Destiny 2 Desert Perpetual Epic Raid Guide – Complete Walkthrough

Here’s our comprehensive guide on how to complete every encounter in the new Desert Perpetual Epic raid in Destiny 2.

The Epic version of the Desert Perpetual raid is finally live in Destiny 2, and it brings some new changes to the activity. It adds completely new mechanics and a new batch of rewards that make it worth running even if you’ve already cleared the regular version a dozen times.

Along with updated weapons and armor, the Epic raid has also added an entirely new encounter, only available in this version. It changes the final boss fight completely, where you’ll now have to fight all of the previous raid bosses in the final encounter as well, with some very interesting time-related mechanics.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to beat the Desert Perpetual Epic raid.

Iatros, Inward-Turned – The Living Rhythm Encounter

If you ran this encounter on normal, you already know it involves climbing three sets of floating platforms while your team shoots specific boxes to help a single jumper reach white cubes. But there are some changes to the encounter in the Epic version.

What’s different in the Epic version

Where Minotaurs spawn and what they drop: Instead of only mid, Minotaurs appear in Left, Spawn, and Right sections. Each section drops one fixed Chronon color for that phase (for example, Left=Blue, Spawn=Red, Right=White). This section > color map can change after a wipe or after damage.

How you pick the dunk color: The Hourglass ring in the center spins and hides its required color until a runner stands in a Vex pool to get the read. After any jump through the ring, it resets after ~3 seconds and changes color, so re-read each time.

Diastole timing for the Jumper: When the Diastole timer pops, being on the ground now suspends you; the Jumper should plan to be airborne at the tick.

Three colored capsules appear near the Jumper’s plate. Capsule color = box height on the pillars (Red = Bottom, White = Middle, Blue = Top). Three shooters take plates and get random Temporality (Constant / Absolute / Cyclical), which assigns them to a pillar; after the first correct shot, two shooters’ debuffs can swap, so lanes may change mid-cycle.

How the Encounter Works

Clear to spawn Minotaurs in Left / Spawn / Right. Kill one in each section to learn which color drops there; that mapping sticks for the current phase. A runner stands in a Vex pool to reveal the ring’s current color, then both runners double-dunk that color.

The ring resets ~3s and changes color each jump, so re-read, re-dunk, and repeat until you’ve dunked 6 Chronons (three pairs) to start Diastole. Write down the sequence you used (for example, Blue > White > Red). You’ll repeat this same pattern during DPS.

Three shooters step on plates and receive Constant / Absolute / Cyclical, assigning each to Left / Spawn / Right pillars. The Jumper reads the three capsules by their colors and calls the heights to hit. (Red=Bottom, White=Middle, Blue=Top)

Hit all three correct boxes together to let the Jumper climb that tier—then capsule colors update for the next set. After the first correct volley, two shooters’ debuffs may swap, so quickly confirm your new pillar before the next shots. Keep going until the Jumper grabs the tier’s cube.

Once the Jumper gets the last cube for that cycle, DPS begins. Watch out for incoming fire while you set wells and supers. Meanwhile, the two Runners repeat the exact color sequence they used to open Diastole, at the same rotating ring, using a fresh Vex-pool read before each dunk since the ring color changes after every jump.

Doing this prevents the wipe and can extend your damage time. If Iatros lives, go back to step 2 for another climb cycle.

Team Setup

• Jumper (1): This player climbs platforms to reach the cube. They must jump just before the Diastole timer hits. If they’re still on the ground when the timer pops, they’ll get suspended midair and can’t climb.
• Box Shooters (3): Step on plates to get one of three random debuffs: Constant, Absolute, or Cyclical. Each debuff maps to a specific pillar:
  • Constant = Left pillar (a.k.a. “Cave”)
  • Absolute = Middle pillar (“Spawn”)
  • Cyclical = Right pillar (“Stairs”)
• Shoot the height that matches your capsule color. Be ready for debuff swaps after the first successful shot.
• Chronon Runners (2): Farm Minotaurs in Left / Spawn / Right to learn the section > color map for the phase and keep it in mind. Grab the Vex-pool read to see what color the rotating ring wants, then double-dunk (two of the same color back-to-back). During DPS, repeat the exact opening dunk pattern to push the phase and avoid a wipe.

