Leviathan (raid)

This article is about the Destiny 2 raid. For other uses, see Leviathan.

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Leviathan
Game:	Destiny 2
Player(s):	1-6
Recommended Power Level:	270
Location:	The Leviathan, Nessus Orbit
Objective(s):	Answer the invitation of Emperor Calus and complete his trials.
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“

Grow fat from strength.

”

Leviathan was the flagship Raid of Destiny 2 released on September 13, 2017 and then sunset with the release of Beyond Light on November 10th, 2020.

With the Red War having ended with the death of Dominus Ghaul, Guardians are cordially invited as honored guests of the exiled Cabal Emperor Calus; to compete in a series of trials and challenges set aboard his eponymous prison barge.

Gameplay

The recommended Power Level is 270. The Prestige mode of the raid, released on October 18, 2017, has a recommended Power Level of 300.

To mark the world-first completion of the raid by Clan "The Legend Himself", Bungie released a Crucible map set on The Leviathan called Emperor's Respite.

Unique enemies

• Loyalist Legionary
• Loyalist Phalanx
• Loyalist Colossus
• Loyalist Psion
• Loyalist War Beast
• Imperial Centurion
• Imperial Incendior
• Standard Bearer
• Standard Liberator
• Beast Handler
• Ceremonial Bather
  • Oiled Ceremonial Bather (Prestige only)
• Watchers Scorpius
  • Watcher Alpha
  • Watcher Beta
  • Watcher Gamma
  • Watcher Delta
• Councilor
  • Greed Councilor
  • Loyalty Councilor
  • Sol Councilor
  • War Councilor
• Psionic Projections
  • Greed Projection
  • Sol Projection
  • War Projection
  • Loyalty Projection

Bosses

• Royal Beasts
  • Aru'un
  • B'ael
  • M'orn
  • Ta'aurc
  • Tho'ourg
  • Va'ase
  • Gra'ask (Prestige only)
  • Za'ahn (Prestige only)
• Emperor Calus (Final Boss)

Walkthrough

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 the 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.

Castellum

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. As Standard Liberators are killed, Councilors will appear and provide invulnerable shields for the Liberators. The Councilors themselves are protected by invincible shield bubbles, but can easily be killed by walking into the bubble to then damage the Councilor, which then removes the shields from the Liberators. Once three Standards have been collected, Calus will open the door to the next stage.

Rotating stages

There are three main stages before the final boss confrontation, but each week the order in which they must be completed is changed. Players must return to the Castellum after completing a stage to unlock the next one, including the final boss in the Throne.

Royal Pools

Five pools are located in the room with one in each corner of the room and a fifth in the center. In each pool is a plate above which hovers an orb that grants the buff "Psionic Protection", which counts down from x50. Near the plates in the four corner pools are large golden chains that move when players are standing on the plates in the four pools. Moving the chains and defeating the Ceremonial Bathers Gladiators that spawn will raise a series of censers in the central room. A bell will sound when the censers have been raised, at which point all players will head to the central room to destroy them while standing on the plate in the central room. Be prepared to deal with a continuous assault from Loyalists, Ceremonial Bathers, and a Psion that can kill anyone lacking Psionic Protection. The Royal Pools are cleared by destroying the censers.

To tackle this challenge, all players should acquire Psionic Protection. Four can activate the chains, while the others remain at the Psionic Protection pool. Then, as the buff runs out, the two free players 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 Pools and move on to the next stage.

Challenge Mode

For the Royal Pools challenge, there must be at least one player standing in the middle pool at all times. Jumping or being launched by a Psion counts towards failing the challenge.

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. Picking up both Prisms Weapons will spawn six Royal Beasts in 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. 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 and return to the Castellum.

Challenge Mode

The Pleasure Gardens challenge requires that each player cannot shoot more than one flowering plant.

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 blue. 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 the psionic charge they are holding from exploding. Passing through a ring gate spawns a Councilor which must be punched or it will spawn a Psionic Projection which can triggering a team-killing debuff called Mental Collapse. If a Psionic Projection spawns it may be killed within 6 seconds to prevent the team from wiping. 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 and allows the team to proceed to the next stage. Calus has deigned to reward your valor with an audience.

Challenge Mode

The Gauntlet challenge requires that players cannot step on the same platform more than once during the running phase, meaning that to complete the challenge, all six players need to run.

Throne

After a fourth and final battle in the Castellum, pass through the doors and proceed forward along a lengthy corridor coated in a purple substance, presumably the "royal wine" made from the ship's consumption of Nessus. Emperor Calus greets the players as they enter the Throne. To begin the fight, the chalice he holds must be shot out of his hand. He will attack by summoning waves of various Cabal and targeting players with a line-of-sight "Emperor's Gaze" forehead laser. After a short period of fighting, the team will be teleported into a shadowy realm where a massive 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 avoid the Mental Collapse team-wipe debuff. Each Psion in the Throne is also represented by a symbol above their shield (chalice, War Beast, sun, and crossed axes). Each of the players in the shadow realm will see a different symbol on Calus's forehead and must call it out to the players fighting in the Throne; the fourth, unseen symbol which is not called out will be the symbol of the Psion that the Throne group must kill. Failure to kill the correct Psion in a timely fashion will result in a team wipe. In the shadow realm, the projections will appear in pairs for each symbol and must be destroyed, or Calus will inflict Mental Collapse. 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, granting 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 spawned 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 will cause lethal flames to spring up on the occupied 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. The first time this happens, Calus will begin using an arm-mounted cannon in addition to his forehead laser. 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. If this is the first time a player has completed Leviathan, they will receive the Quest "Imperial Invitation", which directs them to the newly-available vendor Benedict 99-40 in the basement of the Bazaar in the Tower to redeem any Emperor Calus Tokens for Imperial Engrams containing raid loot.

