Pleasure Gardens is one of the three challenges in Destiny 2’s Leviathan Raid. For this encounter, we want to bring good Power weapons and Subclasses that are able to lay down decent damage over time. Thankfully, Destiny 2 is full of both and this guide will recommend the best tools to take down these dogs.

Best kinetic, energy and power weapons

Different types of weapons are great for different types of battles. In this section, we are going to give advice on what types of guns you should use and why.

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Kinetic: auto rifle

To be perfectly honest, your weapon here doesn’t really matter. Ideally, you will never have to shoot the hounds with anything but your Power weapon of choice. However, if you’re low on Power ammo, a fast firing auto rifle is probably your best bet.

Energy: doesn’t matter

Your Energy weapon doesn’t actually matter either. You won’t be using it except in extreme circumstances, so pick whatever you feel comfortable holding close to you.

Power: Rocket launcher, shotgun or fusion rifle

Power weapons are the only weapons that matter in Pleasure Gardens. You have a very limited amount of time to deal with the hounds here, so spend Power ammo on them as much as possible. If you are out of Power ammo, the Beast Handlers that spawn before the fight always drop some. The Spotters can also jump over to where the Beast Handlers spawn during the fight and refill their supply. If you are getting enough Empowering Spores stacks, you should be able to deal with the dogs using only grenades, Supers and Power ammo.

Weapons

Special thanks to Destiny YouTube video creator Datto for testing the math and coming up with strategies for all of these weapons (and more) in a recent YouTube video.

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Merciless (Exotic fusion rifle)

Because the dogs have so much health and you can be as close to them as you would like, Merciless can do a ton of damage in a very short amount of time. This is mostly due to its Exotic perk, which causes the weapon to fire faster with each consecutive nonlethal shot. If you have a Merciless and don’t have a cluster bomb rocket, you should this fusion rifle.

Sins of the Past or Curtain Call (rocket launchers)

We put these two rockets together because they have the cluster bomb perk. Their rockets create mini explosions after impact, dealing even more damage. However, they have fairly different stats, and we prefer Sins of the Past due to the blast radius and the automatic reload when stored. Just know that you can use either.

For Sins of the Past, make sure you have the cluster bomb perk activated, and aim down between the hound’s legs, under its tail. If you place your rocket in this pocket, it will explode and send the cluster bombs directly back into the hound, dealing massive damage. If you have enough Empowering Spores stacks, you can kill a hound with only two rockets.

Hawthorne’s Field-Forged Shotgun

In a fight that allows you to stand next to your enemies and deal damage for a short period of time, it’s no wonder that this shotgun makes its way onto the list. While it’s the weakest of the three weapons listed here, Hawthorne’s Field-Forged Shotgun fires very quickly, and is therefore able to take advantage of the limited window for causing damage in this fight.

The big downside for Hawthorne’s (or any shotgun) is the long reload time. You can mitigate this through a Titan Rally Barricade, a Warlock Rift while using Lunafaction Boots or a Hunter Dodge.

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Titan Striker, Code of the Earthshaker

As with almost all of the fights in the Leviathan, Titans should be running Striker with double Pulse grenades . Any grenade that does damage over time is extremely powerful against the hounds. Being able to stack two of them on a single dog at once can provide some hilariously high damage. Don’t use your Super in this fight as it does very little damage to the hounds.

Dunemarchers (boots)

Few Titan Exotics are worth equipping in Pleasure Gardens. Dunemarchers are helpful for one reason: helping you sprint back to the Safe Room. While increasing your sprint speed is not particularly sexy, these are the most useful Exotic for this fight.

Lion Rampart (boots)

These could theoretically be useful in this encounter. If you are a Spotter struggling with jumping around with a crystal, you could use these to help you with maneuverability. However, Dunemarchers would still likely be better here as Spotters often get tasked with the dogs farthest away from the Safe Room. But if you have these and don’t have Dunemarchers, wear them.

Hunter Gunslinger, Way of the Sharpshooter

Precision shots with Golden Gun do quite a bit of damage to the hounds. While the Nightstalker’s void grenades are very good (they all do damage over time), you want that Golden Gun if you can get it. Especially if you are able to wear our recommended Exotic.

Celestial Nighthawk (helmet)

The Celestial Nighthawk is very powerful for all Leviathan Raid fights. When donning this helmet, your Golden Gun will not only take a third of the time to fire all of its shots (allowing you to spend more time using Power ammo), but it will also deal extremely high damage (allowing you to kill your hound very fast).

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Warlock Stormcaller, Attunement of the Elements

Warlocks should take Stormcaller for a few reasons. The Pulse grenade is very powerful, as are the Arc Souls generated when standing in your rift. Put on Empowering Rift, lay it at your feet, throw a pulse grenade and fire away with whatever you have. The hound will melt in front of you. Never use your Super in this fight. It does very little damage.

Transversive steps (boots)

Just like the Dunemarchers, these will allow you to run back to the Safe Room very quickly. While the Exotic perk only mentions sprinting, these boots also increase your walk speed. If you are on the ground collecting spores, be aware that you will be moving faster than your allies. Since staying as a pack is mandatory, using no Exotic is also fine here.