Destiny 2’s Leviathan raid is now live (update)

Destiny 2’s first raid, Leviathan, will open to all high-level Guardians today, and you can now watch the official “teaser” for it.

We put the word in quotation marks because, well, it’s more like a 15-second GIF than an actual teaser for what players will be doing in the raid. There’s no gameplay footage or even a CG cutscene; instead, we see a plate of gaudy gold filigree in the grand Cabal tradition, which is inspired by the design of ancient Rome’s military.

In the upper center of the plate lies a purple jewel, perhaps an amethyst, inside which there is a rotating group of golden symbols. We first see a chalice, a cup that runneth over. This is the same opulent drinking vessel from the Emperor’s Shadows emblem, which is exclusive to Destiny 2’s three special editions.

This hints at Leviathan’s final boss. We know that Cabal Red Legion leader Dominus Ghaul, the antagonist in Destiny 2’s campaign, deposed the Cabal emperor Calus in a coup. According to the Cabal Booklet, a document included in the Collector’s Edition of the game, Calus’ usurpers sent him into “resplendent exile.” He now travels the cosmos on his massive ship, Leviathan, which is described as a “World-Eater.”

The next symbol in the sequence is a pair of axes, followed by a pair of Cabal soldiers standing on guard. After that is the sun — the star that Ghaul sought to destroy in Destiny 2’s story — and finally, a great War Beast that could be the size of the mythical Cerberus.

Calus lists the conspirators against him in the Cabal Booklet, which he writes as an open invitation to prove one’s worth by killing all of the traitors. Here’s the very last line of the document: “So when you succeed, I invite you to walk in my gardens, and to wash yourself in my pools, and to test your might in my arenas. At the end of the game I just may await you, with treasure and with opportunity. For our work is not yet done. No, my champion, my work is not yet done.”

Leviathan goes live at 10 a.m. PT today. The recommended power level is from 260-280. Gear up, Guardian!

Update (1:11 p.m. ET): Leviathan is now live with a recommended power level of 270. It is located in orbit around Nessus.

Bungie/Activision