Split your squad into two teams of three, each half focusing on one side of the arena. Three plates are on either side of a giant Taken Blight in the center of the room. Most players refer to each side by the large object behind the middle plates: Crystal Side and Tree Side. These correspond to two rooms: the Crystal Side is linked to the Bright Room, and the Tree Side is linked to the Dark Room. After each player takes a plate, you'll drop down into an area and see Riven.
Each half of the fireteam must then enter the two doors at the bottom of the area to reach the Bright and Dark Rooms. Riven will randomly appear in one of the two rooms and take one of the following actions:
- Tentacles: Four tentacles sprout from her neck. Someone needs to stand underneath a tentacle to bait a slamming attack that causes that tentacle to get stuck to the floor. All players should jump into the air to avoid taking damage from this slam. That tentacle will glow, revealing it as a weak spot that must be shot to stagger her.
- Taken Fire: She will open her mouth to spit out blue-white fire, and players need to shoot inside her mouth until they stagger her.
Once Riven is staggered, her face flaps will open, and two of her eyes will glow. Let the players in the other room know which eyes are glowing. (Be sure your team agrees on the nature of the eye callouts. It's common to use L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5.) Players in the other room will need to shoot those two eyes, so it's worth it for everyone to quickly write them down and maybe even have a labeled printout of Riven's face.
When it’s your room’s turn to shoot the eyes, it is also a damage phase. When her mouth is open, you should see a Blight inside. Shoot the Blight until her mouth is closed, then quickly shoot the proper eyes.
Over in the room without Riven, an Eye of Riven Captain should appear and drop a Taken Essence orb once slain. However, Leave that Captain alive until you hear the callout for Riven's glowing eyes. A player must pick up the orb and look towards the large pillars in the back of the room. A certain symbol should appear for the Orb Holder. Another player, the Looker, needs to jump up on the platform in the back middle of the room and look through the looking glass to see the various symbols in the area beyond. They need to describe the exact location so the Orb Holder can go to that spot (they'll see cylinders around the room as they approach) and use their grenade ability to cleanse the lift located behind this room.
Meanwhile, Riven will appear at the front of the room. That room's squad needs to shoot the Taken Blight inside her mouth to deal some damage, then shoot the two eyes that the other half of the fireteam called out from the other room. This is the most important aspect of this encounter since bungling it triggers a full squad wipe. Doing it correctly stuns Riven.
This process repeats a second time until everyone can take the lifts up to the second floor, where they swap sides and repeat the process another two times. You must also ensure the add-clear player and the orb holder swap roles. Once you've done another cycle on the second floor (having shot out six of the 10 eyes), do the cleansing process and return to the original area where you'll be attacked by Taken Ogres and Taken Goblins. Always attack the Goblins first since they can shield the Ogres.
Riven will poke out of one of the openings. Stagger her depending on whether she uses her tentacles or fire breath, then take note of which two eyes glow. She will eventually open her mouth with the Blight again. Shoot the Blight and then the six new eyes revealed during these three mini damage phases. You’ll have to shoot the six eyes quickly, so you should assign each to a single player.
Once those eyes are shot at, each player should run back to their plate. After the plate opens, you’ll free-fall right next to Riven. While falling, shoot at the small bulging points to do damage. However, those spots throw out Axion darts after being shot at.
When Riven’s health is near the end, your team will enter the Ascendant Realm and appear on platforms surrounding Riven. Everyone needs to jump up the platforms to reach a portal back to the main room. When Riven appears, damage the Blight in her mouth until she falls unconscious. To finish her off, go in through her mouth to destroy her Blighted heart.
