Leviathan Raid in Year 3

Going Back To The Leviathan In Year 3, What Is It Good For?

The Leviathan raid was the first raid released in Destiny 2. It was released in season 1 as the place to gain power and to gain it quickly. On it’s release Destiny 2 loadouts still consisted of double primary weapons, with special and heavy weapons both living in the heavy slot. The introduction of this raid added some of the most powerful weapons that would dominate the sandbox all the way up until the release of Forsaken a year later and onward.

Weapons and Armor:

There are a myriad of weapons available in the Leviathan raid that defined the meta for the longest time. Everyone has heard of Midnight Coup, Inaugural Address, Sins of the Past and Legend of Acrius. But what was it that made and still makes these weapons special? Destiny 2 differs a lot from Destiny 1 in that weapons are valued for: 1. Their reload speed. And 2. Their access to damage perks. Midnight coup and Inaugural Address were unique in that they were in opposite slots, and were the only weapons in Year 1 that could roll with outlaw and kill clip/rampage. Sins of the Past was one of only two rocket launchers that could roll with cluster bombs, and of the two it was much easier to obtain while being arguably just as effective. All three of these weapons are still available to be obtained from this raid, and all three are highly recommended for new players or even veterans who couldn’t get into the raid themselves.

Legend of Acrius is an exotic, heavy shotgun. And while there are other heavy shotguns, and other exotic shotguns, none hit harder than Acrius. Legend of Acrius is obtainable through completing the Invitation from the Emperor questline. This questline requires completion of the Leviathan raid and a couple of smaller side quests. Upon completion you receive the weapon, it does arc damage, has two rounds in the mag and will one-shot any enemy outside of bosses. And will burn through bosses on any activity with arc burn.

But all of these weapons you can get from normal leviathan. So why would you want to complete Prestige mode? Completing prestige mode gives you prestige rewards for completing encounters as well as normal rewards for those encounters so long as you haven’t already completed the normal raid that week. While you only have to get the weapons from this raid once as you can pull them from collections, the armor that you get from this raid drops just as regularly and drops with very high and very good stat distributions. Other than getting double drops from each encounter, Prestige Leviathan is also the only place where you can get the catalyst for the Legend of Acrius. The catalyst for Legend of Acrius is one of the most impactful catalysts in the game. It takes the magazine size of the weapon from 2 slugs to 7 as well as greatly increasing the weapon’s reload speed.

This is also true for the two Year 1 Leviathan raid lairs. They are a place to easily get top-tier weapons and high stat armor. The other two raid lairs, are also the only place that you can obtain the catalysts for Telesto and Sleeper Simulant. These catalysts change and improve on the weapons just as much as Acrius catalyst. Sleeper Simulant catalyst lowers the charge time for the weapon by a large amount as well as increasing ammo capacity and is obtained from the Spire of Stars raid lair.  Telesto catalyst greatly increases ammo reserves for the weapon

Exotics and Cosmetics:

The Leviathan raid is also one of the best places for farming Year 1 exotics and earning great Y1 cosmetic emotes and shaders. Each week, you are guaranteed one year 1 exotic upon opening the chests in the underbelly of the Leviathan. This is a good way to earn high stat rolls on strong pieces of exotic armor, think Orpheus Rig, Dunemarchers and Transversive Steps among others. Vanilla Leviathan, Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars all have unique shaders for both normal and prestige variants, which once unlocked are all good sources of legendary shards. Spire of Stars also can drop the Luxurious Toast emote, which is highly sought after and now lasts indefinitely so it’s only better for those times between fights were you guardian just wants to take a break and have a drink like our favorite Cabal emperor.

To sum it all up, although the Leviathan raid and its raid lairs came out more than two years ago and the sandbox has changed over and over again there is still plenty of things left for players to aim for and collect in these raids. Exotics, cosmetics and powerful weapons and armor are all there for the taking. So what are you waiting for Guardian, see our options to get yourself into these raids today.