What you need to know
- Destiny 2 raids are designed with full six-man teams in mind, but many raid encounters can be completed with smaller groups.
- Intentionally beating encounters with smaller fireteams is called "low manning," and hardcore PvE players consider it one of the game's most impressive accomplishments.
- After rigorously practicing for many days, streamer TheSnazzzyRock has managed to defeat Nezarec, the final boss in Destiny 2's new Root of Nightmares raid, all by himself.
- TheSnazzzyRock is the first player to accomplish this feat, and his joyous reaction to his achievement was absolutely priceless.
While all of the raids in Bungie's live service shooter Destiny 2 are designed with a full group of six players in mind, many dedicated Guardians have found ways to complete them with significantly fewer allies on their fireteam. Successfully beating raid encounters during these "low man" runs are widely considered to be some of the most skillful accomplishments hardcore PvE fans can achieve, as without complete mastery of the raid's mechanics (and in some cases, ways to break them), top-notch endgame gear, and perfect gameplay during the encounters themselves, victory will be out of reach.
Every raid encounter in the game can be low manned with three players, and some are doable with just two. Streamer TheSnazzzyRock, though, has just made Destiny 2 history by being the first player to ever defeat Nezarec — the final boss in the new Root of Nightmares raid that comes with the Lightfall expansion — all by himself. You can watch Nezarec get Nezarekt by TheSnazzzyRock in the video of the kill below.
To understand why this achievement is so impressive, it's important to know how this encounter works. To get to a damage phase in this fight, players first have to repeatedly get a buff on both the left (Light) and right (Dark) side of the boss' arena and use it to connect a series of plates, completing a sequence on each side. While you do this, Nezarec will actively hunt you down, and will eventually begin charging a wipe attack that can instantly kill your team. The only way to save yourself is to shoot weak spots on his shoulders, check the color of the resulting energy burst (Light or Dark), and take a buff from the opposite side of the arena to a plate on the side that matches the energy burst. This creates a refuge that nullifies Nezarec's wipe. Oh, and throughout this entire process, non-stop waves of enemies spawn, too.
The fight is actually pretty easy to do with a team, but attempting it solo requires perfect movement and tons of on the fly ad clear and crowd control. In addition to dealing with the plate and refuge mechanics without any help, you also have to avoid dying to Nezarec's aggressive attacks and stay on top of the legions of Cabal putting constant pressure on you. Then, once all that is done, you have to quickly swap over to a damage-focused Destiny 2 build and flawlessly execute DPS with every buff, debuff, and meta piece of gear at your disposal. And if you're not able to kill him after three DPS phases? Well, Nezarec will simply Enrage and wipe you.
Put simply, it's an incredibly demanding and difficult challenge, but TheSnazzzyRock was able to pull it off by using a combination of the Warlock class' Icarus Dashes for rapid movement, the Well of Radiance Super for healing and damage buffs, powerful Exotics like Sunbracers and Starfire Protocol, and a huge variety of top-tier weapons capable of crowd controlling mobs or dishing out tons of damage to Nezarec during DPS.
Every second of the twelve-and-a-half minute boss kill is an absolute joy to watch, but without a doubt, my favorite part of the video is TheSnazzzyRock's priceless reaction to his success. After landing the killing blow on Nezarec, he loosed a series of triumphant and relieved exclamations that accentuated his pure, unbridled excitement. This is clearly something the streamer has been rigorously practicing ever since the community figured out Nezarec was soloable, so seeing him go bananas over his World's First accomplishment gave me quite a chuckle and absolutely made my day.
If you enjoy watching Destiny 2 low man challenges like this, you should definitely give TheSnazzzyRock a follow on his Twitch and YouTube channels. He attempts solo and duo raid challenges all the time, and even managed to solo the Gatekeeper Vault of Glass encounter a few months ago — a feat that most players originally deemed impossible.
Congratulations on showing the so-called "Final God of Pain" who the real boss is, TheSnazzzyRock. We can't wait to see which raid encounters you'll absolutely destroy next.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PCs, and PlayStation systems. In it, you'll take the fight to Emperor Calus, get access to Strand subclasses and their unique abilities, and more. It also unlocks the Root of Nightmares raid, allowing you to challenge the deadly forces within.
