Leviathan

Leviathan
Mission Type	Raid

Grow fat with strength.

― In-game description

Leviathan is the first raid in Destiny 2, introduced on September 13th, 2017. Participation of the activity requires a Power Level of 260 to unlock. The raid takes its name from the flagship of the exiled Cabal Calus. The ship is known as a "World Eater" and specializes in planetary consumption. The ship is found orbiting Nessus.

Guide

This vessel will challenge you in ways you have never dreamed. Let's enjoy ourselves!

― Calus

The following is a guide to completing the major areas of the Leviathan raid. The raid has a unique structure in which all of its encounters are accessed from the same hub area, and which are unlocked in a different order every week. After each encounter is completed, a reward chest appears in the encounter area but the team must then return to the hub to unlock the next one. Additionally, checkpoints in the raid no longer preserve the fireteam's location but rather which encounter the hub will lead to once it has been cleared.

Embarkment

The Guardian fireteam begins the raid on an outside deck of the ship. The enemies in this area do not attack unless attacked first. To access the hub area, proceed up the side of the ship and through the lifts to the highest available entrance. The underbelly may also be unlocked in this area.

Castellum

The Castellum is the primary hub of the raid, featuring connections all 4 encounters. The doors are associated with symbols that will recur throughout the raid- a sun for the Royal Pools, a beast for the Pleasure Gardens, a pair of axes for the Gauntlet, and a chalice for Emperor Calus's throne room. In front of each door is a plate set into the floor bearing the door's symbol. Each time the fireteam visits the castellum, three of the doors will feature a hazy, half-formed staff on this plate while the one to unlock will feature a hologram of its symbol.

When the fireteam reaches the unlockable plate, the hologram will change to display the symbol of one of the other doors. The team must locate this door in the arena and defeat a special Standard Bearer enemy, which will allow one guardian to claim the staff and carry it back to the unlockable plate. Upon reaching the plate the staff will be automatically locked into place and the plate will request a second staff, and then a third after that one is retrieved. While staffs are in place, enemies named Standard Liberators will spawn; if a liberator is allowed to step onto the plate one of the staffs will return to the door from which it came and must be retrieved again. The liberators can be protected by Counselors, special enemies which do not attack players directly but which grant liberators an impenetrable shield until they are killed by a melee attack. The appearance of a counselor will be announced by the game.

Once all three staffs have been retrieved and placed, the door will open and allow access to the encounter as well as delivering a loot reward. After clearing an encounter, the team returns to the castellum and must repeat the process for the second door, and then the third, and the fourth, unlocking different doors each time.

The following encounters are described in the order in which they unlocked during the first week of the raid's availability.

Royal Pools

The Royal Pools are divided into 5 areas- one plate and accompanying chain in each corner, and an area in the center containing a fifth plate and a set of censers. Each plate will deliver a buff which protects guardians from the toxic water covering areas of the arena; one touch of the plate will last about 50 seconds.

The encounter is begun when 4 guardians step on the corresponding corner plates simultaneously; this will cause the chains associated with each plate to rise to the ceiling. The chains will slowly descend so long as a guardian is standing on the nearby plate, but the protection buff will not last long enough for the chain to reach the bottom before the guardian becomes vulnerable again. Thus, the two remaining team members must acquire the buff from the center plate and relieve a corner plate holder before it expires, freeing them to refresh their buff in the center and relieve the other corner plate holder, continuing this cycle.

The guardians must defend their plates against squads of enemies, including powerful majors named Ceremonial Bathers who emerge from the pools into which the chains are descending, until all 4 chains have reached their lowest points. At this moment the chains will lock into place and the censers in the center become vulnerable. Some fireteam members must stand on the central fifth plate in order to damage the censers, while others protect them from continuously spawning enemies, until the central plate stops delivering the protective buff. At this point a Psion in a force field will spawn on the central plate which must be killed with a melee attack, and then a ghostly Psion image will float in the air and must also be killed.

Once this is done, the entire process must be repeated, and will continue to repeat until all 9 censers have been destroyed.

Pleasure Gardens

The Pleasure Gardens is a landscaped area filled with a dense fog and patrolled at first by a number of enemies. Once they are all defeated, two crystal weapons become available and the encounter proper may be started by having two guardians claim both of them. The remaining four guardians should drop through the nearby circular hatch into the "safe room" and pick up the four seed pods available in there.

The area now contains six named war beasts who move on set patrol paths. If the war beasts see any of the pod holders, they will begin a psionic howl, a process which takes about 30 seconds. At the end of the 30 seconds, if any war beasts remain alive, all guardians will be killed, unless they take cover inside the safe room. The pod holders must avoid these beasts with guidance from the crystal holders, who stay above the fog by leaping between the pools of light visible on top of several of the area's landmarks.

Also in the area are eight special flowers, which will open for a brief interval if a pod holder approaches them. During this interval, the flower may be shot with a laser by a crystal holder, which will grant a buff to the fireteam. The buff will be stronger the more pod holders are near the flower at that moment, so the holders must stay as a tight group while moving. The crystal holders may also use the laser to kill the centurions that periodically appear as the pod holders have no offensive ability during this phase.

The function of the gathered buff is to increase the damage the team can deal to the named beasts, making it feasible for them to be killed during the short period of the psionic howl. Once a sufficient level of buff has been accumulated (typically 36x-48x, representing 3-4 flower visits without detection) the team is ready to begin damaging the beasts by deliberately being detected or having a crystal holder provoke one with their laser. After being alerted, the dogs will run to six fixed positions in the area to perform their howls. Guardians must do as much damage to the dogs as they can before fleeing to the safe room, but must also be careful to make the deaths of all six dogs simultaneous as each dog killed makes future cycles more difficult.

