Bungie may have given the world Halo, but for the past seven years they have been working on the Destiny franchise, a first-person shooter MMO that has had its fair share of issues since launch, but has still managed to maintain a strong contingent of loyal fans. Like other MMOs, Destiny provides players with an array of PVE activities, with raids being the most difficult and rewarding of them all.

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As of now the series has produced nine raids and two raid lairs, all of which have powerful final bosses, but some of these bosses are far more troublesome to deal with than others, either because of the amount of enemies that spawn in their arena, or because the mechanics are plentiful and complex.

Updated April 11th, 2021 by George Voutiritsas: Bungie released the Beyond Light expansion back in November, and it gave players the ability to finally use the power of the Darkness. This came in the form of Stasis, and the new subclass has wreaked havoc in both PVE and PVP settings. The expansion also brought players to Europa, and this icy moon is home to the Deep Stone Crypt. The Crypt is the birthplace of the Exos, but it also happens to be the location of the franchise's tenth raid. The raid pits players against Fallen who are trying to use the technology within to augment themselves, and in doing so, they have managed to resurrect an old foe who seeks vengeance upon the Guardians.

12 Crota

Crota may have been a Hive God who singlehandedly killed hundreds of Guardians on the Moon, but he wasn't much of a final raid boss. The son of Oryx possesses a shield that can be damaged, but it regenerates almost immediately if no one hits it, but a Guardian can take the Shield down for five seconds by taking a Hive cleaver from a Swordbearer and slamming Crota with it.

The Fireteam then has to repeat this process until Crota is dead, but every time Crota stands back up, he causes a grey sphere to expand behind him, and this sphere will wipe the team if they do not destroy it within ten seconds.

11 Emperor Calus

The Cabal were the main focus of Destiny 2's base game, and there is still plenty of story left to tell with them. Calus is the former Cabal Emperor and the first raid boss that players encountered on The Leviathan, and depending on the loadouts, a Fireteam could beat him in one phase.

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While half the team gains a damage buff for the damage phase in Calus' shadow realm, the other half has to kill adds and kill the right Psion to make things easier for the shadow realm team. The damage phase begins as soon as someone steps on a plate, and at that point Calus just becomes a literal damage sponge whose crit spot eventually moves from his head to his chest. Newcomers to Destiny 2 are going to have to wait a while before they can fight Calus, as the entire raid was placed into the content vault as part of Beyond Light's release.

10 Argos, Planetary Core

The Argos fight may be a bit time-consuming, but the massive Vex Hydra is not that hard to take down. In order to lower Argos' shield, players have to cook a few Vex skulls in elemental fire, then when the damage phase is over, they must attack two of the six weak spots that appear when Argos charges void energy that will wipe the team.

The Fireteam will have to repeat this process multiple times, and they will have to avoid kamikaze Harpies and nets that will carry players off to their death. This may sound troublesome, but the worst part of this encounter is by far the ADs that spawn. Argos was located inside Calus' Leviathan, which means that the massive Vex has also been placed inside the content vault.

9 Atheon, Time's Conflux

Atheon was the boss of the franchise's first raid-The Vault of Glass, and he was a relatively easy boss to take down, especially if several fireteam members had the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher. In order to get to Atheon, players must first awaken the Glass Throne by destroying a Hydra, Oracle, and a few Gatekeepers who will drop an Aegis.

When the massive Vex finally emerges, it will eventually open up a timestream that randomly teleports three players to a distant future or past, and they will have to destroy every Oracle in order to get back before the team wipes, while the other three have to free themselves from a bubble and dispatch a Templar while avoiding self-destructing Harpies. Someone will then grab the Aegis which will grant a damage buff to use on Atheon.

When Bungie announced that they would be bringing Vault of Glass out of the content vault, veterans of the original game got excited, and it has since been revealed that the raid will return at some point in Season 14. The raid itself will more or less be the same, but Bungie has stated that they will be making minor changes to it, like giving it a Master difficulty version. Hopefully, players will no longer be able to cheese their way through the encounter by simply pushing Atheon off the boss arena.

8 Gahlran

Gahlran was created by Calus so he could control a brood of Hive, and in doing so, the Crown of Sorrows boss is capable of using some level of Hive magic. This magic is the reason why Gahlran is able to create Deceptions of himself.

Players will split into three teams of two and manage the "Witch's Blessing" buff which allows them to kill Blessed Knights, but it also allows players to destroy the Deception's shield. The Fireteam will have to kill three deceptions before they can damage the real Gahlran, and at that point they must shoot his hands before moving to his head. Gahlran was located on the Leviathan, which means that new players won't be able to fight him until the raid comes out of the content vault.