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Agraios, Inherent – The Inverse Function

What’s different in the Epic version

This room adds color routing and resets. You line up particle accelerators to colors, collect matching colored Chronons from Minotaurs, and dunk them into the correct hoop. Dunking at the center can reset which colors Minotaurs drop, so you have to keep re-establishing your farm spots.

Most of your damage happens at range, and the last chunk (aka the Final Stand) plays out as a short “find and delete the clone that matches your buff” moment before you finish the real boss.

How the Encounter Works

At the start, your readers stand on special plates that reveal which accelerators line up with which colors. Think of it as a map: two accelerators might be blue, two might be red, and one might be white (the exact split is two-two-one).

Runners then farm Minotaurs for the color you currently need. If anyone dunks at the center ring, it resets the Minotaur color rules: the next Minotaur you kill will drop the color of the spot it spawned on. That means you may have to move your farm to a different nest after a reset. Keep the map updated and don’t waste time picking up the wrong color.

You progress by carrying the right color to the hoop that matches the readers’ map. While this is happening, hold lanes and be ready to reflect the boss’s laser when it lines up. The fight favors safe, long-range play until the very end.

In Final Stand, split into three pairs, grab your buffs, and look for the Agraios clone whose aura matches your buff near the towers. Each pair handles their matching clone; once all three are down, the center boss opens for a quick finish.

Team Setup

• Readers: Stand on the plates, call the accelerator > color map (two-two-one), and announce if a center dunk reset means the team needs to move farms.
• Runners: Farm Minotaurs for the color you need right now, carry to the correct hoop, and avoid accidental center resets unless called.
• Flex/Range: Hold adds, help with the laser reflect, and keep positions safe; in Final Stand, pair up and hunt the clone that matches your buff.

Order of Operations

• Readers set the color map (two-two-one) > runners farm the correct color > dunk into the matching hoop.
• If the center gets dunked, call ‘reset,” relocate farms based on new spawn spots, and refresh the map.
• Keep adds down, reflect laser on cue, and maintain range until Final Stand.
• Final Stand: split into pairs > pick up buffs > each pair finds and kills the matching-color Agraios near the towers > burn the center boss to finish.

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Epoptes, Lord of Quanta – The Clear Sight

What’s different in the Epic version

The inside call is now a two-step pattern, damage has four large shields to play around, and two players can get teleported at the start of damage to clear an extra shield inside. The basic shape of the fight is the same, but the timing and communication are stricter.

How the Encounter Works

When the side rooms open, each inside player stands in the light and looks at the eyes. Two eyes glow first, call both, and the inside team breaks those two. Right after that, one of those eyes glows again. Call that single eye, and the opposite side (outside) shoots it from the main room as if they just received a normal “which eye” call.

That completes the exchange for that side. Do the same timing on the other side, and the boss opens up. During damage, four big shields appear around the arena. Teams get consistent results by setting up between the shields, clearing adds as needed, and holding position for a stable burn.

At the start of damage, two random players can be teleported into a side room to clear an extra shield. It works just like the normal shield break: handle it quickly and get back to the middle so the whole team keeps uptime. If you have access to strong turret options from above, set them before the phase to smooth things out.

Team Setup

• Inside Readers (left and right): Do the two-eye call, break both, then call the single eye that re-glows so the opposite side can respond.
• Outside Shooters: Watch for the follow-up call from the other side and break that single eye from the main room.
• DPS/Float: Anchor between the four shields, cover adds, and if you’re teleported at the start of damage, finish the inner shield break and return to burn.

Order of Operations

• Inside: Call two glowing eyes > break both > call the one that lights up again.
• Outside (opposite side): Break the called single eye from the main room.
• Damage: Position between shields > burn > if teleported, clear the extra shield inside and return to the center.

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Koregos, Fractured in Time – Final Encounter

This is the final boss fight in the Epic version of the Desert Perpetual raid, and yeah, it’s very long. This encounter is split across six different phases, and the best way to approach it is to think of it as three separate “minigame + damage” loops, followed by one big final climb and burn.

