Completing Desert Perpetual Raid Builds: A Solving Guide

The new Desert Perpetual raid in Destiny 2’s Edge of Fate expansion is set to challenge your Guardian like never before. For the first 48 hours, players will encounter a Contest difficulty mode, featuring tougher enemies and a significant Power level deficit. Finishing the campaign on Legendary will elevate your Power Level to the necessary mark, but there’s more to be prepared for.

Successfully navigating this raid, especially at tougher levels, will necessitate strong builds and effective teamwork. While we can’t assist with the coordination part, we can provide you with some recommended builds to kick things off. In this guide, we’ll share nine builds specifically designed for conquering the Desert Perpetual raid—three for each Guardian class.

Hunter Builds

Prismatic – Threaded Ascension

This build is designed to handle adds swiftly while minimizing your exposure to danger. With the Threaded Spike as your melee, you can tag numerous enemies with Sever, cutting their damage by 40%. Following this, use Ascension to jolt nearby targets, activating Gambler’s Dodge to reset Threaded Spike and unleash another damaging throw. Threaded Spike autonomously tracks enemies as long as you hit a target.

Amplified, which you gain from Ascension, provides an extra 15% damage resistance and increases your chances of dodging enemy projectiles. Coupled with Facet of Protection, you’ll earn x1 Restoration each time you gather an Orb of Power—something that happens frequently thanks to x3 Heavy Handed mods on your gloves and two Powerful Attraction mods on your class item.

Ascension activates armor mods, allowing you to trigger your aerial spin to collect nearby orbs. Incorporate some surge mods on your legs, and while this build may not eclipse a dedicated Celestial Nighthawk loadout for DPS, it still holds its ground.

Prismatic – Celestial Nighthawk DPS

When it comes to dealing damage to bosses, Hunters excel with Blade Barrage or Golden Gun – Marksman. Given that Blade Barrage is tied to the Gunslinger subclass, which is often considered the least powerful for Hunters, we’ll focus on Golden Gun for the Prismatic raid. Using Celestial Nighthawk will enhance Golden Gun to deliver a single, high-damage shot. You can amplify this further with Facet of Courage along with the new Super stat—at 200 Super, your Golden Gun will inflict 45% more damage, which is slightly more than the effects of two Star-Eater Scales stacks.

To maintain your survival during the encounter, we recommend employing Stylish Executioner. This will allow you to become invisible each time you eliminate a debuffed enemy. You can trigger this with Gunpowder Gamble or through weapons with elemental perks like Chill Clip or Incandescent. The Facet of Protection generates Restoration when you create Orbs of Power, which can be accomplished with Firepower mods on your gloves.

For actual DPS, running Still Hunt alongside Hezen Vengeance is your best bet. Celestial Nighthawk will turn the Golden Gun shot from Still Hunt into a one-time, high-damage round. Fire a Golden Gun shot, deplete your magazine, switch to Hezen Vengeance, fire off a few rockets, switch back to Still Hunt, and repeat. If you’re utilizing Bait and Switch, you’ll need to fire the weapon in your Kinetic slot during your DPS rotations as well to maintain the perk. It’s a demanding playstyle but yields exceptional DPS.

Strand – Whirling Maelstrom

DIM Link
Subclass	Threadrunner
Exotic	Cyrtarachne’s Facade Alternative: Moiria
Ideal Stats	Weapons + Grenade Gunner Archetype
Role	Add Clear & Boss DPS

Titan Builds

Prismatic – Consecration Titan

Details for the Prismatic – Consecration Titan build will be provided here.

Arc – Storm’s Keep

Bolt Charge may not receive benefits from artifact perks this season, but Storm’s Keep remains a solid choice in today’s gameplay. Utilizing Rally Barricade in conjunction with the Storm’s Keep Aspect effectively transforms your team’s weapons into Thunderlord. These lightning strikes can enhance your team’s DPS with little effort.

If your focus is purely on damage, equip Cuirass of the Falling Star to significantly amplify your Thundercrash damage. However, if your priority lies more in clearing adds or leveraging machine guns as a DPS method, Actium War Rig is a great option this season. It is featured as an Exotic and received notable buffs, enhancing ammo generation and damage for auto rifles and machine guns, including Choir of One.

This might not make Thunderlord an ideal choice for Contest, but it’s certainly worth considering.

Strand – Stronghold

DIM Link
Subclass	Berserker
Exotic	Stronghold
Ideal Stats	Melee + Health Brawler Archetype
Role	Tank & Melee DPS

Stronghold is essentially the closest thing to a tank build in Destiny 2. Blocking with your sword draws all enemy attention and maximizes your sword’s guard ability. If you defeat enemies shortly after blocking, you gain x2 Restoration for a considerable time. Pair this with Into the Fray for an easy source of Woven Mail, enhancing your survivability.

As for swords, your best bet is Abyssal Edge from Episode: Heresy. Flash Counter will allow you to deal damage while blocking, which counts as landing an attack to build Redirection stacks. Block a few hits, then strike the target with a sword that deals 100% more damage. If you lack this sword, any one with Flash Counter is an excellent choice.

Give this setup a shot if you’re tasked with drawing enemy fire or engaging a boss up close. If your team requires additional damage, you can easily switch to Striker to enable Bolt Charge while near a barricade.

Warlock Builds

Prismatic – Lightning Surge

With the Prismatic raid, utilizing Song of Flame allows you to constantly provide Radiant uptime and damage resistance for your team during boss fights. Make sure another Warlock is using Well of Radiance, allowing your team to withstand nearly anything that Contest difficulty throws at you.

Solar – Medic

This build is straightforward—simply drop a Healing Grenade to provide health for your team and use your Healing Rift for extra support and a Hellion companion to burn enemies. Cast Well of Radiance to enhance your team’s DPS during boss encounters, making you the ultimate support player. If needed, consider using a healing Auto Rifle like No Hesitation for even more support in Contest mode.

Solar – Sunbracers

DIM Link
Subclass	Dawnblade
Exotic	Sunbracers
Ideal Stats	Grenade + Super Grenadier Archetype
Role	Add Clear & Boss DPS

Sunbracers remains an excellent Exotic for aggressive players who want to give their Dawnblade a more explosive twist. With Solar Grenade equipped, getting a melee kill will effectively grant you three additional grenades. Touch of Flame will empower your Solar Grenade to fire magma blobs, allowing you to take down yellow bars and even some minibosses with ease.