mechanics and tough enemies. Your goal is to enter Savathun's memories and kill Threadweaver Wizards that reside there. The fight starts with a Savathun that's nigh-impervious to your arsenal. Damage Savathun until your Ghost states that she's too powerful (about 3% of her total HP).

Savathun will spawn three apparitions of herself. You must kill all three illusions to activate a portal at the center of the arena. This will also spawn a few Hive enemies that will lay down suppressive fire. Guardians playing on Master will need to kill two Barrier Knights during this part, one spawning on each end of the arena. Kill the Barriers first.

The illusions are fairly weak but extremely dangerous. They mainly use a barrage of Arc projectiles to damage you. These projectiles deal absurd damage, killing you in less than a second on Master. Each illusion can also use a variant of Stormtrance's Landfall ability, releasing a series of lightning fissures in a frontal cone. Unless you have double Arc damage resistance mods equipped, do not challenge them outside of cover. Try to kill the illusions from afar with your Linear Fusion Rifle or Bow.

Defeating all three will open a portal in Savathun's memory altar. This region contains a ring of portals you can jump into. Beyond each portal is a Wizard called a Threadweaver. They're passive until their shields break, so feel free to reload your weapons now. Killing the Wizard will bring you back to the ring of portals. Use the other two active portals to kill the Threadweavers. Interact with the central memory altar when the Wizards are slain to reveal the truth to Savathun. She'll bring you back to the Throne World for another duel.

All you need to do is remove the small health chunk in front of Savathun's HP bar. A Primary is all you need for this, but feel free to use your Super and Heavy here; you'll get a Rally Flag after this. Stick to one side of the arena for cover, as Savathun will only fight near the portal. Some Thrall will spawn when you start damaging Savathun, so keep your eyes open.

Lowering Savathun's HP enough will automatically bring you to the memory altar. You'll need to kill the last three Threadweavers, as before. Some platforming is required to reach them. Killing the Threadweaver will spawn one Savathun illusion at the central altar alongside a wave of Thrall and Cursed variants. Kill the illusions right as they spawn. Rinse and repeat until you've killed all Wizards and illusions. Activate the altar to finish this section.

Quick Threadweaver Kills


You don't need to climb up to the Threadweavers during the second part. When you teleport, run slightly forward, turn around, then jump. You'll have a clear view of the Threadweaver. Kill them as normal. This saves you a few seconds of platforming.

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Related: Destiny 2: How To Complete Every Vow Of The Disciple Challenge

Defeat Savathun

Encounter Breakdown
Objective Acquire damage buffs from nearby Wizards to kill Savathun.
Notable Enemies Hive Wizards
Shields Legendary: Solar
Master: Solar
Champions (Master Only) None

Use the Rally Flag to stock up on ammo and ability energy. When ready, walk towards Savathun to start the encounter.

You'll start this encounter with three stacks of Thread Cutter, granting you a massive damage buff against Savathun. You only have this buff for 15 seconds when the encounter starts, serving as a short DPS window. While you can damage Savathun right away, we recommend you ignore her and focus on finding cover. Deal with the adds in the arena while you wait for the buff to end.

When the Thread Cutter buff expires, three Wizards will spawn at the edges of the arena. You must kill these Wizards to gain Thread Cutter stacks, allowing you to damage Savathun. Adds also spawn with each Wizard, so you'll want to deal with the fodder enemies first. If you focus solely on the Wizards, you'll quickly get overwhelmed and die. Defeating all three Wizards will give you a 45-second DPS window, so make it count.

Keeping your distance is key for this entire encounter, especially when dealing with Savathun. She has an affinity for throwing a wide array of ranged attacks your way, so never fight her in the open. Linear Fusion Rifles and Supers are the best methods for damaging her. Even if you run out of ammo, it's best to damage her with your Primary from a distance than close the gap to use your Special; getting near Savathun is not worth it.

Damage Savathun until your buff expires, kill the Wizards, and repeat until she dies. There aren't any Champions or special mechanics you need to juggle. Do your best to manage your ammo, use your Super whenever it's up, and never fight outside of cover. Defeat Savathun to finish this mission and the Witch Queen campaign.

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Next: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Complete Guide And Walkthrough