Cataclysm is the first encounter in the newest Root of Nightmares Raid in Destiny 2. In this encounter, players will be playing through two mechanics simultaneously and just even tripping for a few seconds may cost the entire run altogether.
Read ahead as we go through the mechanics and strategies for the Root of Nightmares Cataclysm encounter in Destiny 2.
How to unlock the Root of Nightmares raid?
To unlock the Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares raid, you will have to complete the entire Lightfall campaign.
The first 48 hours of the raid will be in Contest Mode where everyone participating in the raid will have a -20 Power debuff, but will be rewarded with better loot upon clearing the raid within the time period.
Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares: Cataclysm Mechanics
The main mechanics of Cataclysm, this first encounter puts the entire team under time pressure. Right by the rally banner circle, you will find another circle with an aura surrounding what appears to be a white globe called the Lightsphere.
Make sure to have everyone on your team be prepared first before starting the encounter. To start the encounter, you need to shoot the Lightsphere. This gives you the Field of Light effect and the Sweeping Terror effect; both effects are equally important, but you will need to pay attention to the second effect the most.
Sweeping Terror – Tormentor Fight
The Sweeping Terror effect only lasts for 30 seconds and if this runs out, the entire team will wipe out. In order to extend this timer, you will need to defeat the Tormentor called the Cavum of Nezarec. It is a tanky mini-boss, so consider having at least 3 or 4 of your fireteam members take care of them whenever possible. Once it’s down, your entire fireteam will get an extension on the Sweeping Terror effect and another mini-boss should appear once more for another round.
Field of Light – Lightsphere
The Field of Light effect plays with the second mechanic of this encounter. Going back to the Lightsphere, when it is shot, a short beam of light will emanate from it. This beam will point to another circle in the field where the next Lightsphere is hidden. While still having the Field of Light effect, the shadow of the hidden Lightsphere should be shot to reconstruct it and it will then shoot out another short beam of light pointing to where the next hidden Lightsphere is located.
There are two things that would make this mechanic complicated: Psions and the effect’s cooldown.
There will be Psions that spawn in the area that will interrupt the Lightsphere from emitting their beams, making it hard to find where the next sphere in the chain is. They should be hunted down in order to stop them from disrupting your team from completing the mechanic.
Another thing to consider when completing this mechanic is the delay of when you can get the Field of Light effect. it has a significant amount of delay and so proper planning on who gets the effect and when should be considered.
Root of Nightmares: Cataclysm Strategy
One effective strategy to conquer this encounter is to divide the fireteam with four members dedicated on defeating the Tormentor and taking care of add clear, including the Psions, while the other two should be in charge of the Lightsphere mechanic.
The Lightspherers, or Lighters as we call it for this guide, should be able to communicate with each other and should know how to take turns when it comes to getting the buff. Both Lighters should not have the Field of Light effect at the same time, otherwise they would run into the problem of waiting for the effect’s cooldown to finish and potentially waste precious seconds.
In order to do this, only one Lighter should be inside the aura to shoot it at the start of the encounter while the other Lighters should just wait outside the aura. Once the next Lightsphere has been found and reconstructed, then it’s the second Lighter’s turn to get the effect and locate the next Lightsphere. This process continues all the way through the entire encounter.
One point to take note of is that the aura spot will not always appear on the next Lightsphere, so both Lighters should be on their toes to look for the next aura to get the effect from. Also, there’s no need to stay on the Lightsphere once it has been reconstructed. To alleviate the pressure from the Lighters, one add clearer should also be on the lookout for Psions.
See next Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares Second Encounter: Scission
Check out this video by KackisHD showing how to complete Root of Nightmare’s Cataclysm encounter in Destiny 2: