Destiny 2 | Singular Orbit Triumph Guide

Destiny 2: Lightfall has bought with it a brand new Raid in the form of Root of Nightmares. This beautiful new Raid tasks Guardians with exploring the depths of the Witness’ Pyramid Ship, one that has been transformed by the Light and is currently being commanded by a terrible Disciple of the Darkness: Nezarec, the Final God of Pain. There’s plenty of new loot to chase, and encounters to master and there is also a new Raid Title called Dreamwarrior. 

Just like all previous Raids, Root of Nightmares has a set of four unique Encounter Triumphs that players must complete if they want to be a Dreamwarrior. One of these Encounter Triumphs is called Singular Orbit, which is the triumph associated with the Macrocosm Encounter. The Singular Orbit challenge brings the toughest encounter in RoN up to a new level.

Here’s how to complete the Singular Orbit Triumph in Destiny 2.

Want more Destiny 2 guides and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:

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4. How to Get the Final Warning Exotic Sidearm | Destiny 2: Lightfall
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What are Encounter Triumphs?

Encounter Triumphs are special Triumphs that can be undertaken in Raids. Each encounter in a Raid has a separate Encounter Triumph associated with it. These usually ask you to impose some restriction or challenge upon your team while you undertake the encounter: complete the encounter in the manner specified by the triumph and you will earn the triumph. In Lightfall, you’ll now know if you’ve failed an Encounter Triumph as a message stating so will appear during the encounter. 

You need Encounter Triumphs mainly for completing Raid Titles. All Raid Titles in the game currently require you to complete all Encounter Triumphs for that associated Raid. However, it should be noted that, for the Root of Nightmares Raid specifically, Encounter Triumphs do something else. Aside from just helping get the Raid Title, completing Encounter Triumphs will also slightly increase your chance of getting the Conditional Finality Exotic Shotgun.

Finally, Encounter Triumphs are not to be confused with the Raid Challenges. Raid Challenges are available for one encounter which rotates per week, granting you an additional loot drop from that specific encounter should you complete the challenge. Encounter Triumphs, on the other hand, are always available and can always be attempted but do not reward additional loot upon completion, only the triumph (and the increased Exotic odds for RoN). 

Root of Nightmares

Singular Orbit Triumph

The Encounter Triumph for Encounter 3 of the Root of Nightmares Raid is titled Singular Orbit. The Singular Orbit Triumph reads as follows:

“In Macrocosm, a player cannot gain Planetary Insight twice in the same Planetary Shift.”

Destiny 2, Singular Orbit Triumph Description

The two most important parts of this triumph are understanding the Planetary Insight buff and what counts as a Planetary shift. 

Singular Orbit

Planetary Insight is the buff acquired from landing the final blow on one of the Terrestrial Lieutenant Colossus. These spawn after killing the Royal Centurions and there will be one Colossi for each plate with planets. This buff allows you to see which planets are Light and which are Dark, allowing you to proceed with the planet-moving part of the encounter. 

The latter part has to do with what counts as Planetary Shift. The triumph is worded quite misleadingly here, as any time you get to move planets is considered a Planetary Shift. However, what it means is that you can only gain Planetary Insight (thus only kill one Colossus) per damage phase. This makes the encounter a lot harder as you can only kill a maximum of 6 out of 8 Colossi, leaving two on the field going into the damage phase. 

This is certainly a finicky triumph that can stump you in several places. You need to be prepared to quickly deal with the planet phase, remember if you’ve killed a Colossi previously and make sure to avoid dying to the Colossi that remain once damage begins. There are a fair few moving pieces so going in with a direct strategy will always be best. 

Planetary Insight and Planetary Shift

Strategy

To complete this triumph, split your team up as normal. 4 players will be dedicated to moving the planets, splitting themselves up between the four triangular plates. Meanwhile, the remaining 2 players will be doing add clear but staying within sight of the plates for later in the encounter.

Start the encounter and progress through the first part of the planet phase as normal. Kill the Royal Centurions at the back of the arena to spawn the Colossi. Then, have each player dedicated to a plate kill their Colossus. From here you can complete the planet-switching part of the encounter. If you don’t move all four planets in one go, it is recommended that you wipe and start again as it is very difficult to make the triumph work from that point. 

Once you see the message about the indexed planets being revealed, get ready for the next part of the encounter. The main difference here is that the four players on the plates cannot kill their Colossi when they spawn. Instead, both of the add clear players must kill one Colossus each. This will grant them the Planetary Insight buff and they must then report what Light and Dark alignments of the middle three planets so your team can move to the damage phase.

Macrocosm Encounter

There is one main issue here. Because each player can only kill one Colossus, 2 of the Colossus from the second wave will remain on the field. These do not despawn when the damage phase begins, meaning that you will be under constant fire. The best way to avoid this is to kill the two Colossi on the front left and front right plates, then use Well of Radiance and other supportive Supers while remaining far enough back that the mini-guns cannot reach you. Remain careful and try to stay out of their line of sight.

Once damage ends and you return to your original positions, do not instantly kill the remaining Colossi. Doing this will mess up the order and rotation of the buff. Instead, you must wait until the Royal Centurions on both sides are killed and all 4 of the Colossi have spawned. Only then can you kill them and begin the cycle again. 

Rinse and repeat from this point until you take the boss down. Do all this and the Singular Orbit Triumph in Destiny 2 should be yours.

Terrestrial Lieutenants

Step-by-Step Strategy

If you want a simpler step-by-step breakdown of the encounter: 

1. Start the encounter and complete the planet-moving phase as normal. Make sure that the plate holders get the final blow on the Colossus that appears on their plate.
2. Once you have successfully moved the planets, have your two add clear players kill one Colossi each from the next wave (preferably the front left and front right Colossi). 
3. Move the final three planets to begin the damage phase, leaving the two remaining Colossi alive.
4. Complete the damage phase and return to your original positions. Remember to keep the Colossi alive.
5. Kill both Royal Cenutrions and wait until all of the plates have a Colossi. Then start again from step 1.
6. Rinse and repeat until the encounter is completed.

Armour of Nightmares

That was how to complete the Singular Orbit Triumph in the Root of Nightmares Raid in Destiny 2.