So it all comes down to this. As The Witness approaches The Final Shape, the Guardian, Cayde, Ikora, Zavala and Crow have to do everything in their power to stop its evil machinations from coming to fruition.
The whole plan hinges on the supposed existence of a ritual site. This is meant to be the location where those who defected from The Witness “destroyed” themselves. It is also the place where The Witness was created and arguably our best chance of stopping him, in a nice parallel with The Lord of the Rings.
There are several boss fights in the mission and a mechanic that needs careful management if you are to progress successfully. At the end of it all is the hardest single fight in any Destiny 2 campaign to date, so you may want to mentally prepare yourself for that.
Bearing that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about beating The Final Shape’s Iconoclasm mission.
Full guide to Destiny 2: The Final Shape Iconoclasm mission
Step One: Fight your way into the Fortress
The first part of this mission is mercifully forgiving and doesn’t require any unique mechanics. Jump down from the starting area and follow the path around to the right, then defeat the Taken Phalanxes, Goblins and Psions that spawn.
Move around to the left and you’ll quickly come to an area with crops and other vegetation. More enemies will spawn, with the Attendants and Ravenous Hobgoblins being the main threat. Kill them quickly, then head forward over the farmland.
Jump down behind the farms and follow the path laid out by the floating platforms. Defeat the adds that spawn and run up the hill. You should reach a Rally Point, so stop there and get ready for your first major fight.
Step Two: Destroy the Taken blockade
Standing between you and your ultimate goal is a blockade with a lot of Taken enemies. A Heavy Machine Gun is a solid choice here, as there are a lot of adds that can be defeated quickly if you have one to hand. Kill the Servile Wizards and wait for the Imprint of Nezarec Tormentor to spawn.
Stasis is a great choice in this situation, regardless of your class, as the Imprint of Nezarec moves quickly and hits hard. Slowing it up with Stasis abilities and Supers should allow you to lay down much more sustained damage.
The other major thing to be aware of is that there are two pools of Prismatic Energy at the end of the mall where the Tormentor spawns. Cycle into these as much as possible to take advantage of Transcendence, which becomes easier if the boss is frozen in place.
Overall, this is actually a fairly easy fight. Just keep rotating between cover points and firing at the Imprint of Nezarec’s weak spot on its chest (after you have popped the shoulders). Defeat it, collect your rewards and proceed to the next area.
Step Three: Find a way to The Witness’ ritual site
Proceed through The Witness’ structures until you come to an area full of floating platforms called The Sacrarium. Head round to the right and follow the path laid out by the platforms (you should be heading downwards) until you come to an opening on the left lit by white light.
You will come to a door on your left that is blocked by Darkness and, at the same time, will start taking damage from the air. Ignore the blocked entrance and proceed up the path until you come to a Darkness node. If you shoot it, you will gain the Shielded from Darkness buff that stops you from taking damage in those oppressive atmospheres.
The veil of Darkness will dissipate after you shoot the node, so head through it quickly before the buff expires. Jump down onto the colored blocks then head left, before following the path upwards, laid out in a linear fashion by the blocky constructs.
Continue to proceed through the level until you come to a large Ghost statue with a red eye. Head into the little passage behind it and you should come to another Rally Point.
Step Four: Defeat Eshkin’Tuk, Witness’s Blessed
Drop down into the arena and be prepared for a ton of enemies to spawn. The main threat in this first portion is a Bound Omen. That said, there are several Bound enemies that need to be dealt with, so pop Transcendence early and throw grenades into the spawn point to make them vulnerable immediately.
After defeating the adds, you should see a Darkness node on either side of the room. Pop both and then head into the area directly below the nodes (you should see the Darkness veil disappear when you shoot the nodes and get the Shielded from Darkness buff).
The basement is filled with poisonous air again, so make sure to maintain your buff. There are two nodes in opposite corners that should enable you to do so relatively easily. The main threat here is two Resonant Warder Hive Knights.
Additional Husks will spawn, so make sure to take them out quickly as their speed can prove to be a problem. There isn’t much in the way of other strategies here, so just kite the Knights while laying down headshot damage with your heavy weapon.
The Resonant Warders will drop Glyphs on the ground when killed, so take note of those. Use the portal in the center of the basement to head back to the top. Find the matching Glyphs (there is one in each corner of the room) and then stand in them.
As soon as you do so, the main boss for this section will spawn – Eshkin’Tuk, Witness’s Blessed. There aren’t any particularly fancy tactics here, as Eshkin’Tuk is a one-phase fight with no shields or anything to remove. He simply needs to be killed.
On Legendary difficulty, add control is key, so make sure to take out the Acolytes that spawn early. Use the raised platforms for cover when you need to, and opt for a Heavy Machine Gun or Linear Fusion Rifle in your third weapon slot, as the boss has a large head (weak spot), so it’s relatively easy to lay down big damage with either.
After you defeat him, head through the newly opened pathway and collect your rewards.
