History of The Crystals

Overview

"The Crystals" is one of the encounter types of The Menagerie, the Season of Opulence activity aboard the Leviathan, where it rotates with others such as The Arkborn, The Hunted, The Riposte, The Mockery and The Gauntlet.

Mechanics

Per Destinypedia: kill Vex Harpies, which drop Void "heads" like those in the Leviathan, Eater of Worlds raid, and use the heads to destroy purple crystals around the room. One head destroys one crystal, with a second possible if you are careful. Once every crystal is down, a Councilor's Vex spawns and must be killed to end the encounter (or bring back crystals). Void Singe speeds the encounter. Destiny Game Wiki, a stub article, only calls it "Hive crystal destruction", which conflicts with Destinypedia's Vex description.

Shadow title

The Crystals is among the encounters that must be finished with time left on the clock for their triumphs toward the Shadow title, per TheGamer; Hive Armaments and Hive Barrier mods help. The Menagerie was removed from the game around Beyond Light, so this is historical.