The Hive is one of the strangest and most recognizable factions in the Destiny franchise. This race of macabre creatures never ceases to have interesting characters and lore, represented both in lore and in various Destiny expansions.
Nokris is one such character, one of the Strike bosses introduced in the Warmind DLC. While he might appear to be a simple boss fight, Nokris has tons of interesting mechanics and lore tied to him. From the justifications for his exile to the origins of his powers, here are 10 interesting facts about Nokris from Destiny 2 that you likely didn’t know.
10 First Male Wizard In Destiny
All Hive Wizards seen in the Destiny franchise thus far have been women. Nokris is strange in that he is the only male Wizard seen in Destiny so far.
Like Hive Wizards, Nokris has a wide range of attacks on top of necromancy to keep the player on their toes. Acolyte-like fireballs and immune shields make Nokris worthy of being a Strike boss compared to the likes of the Broodlord Hive Wizard.
9 Taken Version In Reckoning
While Nokris has been in exile for most of Destiny’s timeline, it seems that The Nine has found a way to manipulate the Guardian’s enemies into Taken variants.
In The Reckoning, players fight Taken enemies and Taken variants of the most iconic bosses in Destiny, including Oryx and Nokris. He can appear as a boss in either tier 1 variants of Reckoning or Gambit Prime, and Taken Nokris has a similar move set to his Strike variant, minus the invincibility shield and replacing summoned Thrall with Cabal Warbeasts.
8 Hated By Oryx And Crota
Nokris might be the son of Oryx, but his family disowned him after Nokris began experimenting with necromancy.
Physically, Nokris is the weakest of Oryx’s children. Nokris knew this and wanted to overcome this weakness, only he strengthened his intellect rather than his physical brawn. Through communicating with the worm gods, Xol granted him the power of necromancy, defying sword logic and now condemned by all Hive.
7 Necromancer
On that note, Nokris is strange in that he is a necromancer. This is an extremely rare practice for the Hive and requires an extraordinary amount of power to do.
You can see this in the Strange Terrain Strike. Hive are summoned from runes on the ground and begin to rush you, culminating in the final encounter. Nokris will use these same runes to summon Acolytes and Thrall, all while Ugul Gar Knights are summoned to keep Nokris’s immunity crystals intact.
6 Exiled For Defiling Sword Logic
To understand why the Hive see necromancy as sin, understanding Sword Logic is key. In essence, only the strong survive and the weak will naturally perish.
Resurrecting dead Hive brings a flaw to this logic, granting the weak that were rightfully slain a second chance. It might strengthen the Hive’s numbers, but it defies the very stance they have on mortality and war. After all, if it wasn’t for the eternal pursuit of strength, Oryx would have never Taken himself and started the major conflicts present in The Taken King expansion for the original Destiny.
5 Stuck On Mars
Before the Golden Age of humanity, Nokris craved power to prove to Oryx and the Hive that he was powerful. After gaining the power of necromancy from the worm god Xol, something terrible happened.
He was exiled, forced to live his days away from the Hive. Nokris, unphased by this, chose to conquer Mars with the help of Xol. Unfortunately, this is where Rasputin is stationed. This powerful Warmind caught wind of Nokris and trapped both him and Xol in the icy regions of Mars, never to be seen until the Warmind expansion.
4 Works With Xol
Players see Xol slither through Nokris’s arena during the campaign for Warmind, but the game doesn’t explain why. Simply put, Nokris is a champion of Xol.
Xol granted Nokris dark powers in exchange for assistance taking down the Warmind Rasputin. That is why these two are major threats in the expansion and must be dealt with. Humanity might be doubtful of Warminds, but their firepower against the forces of The Darkness is unmatched. It is thanks to Rasputin’s Valkyries and other Golden Age firepower that Xol and company could be contained and exterminated.
3 Can Bypass Immune Phase
Gameplay-wise, Nokris can be an annoying enemy to fight. In Strange Terrain, he has multiple immunity phases that slow down the fight dramatically.
However, there is a way of bypassing this mechanic entirely. You will need a tremendous amount of damage output to pull this off, but it is possible to kill him seconds after he spawns. Using Ward of Dawn and debuffing the boss is needed. Once that’s done, use high burst-damage attacks such as Celestial Nighthawk Golden Guns or The Fourth Horsemen to kill him before the immunity shield appears.
2 Seen In Taken King
Many Destiny 2 fans never got to experience the stunning Dreadnaught location in the original game. Plenty of secrets and references to Hive culture were revealed in The Taken King expansion.
One interesting nod is to the sons of Oryx. Statues exist in the Dreadnaught that shows Oryx, Crota, and a mysterious third figure. This character is Nokris, the exiled son of Oryx. It’s a cool touch that shows how far ahead Bungie plans events in the Destiny universe.
1 Potentially Has A Throne World
Powerful Hive have slain enough creatures to reside in Throne Worlds, a manifestation of their power and accomplishments. It is in these Thrones that the likes of Crota and Oryx survived for so long.
With how weak Nokris is in comparison, most believe that his death in Strange Terrain is all we’ll see from him. This would hold water if Nokris didn’t appear through a portal in the Strike. In The Taken King, an entire act of that expansion was spent becoming Ascendant so players could defeat Oryx in his throne world. How Nokris became Ascendant is unknown, but it is clear that his intellect and unorthodox powers prove that there is more to him than what appears on the surface.
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