Step Five: Platform to the next boss arena
The game offers players a bit of a break here. You will quickly come to another area that was similar to the first pathing route. Continue on until you enter another of The Witness’ pyramid-style structures. Jump on the outstretched hand and head into the next room.
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You are on the right path if you come to another of the rooms that has a unique statue in it with three Guardian classes. Proceed through it, and there will be another platforming section. Follow the floating Cubes, then run along the wall to the left.
Jump down into the large opening to the right, and you will enter the next boss arena. Rally to the flag and get ready to fight Dolgith, Blade of Reasoning.
Step Six: Defeat Dolgith, Blade of Reasoning
This next fight uses similar mechanics to the first time around. As soon as it begins, two Bound enemies will spawn inside Taken Blights on either side of you. The goal is to destroy the Blights and the Bound foes in the first instance, so take advantage of the Prismatic pools that appear on either side, just underneath each Blight.
After you do so, look for the Darkness Splinter in the middle of the room. Shoot it and get the Glyphtouched buff, then shoot the Darkness node next to it to get the Shielded from Darkness buff. After that, jump through the portal that appears above.
Again, you will find yourself in dark and cramped confines where the air will kill you if you are not protected. If you need to top up your buff, then look for one of the multiple nodes in the area and shoot it.
The goal here is to kill the Resonant Warder Knights once again. They hit very hard and move surprisingly quickly, so keep moving and make sure to take out superfluous adds so you don’t get stuck in the immensely cramped space.
There will be two Warders to kill, both of which will leave behind a Glyph. Once you have both memorized, use the portal in the center of the room to go back up to the main boss arena. There will now be two glyphs on either side of the room, stand in the appropriate pools, and you will get a message saying, “A Warder’s Glyph has been nullified.”
After you have done that, another Light Aegis will appear at the front of the room where you entered. grab it and use your Super toggle button on the boss, to break his invincibility shield and begin the first damage phase. You will be able to get him down to half health.
From there, the second phase is identical to the first. Head down into the basement, note the Glyphs, nullify the Warder’s points in the boss room, break the boss’ shield and kill it once and for all.
Step Seven: Journey to the Ritual Site
Up next is another platforming section that should be fairly self-explanatory to most. Head through the huge doorway at the end of the room where the boss was and proceed into the tunnel. You will emerge into a huge open space where you will see the monolith opposite.
Use the floating platforms to gain access to the area initially and then work your way up the stairs and into the corridors of the structure. There is generally one way to go here, and it’s difficult to go wrong, so look out for the room with the Golden Horse to make sure you are on the right track.
After some more platforming and navigating through corridors, you will come to a room with the old Vanguard War Table. Ikora, Zavala and Cayde stand before it, and the game will take you through some RP here. The Witness will offer you a deal to become a disciple (which will be roundly turned down by Ghost), and then you can proceed to the next area.
You will then come to a Rally Point once again before entering the stunning final arena for this portion of the campaign.
Step 8: Defeat the Witness
At the start of this fight, you will be unable to damage The Witness, so don’t bother trying. Use cover to avoid his shard attack, as it will one-shot you in most cases. The first foe to look out for here is Lenurae, Subjugator of Fluxion.
Kill adds and burn Lenurae down to half health. After that, he will get a shield that prevents him from taking damage. Fortunately, a node will appear in the room, so shoot it to get the Shielded from Darkness buff.
Then, head to the corridor on the left-hand side and run down to the end to collect the Aegis of Light. Head back into the arena to break Lenurae’s shield, just as you have done with other bosses along the way in this journey. Don’t be afraid to use the Aegis as add clear first, as this can be helpful in stopping them stacking too high.
Kill Lenurae and make sure to take advantage of the fissure to recharge your abilities. After it dies, a sword will appear at the room entrance. Grab it and run over to the darkness pillar in the center of the arena. Attack it and interact to embrace the Darkness. You will be teleported, so destroy the statue and wait to be sent back over to the arena.
Phase Two requires you to defeat Molak’Al, Subjugator of the Traveler. This is a very similar encounter to the first, only now, the entire arena is toxic, so you will need to maintain Shielded from Darkness. There are more nodes to take advantage of, though, so it isn’t too tricky.
Again you will need to get an Aegis to break the shield of the Subjugator. Beyond that, it’s just a case of killing it as quickly as possible. After doing this, grab the sword again and hit the node to be transported to another Veiled Statue. Destroy it, and you’ll be sent back to the arena.
The third time around, just go straight for the sword and Embrace the Darkness once more. Destroy the statue, and you will be teleported to a corridor with another Aegis. Pick it up and use it to block all incoming damage while consistently walking forward. Don’t stop and you should be fine. At the end, drop down and use the stairs, triggering the final cutscene.
And that’s it! You’ve officially completed this part of The Final Shape campaign and can view the ending. With more to come after the release of the raid, we shall see what Bungie has up its sleeves for players to enjoy.
Make sure to take a look at our full mission list for The Final Shape and if you need to change up your build, this list of new Exotics may help. If you’re yet to commit to buying the expansion or are thinking about upgrading, we’ve got a guide to each edition as well.