7 Aksis, Archon Prime

Aksis was a Fallen Archon Priest who augmented his body with SIVA, and to beat him the Fireteam needs to split up into three teams of two, where one player uses a Scorch Cannon to destroy specific Servitors which drop a bomb, and the other player grabs and throws the bomb at a node at the center of the boss arena. This process is then repeated in order to take down Aksis' shield

When that is done, half the Fireteam will receive the "Empowered" buff, and one of these Guardians will have to follow Aksis wherever he teleports to to jump onto his back to cancel his wipe mechanic, and it is during this brief pause that Aksis can be damaged.

6 Insurrection Prime, Kell's Scourge

This boss is basically a Fallen Servitor inside the body of a giant bipedal tank, and a great sniper rifle will make short work of it, but it is the lead up to the damage phase which is quite annoying because the Fireteam needs to split up into three teams.

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One player needs to look at the map and call out the location of batteries and then the assigned runners will have to charge them. Another group will have to kill the Berserkers that spawn, while the snipers destroy the shield nodes on the boss' body, and only when all those things are done simultaneously can players actually damage Insurrection Prime. This raid was part of Season of the Forge, and it has since been vaulted along with the rest of the season's content.

5 Val Ca'uor

Spire of Stars' final encounter has an absurd amount of mechanics. First, the team will have to cleanse themselves of the Engulfed debuff, and then the team will have to defeat gladiators and select someone with the Superior Retainer buff to go up to space to find two symbols.

These symbols will lead to the arming phase-which will force players to arm bombs, and once that is done, two players with Superior Retainer must go up and destroy specific ships while the others try to not die. All six players then have to play a game of Hot Potato with an Engulfed ball that gives Curse stacks (and this must be done until there are three balls in the arena). Only after doing all that can Val Ca'uor take damage. This raid lair proved to be very difficult, and players will have to wait to beat it again since it was vaulted along with the rest of the Leviathan's content.

4 Oryx, The Taken King

Savathun will be the main villain of next year's expansion, and she will likely be looking to avenge her brother Oryx. It starts with one player having to collect motes of light above four platforms which can be activated by another player jumping on their designated platform (grabbing the motes will spawn a Cursed Ogre).

A special Knight will spawn and the runner must break its shield, when that is done an aura will drop and Oryx will start a wipe mechanic. If it's stopped, a weak spot will open in his chest. Once he gets to 50% health, Oryx will produce a bubble that Guardians will teleport into to kill a Shade of Oryx, but their health doesn't recharge while in it.

3 Taniks, The Abomination

Veterans of the original game know who Taniks is, and Bungie decided to bring him back a third time as the final boss of the Deep Stone Crypt raid. Taniks will move to one of the arena's three sections, and the fireteam will need to shoot his thrusters. When enough damage has been dealt, each thruster will drop a nuclear core, and four members will have to pick them up and deposit them in so-called "washing machines" located in the other two sections. It should be mentioned that Taniks will try to bombard and ensnare players during this section.

Players will be very slow while holding this core, and if they do not deposit it before the Radiation debuff reaches 10, they will die. If this is done successfully, players with the Operator, Suppressor, and Scanner buffs will have to get rid of them. The dps phase will see Taniks surrounded by two rings, both of which can kill players. The only way to damage Taniks is to stand in between these rings. During Taniks' last stand, he will teleport all over the map, and players will have to burst him down as quickly as possible, preferably with supers, sniper shots, and decent Heavy weapons.

2 The Sanctified Mind

The final boss fight of the Garden of Salvation raid is a messy affair. Two players will have to jump through a portal to collect motes on an island while the other players clear adds and restore portions of the map which randomly disappear.

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The mote team will then deposit their motes into a pillar on each side of the arena, which will cause the Sanctified Mind to produce either a white or yellow bomb which needs to be destroyed by having several Guardians link up. Doing this will disorient the boss and open up the damage phase.

1 Riven Of A Thousand Voices

Forsaken has so far been the best Destiny 2 expansion, and Riven is by far the hardest final boss in the series. If players choose to not cheese this fight, they will be in for a handful because the Fireteam needs to split into two groups of three and if even one person messes up, the entire team will likely get wiped.

After killing some Taken, Riven will appear in one of two rooms, and once one team avoids her attack and staggers her, two of her ten eyes will glow, and it will be the job of the other group to shoot those eyes. There will be an Ogre Room, cysts to shoot, and once she gets low enough the team will be sent to the Ascendant Realm where they will have to complete a timed jumping puzzle.

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