There’s a lot going on, buff juggling, breaking crystals, and swapping roles, but once you understand the rhythm, it becomes surprisingly doable (like all the other raid mechanics before). Here’s how the full thing works.

Phase 1: Banishment & Buff Setup

The fight kicks off by sending two random players into a different timeline. They go through a triangular portal and enter a dimension where they’re marked as Excluded From Reality. Once they’re in, they kill a Cyclops at the far end of that room and then leave.

At the same time, the remaining four players stay outside and deal with another Cyclops that spawns in front of the portal.

After this, two more pairs (your team can pick who) each grab a buff cube from the center of the arena. These give you buffs like Constant, Absolute, or Cyclical, and you’ll need them for the minigames that follow.

Phase 2: Minigame, Chronon Dunking, and Puzzle Solving

Now, two chosen players go into a laser-covered side room. Their job is to kill some Imps inside. Doing this causes a mini-boss to spawn outside for the rest of the team.

While that mini-boss is active, your outside team needs to figure out what color Chronon the fight is asking for. You’ll find colored zones near the portals on the outer edge of the arena—those are your clues.

There are two ways to figure out the correct color:

• You can just try one. Pick a color, kill the mini-boss, everyone picks up a Chronon, and one player runs through the dunk ring. If it was wrong, they die. Then you try again with a new color.
• Or you wait until the fight timer hits the last third. That’s when Worldline Stability kicks in and shows you the correct color automatically.

Once you’re sure of the right color, your inside team kills Imps again, and the outside team grabs four of the correct color Chronons and dunks them. That unlocks the next stage.

Minigame Variants (Hydra, Wyvern, Hobgoblin)

Now you’ll face one of three possible enemies. Each one brings a unique little mechanic. You’ll only do one minigame per phase, but you’ll see all three over the course of the fight.

If the enemy is a Hydra, one player grabs the Constant buff and stands in a beam to charge a bar. The other player looks at two glowing blue portals, finds the one they both see, and dunks into it. That lets the Constant player break a crystal, and then you do damage.

If it’s a Wyvern, you do a quick version of the old box-shooting minigame. Each player shoots three boxes, but after every box, you’ll get detained. Just call it out and make sure you don’t shoot while detained. After both players finish, the Wyvern opens up.

If it’s a Hobgoblin, one player grabs a plate to get a Temporality buff. The other player stays unbuffed. The buffed player sees glowing eyes underneath the boss, and the unbuffed player shoots those. Do that three times, and the fight progresses.

Once the minigame is complete, the enemy die,s and the next message on screen is “Undoing of [X]”—which means it’s time to break some crystals and do real damage.

Phase 3: Crystal Breaking and DPS

This part starts with crystal spawns. There are two kinds:

1. Outer Crystals—These match one of the Temporality buffs. If you have that buff (say, Constant), you go break the Constant-marked crystal outside the arena.
2. Inner Crystals—These are broken by players without any buff at all.

In the first damage phase, you only need to break one inner crystal.
In the second, it’s two.
In the third, you’ll need to break three.

The more you progress, the more complicated it gets. But once all the correct crystals are broken, the boss becomes vulnerable, and you can go all in with damage. This is a clean DPS window—no Chronon dunking here. Just be aware that the laser mechanic from earlier phases still exists, so bring resistance or stay mobile.

After the damage phase ends, you’ll get a checkpoint and can place a rally flag.

Phase 4: Buff Rotation and Second Minigame

This next phase follows the same structure, but the game gives new people a chance to get the buffs.

Whoever completes the second minigame gets the buff linked to the boss they fought. So if you just beat a Hydra, you’ll now have Constant; if it was a Wyvern, you’ll have Cyclical. These buffs determine which outer crystal each person will break during the next DPS phase.

The goal here is to make sure everyone in your fireteam eventually gets a Temporality buff, so by the time you reach the later stages, all six of you are ready to handle mechanics properly.

Break crystals as soon as they appear to speed things up, and then go straight into damage like before.

Phase 5: Final Minigame and Big Damage Plate Phase

Once you’ve done three minigame loops, you unlock the big final damage section.

