Destiny 2's Raids are some of the most rewarding PvE activities available in the game, as the weapons they drop are often incredibly powerful and you can get some great high-stat armor from them, too. You'll get plenty of great rewards from completing them normally, but you can get even better loot by successfully completing Raid challenges. Each encounter in Raids has a challenge associated with it, and whenever you complete that challenge while it's active, you'll get bonus rewards.
Challenges for the reprised King's Fall Raid — the latest Raid experience that Bungie has added to Destiny 2 — are now available. Here's an overview of everything you need to know about them, including which challenge is active this week, how the challenges rotate, the types of bonus rewards you can expect, and guides on how to beat each challenge.
Note that this guide assumes you already understand how to beat each King's Fall Raid encounter normally, so we won't go over the basics of them here. If you're looking for a complete walkthrough, check out our full Destiny 2 King's Fall Raid guide.
Destiny 2 King's Fall Raid challenge this week
Like all other Raid challenges in Destiny 2, King's Fall challenges rotate weekly, with the rotation specifically taking place every weekly reset (Tuesdays at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET). The rotation order starts with the challenge for the first encounter in the Raid and ends with the challenge for the final one. After this, the rotation resets.
The active King's Fall raid challenge this week is "Under Construction," which is available during the Daughters encounter. You can find a guide that goes over how to complete the challenge below.
Destiny 2 King's Fall Raid challenge rewards
Upon successfully completing a challenge, you'll be rewarded with some extra and/or improved loot compared to what you'd get completing the encounter normally. However, the type of reward you get varies depending on the difficulty you're playing through the Raid on. Here's a look at what you'll get for completing King's Fall challenges on both Normal and Master difficulty.
Normal: Extra weapon and armor drops
For completing active King's Fall Raid challenges in the Normal version of the Raid, you'll get an extra loot drop from the encounter. This means you'll get two pieces of gear instead of one, which gives you a significantly better chance at getting something you're happy with.
Note that this extra drop may be a weapon or a piece of armor, and will also drop as a Pinnacle reward that will help raise your Power Level. This will no longer be the case when Destiny 2's next Raid releases and King's Fall encounters stop awarding Pinnacle drops, however.
Master: Adept (Harrowed) weapons
Whenever you complete the active Raid challenge while playing King's Fall on Master difficulty, a unique Adept (also known as "Harrowed") version of one of the King's Fall Raid weapons will drop. Compared to standard King's Fall weapons, these Harrowed ones have better base stats and can also be fitted with Adept weapon mods that are more potent and effective compared to regular ones.
How to beat the Totems 'The Grass is Always Greener' challenge
- Challenge objective: Players cannot get one of the two brands (Brand of the Unraveler or Brand of the Weaver) twice in a row.
The Totems encounter is arguably the easiest encounter in the King's Fall Raid, so it's fitting that it also has one of the easiest challenges. To successfully complete this challenge, all you have to do is make sure that each player runs to the opposite Totem with the Brand Stealer buff instead of the same one after they deposit their Deathsinger's Power stacks on the middle plate. This will allow them to alternate the type of Brand they take from an ally each cycle, fulfilling the challenge requirements.
Something to keep in mind while completing this challenge is that in general, there will be more enemy spawns in the right Totem room than the left one. Because of this, we recommend saving your best ad clear tools, like Power ammo for Machine Guns and grenade abilities, for when you have to go into the right side.
How to beat the Warpriest 'Devious Thievery' challenge
- Challenge objective: Players have to steal the Brand from their teammate in five seconds or less after picking up the Brand Stealer buff.
This is probably the most difficult challenge of the bunch, though it's not too bad. The simplest way to complete this challenge is to always have the team do damage to the Warpriest in the middle of the arena so that the players that kill the Knights and take their Brand Stealer buff can reliably get to the person holding the Brand and steal it in the five-second window. While this makes fulfilling the challenge requirements easy, you will have to end damage phases a few seconds early so that the team has enough time to jump up to the left or right tablets that shield everyone from the Warpriest's incoming Searing Torrent attack (remember, you can only use each tablet for protection, including the one in the middle, once).
