Destiny 2 How to Beat Calus | Monument of Triumph

Emperor Calus is back in Pantheon 2.0, Destiny 2's permanent boss gauntlet introduced with the Monument of Triumph update. He's fat, dramatic, and genuinely thinks you'll fail. You won't: if you read this first.

This is the Leviathan raid version of Calus. Two groups, a shadow realm, and a fat emperor who wants to pull you into his face. The Pantheon variant is the same encounter with everything turned up: more adds, tighter timers, and a scoring system that punishes slow teams.

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What Is Pantheon 2.0

Pantheon 2.0 is a permanent activity added in Monument of Triumph (Update 9.7.0, June 9 2026). It is a raid boss gauntlet: multiple encounters back-to-back, each pulled from existing raids. Calus is the Leviathan Raid encounter, reprised here with modified mechanics and a new boss roster that does not repeat any boss from the original 2024 Pantheon.

Scoring: A Bonus Timer runs each encounter. Performing mechanics, killing adds, and collecting Orbs of Power earns bonus points. Finish before the timer expires for maximum score. High score = extra reward.

Three difficulty tiers are available. The new Adventure difficulty removes the Power cap, allows infinite revives, and relaxes mechanical timing: with the tradeoff of limited lower-tier loot. Standard and the punishing top tier are for fireteams who already know what they're doing.

Calus Encounter: Phase by Phase

The fight takes place in Calus's throne room on the Leviathan. Split your six-person fireteam into two groups of three: one stays in the Throne Room, one enters the Shadow Realm (projection realm). Roles swap each cycle. Coordinate callouts before you pull, or this falls apart in twenty seconds.

Phase 1: Add Control & Shadow Realm Entry

ThroneCalus snaps his fingers: that large AoE explodes. Run away from it. Kill adds, watch for the Psions. Do not kill all Psions immediately when they first spawn together; they drop heavy ammo but each one killed spawns a yellow-bar enemy. Clear them on your terms, not theirs.

ShadowYou're inside the projection realm. Shadow Calus pulls you toward his giant face: use the small lip barrier as cover. Do not jump. Shoot across to hit Psions the other side can't reach. The Teleport Group calls out which symbol appears at the top of Shadow Calus's head.

Jumping in the shadow realm pulls you into Calus's face. You die. Don't do it.

Phase 2: Symbol Callouts & DPS Window

Three shadow orbs sit on the far side of the shadow realm lip. The Symbols Group grabs these three orbs and immediately teleports back to the Throne Room. The Teleport Group stays behind, reads the symbol Calus displays, and calls it out to the Throne Room team: who then kills the corresponding Scion (not all three, just the matching one). If the Throne Room runner is locked down, the nearest player covers. Every stack of correct symbols builds your DPS buff.

Once the symbol mechanic resolves, the damage phase opens. This is where Calus gets shot repeatedly while the team tries not to die. He is resistant to legendary rocket launchers: Linear Fusion Rifles, Fusion grenades on Solar Warlock, and Witherhoard with Well of Radiance are the established best options for the Leviathan Calus DPS window.

Phase 3: Repeat Until Dead

Each Censer killed resets the cycle. The goal in a Pantheon high-score run is to get 100 stacks before the damage phase for maximum output. Two skilled Titans running bubbles can hold four players in the shadow realm to stack this efficiently. One-phasing Calus in a Pantheon context is the benchmark for a clean run.

Pantheon-Specific Modifiers

The Calus Pantheon boss fight encounter layered additional modifiers on top of the base mechanics. Compared to the vanilla Leviathan version, expect denser add spawns and tighter windows. The core modifier active across Pantheon encounters is Shot Caller: multiple precision hits with a Primary weapon significantly increase your damage output. This is not optional. Run a Primary you can consistently land headshots with.

Recommended Loadout

The Calus Leviathan fight in Pantheon rewards teams that deal consistent burst damage during the DPS window and maintain survivability between phases. Here is the practical floor:

• Solar Warlock: Well of Radiance: non-negotiable anchor. Fusion grenades for DPS. Witherhoard in the kinetic slot for persistent boss damage.
• Void Titan: Ward of Dawn for overshield. New Soul Siphon aspect (Monument of Triumph) extends uptime. Banner Shield for team damage buff during DPS phase.
• Any Hunter: High mobility for shadow realm navigation. Tether for add clear. Crackshot (new Solar aspect) for burst add control if running Solar.
• Heavy: Linear Fusion Rifle: Calus resists rocket splash. Bring reserves mods.

Monument of Triumph introduced Artifact 2.0 with full loadout saving. Save your Calus Pantheon loadout before entering. Swapping mid-encounter is not a plan.

Calus in Pantheon 2.0 can drop Leviathan Raid armor ornaments for Guardians who haven't unlocked them previously: including the original base Leviathan set. All encounter drops now come as tiered gear with updated perk pools following Monument of Triumph's weapon overhaul. Raid weapons received new perks; Calus specifically is worth farming for the Leviathan-specific loot pool, now refreshed.

Complete the full Pantheon gauntlet and associated Triumphs to progress toward the new Title and exclusive emblems. The Divine Weaponry quest for raid Exotics is available from Arcite 99-40 in the Hall of Champions: speak to him after the gauntlet, before leaving.

Common Mistakes

1. Killing the wrong Scion. Throne Room kills only the symbol called from the shadow realm. Kill the wrong one and the cycle resets with zero stacks. Embarrassing.
2. Jumping in the shadow realm. Covered above. It teleports you into Calus's face. You die.
3. Killing all Psions at once. They drop heavy ammo, but each kill summons a yellow-bar enemy. Kill them on a schedule, not on sight.
4. Ignoring Class Warfare. Holding class ability for "when I need it" wastes 10–30% of your damage buff across the encounter.
5. Using rockets on Calus. He resists them. You will do almost nothing. Switch to Linear Fusion.