The safe room is available three times; all six beasts must be dead at the end of the fourth damage phase or the team will not be able to avoid wiping. Once all six have been killed the encounter is complete.

The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is a circular area featuring four stations, each associated with a symbol- chalice, beast, axes, and sun. Two of the stations (chalice and beast) have an additional feature, a small console that can spawn an orb. At each station is also a set of three arrows.

The encounter may be triggered by 4 guardians jumping onto each of the station pillars; this will spawn a few waves of enemies culminating in a Centurion. Once they have been defeated, the consoles will spawn orbs, which may be claimed by two guardians. The guardians, or runners, taking the orbs are teleported to the outer track running around the area, an obstacle course of hurdles and pits with four barriers in it corresponding to the four stations.

As the runners proceed around the track, the barriers must be unlocked for them by the guardians at the stations. Each barrier contains three levels through which it may be passed, but only one opening is available at a time. The runner must communication which opening they need enabled to the station guardians, who open the opening by shooting the two arrows on the outside of the barrier which were not the ones named by the runner. (For example, if the runner calls out that the lower opening must be enabled, the top and middle arrows must be shot simultaneous by two guardians.) After a runner has passed a station, a counselor will appear and must be meleed.

After both runners have cleared all 4 stations, they will be teleported back to the main area and must deliver their orbs to the central station; then the cycle repeats. After three cycles of orb delivery, the entire team must join in- the station guardians must return to the center and all 6 guardians each claim an orb and are teleported to the outer track. All openings in the barriers are available now, and each barrier contains 4 orbs that must be collected as guardians run- coordination is necessary to avoid midair collisions.

Once all 6 guardians have run the track, returned to the main area, and deposited their orbs in the center the encounter is complete.

Emperor Calus

The throne room features four platforms, each marked with one of the raid symbols. Their locations should be memorized as later in the encounter they will have to be found quickly from ground level. Once this has been done to the team's satisfaction, Calus may be provoked by shooting the goblet from his hand. This will cause numerous enemies to appear, which may be killed for ammo. Calus will also fire upon the team with a laser that may be countered by breaking his line of sight behind cover.

After a short period, Calus will clap twice, teleporting the team into a shadowy realm facing an enormous version of his head. Three orbs will be nearby; any guardian touching them will be teleported back to the normal throne room. The fireteam may thus split into two squads, each with different tasks.

The shadow realm team will now negotiate an obstacle course. Calus's head will begin sucking the team forward, pushing them up against a glowing purple barrier. It is important not to jump at this point, because passing beyond the barrier will be fatal and all three guardians must remain alive to correctly perform their tasks. A symbol will appear upon Calus's forehead, and will appear differently to each member of the team. The symbols that appear must be communicated to the throne room team. At the same time, psions, both floating in the air and as normal enemies on the ground, will appear and must be killed. At this point the purple barrier will move itself further down the field and the three guardians must be careful not to hit hazards (ramps or pits) while being pulled towards it. After several cycles of this, the team will reach the end and Calus will switch from sucking to spitting out a torrent of blue skulls. The team must kill as many of these skulls as possible to gain a high level of a buff that will increase damage to Calus. Eventually, three orbs will appear to allow the realm team to return to the throne room.

The throne room team must manage the real world. Four counselors will spawn, one on each of the symbol plates. The team must listen for the symbols called out by the shadow realm team, and melee the counselor corresponding to the symbol that was not seen. (For example, if the shadow team sees the chalice, the sun, and the beast then the counselor on the axes plate should be meleed.) The team must also prepare to bring down Calus's shield in unison with the shadow team returning to the real world, to maximize the length of the damage phase, and also kill enemies in the area.

Once both teams are reunited and Calus's shield has been dropped, the whole team must go to the chalice plate, which will be glowing. While on the plate, Calus may be damaged, with more damage being done if more skulls were killed in the shadow realm. After a short period, Calus will raise his hand; this is a signal that the plate is about to explode. The team should rotate to the next plate in a counterclockwise direction, and repeat this every time a plate's damage phase is completed. Midway through the phase, Calus's precision damage point will migrate from his head to his chest, and he will acquire a gun which he aims at the plate in place of raising his hand. After using and abandoning the fourth plate, the damage phase is complete.

The entire cycle is then repeated, and continues to repeat until Calus's health is reduced to zero. At this point he regains a shield and begins charging a final attack; all team members should fire upon him at this point to kill him before the team is wiped.

After Calus is dead, the central platform of the throne room sinks into the floor. Guardians should proceed down into the final area to receive their rewards.

Loot

Leviathan features unique weapons and gear that can only be acquired by chests and rewards from the raid.

Weapons

• Ghost Primus (Auto Rifle)
• Inaugural Address (Pulse Rifle)
• Conspirator (Scout Rifle)
• It Stared Back (Sword)
• Mob Justice (Submachine Gun)
• Sins of the Past (Rocket Launcher)

Armor

Titan:

• Mask of Rull (Helmet)
• Chassis of Rull (Chest Armor)
• Gauntlets of Rull (Gauntlets)
• Greaves of Rull (Leg Armor)
• Shadow Mark

Hunter:

• Helm of the Ace-Defiant (Helmet)
• Vest of the Ace-Defiant (Chest Armor)
• Grips of the Ace-Defiant (Gauntlets)
• Boots of the Ace-Defiant (Leg Armor)
• Shadows Cloak

Warlock:

• Mask of the Fulminator (Helmet)
• Robes of the Fulminator (Chest Armor)
• Wraps of the Fulminator (Gauntlets)
• Boots of the Fulminator (Leg Armor)
• Shadows Bond

Other

• Emperor Calus tokens - Can be exchanged to Benedict 99-40 in the tower. He is found in the southwest Bazaar. Can receive an Imperial Engram in exchange for 20 tokens.

Gallery