Are you trying to beat Savathun the Witch Queen on Legendary difficulty in Destiny 2? You’re brave – the Legendary Witch Queen campaign is no pushover, especially Savathun in the final boss fight. There’s nothing wrong with needing a bit of help to get through it. I’m here to offer up that help.
I’ve been playing Destiny since day one of Destiny 1. I’ve completed raids, master raids, Grandmaster Nightfalls, got my Conqueror seal, my Fatebreaker seal, and all that other stuff you expect out of an end-game PvE player. So, when I say I can help you beat Savathun on Legendary difficulty in Destiny 2, I really mean it.
How to Beat Savathun on Legendary in Destiny 2
I’m going to break this guide up into parts. First, we’ll discuss the optimal build options for each class – Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks. I’ll give you what I think is your best option for this particular fight, but you can beat Savathun on Legendary with just about whatever class you want, provided you know what you’re doing.
After that, I’ll go over some tips for actually getting to Savathun in the first place – the boss fight is not the hardest part of Savathun’s ‘The Ritual’ mission.
Then, finally, I’ll go over how I recommend you beat the boss fight. I’ll quickly go over the mechanics for anyone that doesn’t understand them – then what strategy I myself employed when running this mission.
Loadout Recommendations
Hunter
Hunters don’t have the easiest time beating Savathun solo on Legendary. They lack the kind of damage you can get out of a Thundercrash Titan or a Starfire Warlock, but they do make up for that in survivability.
For Hunters, I recommend a Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk Void build. You’re going to lack high DPS, but you will make up for that in survivability. Your constant Invisibility means that, provided you’re managing your abilities correctly, you’ll never die.
Pair that with a Void SMG or Pulse Rifle like the Veles-X, along with a Shotgun and Linear, and you won’t have any issues beating Savathun the Witch Queen on Legendary.
Titan
Titans will want to run Solar here – as if there was any other viable option. Even after several heavy nerfs, Solar Hammer Titan is still king of the solo META on everything up to Grandmaster Nightfalls. If you’re fighting Savathun on Titan, then you probably already have a Hammer build sitting in your back pocket.
This will give you the best survivability in the game – hands down, along with a boatload of damage. The only downside to Solar Titan here is that you don’t really want to be within melee range of Savathun. She deals too much damage and can knock you back, making that an unreliable strategy at best.
Instead, use your Solar abilities to mop up the Wizards and adds – giving yourself healing in the process. Supplement it with a Font of Might Gjllarhorn, and you might even be able to one-phase Savathun if you try hard enough.
Warlock
Warlocks have two options. They can either run a Void Devour build for extra survivability or if they’re brave enough – a Starfire Protocol Fusion Grenade build. Starfire provides what is arguably the best DPS in the game, hands down. Although, it does replace your Healing Rift in the process, which can hurt.
You’ll have no issues when it comes to both damage and ammo economy fighting Savathun if you run Starfire, but you will struggle with survivability. The opposite is true of Void builds, although they can output decent enough damage for a consistent two-phase.
Starfire users will obviously want an Auto-Loading Rocket Launcher with Witherhoard, but Void mains have a bit more variety in terms of options.
The Ritual
The quest where you fight Savathun is called ‘The Ritual’. It’s the penultimate Witch Queen Campaign mission, so naturally – it’s incredibly difficult. Despite its difficulty, it’s actually relatively straightforward. Well, apart from one encounter.
In between your standard fighting/moving sections in this mission, you’ll end up in a chamber called the Court of Thorns with a miniboss Hive Lightbearer. The Lightbearer is protected by a shield. That shield is powered by two crystals, that you should be able to see next to the miniboss. Those crystals also have shields – and that’s what you’ll be destroying during this fight.
Related: Why You Need to be Using Double Special Weapons in Destiny 2
The Court of Thorns
The arena is split up into three sections – the middle, left, and right. The boss is in the middle, so we want to avoid that area completely.
