Destiny 2 Lake of Shadows Grandmaster Guide (S23)

Lake of Shadows was substantially updated in Season 20 with new enemies, encounters, and mechanics. While many consider the changes more of an annoyance than anything else, there’s no doubt this version of the strike is tougher than the previous.Today, we’ll cover how to conquer the Lake of Shadows Grandmaster Nightfall, including preferred loadouts, effective strategies, and more.

Updated as of Season of the Wish (S23).

Lake of Shadows GM: Loadouts & Subclasses

Combat is always the most challenging part of GMs, so having the right tools for the job is crucial. Let’s start by looking at the best team compositions to ensure your fireteam’s success.

Subclasses and Exotics

Realistically, anything that heals you or your allies will be powerful here. Banner of War Strand Titans and Well of Radiance Warlocks work wonders, especially in the beginning segments of the strike.

More specifically, having your Warlock run Sunbracers ensures you get health bumps from Well of Radiance while keeping ads in check with Solar Grenades. If you have a Titan on your team, we recommend pairing Aeon Safe (equip Sect of Insight) with their Banner of War setup. Having adequate amounts of heavy and special ammo is vital, and these gauntlets should help. If you find yourself still struggling with ammo (or don’t have a Titan on your team), have your Warlock run Cenotaph Mask with a trace rifle instead of Sunbracers.

Last but not least, Hunters have a couple of options: builds with Shards of Galanor have proven extremely powerful in all activities recently. However, the timeless setup of an Omnioculus Void Invisibility build with tether is also outstanding.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Cenotaph Mask	Warlock	Helm	Lightfall	Lost Sectors	Season 21	Lightfall	Exotic Perk: "Steadily reloads a portion of your equipped Trace Rifles's magazine from reserves. Damaging a vehicle, boss, or champion with a trace rifle marks them as the target. When an ally defeats the marked target, generate special ammo for yourself and heavy ammo for your allies."
Sunbracers	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time."
Omnioculus	Hunter	Chest	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 13	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "You gain a second Smoke Bomb charge and have damage resistance while invisible. When you make an ally invisible, they gain damage resistance while invisible and you gain melee energy."
Shards of Galanor	Hunter	Arms	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Engrams	Season 4	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Perk: "Hits and kills with Blade Barrage will return Super energy after the Super ends."
Aeon Safe	Titan	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 2	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk? Instead of an Intrinsic perk, Aeon Exotics have an additional mod socket which is used for Aeon Cult mods.

Loadout

As always, Wish-Ender and Arbalest make quick work of Barrier champions, while anything from Conditional Finality to bows and hand cannons from the seasonal artifact is fine for Unstoppables. 

Rocket launchers are the best pick for the heavy slot, with Gjallarhorn and Dragon’s Breath both being absurdly strong if you have an exotic slot open. Most combat encounters here are close or mid-range, so plan your special weapons accordingly with fusion rifles, shotguns, or grenade launchers.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo?	Element?	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo	Element	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Wish-Ender	Combat Bow	Exotic	Exotic	Primary	Kinetic	Forsaken Pack	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvE	Exotic Quest	No	Forsaken Pack	Season 4	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Arbalest	Linear Fusion Rifle	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Kinetic	Lightfall	Yes	Special	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvE	Exotic Quest	No	Lightfall	Season 6	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Conditional Finality	Shotgun	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Stasis	Lightfall	Yes	Special	Stasis	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Root of Nightmares Raid	No	Lightfall	Season 20	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Gjallarhorn	Rocket Launcher	Exotic	Exotic	Heavy	Solar	30th Anniversary	Yes	Heavy	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Grasp of Avarice Dungeon	No	30th Anniversary	30th Anniversary event	Heavy	No	Top-tier
	Dragon's Breath	Rocket Launcher	Exotic	Exotic	Heavy	Solar	Free-to-Play	Yes	Heavy	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvE	Season Pass	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Heavy	No	Top-tier

GM Power Level Requirements

If you’re interested in running a GM, you need to have a proper Power Level (including your Artifact’s bonus Power):

For the record, Power Level requirements were drastically reduced this season to allow more players to experience Grandmaster Nightfalls.

Lake of Shadows GM rotation

The Lake of Shadows GM Guide

Payload and Ascendant Servitor Encounter

The strike begins with multiple lengthy segments of escorting payloads to detonate blights obscuring your path forward. For this portion, the most important thing to remember is that you’re not rushed for time whatsoever; there’s no harm in stepping away from the payload for a bit to get control over the swarming ads.

By extension, don’t be afraid to use your Super abilities and heavy ammo here—you should have enough time between now and future encounters to regenerate both.

Soon enough, you’ll face the first substantial challenge of the run: the Ascendant Servitor. Begin by placing a Well of Radiance and using any long-range damage Supers you have on the servitor. Continue with as much burst damage as possible through heavy weapons and abilities; this mini-boss has a deceptively large health pool, so come prepared!

Eventually, the servitor will gain an immunity shield through several small blights surrounding it. Shoot them down to continue damage while keeping an eye out for wizards that spawn throughout the arena. Focus on these wizards first—they can quickly melt your team one by one if you’re not careful.

Traversing the Dam

After dealing with the room containing a couple of champions (hopefully grabbing some heavy ammo along the way through Cenotaph Mask or Aeons), you’ll come across the dam section.

The main threat here is easily the Threshers. Focus on the first one immediately (using heavy ammo as needed), but be aware a second one will spawn soon after. After dealing with both, take your time defeating the yellow bar enemies at the end of the dam (and make sure you don’t get thrown off the map!).

Continue through the facility until you face the next big obstacle: the Tormentor.

Lake of Shadows GM Guide, Destiny 2

Defeating the Tormentor

The encounter with the Tormentor can easily make or break a run, so knowing how to deal with it is of utmost importance.

In short, the easiest and safest way to get through this fight is to pump as much burst damage out as you can. With a Well of Radiance, DPS-focused Supers, and rocket launchers, you should be able to burst the enemy down quickly enough not to have to worry much at all. However, if your Well of Radiance runs out, remember that acolyte’s eyes intermittently spawn throughout the arena. While they seem like a non-factor, they can easily prevent you from regenerating health when you need it most.

A very important note here is that this Tormentor technically isn’t a boss enemy, meaning it reacts to Suspend, Suppress, Freeze, and all other crowd-control debuffs. If this portion is always what ends your run, equipping something that can dish out these debuffs consistently is a good idea.

Defeating Gor’ath Gath

Because it lacks an immunity phase, the typical strategy for this boss has always been to melt down his health as quickly as possible.

Even with the updated version of the strike, this strategy is still king. Using a Well of Radiance, damage Supers, and all the ammo you have available, pump as much damage as possible into Gor’ath Gath to defeat him. If you’re unable to snag the kill before ads begin overwhelming your team, use the cover sporadically placed throughout the arena, and remember that you can shoot the pyramid spikes that spawn to keep the blighted floor at bay.

Before you go

If you’re interested in tackling the Conqueror title and clearing all GMs this season, we have a guide for The Corrupted here.