In terms of Destiny 2 endgame activity, Raids are perhaps the very best that Bungie has to offer. Raids pit Destiny 2 players against the enemies of the Traveler, with each encounter featuring different mechanics, challenges, and a reward for mastering and defying all odds. The best raids in Destiny 2 have come and gone, but what remains is the legacy of the strongest raid bosses in terms of lore.
There is a total of ten raids and 2 raid lairs in Destiny 2. This content is one of the reasons Destiny 2 is regarded as one of the best PS5 first-person shooters. Although some of this content has been vaulted, the legacy remains, and players may be interested to know about the strongest raid bosses in Destiny 2, the dangers that face the Guardians, and what could happen if these brave fireteams of six didn’t end their scourge.
12 Val Ca’uor
After the death of Dominus Ghaul during the Red War, Val Cau’uor became the de facto leader of the Red Legion. In his conquest for power and the struggle against the Guardians, Val Ca’uor led an invasion of the Leviathan, thus beginning the raid lair: Spire of the Stars. Val Ca’uor was determined to show the galaxy the strength of the Red Legion but failed rather tremendously.
Val Ca’uor was truly nothing special. If anything, he’s just an oversized Cabal warrior with a lot of armor. All Val Ca’uor was able to do was invade the Leviathan and kill a few of Calus’ troops, before ultimately dying to a team of six Guardians. To the Guardians, Val Ca’uor is a Strike boss with a few extra mechanics and serves no real threat outside of his boss room.
11 Insurrection Prime, Kell’s Scourge
The Scourge of the Past raid saw the Guardians take the defense to the Last City of Earth, in which their last stand saw them battling against Insurrection Prime. This raid boss was a Prime Servitor, which had been rebuilt into a powerful war machine, a cross between a Servitor and a Brig with enough power to destroy the Last City.
Despite the power to wipe out the Last City, Insurrection Prime still lacks the determination, will, and power to be greater than just a city destroyer. Insurrection Prime has no grand powers outside of machinery and firepower, meaning they are effectively useless against paracausal threats.
10 Taniks, The Abomination
Taniks has been a thorn in the backside of Guardians since before Destiny 2. This character has lived and died countless times, and perhaps his final death has not yet come to pass. Taniks is a Fallen mercenary with no House, bound only by those that pay him. He has killed many Guardians and has been killed by many Guardians, each death leaving him more of a cyborg than the last.
Taniks returned, to the surprise of many, in the Deep Stone Crypt raid. Here, Taniks was given the title of Taniks, The Abomination as by this point he was more machine than Eliksni. In this form, Taniks isn’t exactly at his strongest, bound to a floating chair and armed with warheads, he can be deadly, but he doesn’t have the power of the Darkness, nor the ability to eradicate time streams.
9 Argos, Planetary Core
Deep within the Leviathan’s core, the Guardians found Argos, Planetary Core, a gigantic Vex Hydra within the Eater of Worlds raid lair. Already, it seems as if Argos is not the greatest threat, if they can get themselves caught in the belly of the Leviathan, and the only real threat they possess is to clog up the Leviathan’s inner machinery.
Size matters not with this raid boss, as despite Argos being the largest Hydra the Guardians have faced, they are not exactly the most challenging. Like all Vex, the intricate machinery of Argos lacks the powers and knowledge to deal with the incoming paracausal, and like many, lacks the knowledge on how overpowered the Leviathan's Breath is.
8 Emperor Calus
The first raid of Destiny 2 saw Guardians team up to embark on the Leviathan, a grand ship that seemed the size of a small moon. On board, players would find Emperor Calus, the exiled leader of the Cabal. However, during the final boss fight of the Leviathan raid, players would discover that this Calus is a robot, meaning the true Calus’ powers were yet to be seen.
Although players have already witnessed Calus’ strength in Lightfall, his robot counterpart is the raid boss and lacks the power to do much harm, especially without his Psions to project a grand and dangerous projection. Calus’ robot bodies are legion, with weaponry worthy of a warrior emperor, but nothing to boast about when the Witness can grant powers tenfold of a gun.
7 Gahlran, The Sorrow-Bearer
Gahlran lived for one purpose, and one purpose only: to bear the Crown of Sorrow. With the Crown of Sorrow, Gahlran was supposed to control the Hive and give Calus a new ally in his lust for power. However, when the crown was placed upon Gahlran’s head, his mind was immediately usurped by none other than Savathun, the Witch Queen, leading a new threat in the Crown of Sorrow raid.
