Not too long ago, Bungie released a free add-on for Destiny 2, Into the Light, that once again invites brave Guardians to farm and grind some more. Lord Shaxx summons the Guardians to protect the Old City that is being attacked by the forces of the Witness. This is how players get introduced to the new gameplay mode titled Siege, that offers a battle against 10 or 50 waves of enemies.
It is up to you to protect the certain object in the Old City, all the while using decoys, turrets, traps and tripwires to assist you in your task. After you withstand 10 waves, there will be a mini-boss to challenge, defeat, loot and move onto the rest of the waves. Completing all Triumphs grants players the new suberblack shader, which has some nice shimmer to it.
The add-on in and of itself serves as a content plug while we wait for the release of Destiny 2: The Final Shape major DLC that arrives in June. A new activity with “new” weapons – but not really. After all, why release something new when you can re-use something that already exists? Simply slap a new coat of paint, add some of the newer perks, and voilà, now you have some brand-new rewards. The only other thing that sets these weapons apart from their common versions is that you also get a unique skin for completing Shaxx’s quest. It is up to you to decide whether it is worth the time.
The add-on provided a small amount of content to maintain the interest in the game and tie people over until something new. However, many Guardians have already learned how to solo these 50 waves on Legendary difficulty. Essentially, you can complete almost all the Triumph achievements in a week, and then only poke around when a new weekly task drops. Which is exactly what many players were doing until April 30th.
On April 30th, Bungie released the long-awaited feature for Destiny 2: Into the Light, the Pantheon Mode. In essence, it is a new Raid mode for 6 players that allows you to challenge some Bosses featuring harder mechanics and power-ups.
And the best part is that you will receive interesting loot at the end of every battle, containing weapons with customizable perks and raid drops from featured bosses. You don’t have to farm Pantheon on three characters for loot, you can run it on your main back-to-back and receive new loot after every attempt. Hurray, farmable raid content with a constant supply of interesting drops!.. But there is a nuance.
The mode will be evolving on a weekly basis. The week of the release featured only 4 bosses, but come May 21st and there will be a total of 8 of them. Every week the mode will receive one or two more bosses, and the difficulty of the battles will intensify.
The initial lineup included Golgoroth (King’s Fall, third encounter), The Caretaker (Vow of the Disciple, second encounter), Macrocosm (Root of Nightmares, third encounter), and Atraks-1 (Deep Stone Crypt, second encounter).
The May 7th update added Oryx (King’s Fall, fifth encounter). May 14th will introduce another difficulty increase and Rhulk (Vow of the Disciple, fourth encounter), while the last addition on May 21st will challenge players through Nezarec (Root of Nightmares, fourth encounter) and the final difficulty ramp up.
Here’s how the mode will look once everything is said and done:
Pantheon +20 Power (May 21, 2024):
- Golgoroth (King’s Fall, third encounter)
- The Caretaker (Vow of the Disciple, second encounter)
- Macrocosm (Root of Nightmares, third encounter)
- Atraks-1 (Deep Stone Crypt, second encounter)
- Oryx (King’s Fall, fifth encounter)
- Rhulk (Vow of the Disciple, fourth encounter)
- Riven of a Thousand Voices (Last Wish, fifth encounter)
- Nezarec (Root of Nightmares, fourth encounter)
Bosses grow stronger every week, and the final version of The Pantheon will let anyone recall or try for the first time what it was like to face these bosses in day one Raid experience. For clearing the content, you will get one of the Legendary weapons.
Boss battles feature timers that you have to meet in order to receive unique rewards. If you run out of time, it doesn’t wipe out your party or reset your progress, but you will only obtain the usual Raid rewards.
Additionally, players will be able to unlock the special versions of the legendary Raid weapons:
- Eyes of Tomorrow
- Touch of Malice
- Collective Obligation
- Conditional Finality
- One Thousand Voices
- Smite of Merain (Harrowed)
- Qullim’s Terminus (Harrowed)
- Insidious (Adept)
- Acasia’s Dejection (Adept)
- Zaouli’s Bane (Harrowed)
- Rufus’s Fury (Adept)
To beat these empowered versions of the bosses, you definitely need to know the appropriate tactics and perform the necessary actions as clearly and as precisely as possible.
For those who were looking for a sign to return to Destiny 2 before the expansion arrives, there is no better time than now. The Pantheon’s interesting content will diversify an otherwise boring grind, and hardcore lovers will have their challenge cut out for them when attempting to solo the latest encounters.
New players will need to study tactics to take on these bosses as well as do trial by combat to see how they apply in gameplay scenarios. Bosses require some good and well-coordinated teamwork. I appreciate that Bungie didn’t just call it done with only Shaxx’s Siege, and added an interesting Raid mode with actual challenge – even without any new bosses. Still, boss empowerment will keep you from getting bored.
You can also acquire pretty Emblems for completing Patheon’s challenges (meeting the timers) and for watching Destiny content on Twitch. And beating all the Triumps will award you with the title “Godslayer”, which will demonstrate to other players that you’ve beaten the Pantheon all possible difficulties.
Pantheon boss gauntlet mode gives all players an opportunity to experience what a good Raid Boss fight is, one that is not brute-forced and face-tanked in 30 seconds. Instead, you have to use normal tactics, where a rough mistake might mean an inglorious wipe for your entire team. Although it remains to be seen if the usual cheesing methods still work when it comes to these bosses. For example, would you have to follow the actual tactics when it comes to Riven? Or can you use the good ol’ strategy or “throwing 50 grenades into her face to one-shot her in 5 seconds”?
Let’s wait and see what’s Bungie’s response when it comes to these types of clears!