Challenge Mode

The Calus challenge requires that all four daises are activated at the same time during the damage phase. This usually results in shorter damage phases.

The Underbelly and Hidden Loot Chests

In addition to the main chambers of the raid explained above, The Leviathan also contains an elaborate labyrinth of corridors and rooms that conceal at least 9 locked loot chests. These chests are unlocked by the corresponding key (Drain Key, Irrigation Key, Aqueduct Key, etc.), and players acquire three random keys per week after besting the Royal Pools, Pleasure Gardens, and The Gauntlet. Keys must be used before the next weekly reset, or else they will disappear. The labyrinth also connects to each of the main raid chambers, and can be used to access those chambers without having to go through the Castellum.

To fully unlock these other areas, start at Embarkment. Below the spawn platform is a small room containing six levers that must be pulled by the team in one of three specific orders very quickly. Number the levers 1 through 6, from left to right. The three combinations are 1-5-3-2-4-6, 1-4-3-5-2-6, and 1-3-2-4-5-6. As there is no way to tell which combination is the correct one from week to week, it may be necessary to try all three; players have also reported solving the puzzle by pulling all levers simultaneously. Success will be confirmed by the message "The way is open". Next, leave the room and climb to the middle level of Embarkment, looking for another room on the left side of the structure. Enter it to find another six levers, pull them, and watch for "The way is open" again. Lastly, head to the top level of Embarkment, where the entrance to the Castellum is, and jump to the rim of the pool on the left. Run along the rim until you spot a third room entrance covered in ivy below, then drop down and enter the inner workings of The Leviathan.

Prestige

The Prestige mode of Leviathan introduces a number of changes to each stage that increase the raid's complexity and difficulty. A significant alteration that players must be wary of throughout the raid is that dying will remove the player's revive token if they still hold one.

• Royal Pools:
  • All enemies have increased health and deal increased damage.
  • Oiled Ceremonial Bathers replace Ceremonial Bathers; Oiled Ceremonial Bathers spawn more frequently and drop debuff pools on death that drain 5 units of Psionic Protection per second if the player stands in them.
  • After damaging the censers, players receive the "Burden of Worthiness" buff.
  • Players must move the plate that corresponds with the symbol they see (Sun, Chalice, Royal Beast, Axes) above the central structure.
• Pleasure Gardens:
  • Two additional Royal Beasts are present.
  • Royal Beasts have different patrol patterns.
• The Gauntlet:
  • No player can run the gauntlet more than once before the fourth phase, forcing all six players to run it once.
  • Psion Projections spawn in the central area while players are running the gauntlet, and must be destroyed.
  • The number of Psionic Charges that spawn during the fourth phase is reduced from four to three.
• Throne:
  • Players who kill a Councilor will teleport to the shadow realm, while a random player in the shadow realm will be teleported to the Throne.

Rewards

• Emperor Calus Tokens
• Embrace His Name Emblem
• Splish Splash Emblem (Royal Pools Challenge)
• Good Dog Emblem (Pleasure Gardens Challenge)
• Two Enter, One Leaves Emblem (The Gauntlet Challenge)
• Take the Throne Emblem (Throne Room Challenge)
• Glory to the Emperor Emblem (Prestige only)
• Calus's Selected Shader
• Calus's Treasured Shader (Prestige only)
• Imperial Invitation Quest
• Raid-specific armor sets
• Prestige armor sets
• Ornament for Legend of Acrius (Prestige only)
• Legend of Acrius Catalyst (Prestige only)
• Contender's Shell

Weapons

• Legend of Acrius - Exotic Shotgun
• Conspirator - Legendary Scout Rifle
• Ghost Primus - Legendary Auto Rifle
• Inaugural Address - Legendary Pulse Rifle
• It Stared Back - Legendary Sword
• Midnight Coup - Legendary Hand Cannon
• Mob Justice - Legendary Submachine Gun
• Sins of the Past - Legendary Rocket Launcher
• Alone as a God - Legendary Sniper Rifle

Trivia

• The Leviathan was 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.
• The Leviathan is the first Raid in the Destiny series that has the Cabal as the central enemy.
• The Leviathan has the largest amount of puzzles and the least amount of bosses out of any raid to date, with only one boss throughout the entire raid.
• The two extra War Beasts in Prestige mode have the same names as subsequent Cabal strike bosses. Gra’ask as a War Beast relating to Grask, The Consumed, which is the final boss of the Lake of Shadows EDZ strike, and Za’ahn having a similar name to the final boss of the other EDZ strike The Arms Dealer, with Bracus Zahn as the final boss.