Destiny 2 Raid Prep: Everything You Need Before Your First Clear

Destiny 2 raids feel intimidating from the outside. Once you've cleared one, you realize they're mostly procedure, not mechanical skill. Six players executing a known sequence with clean callouts. This guide is what every first-time raider should read before joining their first LFG.

If you've never touched a raid, this gets you to "I won't be carried, I'll contribute." That's the actual goal of prep - not to solo-carry your fireteam, just to not be the player holding them back.

The five rules that matter more than any specific mechanic

1. Know the encounter callouts before you queue. Not optional. If your fireteam calls "left dunk, mid relic" and you don't know what any of those words mean, you're wiping the team. Watch a 10-minute callout guide for the raid on YouTube before even joining the LFG.
2. Play a build you can survive in. Sherpa-level DPS means nothing if you die on first damage phase. A slightly-less-damage setup that keeps you alive doubles your effective contribution.
3. Come with ammo. Heavy brick economy in raids is tight. Special ammo finder, scavenger perks, or the right ammo-economy class build matters.
4. Call out what you see, even if you're new. "I took relic left" is useful. Silence is useless. Even a wrong call is better than nothing - the team corrects it; silence just wipes you.
5. Don't ask mid-mechanic questions. Ask in pre-encounter pause. Mid-encounter, listen, execute, then ask after the wipe.

Internalize those five before you worry about loadouts.

Gear prep: what to bring

Power level

Every raid has a soft floor and a hard floor. Soft floor: you take normal damage. Hard floor (usually 15 levels under): you take massively increased damage and deal reduced damage. Aim for at or above the soft floor across all three weapons + armor slots. Don't show up "just barely over hard floor" - it's a quiet drain on the fireteam's DPS.

The loadout template for a new raider

Regardless of subclass, your kit should cover:

• Primary weapon - an auto rifle, pulse rifle, or hand cannon with a reload perk. Use ammo you'll see drop consistently.
• Special weapon - a sniper OR a shotgun (one-shot add-clear is the beginner-friendly option). A fusion rifle if you're comfortable with its charge time for DPS.
• Heavy - a rocket launcher OR a heavy grenade launcher. Your go-to DPS window. Heavy-machine-guns work but fall off against boss-health pools.
• Exotic - Crown of Tempests, Celestial Nighthawk, Omnioculus, Citan's Ramparts - pick one that enables survivability or DPS rather than flashy utility.
• Subclass - go with what you play best. A confident Solar Warlock beats a hesitant Void Hunter every encounter.

Mods

• Charged with Light / armor charge mods - stacking damage mods are pure DPS multipliers; run them.
• Resist mods (arc resist, solar resist, void resist) - some encounters have fixed-damage types. Knowing which damage type the boss deals and stacking resist is worth ~15% survivability.
• Ammo finder + scavenger matched to your weapons - chronic ammo starvation is the #1 newbie raid problem.

Before the LFG: the 15-minute pre-raid checklist

• Watched a callout-focused guide for the raid (not a full explain-everything walkthrough).
• Know each encounter's rough objective ("defend the plate", "dunk orbs", "3 DPS phases", etc.) in one sentence.
• Loadout built and equipped. Ammo in inventory.
• Mic working. Push-to-talk tested. Discord/in-game voice confirmed.
• Power level ≥ soft floor for the raid.
• Full set of bounties / seasonal challenges active that can be completed mid-raid - free progress.

That's 15 minutes of prep. It's the difference between getting kicked from LFG and getting invited back.

During the raid: etiquette every first-time raider should know

Say "first-time" in the LFG post. Sherpas exist for a reason. Joining a chill group that knows you're new is 10x better than hiding it and bricking an encounter.

Listen first, speak second. If a veteran player calls "left relic," do what they said, not what you think. Their confidence in the call is evidence, not volume.

Admit mistakes immediately. "My bad, missed the grenade" is 10x more useful than trying to pretend it didn't happen. Teams wipe when mistakes hide.

Ask for clarifications, not for the whole mechanic. "Where do I stand?" is fine. "Can you explain the encounter?" is what pre-raid YouTube is for.

Don't leave mid-raid unless it's a real emergency. Fireteam disintegration is the single most frustrating thing that happens in the LFG culture.

Common beginner mistakes

Running a subclass you've never used. "I heard Solar Titan is meta" - if you haven't played it in 5 strikes first, you're not a Solar Titan; you're a dead Titan. Use the subclass you're fluent in.

DPS-obsessed loadout with no survivability. Swarm grenade + max-recovery build is what keeps you alive for DPS phase two. Going full glass cannon means you die in mechanics and your team eats the wipe.

Ignoring the "left/right/middle" callouts. Most raid encounters use spatial callouts. Know which way you're looking when someone says "front left" - it usually means the team's front-left, not yours specifically.

Not picking up ammo. If a rocket-ammo brick drops and you don't grab it, someone with less ammo economy than you has to, wasting DPS time. Ammo is a team resource.

After your first clear

Once you clear the raid once:

• Do it again that week. Familiarity compounds fast. Second clear feels 3x smoother than the first.
• Start reading about challenges and triumphs. Raid challenges are the next tier of content; they're where the community forms.
• Consider a carry if you want to see higher-tier encounters (Master raids, Day-1 mentality, etc.) without 50 attempts of LFG trial and error. We offer Destiny 2 raid carries - all run by Day-1 clear players, with you in the fireteam (you still earn the loot + triumph).

Frequently asked questions

How long does a first raid clear take?

Budget 3-4 hours for your first clear with a teaching group, 2 hours with a veteran group that's willing to explain. Sherpa groups take longer because they adapt pace. Don't join a "speedrun" group for your first attempt - you'll be the bottleneck and everyone has a bad time.

What raid should I do first as a new player?

Current seasonal pinnacle raids are easier to find LFG for - matchmaking volume matters more than "difficulty tier" for a first clear. Check which raid shows up most in LFG for your time zone; that's your first pick.

Do I need to buy all the DLC to raid?

For specific raids, yes - each raid is tied to a DLC. The latest seasonal content is usually the raid the community is running most. Check which DLC contains which raid before buying; the community's "current-season" raid changes every ~6 months.

Is voice chat required?

Yes. Every single raid encounter relies on real-time callouts. Text chat does not scale to raid tempo. If you can't voice chat, wait until you can - muted players in LFG get kicked.

What if I die and can't get revived?

Every raid has "wipe on mechanic death" encounters and "recoverable death" encounters. Learn which is which from the pre-raid callout guide. For recoverable deaths, call out your location immediately so someone can rez. For wipe-on-death mechanics, the whole team wipes and restarts - don't panic, it's part of learning.