The Desert Perpetual raid was one of the hardest trials the Destiny 2 community has ever faced. This action, which was part of the new Edge of Fate update, put fireteams to the test during the tough World First race. This guide talks about everything from the first release details and the historic World First triumph to specific strategies for each encounter, the best builds, and the raid's overall effect on the game.

The Desert Perpetual: Information About the Release and Contest Mode

The Desert Perpetual raid started on Saturday, July 19, 2025. It started with Contest Mode, which is a hard difficulty level that limits players' power levels and turns off some gear to make sure the competition is fair. This mode stayed live for 48 hours, giving teams a chance to capture the World First title.

Times and Emblems of Release

Guardians from all across the world joined the fight on July 19, 2025, at 10 AM PT, 1 PM ET, 6 PM GMT, and 7 PM CEST. Players could get a few special insignia. You get the Third Unknown raid insignia for finishing any level of The Desert Perpetual. For everyone who watched the race, the Power Hues Emblem was available as a Twitch drop for one hour on July 19. You might get the Golden Relief symbol by giving someone a Twitch subscription in the Destiny 2 category between July 19 and July 29. The Timeline's Blade Raid Emblem was the most valuable prize. It was only given to fireteams that finished all of the challenges in the first 48 hours of Contest Mode.

Team Nuts wins the World First Race: Key Moments

The Desert Perpetual World First race lasted about 15 hours and 35 minutes, making it a very hard marathon. This length makes it one of the three longest raid races in Destiny 2 history, along with Last Wish and Salvation's Edge. Many of the best teams were competing for the crown, and it was tough.

The Winning Fireteam and Their Journey: Team Nuts

Team Nuts won the World First championship after a lot of hard work. Dabs, Enskeria, Ham, Milito, mitcH, and Silken were all in the winning fireteam. Bungie has verified their win, which is a big deal in Destiny 2's competitive history.

@GuardianGaming: The Desert Perpetual raid race was a long, long race! After more than 15 hours of hard work, Team Nuts really deserved that World First title. What a sign of their skill! #Destiny2 #RaidRace #WorldFirst

Important Events and Almost Misses

Many teams made it to the later rounds of the race, and some came very close to winning. Unofficial second-place team aTides' team finished just after Team Nuts. The long duration and complicated mechanics caused many wipes, even while bosses were at low health, which pushed teams to their limits. The community watched live streaming of the tournament, seeing both the highs and lows, like moments of victory and painful near-finishes.

Technical problems and broken gear during the race

Bungie turned off some equipment and progression mechanics in the World First race to keep things fair. To make sure everyone has a fair chance, this is what Contest Mode does.

Weapons and Exotics That Don't Work

During Contest Mode, a lot of strong weapons and mods were turned off. Some of these were well-known exotics including Outbreak Perfected, Third Iteration, Choir of One, Icebreaker, Barrow Dyad, Hierarchy of Needs, and Grand Overture. The Third Iteration Scout Rifle was known for doing a lot more damage with Anti-Barrier, hence it had to be disabled. The Distribution Armor Mod was also not available. Players could still use these items, but their benefits and effects wouldn't work in the raid during Contest Mode.

How Server Strain and Bugs Affect

There were various technical problems with the raid launch, in addition to disabled gear. To make the servers run better, Bungie turned off bounty and weapon leveling progression for killing other players in the raid. Reports also said that some gamers on PlayStation 5 had problems with sound, which could have given them an edge. The community also responded to a previous quick power level farm from the exotic task Encore, which let certain players get a head start before it was turned off, which made people worry about fairness.

@LightfallLore: The Desert Perpetual raid race was much more crazy and unexpected because of broken gear and server problems. Big thanks to all the teams that kept going despite the problems! #Destiny2Raid #ContestMode

Desert Perpetual Raid Guide: How to Deal with Enemies, How Things Work, and How to Win

The Desert Perpetual has a distinctive non-linear structure for its first interactions. After the beginning, players can choose which of the first three big boss bouts they want to do first. You can only fight the ultimate boss once you beat all three of the other ones.

Predestination: A Guide to the First Encounter

The raid starts in a big, open space. The goal is to get to a center platform that has three half-spheres on it. When you touch these spheres, they show you doors with nine symbols on them. These symbols show you the way to your first encounter. This main region is where you go back to between the first three boss encounters.

Epoptes: The Strategy for Technical Challenges

Lord of Quanta, Epoptes, is a complex fight that needs precise timing. To continue further, players must use buffs, shoot certain eyes on a shielded Hydra boss, and coordinate their actions. This combat measures how well a fireteam can talk to one other and carry out their plans.

Iatros: How to Check Your DPS and Survival

Iatros, Inward-Turned, is a Wyvern boss that doesn't have a lot of complicated mechanics. Instead, it relies on staying alive and doing damage. The arena is smaller and has more adversaries in one place. To move the fight along and add time to the timer, teams must quickly gather "Chronos" from Minotaurs they have vanquished and put them in a central Hourglass. Players get stacks of a "Diastole" bonus, which sends them into the air when they have four stacks. This means that a player with the "Absolute Temporality" debuff will ascend up to interact with Vex cubes, which starts the damage phase.

