Raids are one of the best activities that Destiny 2 has to offer. They are a pinnacle endgame activity alongside Grandmaster Nightfalls. They require six players to complete it and rely heavily on communication.
With the launch of Root of Nightmares Raid, there are seven raids present in Destiny 2 and a total of 18 bosses. One of the highlights of raids is the bosses. They add an element of difficulty to the experience and challenge the players, engaging them and forcing them to employ everything in their arsenal to win.
10 Caretaker
Caretaker (the first boss of Vow of the Disciple) was a complete nightmare on day one due to its extremely high health. However, once the contest mode was over, Caretaker’s encounter became a pushover.
Caretaker requires three damage phases and also a final stand; You have no chance of error during all these phases, and all the members of the fireteam must contribute equally to defeat this encounter. Caretaker boss encounter is strict regarding its mechanics, but other than that, the damage checks are relatively easy.
9 Nezarec, The Final God Of Pain
Nezarec (The final boss of Root of Nightmares) was extremely underwhelming, even in contest mode. Easy mechanics and low boss health make this encounter forgettable and underwhelming.
The encounter of Nezarec is more dependent on the speed of the players than performing the actual mechanics. If players are fast enough, they can completely ignore the mechanics of this encounter. Furthermore, the low health of the boss makes this encounter one of the easy ones.
8 Atheon
Atheon (The final boss of Vault of Glass) relies heavily on communication between the members of the team. A slight mistake can cause the entire team to get wiped out during the encounter. One team must communicate to the other team (present in another room) the order in which to shoot the oracles. One wrong oracle shooting and the teams fail the encounter.
Though the mechanics of this encounter are fairly simple, the communication and strict mechanics requirement makes this encounter punishing if you are not careful enough. Atheon also has a decent amount of health, and only the whole team running good DPS can kill him in one phase.
7 Zo’Aurc, Explicator of Planets
The player base regards the encounter of Zo’Aurc (the first boss of Root of Nightmares) as one of the coolest encounters, both mechanics and aesthetics-wise. This encounter requires four players to perform mechanically intensive feats and communicate with one another, although this encounter can be done by two players.
The mechanics revolve around shifting the position of planets in the correct order to start the Damage phase. Though the damage of the boss is not much, the high enemy density and the short time period to perform these mechanics make this encounter both fun and challenging.
6 Atraks-1
Atraks-1, the first boss of Deep Stone Crypt, was a nightmare on day 1, with challenging mechanics and heavy communication. However, once the contest mode was over, Atraks-1 became one of the lowest health bosses of all time. This low health entirely negates the need for performing the mechanics, and the boss can be cheesed just by three people.
If we ignore the cheese, Atraks-1 is quite challenging and satisfying. It relies heavily on communication between the team for performing mechanics, but any good team can easily perform it. In the end, the low health of Atraks-1 is the only thing making it less challenging than the other bosses on this list.
5 Warpriest
Warpriest (the first boss of King’s Fall) is one of the highest health bosses in the Destiny franchise. The mechanics to start the damage phase are quite simple, but further continuing the DPS phase is challenging and requires heavy communication between teammates.
The health pool of this raid’s boss is the largest of all raid bosses, which, combined with the communication required, makes this encounter both stressful and challenging. The challenge of this encounter is also a very painful experience.
4 Oryx, The Taken King
Oryx (The final boss of King’s Fall) encounter saw some pretty significant mechanics changes when the raid made its return in Destiny 2. The health of Oryx was made damageable instead of being mechanics based.
The mechanics of Oryx are to be done within a specific time limit and require communication between all members of the raid. You have to detonate the bombs at the same time, and the health of Oryx is also no joke.
3 Rhulk, The First Disciple
Rhulk (the final boss of Vow of the Disciple) is one of the best bosses encounters in Destiny history. This encounter has two different mechanics, first in the starting arena and then in the upper boss arena. While both these mechanics are pretty similar, they do require good communication between teammates.
Rhulk also has a decent health pool and is one of the very few bosses who are moving around in DPS phases and also trying to kill you. While Rhulk’s damage can easily be countered, this encounter is nonetheless challenging and extremely fun.
2 Riven
Riven is right now one of the easiest encounters in the raid if you are cheesing it. However, if we are to do this encounter legitimately, it is one of the most communication-dependent and challenging encounters in the game.
Doing this legitimately requires you to split into two teams of 3 whilst having proper communication. Riven is also one of the most punishing encounters in the game. A single mistake can wipe the team. Although no one does this encounter legitimately, it is one of the hardest and most satisfying encounters in the game.
1 Sanctified Mind
Sanctified Mind (the final boss of Garden of Salvation) is probably one the hardest and one of the most stressful encounters in the game. This encounter requires you to make three teams of two members and go to different arenas to collect motes to start the damage phase.
The problem with this encounter is that it is extremely buggy, the connecting mechanic is extremely unreliable, and this alone makes the final encounter an annoying experience. The DPS phase of the boss is also extremely short, and unless you do another of the same annoying mechanic to extend the DPS phase, you are stuck with at least two damage phases of the boss. This makes Sanctified Mind one of the hardest and most annoying bosses in the game.