Bungie may have given the worldHalo, but for the past seven years, they have been working on theDestinyfranchise, a first-person shooter MMO that has had its fair share of issues since launch but has still managed to maintain a strong contingent of loyal fans. Like other MMOs,Destinyprovides players with an array of PVE activities, with raids being the most difficult and rewarding of them all.
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As of now, the series has produced nine raids and two raid lairs, all of which have powerful final bosses, but some of these bosses are far more troublesome to deal with than others, either because of the number of enemies that spawn in their arena, or because the mechanics are plentiful and complex.
Updated on June 22, 2025, by George Voutiritsas:With the release of Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion, the end of Destiny’s Light and Dark saga is truly on the horizon. The expansion brings with it a new raid, called Root of Nightmares, and the final boss is yet another servant of the Witness. His name is Nezarec, and although he is a Disciple like Rhulk, his encounter is far less complicated, which means that a lot more players can hopefully defeat him and earn some achievements. Nezarec may not be as difficult as Rhulk, but the mechanics of his fight can still be a bit overwhelming for players who are facing him for the first time. He may not be the hardest final raid boss, but defeating him still feels like a major accomplishment. That being said, fans of the franchise cannot forget that every final raid boss in Destinywas difficult to deal with in their own way.
14Crota
Crota may have been a Hive Godwho single-handedly killed hundreds of Guardians on the Moon, but he wasn’t much of a final raid boss. The son of Oryx possesses ashieldthat can be damaged, but itregenerates almost immediatelyif no one hits it, but a Guardian can take the Shield down forfive secondsby taking a Hive cleaver from aSwordbearerand slamming Crota with it.
The Fireteam then has to repeat this process until Crota is dead, but every time Crota stands back up, he causes agrey sphereto expand behind him, and this sphere will wipe the team if they do not destroy it withinten seconds.
13Emperor Calus
The Cabal were the main focus ofDestiny 2’sbase game,and there is still plenty of story left to tell. Calus is the former Cabal Emperor and the first raid boss that players encountered on The Leviathan, and depending on the loadouts, a Fireteam could beat him in one phase.
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While half the team gains adamage bufffor the damage phase inCalus' shadow realm, the other half has to kill adds and kill theright Psionto make things easier for the shadow realm team. There are four Psions,one on each plateof the arena, and the correct Psion can be identified by the shadow realm team, who need to call out"chalice, axes, sun, or dog.“Whichever symbolis not called out,is the correct Psion, and someone in the throne room needs to kill it toprevent a wipe.This must be done three times in a row in order to get to the damage phase, which begins as soon as someone steps on a plate. Calus then becomes a literal damage sponge, whosecrit spoteventually moves from hisheadto hischest.
The fireteam will have tojump from plate to platebecause Calus will attack the plate and kill anyone on it. Before he dies, Calus will initiate afinal wipe mechanic, and the only way to stop it is bybombardinghim with as much damage as possible before he finishes charging. Newcomers toDestiny 2are going to have to wait a while before they can fight Calus, as the entire raid was placed into the content vault as part ofBeyond Light’s release. That said, he can be encountered in a new form in theLightfallcampaign.
12Argos, Planetary Core
The Argos fight may be a bit time-consuming, but the massive Vex Hydra is not that hard to take down. In order tolower Argos' shield, players have tocooka fewVex skullsin designated elementalfire pits.Once they’re cooked, players need to shoot theelemental shield nodesanddrag themto a central node that will lower the shield andtriggerthe damage phase. When the damage phase is over, players must attack two of thesix weak spotsthat appear when Argos chargesvoid energy.Unless enough damage is done to stop the charge, Argos will wipe the team.
The Fireteam will have to repeat this process multiple times, and they will have to avoidkamikaze Harpiesandnetsthat will carry players off to their death. Another player needs to destroy this net. This may sound troublesome, but the worst part of this encounter is by far the ADs thatconstantly spawn. There should be at least one or two players dealing with the ADs because they canoverrunthe boss arena. Argos was located inside Calus' Leviathan, which means that the massive Vex has also been placed inside the content vault.
11Atheon, Time’s Conflux
Atheon was the boss of the franchise’s first raid—The Vault of Glass—and he was a relatively easy boss to take down, especially if several fireteam members had theGjallarhornrocket launcher. In order to get to Atheon, players must first awaken the Glass Throne by destroying aHydra, Oracle, and a fewGatekeeperswho will drop anAegis.
When the massive Vex finally emerges, it will eventually open up a timestream thatrandomly teleportsthree players to a distant future or past, and they will have to destroyevery Oraclein order to get back before the team wipes, while the other three have to free themselves from abubbleand dispatch aTemplarwhile avoidingself-destructing Harpies. Someone will then grab the Aegis which will grant adamage buffto use on Atheon.
Bungie brought the raid back inBeyond Lightduring Season 14, and they made a few changes to the encounter. When players enter the timestream, they will see threered Oracles,and thereaderwill have to call them out in theright orderwhile the other two players deal with exploding Harpies. A designated player in themain roomwill have to then shoot thecorresponding Oracles,while the other two players in the room eliminate as many enemies as possible.This needs to be done a total ofthree times. Harpiesare still an issue in the main room, but the trick is to leaveonealive on each side topreventthem fromrespawning.It should be noted that one player will have theImminent Detentiondebuff during the damage phase, and they will have5 secondsbefore they getdetained.Any players around them will also be detained,and if it is a sizeable portion of the fireteam is caught, no one will be able tobreak freeand the team will wipe.
10Gahlran
Gahlran was created by Calus so he could control a brood of Hive, and in doing so, the Crown of Sorrows boss is capable of using some level of Hive magic. This magic is the reason why Gahlran is able to create Deceptions of himself.
