Destiny 2: Grasp of Avarice Dungeon Guide Walkthrough

Image: Bungie

Human Made

Penned by Kody Wirth

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

The Bungie 30th Anniversary Event in Destiny 2 has brought in a number of excellent gear and activities into the game. New Exotics like the Forerunner Sidearm, revised favorites like the Gjallarhorn, plenty of armor and ornaments, Halo-themed weapons, and a new six-player activity just scratch the surface. And that’s without even mentioning the grandest addition, the new Grasp of Avarice Dungeon.

It’s daring, intriguing, and plays into Destiny lore like no one expected. That’s right, the team at Bungie has knocked it out of the park again when it comes to these shortened Raid-like encounters. Let’s dive into this new high-level end-game content to help you and your Fireteam successfully complete the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon.

Popular Destinations..

Destiny 2 Waystone | Navigation Page

Destiny 2 Events Calendar: PvE, PvP, Lost Sectors, Weekly Loot, Xur (The Final Shape, Episode II)

What is the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon?

For those that are just catching up on everything in the 30th Anniversary expansion, here’s what you need to know about the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon. This three-player activity is the fourth dungeon created for Destiny 2 and is part of the paid portion of the DLC. It features a mix of pirate-like and Indiana Jones-esque aesthetics that are bundled into the traditional space-faring adventures typical of Destiny 2. 

It’s set within the Cosmodrome (or, more accurately, beneath it) and ties in one of the most prolific happenings in Destiny history. The in-game origins of the vanilla Destiny loot cave. That’s right, this Dungeon gives a legitimate storyline to the existence of the ridiculous enemy and Engram-dropping cave that attracted most original players to grind out weapons and gear. 

The standard Dungeon has a recommended Power Level of 1310, which is well below the max in the current season. However, you can expect spongy enemies, along with hordes of minor combatants and traps that make it much more difficult than the level it states. Additionally, you can complete the Master version, which features additional modifiers and a recommended Power Level of 1340 to enter.

How to Unlock the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon

First off, you need to purchase the Bungie 30th Anniversary expansion in order to access the Dungeon at all. Next, you’ll need to play through your initial round of Dares of Eternity and visit Xur to unlock the “And Out Fly the Wolves” questline. This is actually the quest chain that will help you unlock the Gjallarhorn, which requires you to complete the Dungeon as part of it. 

Once you have the quest picked up, visit Shaw Han in the Cosmodrome. This will immediately activate the next step in the quest and allow you to enter the Dungeon either from the Cosmodrome map or from the main Directory.

How to Beat the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon

This Dungeon is relatively straightforward and features two lengthier boss fights that will take up the majority of your playtime. Be sure to set aside at least 2–3 hours for your initial run and make sure you have a full Fireteam if possible.

1. Visit the Loot Cave

After starting the Dungeon, you’ll spawn in the vicinity of the original loot cave. Go straight ahead until you stop in front of it and wait for enemies to spawn. Be sure to keep your distance so they keep spawning and just continuously mow them down as they come out until orange-shaded engrams start dropping. Pick them up to activate a status effect with a timer known as “Burdened by Riches.”

Each time you pick up one of these engrams, you’ll earn one stack of the debuff that is built to last for twenty-five seconds. You can continuously stack it, which will refresh your timer and help you avoid dying from it hitting zero. In order to shed this debuff, you’ll need to enter the cave and stand next to a white crystal. This will start draining away your debuff stacks until you clear them.

Keep repeating this action until the crystal grows large enough and detonates, exposing a hole that will bring you beneath the Loot Cave. 

2. Booby Traps 

It wouldn’t be a piratey-themed, tomb-raiding adventure without some traps, right? While many Dungeons have featured plenty of puzzle-solving and platforming sections, this latest entry really takes it to heart. That’s because there are real consequences and somewhat cheap tricks involved that make every move feel important. 

So, while the Dungeon itself is relatively straightforward, these booby traps help elevate the experience. Here’s how to navigate the platforming and puzzle-solving sections leading into the first encounter (and hopefully keep you and your Fireteam from becoming shish kebabs). 

Walk the Gangplank

After reaching the bottom of the cave entrance, you’ll land in a rusted gangplank area. Take the second door on your right to avoid being skewered and jump over the pressure plate on the floor. Avoid pulling the switch at the end of the walkway and instead pull the lever on the terminal to open up an entrance through a pipe on the other side.

Enter the pipe and you’ll see several platforms suspended in the next room. Quickly jump across the first platform — be careful not to linger too long, or the floor will drop. Land on the second and don’t jump to the final platform with a terminal, because of course it’s another trap. Instead, sit to the right on the second platform, drop, and jump into the secret room below to your right. Pull the lever and backtrack to the previous room.

Pipe Dream 

Jump up the wall platforms until you can jump over to the open piping. Several of these will have spike traps, so to help you avoid getting launched, jump to the third pipe on your right. You can use the entrances without fear of being killed, but don’t venture too far into the other pipes. Once you’re in the correct pipe, activate the pressure plate and jump upward into the open grate.

