Flawless Raider, Part 2

howdy friends!

in the time since the last post a lot has happened. I went to Washington, then the San Diego Comic Con, and the Destiny 2 Beta was live. It was pretty cool to peak around the world and kick the tires of the new game. I’m looking forward to more adventures fighting back evil space monsters with my friends soon.

in the meantime, let me get into the finale of my “Flawless Raider” quest. last time I wrote about how this was the one achievement I was missing… and how the task was going to be hard. in fact, I was going to need to train. and train I did!

beating the Raid the first time took me hours of game time… spread out over two separate days. but I did it. even though I died a LOT, it still felt like quite an accomplishment to finish a 6 person activity by myself. now I just had to do it again… without dying once. *gulp*

I’m breaking this down in a day by day recounting of it.

cleared the Abyss first try. this part was kind funny. the Thrall have no idea I’m chilling all invisible status right in between them.

I was able to make the Bridge jump on the second try – as soon as I make jump, I’m good. it’s just the darn jump!

Shriekers, struggled on this. grr. took me three tries.

Ir Yût, – had a couple of missteps. was taking two shots on shriekers. wasn’t on Sarcophogus right. Eventually got it.

this time Crota was much quicker. my technique was fine, just execution was off.

this day started with the PSN network down! sigh. used the time to work on a TV pitch, so yay!

this was a pretty good run, I did the Abyss, Bridge, and Ir Yut all on the first try… but then died rocketing sword bearer.

Crota still took a few tries.

work up thinking about the Raid. this is starting to get bad. it’s consuming my life. what’s next, dreams?

the entire process was a struggle. I thought I was doing so good yesterday.

but I did refine my Crota technique a bit. I had in the knife through, plus a “swipe” when I jump to move me forward a bit quicker.

Abyss fine, no problemo.

but still at the Bridge I died several time.

Ir Yut paused in a weird spot and I couldn’t get a shot on her… and died.

Crota still giving me troubles. it’s hard to time the kneels right. sometimes it takes 3 shots with Telesto, sometimes 4. can’t figure out why – but that timing makes a big difference.

tried switching back to Gjhorn. found that 1 takes down sometimes… other times it leaves a sliver of shield. but that small amount can equal grenade or knife. so if I hit him with that first, then jump while Wolfpack rounds are still swirling, I can get in close to more hits.

sometimes you gotta take a break and test this stuff out… which I did

it takes SIX sword slams to kill this big space jerk, so can be done in two rounds if I can get my timing right… and that’s a big IF…

feeling good. starting off scheming. ran through the Abyss. made it across Bridge second try.

Ir Yut did something new, she was pausing on OTHER side of crystal. never seen that before. tried baiting her by window, seemed to get her in position. will try this from now on.

by this time I’d gotten pretty dang good at the ol “wombo comb”. watch how I knife, grenade, and headshot this entire batch of enemies in seconds.

Crota then… man. he was glitching! first he hid around the corner.

then I rocketed myself trying to kill Thrall with the sword. (note: the sword is on a timer… eventually it just disappears and you have whatever weapon you were holding when you picked it up… in this case it was my rocket and I just kept swinging… which turned into a shot… and I died.)

finally Crota didn’t kneel with a knife + gjally shot. wtfffffff.

today was tough. I struggled throughout.

first I fell in a hole during the Abyss.

then I couldn’t make it on the “safe” rock at end.

I couldn’t make the bridge jump.

Crota didn’t kneel right…

BUT, my plan to “bait” Ir Yut by going to the window worked. just by running over in that area I was able to make sure she was in the correct spot for an easy dispatching. so I got that going for me.

cruised through the Abyss… then nailed the Bridge on the first try. woohoo!

but then things got weird. in the Hallway a thrall jumped in front of me and I rocketed myself.

okay, no problem. I’ll just jump and shoot.

wtffff. a CABLE. you can rocket a CABLE??? I didn’t even know this was possible. #goodtimes

then I got to Crota… who proved to be just as much of a pain in the asteroid as the others… here’s a sweet video of him not kneeling.

le sigh. eventually I got him… and with only TWO swords. this was the first time I did that… so I’m getting better?

this day I had a little trouble with Abyss, I mean really? I shouldn’t be having problems here.

then on Bridge I didn’t have rockets for the Ogres. and didn’t have the right gear on… I got overwhelmed by Thrall and died.

after that though… clear sailing. I passed the Hallway, Ir Yut, and Crota all on the first try. and Crota with just two swords!

I did it! FRICK YEAH BATMAN!

…only my notes didn’t say frick.

that was literally all I wrote from that day.

I was pretty ecstatic. I’ve had a fair amount of accomplishment moments in video games, but this was definitely the pinnacle. there hadn’t been something as difficult that I’d specifically worked for so much before… and it was thrilling to get it done.

after reviewing the video footage I can tell you this.

the Abyss was a breeze.

my technique at the Bridge spot on.

I played it safe at the Hallway… and made it through.

then at Ir Yut something new happened. normally I use the Sleeper Simulant Fusion rifle to kill the witch… but I was out of heavy ammo. and I couldn’t take a synth. these are special “consumable” items that refill a particular ammo type… and they have a five minute timer. you can see in the video I have 30 seconds left on my timer… but only 25 seconds left to kill her. gulp.

there was ONE brick of secondary ammo. this gave me FOUR shots. but it would take FIVE to kill her. now… this is where things get awesome. the LDR 5001 Sniper Rifle I have has a special perk called “Triple Tap”. it means that if you get three Critical Hits in quick succession you get an EXTRA round of ammo.

HEADSHOT.

HEADSHOT.

HEADSHOT.

+1 Ammo

HEADSHOT.

HEADSHOT.

it was probably the coolest moment of my entire quest for Flawless Raider, improvising and performing the clutch… and it came at the best possible time.

I mopped up the subsequent adds, then moved on to Crota. my previous technique held strong and I iced him in just two swords.

and threw in a little t-bag action… because I’m an adult. haha

and the rewards, the “Flawless Raider” trophy and the “Guardian Lord” for earning all of the achievements the game had to offer.

and that was it. after 11 days of hard space-fighting I accomplished my goal… and if you want to watch the entire 30 minute final run, I’ve got it all uploaded to my “yetistache” youtube channel. thinking about putting some more gaming content up there… perhaps with Destiny 2 I’ll go crazy.

a few timestamps in case you want to see the parts that I struggled with earlier… and it has sound!

thanks for coming along for the journey. and if you’re on PSN, I’m “yetieque.” let’s play!

-Luke