Players will split into three teams of two and manage the"Witch’s Blessing"buff which allows them to killBlessed Knights, but it also allows players to destroy theDeception’s shield. The Fireteam will have to killthreedeceptions before they can damage thereal Gahlran, and at that point, they must shoot hishandsbefore moving to his head. Gahlran was located on the Leviathan, which means that new players won’t be able to fight him until the raid comes out of the content vault.
9Aksis, Archon Prime
Aksis was a Fallen Archon Priest whoaugmented his body with SIVA, and to beat him the Fireteam needs to split up into three teams of two, where one player uses aScorch Cannonto destroyServitorswith specificelemental shields.Once destroyed, these Servitors willdropa bomb, and the other player needs tograbit andthrowit at one of thenodesat the center of the boss arena. This process is then repeated in order to take down Aksis’shield
When that is done,halfthe Fireteam will receive the"Empowered"buff, and one of these Guardians will have tofollow Aksiswherever heteleportsto. That player will have to jump onto hisbacktocancelhis wipe mechanic. While Aksis is temporarilystaggered, he can be damaged before teleporting again. He will teleportthree times, and when he returns to the center, the room will be filled with acritical densityof SIVA. Players will then have to rush to one offour pillarsin the back of the room to avoid dying, and once a pillar is used, it cannot be used again.
8Insurrection Prime, Kell’s Scourge
This boss is basically a Fallen Servitor inside the body of a giant bipedal tank, and a great sniper rifle will make short work of it, but it is the lead-up to the damage phase which is quite annoying because the Fireteam needs to split up into three teams.
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One player needs to look at themapand call out the location of thebatteriesand then the assignedrunnerswill have tocharge them. Another group will have to kill theBerserkersthat spawn, while the snipers destroy theshield nodeson the boss' body, and only when all those things are donesimultaneouslycan players actually damage Insurrection Prime. This raid was part of Season of the Forge, and it has since been vaulted along with the rest of the season’s content.
7Val Ca’uor
Spire of Stars' final encounter has an absurd amount of mechanics. First, the team will have tocleansethemselves of theEngulfeddebuff, and then the team will have to defeatgladiatorsand select someone with theSuperior Retainerbuff to go up to space to findtwo symbols.
These symbols will lead to thearming phase-which will force players toarm bombsonspecific platesand once that is done, two players with Superior Retainer must go up and destroy specificshipswhile the others try to not die. All six players then have to play a game of Hot Potato with anEngulfed ballthat givesCurse stacks(and this must be done until there are three balls in the arena). Only after doing all that can Val Ca’uor take damage. This raid lair proved to be very difficult, and players will have to wait to beat it again since it was vaulted along with the rest of the Leviathan’s content.
6Nezarec, Final God Of Pain
Since his name was first mentioned, Nezarec has been a mysterious and feared individual, and he finally appears inLightfallas the final boss of theRoot of Nightmares raid. He is a Disciple of the Witness, and he enjoys causing fear and pain. He led the Black Fleet during the assault on Earth, which is commonly referred to as the Collapse, but he was betrayed and killed by Savathun. His cursed remains were then entombed within the Moon pyramid.
His encounter includes a mechanic that can be seen throughout the raid, and it involves playersgrowing a seedandconnecting multiple nodesuntil a chain is formed. The fireteam needs to be split into two teams of three. Each team needs aGardener, who must grow the seeds and complete the chain. This encounter also requires them to createsafe havens, whichprotectthe fireteam from Nezarec’swipe mechanic. TheClearersare responsible for clearing adds in theside lanesso that the Gardeners have an easier time moving through the arena. They also have to clear themiddle laneso that the Tanks can deal with Nezarec.
The Tanks need to keep Nezarec distracted. The boss will hit the team withNezarec’s Hatred debuff,and the Tanks must shoot Nezarec in the chest to gain the debuff and hisaggro.When this happens the Tank needs to shoot Nezarec’s shoulder, which will cause anexplosion. The explosion will produce awhite or orange light,and the Tank must call out the color because it will tell the Gardeners where to create the safe haven. If the light is orange, the safe haven must be created by the Gardener on thelight side, and the white light is for the Gardener on thedark side.The Tanks need tojugglethe debuff until Nezarec starts his wipe mechanic or the Gardeners complete their chains.
5Oryx, The Taken King
Savathun was the main villainof last year’s expansion, buther brother Oryxwas a much tougher adversary. His raid encounter starts with one player having tocollectmotes of light abovefour platformswhich can be activated by another playerjumpingon their designated platform, and grabbing these motes will spawnCursed Ogres. When these ogres are killed, they will drop aTaken blight.
A specialKnightwill spawn once all the motes are collected,and the runner must break itsshieldin order to kill it. When that is done, anaurawill drop and Oryx will start awipe mechanic.If it’s stopped, aweak spotwill open in Oryx’schest. Players can attack this weak spot, but they can also approach the aforementioned blights to make themexplode. The explosions will deal immense damage to Oryx. Once he gets to50% health, Oryx will produce abubblethat Guardians willteleportinto. The teleported players will need to kill a Shade of Oryx, and their health does not recharge while they’re inside the bubble.
ManyDestinyfans consider King’s Fall to be the franchise’s best raid, and it made its return duringThe Witch Queenexpansion. For the most part, the encounter is the same, but there are a few minor changes. For starters, when Oryx slams a plate, a random member of the Fireteam becomes the runner when they areTorn Between Dimensions, and they will have to run above the plates in order to acquire the buff that will allow them to kill the Knight which drops the aura. Other than his final stand, Oryx’s chest can only be damagedafter detonating a Corrupted Light orbas they prolong the damage phase andstop his wipe mechanic. The Shade of Oryx encounter is slightly more difficult, as the shade is far more aggressive, and the area is a bit smaller.
