Leviathan (raid)

"Grow fat from strength."

- Mission description

Leviathan is the flagship raid of Destiny 2. It was made available on September 13, 2017. It is set within The Leviathan, the personal ship of the exiled Cabal Emperor Calus. The recommended Power Level is 270.

Unique Enemies

 * Loyalist Legionary
 * Loyalist Phalanx
 * Loyalist Colossus
 * Loyalist Psion
 * Loyalist War Beast
 * Standard Bearer
 * Standard Liberator
 * Councilor
 * Ceremonial Bather
 * Beast Handler
 * The Royal Beasts
 * Aru'un
 * B'ael
 * M'orn
 * Ta'aurc
 * Tho'ourg
 * Va'ase
 * Imperial Centurion
 * Watcher Alpha
 * Watcher Beta
 * Watcher Gamma
 * Watcher Delta
 * Imperial Incendior
 * Calus's Councilors
 * Greed Councilor
 * Loyalty Councilor
 * Sol Councilor
 * War Councilor

Bosses

 * Emperor Calus

Embarkment
Arriving on The Leviathan of Emperor Calus, an honor guard of Loyalist Legionaries and Colossi salute you. These enemies are passive and will not become hostile unless attacked, but they do provide an opportunity to top up on ammo before proceeding deeper into the ship. Ignore or defeat them, then climb that various tiers of the Embarkment to the main entrance, leading to the Castellum.

Also note that checkpoints in this raid operate differently than in past raids. Leaving the raid and returning will spawn players back at the start of the Embarkment area, and players will have to repeat unlocking the door to their current stage, though they will not have to repeat any completed stages.

Aqueduct
Before continuing, there is also a room beneath the initial spawn point with a lever puzzle. The six levels must be pulled quickly in the correct order (order varies from playthrough to playthrough) to open a door elsewhere in the ship. There are treasure chests hidden throughout the ship that require the various keys (Drain Key, Irrigation Key, Aqueduct Key, Ventilator Key) dropped during the raid's stages to open.

Castellum, Part 1
The Castellum serves as a hub area that links stages of the raid. Loyalists will continually spawn in waves. The goal in this chamber is to defeat a Standard Bearer Centurion, take his Standard, and plant it at a plate. While gathering Standards, however, Standard Liberators will spawn alongside Loyalists and try to steal the Standards from the plate, requiring that the plate be defended at the same time. Once three Standards have been collected, Calus will open an "escape route" to the next stage.

Royal Pools
Five pools are located around the room with a sixth in the center; standing within the center pool grants the buff "Psionic Protection", which counts down from x50. Near the other five pools are large, golden chains, which lower while standing in the pools. Lower the chains, defeating the Ceremonial Bathers Gladiators that spawn, to raise a series of censers in the central room. Raise the censers, then head to the central room to destroy them. Be prepared to deal with a continuous assault from Loyalists, Ceremonial Bathers, and a Psion that can kill anyone lacking Psionic Protection. Once all censers are destroyed the Royal Pools are cleared.

To tackle this challenge, all players should acquire Psionic Protection. Five can activate the chains, while the sixth remains at the Psionic Protection pool. Then, as the buff runs out, the sixth player can go relieve one of the chain activators, who replenishes the buff. That player can then relieve another chain activator, and so the process repeats until all chains are activated and the team can take up position in the central room to destroy the censers.

Destroy all censers to clear the Royal Polls, unlock a loot chest acquire the Drain Key, and move on to the next stage.

Castellum, Part 2
The procedure at the Castellum remains the same as before, but with an added obstacle: Psions called Councilors will spawn that will kill the entire team if not dealt with. Once three Standards have been collected, the door to the next stage will open.

Pleasure Gardens
The Pleasure Gardens will require elements of strategy and stealth to surpass. Kill the Loyalist War Beasts and Beast Handlers, noting the positions of several large, flowering plants, pillars of light, and the golden statue atop the safe room which is flanked by two Prism Weapons. The six Royal Beasts will enter the area, hunting for anyone who roams the lower floor, and Calus will unlock the safe room, which contains four spores of Royal Pollen. If the Royal Beasts detect anyone, they will each run to a flowering plant and unleash a Psionic Howl, which will kill anyone not in the safe room after a brief charging period. Furthermore, any players who die will endanger the team: if they are not revived within 30 seconds, the entire team dies from "Shared Fate".

Royal Pollen-carriers must make their way to the flowering plants without being detected, and Prism Weapon-wielders must focus the pillars of light onto the plants while the Royal Pollen is held next to them. This produces a stack of buffs called "Empowering Spores"; the higher the stack, which can be increased by visiting more of the plants, the more damage players can inflict on the Royal Beasts. Making things trickier, as more Royal Beasts are killed, the remaining ones will detect players faster. Therefore, it may be advisable to weaken all six Royal Beasts to the point that they can be killed simultaneously, rather than picked off one-by-one, than the latter strategy can still be used. Ensure that at least one team member can escape to the safe room to survive any Psionic Howls and revive the team. Kill all six Royal Beasts to unlock a loot chest, acquire the Irrigation Key, and return to the Castellum.

