TL;DR
- Vow of the Disciple has two hidden chests that can be grabbed solo without completing any boss encounters.
- Both chests drop Tier 5 armor during featured weeks or on Master difficulty.
- Chest 1 is in the Disciple’s Bog — shoot three Darkness Cruxes to unlock the door, no combat required.
- Chest 2 requires a checkpoint after the Caretaker encounter — use a checkpoint bot to reach it solo.
- Both chests have a weekly lockout per character — run on all three characters for maximum loot per week.
- You only receive loot you have already unlocked from Vow of the Disciple encounters.
Vow of the Disciple: How Tier 5 Loot Works
Vow of the Disciple has two hidden chests that you can get without fighting any bosses as a completely solo player. For the loot from these chests to be Tier 5, you need to make sure the encounter is on Master Difficulty. You will also only get loot if you’ve acquired it before from encounters within the Raid itself.
Whenever Vow of the Disciple is one of the featured raids of the week, hidden chests drop Tier 5 armor with a weekly lockout. During a non-featured week, hidden chests drop Tier 3 loot only. Always check the Director before loading in to confirm whether Vow of the Disciple is featured that week. The featured rotation resets every Tuesday at reset.
In short: during a featured week, run both chests on all three characters for up to six Tier 5 armor pieces per week — completely free, no boss kills required. During non-featured weeks, set the difficulty to Master to still get Tier 5 drops.
For an overview of all raids with solo chest routes, see our free Tier 5 solo raid loot guide. For Vow of the Disciple weapon and armor god rolls, see the Vow of the Disciple loot table guide.
Chest 1 Location — Disciple’s Bog (No Checkpoint Needed)
This is the easiest and most accessible chest in Vow of the Disciple. You can reach it solo from the very beginning of the raid without any checkpoint bot or prior encounter completion.
Step 1 — Load Into the Raid and Enter the Bog
When you spawn into the Vow of the Disciple Raid, you will need to kill the Projection of Savathun, which will open the door behind her and allow you to access your Sparrow and head through the swamp until you reach a pyramid vessel and spawn a bunch of Scorn. Kill the three Scorn Abominations to remove the Pervading Darkness debuff — if you ignore them, the stacking debuff will kill you before you can reach the cruxes. You have plenty of time since there is no encounter timer here.
Step 2 — Find and Shoot All Three Darkness Cruxes
Three Darkness Cruxes (also called Resonant Shards or dark nodes) are scattered across the Disciple’s Bog. Shoot all three to open the chest door. Here is exactly where to find each one:
Crux 1 — Under the Collapsed Tree
From the pyramid vessel where the Scorn spawned, head forward and look to your left to find the node underneath a collapsed tree. This first crux is the easiest to spot. It sits near the ground on the left side of the path not far from the boat.
Crux 2 — Behind an Obelisk, Left Corner at the Pillars
Cross through the left pathway where there’s a bunch of pillars, and look to your left when you’re at the final pillar to find this node in the corner. After the first crux, follow the broken tree bridge forward and take the left path through the large black pillars. At the last pillar in the row, look into the corner to find the crux tucked against the wall.
Crux 3 — Inside the Bridge Structure
Head left through the structures and jump over the first bridge. Look toward the bottom of the bridge, and there’s a gap you can enter to find the final node inside. Cross the bridge near the end of the bog section and look down and underneath it. There is a gap in the bridge structure without bars — jump through it and shoot the crux hiding inside. This is the trickiest one to spot since it requires jumping below the bridge rather than continuing forward.
Step 3 — Open the Chest
Once all three cruxes are destroyed, a doorway will open. At the next stopping location, directly in front of you surrounded by Scorn enemies, is this doorway. Heading inside will reveal the secret chest. The door appears in a structure on the right side of the path after the bridge section. Head inside and interact with the chest to collect your loot.
You do not need to defeat any Scorn enemies guarding the area. Run past them and straight into the unlocked room.
Chest 2 Location — After the Caretaker (Checkpoint Required)
The second chest requires a checkpoint inside the raid, specifically the Collection checkpoint (also called “You Are Directionless”) which comes after the Caretaker encounter. This chest cannot be reached from the beginning of the raid without clearing the first two encounters. The fastest way to access it solo is through a checkpoint bot.
How to Get the Checkpoint
You can gain a checkpoint from another Guardian with D2Chests on Twitch.tv. All you need to do is type in the Twitch chat: !queue activity encounter difficulty BungieID. For Vow of the Disciple Collection on Normal, that would be something like !queue VotD collection n YourBungieID#Numbers. You can check your position in the queue with !pos. Once you get a Fireteam invite, load up and you can get to the chest.
Once you have the Collection checkpoint loaded, you are ready to navigate to Chest 2.