Check the Schematics

Jump on the platform above, avoiding the pressure plate on the left side, and jump across the gap. Head forward until you reach a room with a virtual schematic that displays open and closed doors. Hit the switch and head into the room across from you and hit the switch in there as well. Be sure that you carefully navigate each room in this section — there are plenty of pressure plates and spike traps that you can accidentally activate. 

Looking at the diagram, you’ll notice that a door located diagonally from your position is now open. Head there with some quick platforming and hit the switch inside. Jump upward and hit the final switch to open the larger doors located back near the main entrance to the area. Kill all of the enemies within, hit the switch, and you’ll open a final set of doors on the opposite end of the room. Head over there and take the door to the right to enter the next major area.

3. Enter the Scorch Cannon

This arena is mainly designed to introduce the Scorch Cannon charging mechanic for the rest of the Dungeon. To activate the encounter, head to the platform with the door marked with the number one and hit the switch. This will open door number three, trigger a fight with a handful of enemies, and flip another switch to open door number one. Eliminate another group of enemies and flip the switch to open up door number two.

Unlike the other doors, this will reveal enemies and a Scorch Cannon. Defeat or avoid the incoming wave of Fallen and head to door number four and aim for the small generator on the right. Aim for the cylinder in the center and hit it with four shots to be sure that the door opens. You’ll know if you’ve actually landed an accurate shot if damage indicators pop up and the charging animation/sound effect fires. 

Rush through the open door before it closes and head up the stairs. Avoid the Indiana Jones homage by sidestepping into an opening to the left or right to avoid the rolling barrel. Make it to the top and destroy the vent to enter the first boss encounter.

4. Mini-Boss — Phry’zhia the Insatiable

This boss encounter will help prepare you for the mechanics used against the final boss. It incorporates the Burdened by Riches debuff and Scorch Cannon generator charging to open up the Ogre to take on damage. You’ll start across a gap and once you land on the other side, the boss encounter will activate.

A crystal, similar to the one in the Loot Cave, sits in front, with a platform to the rear and two closed-off areas to the left and right. Both of these locked sections have generators attached to the top middle sections, which can be charged and opened with a few shots from a Scorch Cannon. Wait for a few Fallen to drop in the rear and eliminate them, taking care to use the debris on either side to avoid the Ogre’s Void laser. 

Open the doors

Grab the Scorch Cannon, make sure you land four clear shots on one of the generators, and head inside. I’d recommend running a Sword here to make it easier to rush in and wipe out everyone inside without having to remain out in the open in the range of the boss. These enemies will drop the unfinished engrams from before, allowing you to stack the Burdened by Riches debuff. 

Grow the crystal

Head back to the crystal, sit behind it to avoid the boss, and deposit your motes. If you can, have someone hold onto the Scorch Cannon from before, or eliminate more Fallen and run the process again on the opposite side. Keep growing the crystal until it drops Phry’zhia’s shield and allows you to start attacking. Use your Super, Rocket Launchers, a Sword, or Linear Fusion Rifle shots to make the most of your time.

The shield will eventually come back and you’ll need to run through the process again. Do this enough times and you’ll eventually defeat the boss. A few tips to make sure you escape unscathed: hide behind the crystal when attacking to keep the Ogre at bay. Eventually, when you deplete two-thirds of its health, it will go agro, and more minor enemies will flood in. At this point, split up and disperse between the barriers on either side to help you avoid being smashed and ensure you have the time to take out the other enemies.

5. Gotta Go Fast

After defeating the boss, the doors will open and you’ll walk through a few sections. Eventually, you’ll find a large set of bay doors that will open up when you pull the switch on the left. Be sure to avoid the switch on the right to avoid a trap and immediately jump on your Sparrow and shoot out the door. You’ll need to defuse four mines in the next area, which requires you to sit within its range for a single second. 

You only have fifteen seconds between each mine to reach and defuse it, but you can extend your time by hitting red switches throughout the area. All you have to do is run over them with your Sparrow:

• The first mine has a switch to the right near a couple of Fallen and one to the left near the rear of the crashed ship.
• The second mine has a switch to the right once you enter the tunnel and one on a ramp to the left within the same tunnel.
• The third mine has a switch just after a ramp and the next at the exit to a tunnel you can enter on the left. 
• The last mine has a switch on ramp made of rock to the right and a final switch within the right eye socket of the skull.

Be sure you have a Sparrow with max speed and a short cooldown time. It’s really easy to take too much damage and have your ride explode before you reach all of the mines. The trick is, if it starts catching fire, ditch it and immediately call your Sparrow back to keep moving. If any of the mines explode, you’ll have to restart the entire section, so be sure you stay alive and don’t waste time taking out enemies.

