How to Defeat Nezarec in Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares Raid

Nezarec is the final boss that you will come across in the Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares raid. Although it was assumed that the fight against the Final God of Pain would be a daunting task, it actually isn’t that difficult. While you can finish the entire fight in two damage phases, getting to the damage phase is a little tricky. So here’s a quick guide on how to defeat Nezarec in the Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares raid.

Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares Nezarec Encounter Guide

The mechanics revolving around this fight can be slightly chaotic, so it’s best to assign each player two a specific role during this encounter. Two players need to take on the role of the runner. They will be responsible for depositing the Light and the Darkness seeds on the respective plates. Of the remaining four players, assign two players to shoot the crit spot on Nezarec’s shoulders. More on this in a bit. The final two players need to strictly focus on ad clearing because they can cause problems for the runners.

With the roles segregated, here’s how the entire encounter proceeds:

When you step into the arena, you will notice a Darkness node to your right side and a Light node to your left. The runners take their spots within these nodes, and once they shoot the node, they’ll be directed to another plate where they’ll have to deposit the buff they pick up from these starting nodes. There are five light plates and five dark plates in the arena, and your runners will have to deposit the buff from the starting nodes on these plates to trigger the damage phase. This mechanic is quite similar to the one you came across during the Cataclysm and the Scission encounters in the raid.

While the runners are depositing the buff, the remaining four members will have to focus on clearing the ads. Here’s an Arc Hunter build and a Stasis Titan build to help you with this process. The Commemoration Machine Gun works wonders when it comes to clearing ads, especially if you have to Volatile Flow perk unlocked on your artifact.

Related: Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares Loot Table: Weapons & Armor Guide

When you’re clearing ads, three players will receive a random debuff called “Nezarec’s Hatred”. To clear this debuff, one player will have to shoot the glowing crit spot on his shoulders and then his chest and take his aggro. During this process, you will also notice either a white glow or an orange-ish glow on his back. If he’s glowing white, you will have to take the Darkness buff and shoot an inactive Light plate. If he’s glowing orange, you will have to take the Light buff and shoot an inactive Darkness plate. The six of you will then have to stand on this plate to protect yourselves from his wipe mechanic.

After you’ve completed all the plates, Nezarec will be stunned briefly, and you’ll be able to deal damage. So get on one of the center plates, and one person should start using a Divinity on him for a 15% debuff and create a huge crit spot. Ideally, rockets are best for this DPS phase, but you can always get creative with the heavy weapons you use.

Also, it’s important that you have at least one Warlock with a Well of Radiance. This will give you an additional damage boost during the DPS phase. If you manage to damage Nezarec enough in one phase, you’ll trigger his final stand, which is yet another basic damage phase with no special mechanic. If you’re not able to damage him, Nezarec will go back to his central platform and send out massive Void attacks that can kill you with one hit.

Take cover and repeat the steps mentioned above, but try to get him down in three phases at max, otherwise, he’ll wipe your entire team and you will have to start from scratch. And that’s how you defeat Nezarec, Final God of Pain in the Destiny 2 Root of Nightmares raid.