Destiny’s Aksis challenge, for once, feels like an actual challenge

Everyone has to be on point

That’s all she wrote for Destiny‘s Wrath of the Machine raid challenges, at least for now. All that’s on the docket going forward until Destiny 2 (?) is Vosik and Aksis, the latter of which debuted this week.

The kicker is that it’s actually a challenge this time around. Unbeknownst to a lot of players out there, the Aksis phase two fight had a hidden mechanic — select people who were not on the same side as the boss, and thus, were not slamming him, have the chance to slam the plate that the Servitors end their journey at, to grant the entire team instant supers.

As you can imagine this requires a lot of communication, beyond what the Aksis encounter already needed. And it’s wonderful.

Here’s some straight-forward instructions on how to complete the challenge. Players will have to get a supercharge (by slamming the plate) first, then slam Aksis three times in each round to have it count. If someone fails to get a supercharge once on any given teleport, it’s a failure. If you don’t slam him and retreat to the pillars, it’s a failure. If you teleport him to the middle for the finale before getting a full round of three supercharges and three slams, it’s a failure. Keep all of these parameters in mind (or better yet, keep a checkpoint for the boss on another character) before you attempt to finish it.

Naturally, pick-up-groups (PUGs) are going to have a lot of issues with this. Not only do you have to communicate that the supercharge is out, but you also have to communicate empowerments and slams on top of that. I was able to complete it yesterday, but everyone in my group was at least 398 and had completed the hard mode raid 15 times or more. If you really want to finish it, you’ll need to know the mechanics inside and out (and occasionally shot-call or make a clutch play) and pay attention.

The best strategy I’ve found is to have every side facing the plate when he’s about to teleport, and just use your headset to feel out of Aksis is behind you. If he is, jump, turn, and slam after the supercharge notification on-screen or via voicechat (I typically get on his back right away and simply wait). If he isn’t, you’re already facing the supercharge platform and can get there readily while the Aksis side player is jumping up.

Another recommendation I’ve heard is to stay on the plates and face Aksis, that way you can run up and slam him immediately (since everyone is already on their plates), which is absolutely viable. Yet, the slammers will need to be very quick, and the middle empowered player cannot stand on the plate, as they risk getting killed outright by Aksis teleporting on them (this is the only plate he directly ports to). So either way, everyone needs to pay attention, especially since everyone could potentially be required to swap to the middle.

If this sounds like an alien language to you, I hope you’re enjoying the raid as-is. For everyone else, consider giving this challenge a shot on hard mode with people you trust — it’s a lot of fun.