After finishing the third minigame and breaking the crystals, everyone moves to the back-right side of the arena. That’s where a triangular area opens up with three plates.

Five players (who all have some type of Temporality) step onto those plates—one or two per plate is fine. The sixth player, who doesn’t have a buff, needs to stay off.

Here’s where it gets tricky:
During damage, one buffed player gets trapped inside a crystal field. They interact with the crystal, and then the non-buffed player has to shoot the crystal to destroy it.

After that, someone will randomly lose their buff, so your team needs to quickly rotate who’s doing what. You repeat this a few times to extend the damage window.

If you’ve got decent damage up to this point, you can finish the boss here—but there’s still one more sequence if needed.

Phase 6: Final Platforming and Last Stand

Everyone gets pulled into a portal together.

Now you’re in a floating platform space, kind of like the Wyvern climb. But here’s the important part: there are six cubes, and each player can only grab one. If someone grabs two, someone else dies.

Pick a cube order ahead of time so no one grabs early or skips.

If anyone falls during the climb, there’s a small elevator that brings you back up. No need to waste a super to recover.

Once you reach the top, Koregos selects two players to get the Absolute buff. Each of them interacts with a crystal, which marks it. Then, non-buffed players shoot the marked crystals to begin damage.

During this damage phase, the boss will go immune briefly, and one random player will get Absolute. That person breaks the next crystal, calls out which one they broke, and the team shoots again.

Repeat until the boss is dead.

When it’s over, jump off the platform and hide—the usual wipe mechanic is still active, and if you just stand there, the whole team dies even after winning.

Order of Operations

• Two random players are teleported through the triangular portal
• Inside pair kills Cyclops in the back room
• Outside team kills Cyclops at the portal
• Two pairs of players grab Temporality cubes from the center
• Two chosen players enter the laser room, kill Imps
• Imps spawn a mini-boss outside
• Team aligns with a Chronon color (from pads near portals)
• Kill mini-boss > it drops 4 Chronons of that color
• One player tests dunk color (or wait for Worldline Stability to show the correct color)
• Dunk 4 Chronons through the hoop
• Shoot the diamond to begin the minigame
• If Hydra:
  • One player with Constant stands in the beam
  • The second player finds the matching blue portal and dunks
  • Constant breaks the crystal > DPS Hydra
• If Wyvern:
  • Each player shoots 3 boxes, one at a time
  • You get detained after each box — call it out
  • After 3 each > damage phase
• If Hobgoblin:
  • One player gets the Temporality buff from the plate
  • The second player has no buff
  • Buffed player sees glowing eyes > unbuffed player shoots them (3 total)
• Break outer crystal (by matching Temporality)
• Break inner crystal(s) (by non-buffed players):
  • 1 crystal in Phase 1
  • 2 crystals in Phase 2
  • 3 crystals in Phase 3
• Boss becomes damageable > burn
• Place a rally after the damage ends
• New minigame starts
• Players who do the minigame get buffs tied to the boss type
• Repeat the same process:
  • Imps > miniboss > dunk > shoot diamond > run minigame
  • Break crystals
  • Damage phase again
• After third minigame + crystal break:
  • Move to the back-right triangular area
  • Three plates spawn
  • 5 buffed players stand on plates (1–2 per plate)
  • 1 non-buffed player stays off
• During DPS:
  • One buffed player gets trapped with a crystal
  • They interact > non-buffed player shoots the crystal
  • Random buff is removed > swap players and repeat
  • Continue loop to extend damage window
• Whole team enters portal
• Platforming section begins:
  • Each player grabs 1 cube (no more!)
  • Set the cube order ahead of time
  • If someone falls, take the elevator back up
• At the top:
  • Two players get Absolute
  • Each interacts with a crystal > non-buffed players shoot
  • The boss goes immune briefly > and one player randomly gets Absolute
  • They break the crystal > the team shoots again
  • Repeat this until Koregos dies
• After kill:
  • Jump off the platform and hide to avoid the final wipe!

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That’s the whole thing. We’ll be updating this guide if we find any errors in the mechanics since the raid came out yesterday, so everyone is still figuring out how the whole thing works.

If you thing something is incorrect, let us know in the comments and we’ll update it right away!