Act II of Destiny 2 Episode Heresy has brought with it a new surprise on the Dreadnought. Along with the whisperings of a familiar foe in players’ ears, they will also take on a familiar challenge. The new activity, Court of Blades, is a boss-rush mode similar to the original Court of Oryx activity from Destiny: The Taken King. Here’s how the Court of Blades works and what it can give players on completion.
Destiny 2 Court of Blades explained
The Court of Blades is an enemy gauntlet activity where players face an escalating series of enemies within a 10-minute time limit. As the activity progresses, there will be two bosses per phase of the activity–one small and one major. Upon spawning into the activity, players will need to each select an Augmentation from one of the two statues on either side of the room they enter. This Augmentation will provide different conditions throughout the fight that players will need to adapt to. These Augmentations will also stack, so multiple conditions can exist simultaneously.
Some examples of what can show up include Banish, in which players will need to find and defeat three Taken Wizards quickly or be teleported out of the room mid-fight to a dome-like area where they will need to fight a separate miniboss to escape. Another one is Sharpen, where players will encounter an invincible Knight with a shield that needs to be stripped away using the swords dropped by smaller knights. Keep in mind these objectives exist on top of what needs to be done to defeat the major bosses of each phase.
At the end of the 10-minute timer, players will be teleported back to the main courtroom one last time, and then they will need to open the gateway to the final boss. After fighting the boss, the loot earned is based on how many phases prior players completed. After at least 12 bosses downed in total, players will reach a cap on rewards with the Platinum tier of rewards, but bonus loot can be earned on top of this.
How to use Armaments in the Court of Blades
Between each phase of the activity, players will be teleported back to the Court to prepare for the next fight by stocking up on ammo from the Heavy Ammo Crate behind the three circles in the main room, and also using Runes earned from defeating bosses and activating an Armament.
These are from the six statues behind the main room in the hallway. Each of them is separated by a Tier ranging from one to three. Tiers are earned by defeating bosses throughout the Court of Blades and completing Augmentation objectives. Each Armament Tier has a stronger effect as time goes on, such as affecting melee attacks, elemental damage, or healing effects. These Armaments shuffle between each phase of the Court of Blades, and players get to choose at least one per intermission phase.
How to earn bonus loot in the Court of Blades
At the end of the Court of Blades activity, there will also be the ability to bank Metastasized Essentia, which is earned from the Nether activity, to gain additional loot. At the front of the courtroom visited at the end of the round, there will be a small black obelisk players can interact with. Adding stacks of Metastasized Essentia will give players additional loot, such as weapons, armor, Infusion Cores, and Sigil Fragments, to use on the Tome of Want.
Other upgrades to the loot earned can also be enhanced by the Mysterium section of the Shaping Slab by inserting Runes into the slots to further enhance loot drops and earnings within the Court of Blades. These can include additional weapon drops, a choice of weapons at the end, and more. Other enhancements include damage resistance, additional use for Sigil Shards to upgrade your Tier during the activity, and the ability to earn more Essence of Desire from chest drops.
