Summary
Excision sees 12 Guardians face off against the Witness to unmake the first knife of Darkness inDestiny 2. The Final Shape is filled with many mysteries and challenges, and perhaps one of the greatest is trying tocomplete Excisionon the Grandmaster difficulty.
Whilst the normal version ofDestiny 2’s Excision mission will see players best the Witness without the consequence of death with random matchmade team members, the Grandmaster difficulty tasks them with finding 11 other players through Fireteam Finder. This Grandmaster activity has limited revives, where players are sent to orbit if they all die intheir shared goalof fighting the Witness and its strengthened forces.
7Stick Together As 12 Guardians
Eliminate Zone By Zone Effectively As An Unstoppable Unit
Not every player is able to communicate inDestiny 2, meaning Grandmaster Excision is going to be hard for the players who don’t use comms. However, it’s still extremely possible, especially since thousands of other players do not use mics and will want to get this quest done. The best way to advance without communication is to simply progress as a unit by having all 12 players stick together like glue as they proceed through the encounters.
The start of Grandmaster Excision has players capture four zones and defeat Cornerstones of the Witness, all whilst they are attacked by Champions. By having all 12 players focus on the same targets instead of splitting off, there is less chance of death due to the fact that players will be constantly throwing Supers, freezing targets, suspending them, stunning them, and just controlling the battle with their numbers. This is not the activity to become a lone wolf, even without communication, so it’s essential to do one objective at a time, together.
6Focus On Getting To The Witness’ Third Damage Phase
The Third Damage Phase Has No Time Limit
Entering a damage phase for the Witness is hard enough, and surviving it is even harder for those who are unfamiliar withthe Salvation’s Edge raidand how the Witness’ attacks work. With a limited time to attack, some players might stress about their damage numbers, but they have no need to fear, as the Witness’ third damage phase is infinite.
Once players survive to the third damage phase, it’s an easy run to the finish line. Players do not have to stress about weapons and hostiles, as they can simply dodge the Witness’ attacks endlessly as they shoot it with Kinetic weapons. Something like Outbreak Perfected is brilliant, as the damage over time from this weapon will slowly eat away at the Witness’ health.
5Build Up Revives
Earn The Maximum Amount Of Revives From Respawning Champions
Grandmaster Excision has limited revives, where players can only bring their allies back into the fight if they have a Revive Token to spend. Revive Tokens aren’t the easiest to obtain, as players must eliminate Champions, Tormentors, and Subjugators, which act as the toughest enemies that players will fight. Luckily, Champions spawn endlessly, and players will have Overload and Unstoppable Champions in the final fight to farm on the left and right sides.
Players can have over 20 Revives available, so feel free to kill as many Champions as possible before heading into the next phase of the fight. Players will never know when one Guardian might save the game, so it’s best to keep everyone up, even if they succumb to a rather silly death. After all, without revives, and if all Guardians die at once, they have to return to Orbit and start again.
4Utilize Prismatic Builds From All Classes
Titans, Hunters, And Warlocks All Have Important Roles To Play
Prismatic is a game changer forDestiny 2, and that’s especially true for Excision. Since players can only access Excision after they havebeaten The Final Shape’s campaign, they should all have Prismatic, and hopefully, they have spent some time in the Pale Heart to unlock plenty of Fragments, Aspects and Abilities to create unique Hunters, Warlocks, and Titans.
Prismatic works greatin Excision because the ability to Suspend and Freeze targets with Transcendent grenades will help control the battlefield. Some enemies also have shields that require Transcendent damage to break. Also, once players get past the first area into the Witness’ boss room, they will not be able to use their Supers, so Prismatic’s abilities will definitely come in handy with the right builds.
3Freely Use All Heavy And Special Ammo
Heavy Ammo Crates Refill Ammo And Spawn Fairly Quickly
Heavy weapons are important for Excision. Therange of potential Exoticsand other high-damaging weapons makes for a great time to be had by all. Yet, Heavy Ammo is always scarce, but not in Excision. When players enter the Witness’ boss room, just behind Saint-14 they can find a Heavy Ammo box that everyone can collect to fill up Heavy and Special Ammo.
This Ammo box will reset after a while, so players are never going to feel like they are running too empty on weapons. This provides great opportunities to fight enemies that require critical hit damage, like the Tormentors, the Witness, and even Champions. Weapons likeMicrocosmand Still Hunt will work great with this seemingly infinite ammo.
2Understand How The Witness’ Attacks Work
The Witness Can Easily Wipe Out Teams Of Guardians If Players Don’t Know Its Attacks
Too many players have entered Excision without coming out victorious, and part of that is due to their lack of understanding of how the Witness works during the fight. When it isn’t a damage phase, the Witness will mark areas that will almost always insta-kill players. These areas are noted by the orange glow, and players should keep out of them, and shoot the cracked bands on the Witness’ arms that appear in the air.
During the boss fight, the Witness will attack one side at a time, allowing players to safely navigate the platform to continue to do damage. The best way to watch out for these attacks are by shooting the Witness without aiming. Watch the platform, as the parts that light up are the parts that will get the player killed. If the Witness raises its left hand, it means players must dodge to their left, as the right side will be attacked. The Witness always does these attacks in two, so if its left hand is raised, dodge left, and then the Witness will raise its right hand, so dodge right. The Witness also has an attack where its eyes will light up, when that happens, jump up and back away, as the Witness will perform a deadly blast to get players off the platform.
1Don’t Revive Players During The Light Gathering Phase
Players Can Automatically Revive Without Spending Revive Tokens
Once players reach the Witness’ boss room, they are tasked with defeating 2 Cornerstones of the Witness to create Light fissures, which they can interact with, and Gather Light to deposit at a Darkness Rift. These Light Fissures can be picked up and deposited by anyone, but doing so may get them killed if they are overwhelmed by enemies.
Yet, even if it seems rude, players should not revive them unless their numbers are low and their Revive Tokens are high. Players will automatically revive without the use of a Revive Token once players Embrace Darkness to destroy the Dissenter statues, so players should just focus on depositing 16 Light Fissures. It’s also worth noting that Light Fissure spawns near the safety of Saint-14’s shield, so feel free to wait for these ones as there is no time limit.
