Destiny 2 Warmind Raid Lair Guide

With a new expansion to Destiny 2, comes a new Raid Lair. The latest addition to the end game activities has proven to be one of the toughest encounters thus far. Taking place on the Leviathan, we’re not seeing a whole lot of new scenery which is just aces if you like gold flooring and walls, but the challenges are certainly something new, and they’ve proven to be quite a bit tougher than expected. The recommended power for this Raid Lair is 370, quite a step up in power from the other challenges we’ve seen so far. From what we’ve seen, the biggest benefit apart from raw Light Levels is good communication, so make sure you’re all on good speaking terms with your raiding party before you head in.

The first major encounter is a puzzle involving the Statue Gardens. Once you enter the Garden, head behind the central platform and grab the orb from the pillar. Position the team so that someone is by the orb spawn location, and the rest of the team is scattered near the four pillars. You’ll know which pillars you need to be near when the fight starts because they’ll start looking like they have steam coming from the top.  Throw the orb at the central cauldron to begin the encounter, this will spawn enemies and start the fight so make sure you’re all prepared. Another orb will spawn, grab it and throw it to one of the players near a steaming pillar. Once they have the orb, they can safely stand on the pillar without gaining the engulfed debuff, which will kill them after a time. Standing on the pillar with the orb will start stacking the greed debuff, which will also kill you over time, but you can stop the stacking effect by throwing the orb to the next player in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise rotation. Keep throwing the orb and standing on the pillars until you see the central cauldron flame die down. At this point you throw the orb at the cauldron to “deal damage” (more like mark your progress really), and get ready to do it all again. You have to be quick with your throws, because when the pillars aren’t being stood on they slowly drop, and if it reaches the floor again a hidden timer will start. You’ll know the timer has started because the screen will slowly turn red, before everyone wipes. The entire process must be repeated three times, with harder enemies spawning each rotation.

The next part is something of a jumping puzzle. Head through to the control room and pull the first lever, which will raise a bridge and start a few giant fans. You’ll need two Guardians in the next room to pull the second lever there. A bit more jumping and dodging the fan blades will land you at the third lever, which requires three Guardians to pull. As long as your team stays close and cohesive, this should provide little difficulty.

The second major encounter requires the fireteam to defend the Leviathan from a Red Legion Fleet. You’ll soon arrive at a large arena style area with three symbols on the floor. Make sure you note the symbols carefully, as you’ll need to be able to find them in a hurry. Stand on the other four platforms dotted around the map until they turn orange, which will spawn an orb. You’ll soon see a giant orange beam of light in the centre of the arena. A Guardian with the Superior Retainer buff must jump into the light and will get beamed out into space. Once there, they will see a bunch of ships, though one will have a symbol above it. These are the symbols that must be called out, so that the other members of the fireteam will know what needs to happen next. A Guardian needs to take the orb and power it up in the steam, like during the first encounter, to get the Greed debuff, then throw it into the open door with the symbol that corresponds with the symbol seen above the ship in space. The Fireteam will need to work together th stand on all three symbol plates at once to open the doors. As more orbs spawn, go back to the other platforms to activate the orange elevator, then the Guardian with the Superior Retainer buff grab the orb, power it with the Greed debuff, head into space, and throw it at the highlighted ship. Repeat this sequence until all ships are destroyed but beware of the increasingly difficult enemies that spawn as you go.

Once the ships have been destroyed, the final enemy himself will arrive. He stands behind the Orange elevator and shoots at the fireteam from behind a shield. Kill the enemies that spawn into the area until he performs a wave attack, which will give everyone the Engulfed debuff. An orb will also spawn which can be thrown between the fireteam to cleanse the debuff. The last Guardian holding the orb should throw it at the boss to continue the encounter. Once everyone is cleansed, a few Powerful Enemies will spawn, and three members of the fireteam will gain the Superior Retainer buff. Once the Powerful Enemies are dead, have four members stand on the back plates to activate the elevator once again. One of the Guardians who has the Superior Retainer buff needs to go into space and call out the two ships with symbols, just like in the previous encounter. Once the symbols are called out, the remaining two members with the Superior Retainer buff need to grab an orb each and stand on the appropriate platforms to open the doors and throw the orbs into the now open doors. More orbs will appear, and the players with the Superior Retainer buff need to grab the orbs and head into space, where they will again destroy the ships there. Once the ships are destroyed, a Calus Robot will stand behind the boss enemy. Grab the spawned orbs and run through the steam to charge them with the Greed debuff, and wait for the Calus robot to raise his hand. Once it starts to shine, throw the orbs at it, which will allow him to break down the boss shield. This triggers the damage phase for the fight. The shield will go down and you will have the opportunity to deal damage to the boss at last, though be careful as he is not disabled at this point. Continue this sequence until the boss appears to have no health left, which will spawn another wave of orbs and a different shield on the boss. Throw the orbs at the boss to damage the shield, along with any power weapons of supers that you have at your disposal in order to break the shield and end the fight. Failure to break the final shield in time will wipe the party, so don’t let up the pressure for even an instant. Once the boss is dead, bask in the glory of your accomplishment and kick back after what is certainly a stressful fight.

For more helpful information in the Warming Expansion, check out our guide for claiming the Sleeper Simulant, here.