On both the left and the right sides, there will be adds, along with a yellow-bar Wizard. When you kill that Wizard, a portal at the back of the area you’re on will open. Above this portal, you’ll be able to see three Hive symbols – remember these symbols.
Once you’ve teleported, you’ll be in a separate area that, again, is split into three sections in a semi-circle. On each side of this new location, there will be a bunch of Adds, along with a floating crystal with a shield. This shield will drop when you kill all the enemies in that location, allowing you to destroy the crystal.
You need to destroy all three crystals – which isn’t an easy feat with the amount of Shriekers and Knights in this area. If you die, you’ll have to start this encounter again, so don’t be afraid to take it slow.
Once you destroy all three crystals, the portals that are lining the back of this entire arena will activate. Each portal will have three symbols above it – you need to go through the portal with the same symbols as the ones from the beginning.
When you do, you’ll teleport above the previous arena with the miniboss. There will be a charge in front of you – take it and dunk it into the pedestal next to the corresponding crystal down below. Destroy that crystal, repeat the process for the right-hand side, and kill the boss.
This is easily the most difficult part of this entire mission. There are adds everywhere, and they hit like a truck. Prioritize your survival above all else here – this takes a while to do, and you’ll have to restart if you die.
How to Beat Savathun on Legendary Difficulty – Boss Fight
Once you get through the Court of Thorns, you’ll be at the fight with Savathun. This fight is split up into three sections. The first part is remarkably simple – just hit Savathun until three Lightbearer Hive spawn in – kill them, then finish Savathun.
After that, you’ll end up in a separate arena with a Savathun that seemingly has a bajillion health. Despite not denting her health bar, keep hitting her and you’ll eventually be able to teleport to a separate arena, where you kill some wizards to progress to the actual boss fight. Again, this isn’t difficult at all – it’s not even a Darkness Zone, so you can die without worrying.
After that, though, you have the actual boss fight – and that’s when things get tough.
Boss Fight Mechanics
Your biggest concern when trying to beat Savathun the Witch Queen on Legendary is managing your ammo economy. In the final boss fight, you’ll be dealing with three yellow-bar wizards per DPS phase, so I would recommend you bring something like a Shotgun to take them out quickly.
Pair that with a Linear, or even a Rocket Launcher if you’re feeling lucky with your ammo drops, and you should be perfectly fine.
Savathun herself will have a large blue aura around her. You need to be inside that aura to do damage to her. What’s more, you’ll need to have x3 Thread Cutter, as well. You get one stack of Thread Cutter from killing one of the previously mentioned yellow-bar Wizards. When you kill all three, the buff will start a timer. For the duration of that timer, you’ll be able to deal damage to Savathun while in her aura.
Damage Savathun as much as you can – avoiding her Super attacks. When your Thread Cutter buff timer runs out, the Wizards will spawn again. You’ll need to kill the three of them to collect the buff again, then rinse and repeat until the fight is over.
Boss Fight Strategy
The arena you’ll be fighting Savathun in is a semi-circle. Savathun herself will patrol the center, while the Wizards and adds will spawn along a crescent, elevated walkway going around the back of the arena. There will be one Wizard on each side (left, middle right).
Our strategy for navigating this fight is simple – we start on the left-hand side of the crescent, nuke that Wizard, then work our way around the crescent at whatever pace you feel comfortable with. Savathun shouldn’t be able to hit you while you’re on this platform – so there should be no reason you’re dying here.
Once you work all the way around to the right, finish the last Wizard and get just close enough to Savathun to be in her aura. You’ll have around 35 seconds to work with here, so don’t be afraid to take some time to dodge her supers. Hang around near the stairs to the crescent in case you need to back off, and nuke her for as much damage as you can.
This fight shouldn’t take you more than two or three phases. If it does, you might want to see about switching up your DPS weapon. Gjallarhorn and Parasite are always great, when in doubt.
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Published: Feb 17, 2023 12:28 pm