This article will guide you step-by-step on how to complete the third encounter of the Root of Nightmares Raid in Destiny 2 Lightfall.
Root of Nightmares Encounter 3 Guide – Destiny 2
The third encounter of Root of Nightmares is the trickiest one, so bear with me. When you first enter the room, you will notice planets all over the ceiling. No need to pay attention to them yet. Instead, look at the boss, Zo’ Aurc, Explicator of Planets, and you will notice two Triangular plates on his left side and two Triangular plates on his right side. The plates on the left side are on the “Light” side, and the plates on the Right are on the “Dark” side.
To make things easier, I have made a blueprint for you, showing all the plates and how you should number the corners. Save this image:
You will need four players as runners and two players for ad clear in this run. Start by assigning one player to each plate. When we were doing this encounter, the two people doing ad clear were on the top two plates, so that they could get a better view and clear ads easily.
As soon as you start the encounter, the Cabal will start spawning in, and four Orange Bar Centurions will spawn near the boss. Try to eliminate them as soon as possible. As soon as you do, a Yellow bar Terrestrial Lieutenant will spawn on each plate.
So four plates, four Lieutenants. Runners, do whatever you can to eliminate the Lieutenants. As soon as the runners eliminate their Lieutenants (Only the Runners will finish off these Lieutenants and make sure the ad clear people don’t get the elimination), each of them will get a buff on the left side of their screen called Planetary Insight.
If you are a Runner, and you got the Planetary Insight buff, you will notice that the three planets on top of each corner of your triangular plate will start glowing either White or Black (Light and Dark). This will happen on all four plates as soon as the runners eliminate their respective Lieutenants and get the buff.
Now, if you are on a plate from the Light-side (Check the image above), then two planets above you will glow White, and a single planet will glow Black. Check which corner of your plate is below that one planet.
For example, if you are on the bottom plate of Light-side, and after getting the buff, you notice that the planets above Corner 1 and Corner 2 are glowing White, and the Planet about Corner 3 is glowing Dark, then the number you need to call out is “3”.
Similarly, if you are on a plate from the Dark-side (Check the image above), after getting the Planetary Insight buff, two planets will become Dark, and a single planet will glow White. Check the Corner below the planet, and call the number.
Runners at the bottom plates will call their numbers to each other, and runners at the top plates will call their numbers to each other.
When this happens, a buff will spawn under each of these glowing planets. The buff is called Planetary Attunement.
So, if you are on the bottom plate of the Light-side, and after getting the Planetary Insight buff, you notice that the planets above Corner 1 and Corner 2 are glowing White, and the Planet above Corner 3 is glowing Dark, then the number you need to call out is “3”, and then pick up the buff under that planet.
The Runner on the Dark plate will have to do the exact same thing. After picking the buff, you will need to take it and place it on the Corner that the other guy called.
For example, if you are on the top plate of the Light-side, and the Runner from the top plate of the dark side called “5”, and you called “4” (Check the image above for the numbers), then you need to go and place your buff on Corner 5 of the other runners’ plate, the other runner will come to your plate and place the buff on Corner 4. This part is all about placing the planets where they belong.
Once you have done this correctly and placed all the White glowing planets on the Light-side and the Dark glowing planets on the Dark side, the planets will now start aligning themselves at the end of the Planetary Shift timer (Check the left side of your screen), which has been running since you eliminated your first Lieutenant.
Time to go back to your positions. More cabal will start spawning after you have done the entire thing I have said until now. Start eliminating them. Especially the ones near the boss. Once you do, four more Yellow bar Lieutenants will spawn on the four Triangular plates. One on each plate. Runners, eliminate them, and get your Planetary Insight buff, once again.
Time to focus on the three Circular plates in the middle and the planets above them. Once you get your Planetary Insight buff, you will notice that the planets above those circular plates will either glow White or Dark.
If you are on one of the Triangular plates on the Light-side. Pick up a buff from one of your corners, and place it on a circular plate in the middle that has a White glowing planet above it.
If you are on one of the Triangular plates on the Dark-side. Pick up a buff from one of your corners, and place it on a circular plate in the middle that has a Dark glowing planet above it. Three planets, three plates, three buffs required. So, one of the four runners from before can switch to ad clear.
You need to do this to activate these plates, as these plates are the ones you will have to step on to damage the boss.
Once you have placed all the buffs and activated the three plates in the middle, the planets above the plates will start glowing, and you will have to then shoot that one weird-shaped orb-thingy in the middle.
Time for boss damage. Look at the boss carefully. Whatever color his shield is emitting, you need to stand on the plate emitting the same colored aura. If he is glowing White, stand on a plate that is glowing white. If he is glowing orange, stand on a plate that is glowing orange. Simple.
Stand on a plate, and start dealing damage until he becomes immune. Once he is immune, get off the plate, and look at the boss again. See what color his shield is emitting. Stand on the plate emitting the similar color, and deal damage. Rinse and repeat.
If you don’t manage to do enough damage in time, you will have to repeat the entire process. Good luck, Guardians! Godspeed!
If you think this guide has helped you, then let us know in the comment section below. Also, if you have any addition to make regarding this topic, then also you can comment below. And for more Destiny 2 guides, keep an eye on Frondtech. Good luck!
That’s all, folks!
Last Updated on March 12, 2023
Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.