There's also an alternative method that allows your team to maximize the length of damage phases by doing damage where the Brand spawns as you normally would, though it requires the Brand Stealers to use an Arc 3.0 build and waste absolutely no time reaching and stealing the Brand. The key here is the Arc 3.0 Amplified buff that gives you a big sprint speed and jump height boost, which makes it possible to move across the entire arena and steal the Brand in the challenge's five second window. Try and leave a handful of red bar enemies alive so that the Brand Stealers can easily kill them to proc Amplified before killing their Knight and getting the Brand Stealer ability.
How to beat the Golgoroth 'Gaze Amaze' challenge
- Challenge objective: The player holding Golgoroth's Gaze has to be in a Pool of Reclaimed Light when another player takes the Gaze.
This challenge requires precise timing and clear communication, although it's ultimately not very difficult as long as that's not an issue for your fireteam. Since Golgoroth constantly shoots deadly Axion Darts at the player holding his Gaze, you don't want to stand in the Pools of Reclaimed Light your teammates are doing damage from for long. If you do, your allies may be hit and killed by the Axion Darts Golgoroth is shooting at you.
Instead, it's best to step into a Pool of Reclaimed Light right before the player trading Golgoroth's Gaze with you takes it. This minimizes the risk of your team dying to Axion Darts. Have your partner do the same when you take the Gaze back, repeating until Golgoroth is dead.
We recommend having the Gaze holders agree on a time to both jump in the Reclaimed Pools of Light and to take Golgoroth's Gaze to prevent any issues. For example, you could have the current Gaze holder always jump into a Pool of Reclaimed Light when the Golgoroth's Gaze timer reaches five seconds, then have the other player always steal the Gaze when the timer reaches two seconds.
How to beat the Daughters 'Under Construction' challenge
- Challenge objective: Players not Torn Between Dimensions cannot stand on the same plate twice before a damage phase occurs.
This challenge is simple, but requires rapid repositioning. The easiest way to complete it is to have all four plate players rotate clockwise or counterclockwise to a different plate each time an orb is collected. This guarantees that players won't ever stand on the same plate twice before a damage phase occurs.
In the event that a plate player becomes Torn Between Dimensions, one of the two players acting as a "float" in the middle of the arena has to take their place in the plate rotation. Once the Torn player collects the orb, they then become a "float" themselves and will need to be ready to jump onto a plate if another plate player becomes Torn.
Something to keep in mind is that once your team starts and completes a damage phase, the tracked plate activations reset. Therefore, don't worry about stepping on a plate you previously stepped on if the last time you did so was before your most recent damage phase.
How to beat the Oryx 'Hands Off' challenge
- Challenge objective: Players cannot kill the same Lighteater Ogre or Knight more than one time during the encounter.
This challenge is very similar to the previous one in that the best strategy for completing it is exactly the same. Once again, you should have all four plate players rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, though instead of doing so each time a teammate collects an orb, the rotations should be done after each damage phase against Oryx. This ensures no player will kill the same Lighteater Ogre or Knight twice.
Note that unless you're responsible for a plate, you shouldn't be killing Lighteater Ogres or Knights at all. This is because the "float" players may need to fill in for a plate player just like they occasionally have to in the Daughters encounter, and if they end up filling in at a plate where they've already killed the Ogre and Knight that spawns near it once before, they'll need to ask someone to kill them for them. This can seriously mess with your team's flow and will likely lead to mistakes, especially on Master difficulty.
Be brave, Guardians
The King's Fall Raid challenges can be tough in some ways, but you should absolutely give completing them a shot. Getting extra gear drops and Harrowed King's Fall weapons is one of the best ways to prepare for the upcoming Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion, as all the loot from the Raid is top-tier and will no doubt be part of the Destiny 2 metagame for a long time.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is slated to arrive on Feb. 28, 2023, and will include a brand-new story campaign set on Neptune, a new Raid, tons of new weapons and armors, and more. Destiny 2: Lightfall preorders are available now for $50, and notably, the DLC includes the Season Pass for the first season of Destiny 2 Year Six.
