Destiny 2 The Desert Perpetual Raid boss guide: Epoptes, Lord of Quanta

Destiny 2's newest Raid in The Edge of Fate expansion comes with a twist in the very beginning. Once players go through the opening jump section, they can encounter any one of three available boss fights in the entire Raid. Hence, The Desert Perpetual is a non-linear activity, where a fireteam can choose their first encounter every week.

This article focuses on one of the bosses that comes in the form of a shielded Hydra. The foe is called Epoptes, Lord of Quanta, and it presents a very mechanic-heavy fight for the Guardians.

Epoptes boss mechanic explained in Destiny 2: The Desert Perpetual Raid

Here is a list of mechanics and every task players must do to start the Epoptes boss DPS phase:

Starting mechanic:

The boss arena consists of three main sections, each with two rooms on either side, and a central section featuring a pillar. Make three teams, with two players on each side.

A Cyclops will spawn on both sides; defeating it will activate a plate with a buff.
Each player from both sides has to stand on the plate and take the buff at the same time. This buff lasts for 30 seconds.
The buff is called "Cyclical Temporality."
This buff lets the carrier align with a Hydra's light, see glowing lights, and then destroy eyes on the shield based on callouts.
The task here for the buff carrier is the same for both sides, so let us take the right side as an example.

Right and left rooms:

Hydra shield eyes and light in Destiny 2 Raid (Image via Bungie/DattoYT)

The buff carrier on the right will enter a room with a Hydra boss and align with the Hydra's glowing light. While the carrier is aligning with the light, they need to look for a light on the wall. The pattern on the wall is top---top right---top left---bottom---bottom left---bottom right. It is essentially a Hexagon formation. The same pattern can be found on the Hydra's shield and the wall of the other room.

Now, if the buff carrier in the right room sees that the top-right light on the wall is glowing, they will call out "top right." The carrier on the left will listen to that call and shoot the "top right" on the Hydra's shield in their room. Typically, the player in the left room will call out similarly, and the right room carrier will follow.

The same mechanic will carry on until all eyes are destroyed.

Middle area:

Epoptes will start a mechanic with the message "Epoptes blocks the unforeseen," spawning a triangle over the heads of the two Hydras in two rooms. The players in the middle must now grab the buffs from two plates on two sides, and align with the light emitting from the middle Hydra. When aligned, look for two glowing lights in the middle pillar.

This should be available on two sides of the same pillar.

Bulbs in the middle platform of Destiny 2 Raid (Image via Bungie)

The pattern on the middle pillar is a triangle, so look for two glowing lights, and call out the one that is not glowing. You can set the callout for this as Top---Left---Right.

For example, if you are a carrier in the middle, and you are calling out the lightless bulb on the left side of the pillar, then the carrier in the left room will listen to the call, look for a triangle on top of the Hydra in their room, and shoot the exact ball on the triangle based on the callout from the middle.

Triangle over Hydra's health in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie/DattoYT)

Here's a scenario: The carrier in the middle calls out "left" by seeing the left side of the pillar having a lightless bulb on the left side of the triangle. This means that "top" and "right" are glowing. The carrier in the left room will see a triangle on top of Hydra, and shoot the left ball in the triangle over Hydra's head.

Next, the middle carrier will shoot the other two glowing bulbs on their side. The same mechanism applies to the pillar's right side and the corresponding room. Once all eyes have been destroyed in either room, the DPS phase starts.

DPS phase:

During the damage phase, two players will be randomly picked, and they will carry the "Cyclical Temporality." These two players will then walk over to the two glowing lights on the boss' shield and destroy six eyes as they appear on the shield. Doing so extends the damage phase.

Repeat the same process until the boss is dead.

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About the author

Soumyadeep is a Journalist on Esports & Gaming at Sportskeeda, specializing in Destiny 2 and Gacha games. He holds a diploma in Computer Science and is also keen on game development. He enjoys spending his free time learning new languages and digging into MMORPGs, manga, and light novels.

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Edited by Soumyadeep Banerjee