Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, the seventh expansion for Bungie’s sci-fi looter-shooter, has been out for a month now, and many players are beginning to reach for the new power cap of 960. It’s a task easier said than done, however, as moving from 950 to 960 is only possible with Pinnacle gear, Destiny 2’s highest-tier loot.
Fortunately for those players working to reach the top, a new source of Pinnacle gear has recently been added through Staying Alive, a raid challenge in Shadowkeep’s Garden of Salvation. Raid Challenges are special objectives that can completed within a raid for an increased reward, in this case Pinnacle gear, in return for keeping specific enemies alive.
How to Get Started
The Staying Alive challenge can be completed so long as the Leftovers modifier is active in the raid, a new system that’s a real improvement over the old method of going to find Hawthorne and acquiring the Challenge manually. Leftovers is also the name of the Triumph attached to the Challenge, and it should be automatically available to anyone taking on the raid.
Once the actual encounter has begun, players don’t have to worry about the Challenge until they’ve reached the first respawn restricted zone. From there, the objective is to pass through the following 2 rooms without killing 4 specific Cyclopes (2 in each room). This means staying out of the firing line, and definitely not going for a Destiny 2 melee only raid run.
Hold Fire!
Upon entering the first room, players will find a lone Cyclops, this one needs to be killed, and doing so will cause 2 more to spawn. These are the enemies that must be left alive in the first room, so make sure that no one in the Garden of Salvation raid engages them as the rest of the enemies are cleared and the path ahead opened.
The second room follows the same pattern, with a single Cyclops that needs to be killed, which then spawns 2 more that must be left alive. Neither room is an easy encounter, especially with two artillery bots firing into the fray, so players should make sure to stay either airborne to avoid splash damage and keep moving, or huddle up in bubbles and healing zones. Leaving the 4 Cyclopes alive and completing the rest of the encounter will give a Triumph, as well as some extra Pinnacle loot in the pool.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
