So first of all, the umbrella-term for supernatural abilities in Destiny is 'paracausal power', of which the two sources are Light and Dark. Secondly, I'd like to note that it's impossible to put an exact number on the amount of layers most characters have. We just know that there's a lot of them for the more powerful characters, due to how paracausal power works. On top of that some abilities can have less layers than others, due to only being attained at a higher level of paracausal power.
Sword Logic
Let's start with the Sword Logic, a power of the Darkness that allows its participants
to get more powerful through killing. This includes the potency of abilities and resistances, in a way that complies with the standards. For example, Auryx, Savathûn and Xivu Arath were on the brink of being defeated, so
Auryx inflicted ‘true deaths’ upon the latter two in order to attain greater Sword Logic. He then set out to kill his patron Worm God, Akka, who can deny a truth until it becomes a lie (subjective reality, reality warping, law manipulation and conceptual manipulation. All abilities that Auryx resisted before this). However, Akka was higher up the totem pole, so he said: “You have not the strength.”, assuming that his denial would secure his victory. But Auryx’s Sword Logic was now more powerful,
so he went and killed Akka anyway.
Of course, this is only one instance of two characters having layered abilities. Is there any proof that greater paracausal power comes with more layers at any level? Indeed there is. Let’s continue with the Sword Logic for now.
Dûl Incaru
First of all there’s
Dûl Incaru, the final boss of the Shattered Throne dungeon. As a powerful Hive within the Ascendant plane, she’s entirely immune to the Guardian’s attacks and abilities, including power nullification and resistance negation (the same goes for every use of the word ‘immune’ after this point). You have to kill her bodyguards, the Fatesmiths, and take their power to be able to affect her, presumably through the Sword Logic. The Crota’s End and King’s Fall raids set a precedent for this and the lore acknowledges it:
“
I was right, at first. In the ever-expanding Blighted-place, even Light must obey the sword-logic. Even you Guardians, you best and brightest of the dying dawn, you drew blood in honor of the Taken King. The Warpriest did his duty, and you did yours. Oryx was challenged, yes, but challenged in the way of the Hive, which is to say that challenge is worship — is challenge — is power. Sword-logic.”
“
Precedent also exists for opening the way for Guardians to participate in the Hive sword logic.”
Killing one Fatesmith and claiming its power in the form of the ‘Finite Thought’ buff is enough to actually harm Dûl Incaru, each subsequent kill significantly amplifies one’s ability to do so.
Hive Cleavers
Next let’s take a look at the tool that symbolizes the Hive’s power, the Cleaver.
Blades are an excellent tool for channeling the Sword Logic. Even the Cleavers of
relatively weak Knights can be used to cut through barriers that make enemies immune to other attacks and abilities from the Guardian. Against some
immune enemies, the Cleavers of more powerful Knights are required, such as
Accursed Swordbearers. This keeps going and all the way near the top you have the likes of Crota, who can only be harmed with an
Ascendant Sword.
Do keep in mind that swords aren’t the only way for Sword Logic to overcome or negate barriers, resistances and invulnerability, it’s simply the easiest example of it.
King’s Fall
Speaking of other ways to get through insurmountable defenses, it’s time for King’s Fall. Starting with the
Warpriest, whose Sword Logic makes him immune. The Guardians are forced to continuously kill hordes of enemies to gather enough Sword Logic to affect the Warpriest.
They continue participating in the Sword Logic and killing the most powerful members of Oryx’s court. However, even with all of this power, they still can’t even scratch
Oryx.
He stood at the top of the Hive’s power hierarchy after all.
Osiris vs Xivu Arath
Moving on to another member of the Hive triumvirate, Xivu Arath, and one of the most powerful Guardians to exist, Osiris. Before we discuss their confrontation, I’ll give some context for the abilities of Lightbearers and of Xivu Arath. A Lightbearer’s capabilities can vary, depending on a multitude of factors. A pretty important factor however, is their mental state. As for Xivu Arath, as the Hive God of War, she’s empowered by conflict, violence, etc. in general.
So Osiris attempts to fight Xivu Arath, but she immediately overpowers him and nullifies his powers. He then focuses his attention inwards, manages to break through Xivu’s hold and attacks her. This in turn simply empowers her, causing her to suppress Osiris with even greater strength:
“
"What is this?" Shock punctuates the question. He pulls against an unseen force to no avail.
YOU BURN OFFERINGS; I ACCEPT THEM.
Xivu Arath's will crushes the pressure of his Light. Seals the flames into his flesh. Stakes his body to the stone on paralytic pins. Her image distorts in a concave canvas around him, the Celebrant at its core. Shadows encroach, dousing the borders of his power.
Osiris focuses his mind on the spark at his core. Flames billow from within. Countless gilded echoes ripple from him, testing Xivu's hold, pressing vulnerabilities. The Sun sings to repel the shadow. He finds a moment, wrenches a hand free, and unleashes the Reach of Chaos. The beam of Arc tears through Xivu's sigil. Soulfire shards rocket away as cracks fork through Xivu Arath's projection.
Unfazed, she does not relent.
RESIST ME, LIGHTBEARER.
Her will overcomes him, stronger than before.”
Gahlran and the Witch’s Blessing
In the Crown of Sorrow raid there’s an effect called ‘Witch’s Blessing’, which makes even weak enemies like
Thralls immune. The only way to affect blessed enemies is to get the effect as well. This blessing comes from Savathûn, the middle child of the Hive God triumvirate.
However, the final boss of this raid,
Gahlran, is immune even to those with Witch’s Blessing. Because instead of getting a small amount of power from Savathûn, he’s empowered by the
Crown of Sorrow, one of her most powerful artifacts.
Morgeth
Morgeth is the penultimate boss in the Last Wish raid. Unlike some of the previous examples, it has no fancy barriers or invulnerability. Despite that, Morgeth is still immune. This is simply because it’s considerably more powerful than the Guardians during that fight. To affect Morgeth, they have to absorb the Taken power that is leaking from it in order to boost their own power.
Rhulk
In the Vow of the Disciple raid, the Guardians encountered their most powerful foe yet,
Rhulk. Not only is he immune, he also passively reflects attacks. But even at this level, greater paracausal power can overcome the abilities and resistances of others. The Guardians use Rhulk’s own power in combination with the energy from his superweapon, the Upended, to nullify his defenses.
Lightbearers
Last but not least we will take a look at Guardians and Lightbearer Hive. The average Titan can
disintegrate enemies with a Void Light-infused
punch. Some enemies, like a normal Hive Knight, would resist this. But the Titan could still disintegrate them with a more powerful ability, like a grenade.
In the same vein, Hive Lightbearers show that with greater power, Lightbearers can become more resilient to various abilities, such as matter manipulation, and even gain resistances, such as to power nullification (for which Osiris already set a precedent in his section). That is because they too come in variations, including
various bosses.
So I've shown that greater paracausal power can overcome resistances and I've shown numerous examples of this at different levels. There's a clear trend of B>A and F>E, so it would follow that D>C.
EDIT: To further back this up,
here the Guardian is able to affect an immune enemy after absorbing paracausal power. Not specifically Sword Logic or Taken power, just paracausal.