6. Aim the Cannons

The next section is a giant puzzle that has you defeat enemies to grow and destroy crystals. You’ll enter the giant lagoon and notice several separated areas scattered around, along with a large balloon-like structure in the center. To get between them, you’ll need to use Scorch Cannons to activate generators and propel yourself with adjustable cannons. If you plan to go through yourself, be sure to double charge the cannon before entering to be sure you have enough time to make it.

There’s no real consistent order here — instead, just observe and look for platforms with enemies on them besides those with Scorch Cannons. Once you find the right spot, use the cannon and clear the enemies to collect their motes and destroy the crystal within the cylindrical building in the area. Once you do, it’ll break the Abundance Monitor’s shield and allow you to take it down.

Fire the Cannons

Now for the fun part. Once you’ve defeated the Servitor in a given section, its body will drop and become a cannonball. Push it into the spot behind the cannon and aim it so the ball will hit one of the nodes on the balloon above. Fire it using the Scorch Cannon method, and you’ll take out some of the Fallen Shield health. 

Complete this process three more times to open up the Shield from the bottom. To make it inside, make your way to the island in the center and aim the cannon upward. Get everyone in place and launch you and your Fireteam inside, and be ready to jump so that you actually land on something.

7. Final Boss — Captain Avarokk the Covetous

The Fallen Captain you now face follows a similar process as the previous boss. You grab motes, grow and destroy a crystal, then lay out damage. Unlike that last encounter, you aren’t just killing enemies to do it, but using Scorch Cannons to dump motes out in one of the four sections located around the main treasure hoard within the central ship.

One annoying thing you’ll need to do first is take care of the Captain’s two spongy minions — the R-M80 Shank and Grispax the Vandal. Keep your distance and gang up against one at a time with Pulse Rifles, Sniper Rifles, or Rockets. Keep in mind that Grispax will drop ten Engrams, so you’ll want to be ready to jump up and snag them once he dies and immediately deposit them at the crystal.

The rest of this encounter will have you kill Scorch Vandals to acquire a Scorch Cannon that you can then use to overcharge generators located to the right, left, and front of the area. Have your Fireteam ready to sit in these sections, because as soon as you charge a generator, a bunch of motes will drop. After doing all three, you should have thirty Engrams to deposit, and more than likely, you’ll need to do this twice to get the crystal to burst.

This will cause Avarokk to lose his shield and you can start attacking. Focus on using Supers, Heavy weapons, and anything else that provides consistent or large-scale damage. Repeat the process until you run his health dry and you’ve officially completed the Dungeon.

Final Boss Tips

A few tips to help you take down this boss encounter effectively. Keep eliminating the Minor enemies that show up in each of the three sections to avoid being overrun. If you are using a Masterworked weapon, this is also a great method for revitalizing your Super. 

Also, have one person be in charge of the Scorch Cannon and coordinate firing and gathering. There are plenty of shots available, and you can get most of your charges done with just one Cannon. Lastly, when depositing motes, just hide behind the crystal. Just like the first boss, Avarokk will just chill in the back and fire at you, meaning that you can safely site and deposit motes without fear of being attacked.

Grasp of Avarice Dungeon Rewards

So, what does this exciting new Dungeon get you? Possibly the most important thing is that it helps you complete the major quest step to acquire the new Gjallarhorn. And if you run it a second time, and defeat the right enemies, you can earn its Exotic Catalyst. Be sure to check out our Gjallarhorn Exotic Quest Guide to make acquiring it a bit easier.

Besides that, there are a few exclusive 30th Anniversary weapons and armor that can only be acquired within the Dungeon:

Weapon Rewards in the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon

• Matador 64 Shotgun (Defeat Phry’Zhia the Insatiable, the Fallen Shield, or Captain Avarokk)
• Hero of Ages Sword (Defeat Phry’Zhia the Insatiable, the Fallen Shield, or Captain Avarokk)
• 1000 Yard Stare Sniper Rifle (Defeat Captain Avarokk)
• Eyasluna Hand Cannon (Defeat Captain Avarokk)

Armor Rewards in the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon

• Descending Echo Greaves (Defeat Phry’Zhia the Insatiable or Captain Avarokk)
• Descending Echo Mark (Defeat Phry’Zhia the Insatiable)
• Descending Echo Cage (Defeat the Fallen Shield)
• Descending Echo Gauntlets (Defeat the Fallen Shield)
• Descending Echo Helm (Defeat Captain Avarokk)
• Descending Echo Gauntlets (Defeat Captain Avarokk)

Join the High Ground

The Grasp for Avarice Dungeon is one of the most fun end-game encounters ever released in Destiny 2. It’s simultaneously unique but familiar, approachable, and also challenging. And it features some of the best music and aesthetics we’ve seen from the game in a long while (which seems to be a trend with this expansion.) It’s content that is well worth the price of entry and only stacks onto the already impressive game mode and loot present in the 30th Anniversary expansion.

Be sure to let your Fireteam know what to expect when diving into this Dungeon by sharing this article on your favorite social channels, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest on Destiny 2. 

Happy gaming!