Agarios: Tips and Tricks for the Final Boss

Agarios, Inherent is another fight with machines. It takes careful manipulation of buffs and exact actions to start the damaging stages. The boss is a hobgoblin. Agarios has a big head critical spot, so precision damage is quite important. The last boss, Koregos, The Worldline, is a huge Vex Harpy. To get to the core of the boss, you have to climb on top of it during the damage phase.

@RaidSecrets: The Desert Perpetual is a masterclass in raid design, from Predestination to Agarios. The mechanics are complicated, and the combat with the bosses are hard. It's time to learn this one! #Destiny2Guide #RaidStrategy

The Desert Perpetual's best loadouts and builds

The Desert Perpetual's enemies need certain sorts of weapons and subclass synergy. Contest Mode limited a lot of high-level options, while normal mode gives you more freedom and power.

Suggestions for weapons

Epoptes did well with sniper rifles and machine guns like Thunderlord. For Iatros, rocket launchers with Gjallarhorn that gave Wolfpack Rounds were good picks because they did a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Heavy grenade launchers also worked nicely. Linear Fusion Rifles like The Queenbreaker or Sleeper Simulant are great for Agarios since the boss has a big weak point. Once it is turned back on, Outbreak Perfected is a strong primary for doing damage over time.

Synergies between Subclass and Exotic Armor

Certain builds can really help you succeed. Hunters using the Celestial Nighthawk Golden Gun can do a lot of burst damage. The new Collective Psyche armor set has some cool bonuses. For example, the 2-piece bonus makes it faster to switch weapons and put them away after picking up ammo. The 4-piece bonus makes the Suspend, Unravel, and Sever effects last longer on targets, as well as the Radiant and Restoration effects on you. Prismatic subclasses let players mix and combine skills from multiple Light and Darkness subclasses to make powerful combos.

The Story of The Desert Perpetual and Edge of Fate

The Desert Perpetual attack takes place in the strange Singularity on Kepler, which is connected to the strange Nine. Maya Sundaresh's Choral Vex is the main antagonist in the raid. The story of the raid is connected to the larger Edge of Fate expansion, which starts the new Fate tale after the end of the Light and Darkness story. It looks like the Vex in the raid are trying to digitize the Singularity and pull it into the Vex network. Different beacons and Ghost Shell lore tabs throughout the raid have dialogue that suggests that the Nine have different ideas on what to do about Maya Sundaresh's acts and how to deal with them.

What the Nine and Maya Sundaresh Did

The Nine, intelligent entities made of dark matter, have watched humans for a long time. Maya Sundaresh, a well-known character from Destiny's history, plays a big part in this Vex operation. The raid looks into her reasons for doing things and the Vex's plans in this messed-up space. The story reveals that the Vex are trying hard to control or understand the Singularity, with Maya Sundaresh playing a big role in their efforts.

What People Think and the Legacy of a Long Race

There was a lot of talk in the community about the Desert Perpetual raid race. Its non-linear nature was a big change for Destiny raids, making them more strategic and fun to play again.

@D2CommunityNews: The non-linear raid design in The Desert Perpetual is a big deal for Destiny! It gives the game a lot more depth and makes it more fun to play again. Can't wait to get started! #Destiny2EdgeOfFate #DesertPerpetual

Viral Moments and Community Buzz

Thousands of people watched the World First attempt on Twitch and YouTube. The race lasted a long time, and there were a lot of memorable moments because of broken gear and server problems. People were very impressed by how dedicated the teams were to winning.

@DestinyFanatic: The Desert Perpetual raid race made me remember why I love Destiny 2. The people, the competitiveness, and the hard work! Well done to everyone who finished! #Destiny2Fam #GamingCommunity

When you compare Last Wish to Salvation's Edge

The Desert Perpetual lasts for 15 hours, making it one of the longest raid races in Destiny 2, along with the well-known Last Wish and Salvation's Edge. This length means that the mechanics are very complicated and the damage checks are very hard. Bungie's design choices for this raid were clearly meant to test even the most skilled fireteams, making for a memorable but tiring competition. The duration and difficulty of the content show that Bungie is still working on how to make endgame content better by using what they've learned from earlier raids to make new and interesting challenges.

Tips for Normal Difficulty Mode:

The Desert Perpetual is now available in its normal difficulty level after Contest Mode has ended. Normal mode is still a tough task, but it has less punishing power levels and lets you use all of your gear. Players should pay attention to learning the basic basics of each encounter. Communication is still very important. For Predestination, practice the callouts for the symbols. For Epoptes, make sure to coordinate on shield breaks first. Iatros wants quick Chronos gathering and platform execution. Agarios needs its mechanics to be timed just right. Now that you have access to all the gear, don't be scared to try out alternative loadouts and builds. Use heavy weapons that do a lot of damage against bosses and subclasses that help you stay alive or control crowds. Watching community tutorials and walkthroughs might also help you avoid frequent mistakes.

The Desert Perpetual's Rewards, Triumphs, and Secrets

The Desert Perpetual has more than just emblems to provide Guardians. There are six new legendary weapons and an unusual rocket launcher in the raid.

Triumphs in the raid give players more things to do and more points to earn. There are also collectibles and hidden secrets that make gamers want to explore every part of the Singularity. Players that finish the raid by certain dates can additionally buy special physical items, including a raid jacket and pin.