Step 1 — Climb the Floating Stairs and Follow the White Light
When you start at the Collection area (You Are Directionless checkpoint), jump up the floating stairs and follow the white light. Continue through the rooms. The Collection area is a large multi-level structure inside the Pyramid. The floating stairs are directly ahead of your spawn point. Follow the glowing white light trail through the connected rooms — it acts as a visual guide through the first part of the route.
Step 2 — Climb the Left Platforms to the Upper Room
Jump to the first available platform on the left and follow it across the ledges upward. Continue climbing the platforms on the wall to ascend to the next room, which will have a few enemies (which you can ignore). A Strand grapple or a sword with Eager Edge makes this section significantly faster — use whichever you have available. Ignore all enemies in the upper room and keep moving.
Step 3 — Shoot the Node Twice to Create Platforms
There’s going to be a node on the right for you to shoot, then you can proceed up the stairs on the forward path to reach the outside area where you can loop to the right to stand on a platform. On the platform, aim for the same node (now below) and shoot it again. Shooting the node twice activates a set of floating platforms that rise to let you continue ascending. After shooting it the second time from the elevated platform, jump up onto the newly spawned platform and continue upward.
Step 4 — Reach the Second Node Room
You’ll want to jump up the platform that spawns, then shoot it again to continue jumping up. Once you’re at a dead end, you need to jump past the corner to the right and grab the platform across. Above you will be the entryway that you can take, and you can drop down into a new room filled with more enemies (which can be ignored). At the end of the room is another node to shoot twice, and once you do, you can head on the path on the right to find a platform.
Step 5 — Reach the Hexagonal Platforms and the Chest
Look up from the platform and jump to the next platform, then turn around to find another platform in the distance that you can jump to. Navigate the series of upper platforms until you reach the section with toggling hexagonal pillars. The platforms in this section are toggled on and off. There is a shard that one player shoots to alternate the platforms. With one fireteam member shooting the shard at the correct times, the rest of the fireteam can reach the corridor of hexagonal pillars.
Solo players: shoot the shard to toggle the platforms, then sprint across while they are in position. The timing window is forgiving enough for a single player to cross without help. Once across the hexagonal corridor, the second chest is tucked in an attic-like room at the end. Interact with it to claim your loot.
All Vow of the Disciple Chest Locations at a Glance
- Chest 1 — Disciple’s Bog: Shoot three Darkness Cruxes (under the tree, behind the pillar, inside the bridge), then enter the unlocked door in the structure ahead. No checkpoint needed — accessible from raid start.
- Chest 2 — Collection Area: Requires “You Are Directionless” checkpoint via checkpoint bot. Follow white light, climb left platforms, shoot two nodes twice, navigate hexagonal platforms, find chest in the attic room.
Tips for Farming Both Chests Efficiently
- Run Chest 1 on all three characters every week. It requires no encounter clears and takes under five minutes per character once you know the Crux locations. Three characters means three Tier 5 armor drops per week from this chest alone.
- Queue for the checkpoint bot early in the week. The D2Chests Twitch channel is most active at the start of the weekly reset. Queuing early means shorter wait times and more time to run Chest 2 on all three characters.
- Bring Eager Edge or Strand Grapple for Chest 2. Grapple (Strand) and Eager Edge Swords will make Chest 2 much easier. The climbing sections in the Collection area are fast with either movement tool. Without them, expect to spend more time on the platform sections.
- Do not kill any enemies in the Collection area. All enemies in the Chest 2 route can be completely ignored. Fighting them wastes time and risks getting killed, which resets your position in the area.
- Check for featured week before running Master. If Vow of the Disciple is featured that week, you get Tier 5 on Normal difficulty during the featured period. On non-featured weeks, change the difficulty to Master before loading in to guarantee Tier 5 drops from both chests.
- Unlock the loot pool first if you are new to the raid. Both chests only drop gear you have already seen in Vow of the Disciple. If you are brand new to the raid, run a few encounters with a fireteam first to unlock the loot table before relying on secret chests as your weekly farm.
What Loot Drops From These Chests?
Both chests pull from the same Vow of the Disciple loot pool as the raid encounters. This includes the full weapon set and armor for your class. Top weapons to target from this pool include Cataclysmic, Forbearance, Submission, and Insidious — all of which can roll with Chaos Reshaped. For the full weapon breakdown and best god rolls, see the Vow of the Disciple loot table and god rolls guide.
Key weapon guides for this raid’s loot pool:
- Cataclysmic god roll guide — Best Legendary boss DPS weapon in the game
- Forbearance god roll guide — Best wave-frame grenade launcher for add clear
- Submission god roll guide — Top Kinetic SMG for sustained DPS
- Insidious god roll guide — Strong Energy pulse rifle with Chaos Reshaped
- Lubrae’s Ruin god roll guide — Best Glaive for sustained combat builds
If you are also working through Map and Territory quest collectibles in other raids, see our Map and Territory quest walkthrough for the Desert Perpetual raid. For Tier 5 solo chest routes in other raids, the Last Wish Tier 5 solo chest guide covers both of that raid’s solo routes in the same format.
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