About Me:
I'm 27, married (aka I don't have infinite time to work with), and
I love to Sherpa raids in Destiny.
Learning the mechanics of raid content in and out and then teaching it
to others in a fun manner is one of the greater joys I've found in this
game.
Note: There may be some raid content spoilers in the body of this post.
We've all been there (well, some of us).
You're at the gate of Vault of Glass, and you've been faithfully
obliterating every Minotaur that comes your way on the right side with
Corrective Measure. The center looks to be holding pretty solid as well.
The only catch is that the two guys on the left seem to be dying every
30 seconds or so. After a few times of scoping in to help them out, you
realize that you never see them using anything but primary weapons.
You've been at this gate for 15 minutes now, and all you're hearing is
"We're level 31, I don't need to waste heavy ammo synthesis for this."
It sure might be possible, but boy would it be easier.
You've made it to Confluxes! Unfortunately, you've also been wiping
for 45 minutes with no end in sight. That left conflux keeps getting
overrun, regardless of the THREE guardians you have positioned there.
Getting truly frustrated, you call out, "I'll cover center instead of
right", with an aim to getting an eye on left, to see what the heck is
going on over there. It's then you notice they're trying to take down
Minotaurs with Auto Rifles only.
You might get it eventually, but boy could it have been quicker. You
get the idea. We've all been at that point where your heavy ammo hits 0
and you ask yourself a question,
"Is it worth spending the heavy ammo synth? Can we make it without it?" How you, and every member of your fireteam, answers that question is unbelievably important to your success.
A lot of guardians think they can get by, and they just want to save
their glimmer. I understand the perspective, and I'll explain why it's
not efficient further down.
What's the alternative?
I've been an avid user of DestinyLFG.com/net, r/fireteams, and
the100.io, as they've been released. There are a few friends I often
take with me into raids, but on the whole I've been pugging groups (pug =
pick-up group) since the first week I raided. I have seen a lot of
different people, with a wide variety of attitudes, skill levels,
styles, and
general badassery to go with it.
I can say that without a doubt, the thing that has the
greatest impact on our effectiveness, how
quickly we clear the content, is the
frequency with which raid members
fire their heavy weapons and
use heavy ammo synthesis.
It's critical to point out that
Gjallarhorn is not necessary for your heavy weapon to be useful.
I've also raided every bit of content in Destiny as it's released,
which means I appreciate what it feels like to down a boss without a
full raid of max-level guardians. The point I'm making about heavy
weapons is relevant
regardless of your level and the level of the raid you're in.
Are you saying to use it all the time?
No! I'm saying that when it hits the fan every raiding guardian should:
- Have heavy ammo synthesis
- Be willing to use it
You should of course make every effort to use heavy ammo that drops
during the raid, and definitely ask the raid to specify whether or not
this attempt "is a wipe" before using it. If the raid says they want to
keep pushing that attempt,
don't be stingy. Give it your all.
Here are some classic examples of current raid content where heavy weapons can really make or break the check point:
Vault of Glass:
- Opening the gate in VoG
- Conflux
- Oracles (non-cheese)
- Templar (no teleport non-cheese)
- Gatekeeper
- Atheon
Crota's End:
- Lamps (you might say not necessary, I say why not)
- Thrallway
- Deathsinger
- Crota
Spoiler alert: It's useful for nearly every check point of every raid.
Dagnabit, but it's expensive!
I hear you, I really do. To counter this common myth, that using
heavy ammo synth is too expensive, especially in light of the horrendous
heavy ammo bug, we're going to do a little pseudo math now.
Not counting strange coins, it costs
950 glimmer to
buy a single heavy ammo synthesis. That means with a maximum 25k
glimmer, you can buy 26 heavy synths (24,700 glimmer). It takes about
45-50 minutes to farm 25k glimmer using the most popular
Exclusion Zone farming method.
The key is
understanding how expensive every raid wipe actually is.
You have to stop looking at how much glimmer each heavy ammo synth
costs, and start looking at how many heavy ammo synth you could have
bought with the time you spent wiping in the raid.
You wiped for 30 minutes on Gatekeepers? You could have bought 12-13
heavy ammo synth with that time, good for 60 minutes straight, popping
one every 5 minutes. The reality is that most often, you don't end up
using them on cooldown. Additionally, if everyone in the raid is using
their heavy weapons, the content is cleared quicker, costing
everyone less glimmer. It's about sharing the load,
a lighter concept.
All too often, that one guy with a Gjallarhorn ends up spending 90%
of the glimmer in a raid, as everyone else assumes "he's got it
covered." I've been that one guy. I'm happy to do it, but I appreciate
it a heck of a lot more when my fireteam is firing their rockets, even
rare quality ones, right beside me. This brings me to my last point...
Note: I use boots with +heavy ammo, regardless of the bug,
because I'd rather have 7 rounds when I pop a synth than have rounds
carry over wipe after wipe after wipe...
Being generous with your heavy ammo is contagious.
More often than not, when guardians see their fireteam going crazy
with heavy weapons, they don't want to be left out. They want to join in
the explosions and general badassery.
This isn't 100%. There's always
that guy, who stoically
refuses the necessity of the thing, convinced that those blessed with
Ghorns deserve to spend every ounce of glimmer they have so he can have a
chance at getting his own.
After a week of raiding, I usually use between 5 and 10 heavy ammo
synth per character (not counting my Titan, because Ruin Wings are
amazing). I usually buy a minimum of 20 per character with strange coins
each time Xur shows up.
Note: Don't be that guy who uses heavy ammo, a wipe happens
anyway due to this or that, and then complains LOUDLY to everyone how X
guardian cost them their heavy ammo. We're all in the same boat; suck it
up, Guardian.
Don't believe me with all of this? Try it.
Hard mode Crota's End hits tomorrow, and the point I'm making is
especially crucial when hitting new content you've never seen before.
You want to get a feel for the mechanics and then hit them with
everything you have. Don't waste your time wiping over and over again.
Get it done, guardians.
I understand that some of you feel as though you simply don't have
time to farm the glimmer and strange coins to stay stocked up. I
heartily believe that you'll actually redeem time with this method, and I
think you'll have more fun doing it. It's fun to use heavy weapons -
Bungie did a great job with them, and not just Gjallarhorn.
TLW (tl;dr) The willingness of raid members to use
heavy weapons is directly proportionate to the time it takes to clear
raid content, lessening the load for everyone.
Edit: Formatting
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