Castellum, Part 3
A third door will be ready for unlocking. Gather three standards once again to open it and proceed to The Gauntlet.

The Gauntlet
Defeat enemies until the Imperial Centurion appears, then kill it to reveal two Psionic Charges. The two players who pick up the Psionic Charges will be teleported into a circular obstacle course along the room's outer walls. While the Psionic Charge-carriers run these gauntlets, the four players who remain in the center of the room must fight off waves of enemies while disabling the shield walls that block the carrier's path.

The carriers will be able to see which of three rows of circular apertures is lit by a red light; the other apertures will be green. The carriers must call out to the rest of the team to shoot the marker for the correct row. If done correctly, this will disable the shield and cause an orb of Psionic energy to appear in the red aperture. The carriers must pass through that orb to prevent triggering a team-killing debuff called Mental Collapse from one of the invincible Psion Projections monitoring the course; the carriers must also run the gauntlet in a timely manner to prevent another team-killing debuff called Psionic Overcharge. Repeat this at each shield wall and then pass through the final orb and the finish line, then place the Psionic Charges in the dais in the room's center. This will complete the first phase of the stage.

The next phase of the stage increases the difficulty for the carrier by removing sections of the floor in the gauntlet area, requiring more precise jumping skills. Once finished, again place the two Charges in the dais.

The third phase will raise the barricades in between the shield walls, requiring carriers to jump higher. When the final two Charges are planted in the dais, all six Psionic Charges will then spawn at the dais and a countdown timer called "Psionic Overload" will appear. The entire team must pick up a Charge, run the gauntlet, and replant the charges in the dais before the timer runs out. Success unlocks a new loot chest, earns the Ventilator Key, and allows the team to proceed to the next stage. Calus has deigned to reward your valor with an audience.

Castellum, Part 4
The door to the final stage of the raid is ready to be unlocked in the Castellum. As before, gather three Standards while fighting off enemies to open the door.

Conduit and Irrigation
Beyond the door from Castellum, a mysterious purple substance coats the path forward. Follow the hall straight ahead to the next door and enter the Throne, where the final stage awaits.

Side corridors from this hall lead into the Conduit and the bowels of the ship; these can be ignored. What follows is a maze of jumping and crawling through ventilators shafts and maintenance corridors, some of which can double back into previously visited areas like the Castellum. One room will be guarded by sentry Volcanic Scorpius units designated Watchers, which will summon reinforcements if they detect players. The Conduit leads to an area called Irrigation and then back to The Gauntlet.

Throne
Emperor Calus greets the players as they enter and summons his legions. After a short period of fighting, the team will be teleported outside The Leviathan where a massive, shadowy projection of Calus's head will attempt to inhale and devour them using the lethal debuff Boundless Consumption. Three players can grab Psionic Charges before they are devoured, which will teleport them back to the Throne.

The other three players must shoot projections of Calus's four Psion Councilors to disable their shields in the Throne so the they can be killed. Each Psion is represented by a symbol above their shield (chalice, War Beast, sun, and crossed swords), and the symbol of the projection that appears in the outside area will appear on the shadow Calus's forehead. The projections will appear in pairs for each symbol and must be destroyed, or Calus will inflict the Mental Collapse team-wipe debuff. Once all four pairs are gone, the icon above Calus's forehead will turn black and a final set of projections will appear. Destroy them, and Calus will vomit Cabal skulls at players which can be shot before they inflict damage and grant the stacking, team-wide buff "Force of Will". Once the barrage ends, three more Psionic Charges will appear and the players can use them to return to the Throne.

With the team reunited, standing on one of the four daises where the Councilors were will grant the Force of Will buff and allow players to damage Calus directly for a time. The amount of Force of Will buff acquired determines how much damage can be inflicted. Be aware that Calus can shoot lethal flames at each dais, and players should jump off and move to the next dais before this happens. As Calus is damaged, pieces of his carapace will fall away, revealing robotics; Calus has chosen to not fight in person. After all four daises have been used, Calus will teleport the team back outside to repeat the process of destroying projections and collecting Force of Will. As Calus's health nears zero, he will summon a durable energy shield to protect himself which must be shot away.

Once the Calus robot has been slain, the raid's final challenge is complete. The true Emperor Calus will speak through the robot, boasting of the power he has displayed and inviting the Guardians to join his side, while offering more treasure. An elevator in the room's center will then descend to a massive vault containing numerous other Calus robots and a final loot chest.

At this point, the raid is finished. The vendor Benedict 99-40 will appear in the basement of the the Bazaar in the Tower to redeem any Emperor Calus Tokens for Imperial Engrams containing raid loot.

Rewards

 * Emperor Calus Token
 * Calus's Selected Shader

Weapons

 * Conspirator - Scout Rifle
 * Ghost Primus - Auto Rifle
 * Inaugural Address
 * It Stared Back
 * Midnight Coup
 * Mob Justice - Submachine Gun
 * Sins of the Past

Trivia

 * The Leviathan will be the sole raid released with the Destiny 2 base game.
 * This is the first raid in the Destiny series to incorporate cutscenes and voice-overs.