It is unknown just how powerful Gahlran could have become with the Crown of Sorrow, an ancient Ascendant Hive artifact. His mind was stolen by Savathun, meaning that the Witch Queen channeled her powers through him. This gigantic Cabal was genetically modified for his purpose, and with some paracausality powers, he still was no match to the Guardians and would be the follower of Savathun.
6 Atheon, Time’s Conflux
The Vault of Glass returns to Destiny 2 as a reworked raid, with many Guardians rushing in to farm the Vex Mytholcast exotic weapon. Atheon, like most of the Vex, is a being shrouded in mystery. Did Atheon create the Vault of Glass, or did the Vault of Glass create Atheon? Nevertheless, this raid boss harbors the powers of space-time and distortion.
At will, Atheon can pull Guardians into new time streams and realities, if they are killed, or take too long in these realities, they are not only killed but wiped from all of existence, meaning that they would not be remembered, for they never existed. However, Atheon’s powers cannot measure up against entities of paracausality, meaning despite the strength of Atheon, there are greater evils still.
5 The Sanctified Mind
Another Vex Axis Mind arrives with the Garden of Salvation raid. What makes the Sanctified Mind a greater threat than the other Vex, is the fact that it had made contact with the Witness and the Pyramids, which empowered the Sol Divisive Vex with Darkness. The Sanctified Mind is warped in Darkness from the Black Fleet but lacks the power to fully utilize it.
The Vex Axis Mind isn’t a grand threat in the grand scheme of things, but considering it’s been exposed to the powers of the Witness, it has powers, although limited, that other Vex does not have. If the Sanctified Mind was able to master the newfound powers, it could have probably shrouded the galaxy in Darkness.
4 Oryx, The Taken King
Oryx’s powers are the design of the gods themselves. Oryx has destroyed countless worlds, perhaps millions, all thanks to the power of the Taken, and as the God-King of the Hive. It’s impossible to know how many lives Oryx has taken, and it’s clear that he doesn’t even care. He’s an extraordinary threat with his armies of the Taken and the Hive.
As a sentient being, Oryx has communed with the Witness over his lust for being near death itself. Thanks to the Witness, Oryx was given the powers of the Taken, which gave him the ability to create an army with paracausal abilities. Oryx’s powers also allow him to escape death within his throne world, yet, that did not stop the Guardians from committing regicide in the King’s Fall raid.
3 Riven Of A Thousand Voices
Wishes can be a powerful thing, and as an Ahamkara, wishes are Riven’s specialty. Ahamkara feeds off of the desire of those that wish, and Riven has become an expert at it. Riven was the final boss of the Last Wish raid and set in motion irreparable events for the Dreaming City and the Awoken in her death, which some may see as a final victory for Riven.
Riven was trapped in the Dreaming City, captured by Mara Sov to fulfill the wishes of the Awoken people. Yet, with Mara Sov’s disappearance, Oryx wished for Riven to be Taken, thus granting her more power from the Taken, and later at the service of Savathun. Riven was freed from her prison after defeat, as she transcended death, cursing the Dreaming City partially into the Ascendant Plain.
2 Nezarec, Final God of Pain
Nezarec may have been dead for quite some time, but he has returned, and he is hungry for fear and pain. Nezarec can make his victims experience nightmares to feast on their emotional turmoil. Many civilizations fear and worship Nezarec, including the Psions, and even some of humanity during the Collapse.
As a Disciple of the Witness, Nezarec has extraordinary powers on top of the psychic ones he already possesses. However, with his rebirth from the Traveler’s attack, Nezarec has both Light and Dark powers, yet he was killed by the Guardians in the Root of Nightmares raid before he could fully utilize these powers, probably blaming the Gjallarhorn.Yet the question remains if Nezarec is truly dead if he lives on in memories and nightmares.
1 Rhulk, Disciple Of The Witness
The first Disciple of the Witness received his station for a lot of feats, far greater than Oryx and the other Disciples that came after him. Rhulk was a grand lore in Destiny 2, a being of immense power and loyalty to the Witness that has destroyed countless worlds, including his planet, Lubrea, which he dedicated his Glaive to.
If Rhulk’s power was ever in question, let it be known that he managed to lift the mother of the Worm Gods out of the depths by the bone of the Leviathan. Rhulk’s incredible feats are boundless, yet his fatal flaw was underestimating the Guardians in the Vow of the Disciple raid, whom he saw as decoration for his Pyramid.
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