Destiny 2: Pantheon 2.0 - Emperor Calus
Master the Emperor Calus encounter in Destiny 2's Pantheon 2.0. Learn Shadow Realm callouts, Force of Will optimization, damage phase rotations, and Final Stand tactics.
- Emperor Calus was the first Raid Bass of Destiny 2 within the Raid: Leviathan
The Opulent Emperor Calus returns to face the Guardians once more. This fight is about coordination and knowing exactly what to do.
Summary
The fireteam needs to split into trios. 1 team will be in the Throne Room and 1 team will be in the Shadow Realm. You all start together, but after Calus claps his hands, the Fireteam is sent into the Shadow Realm. Those that are a part of the Shadow team need to stand by a barrier while those in the Throne Room will need to jump into an Orb that appears just over the barrier.
The Shadow Team needs to defeat Psions and call out symbols that appear on the projection of Calus. The Throne Team needs to find the symbol NOT called out and hit the Psion underneath it. You do this 3 times. Then the Throne team needs to stop Calus from wiping the Fireteam by breaking his shield while the Shadow Team builds the Damage Buff: Force of Will. The fireteam is reunited when Calus’s Shield breaks.
With the Fireteam whole, as a whole, they need to jump onto 1 of the 4 Plates to begin the Damage Phase/Rotation. Fire at Calus’s head, then torso to do critical damage. Jump off the Plate when you see Calus pull a gun to shoot the plate. Rotate to the next of the 4 Plates after that. Complete all 4 Plates to finish a Damage Phase/Rotation.
When Calus’s health is drained, he enters Final Stand. Just keep blasting away to drain the Shield Bar and defeat him.
Getting Started
The fireteam needs to split in half, 3 to stay in the Throne Room (Throne Team) and 3 need to go volunteer to stay in the Shadow Realm (Shadow Team). Those returning to the Throne Room need to choose which Orb they’ll use: Left, Middle, or Right. On top of that, you need to decide the Plate Order for Damage Phase. Choose your starting Plate and the Direction of rotation. Common practice is either Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise from the Sun or Cup.
The encounter starts when you shoot Emperor Calus and knock is goblet from his hand.
The Beginning
At this point, Calus will summon a large wave of Cabal to rush in. They will all start attacking the Fireteam. This will continue until Calus claps his hands and the Fireteam vanishes in a flash.
The Fireteam is now in the Shadow Realm. Those returning to the Throne Room need to dash to their Orb. Jump the barrier and straight into it to return. The rest who remain have a different task to complete.
Throne Room Team
Once the trio has returned from the Shadow Realm it starts simply. You need to continue fighting through the waves of Cabal. However, you need to listen to the Callouts from the Shadow Team. Once all 3 have been called, someone needs to go and strike the Psion whose Symbol was NOT called out immediately. There isn’t a lot of time to strike the Psion so always act quickly.
Example: The Call from the Shadow Team is Axe, Cup, Dog. This means the Throne Team needs to quickly upclose melee the Sun Psion.
Hitting the wrong Psion will cause the protective barrier for the Shadow Team to break and all 3 of them will wipe not long after.
The Shadow Team will be doing this 3 times. The Symbol Psions reappear each time so always be listening.
Once the Shadow Team reaches the end of the Shadow Realm, they will need to start gathering Force of Will. How long they have is determined by the Throne Team. Calus will be shielded and start gathering energy above his head. The Throne Team needs to fire on Calus and bring his shield down.
When this Shield breaks, Damage Phase will begin shortly after as the Fireteam is reunited.
Shadow Realm Team
Each of the Guardians now has the buff Mind’s Eye. You need to quickly destroy the Projection of a Psion and a translucent Orb in addition to a Psion that has appeared (likely taking cover behind the ramps ahead).
Once the Throne Team has returned, look to the projection of Calus. On his forehead, each of the 3 fireteam members will see a Symbol there: Sun, Cup, Axe, or Dog (Warbeast). One at a time, the Shadow Team needs to call out what symbol they see on Calus’s Forehead.
Once the Throne Team has struck the Appropriate Psion, another barrier will appear. Hop over the present barrier and you will be pulled forward to the next barrier. Be careful to avoid ANY ramps on your way forward. These will always launch you over the barrier and send you off to your death.
At the second (and third) barrier, you will need to defeat the Psions, the projections, and make the call out. After the third barrier, there’s one more thing to do.
The Shadow Team has one more task before they return to the Throne room. Calus will pause in what he is doing and belching a stream of glowing skulls. These can and will kill Guardians that don’t shoot them down. But you want to shoot them down. Each one that is destroyed grants the FIRETEAM the buff Force of Will.
The goal is collect as much Force of Will as possible. The general target is 70. However, Throne Team can likely give you enough time to reach 90 or 100.
Damage Phase
After all that, the Fireteam is back together and its finally time to start damaging Calus! It’s not as simple as start shooting the Emperor though.
The whole fireteam needs to head for the Plates that the Symbol Psions on where. As a ground, they need to jump onto the plate. The timer for the plate starts as soon as a Guardian jumps on it.
The Fireteam should then Target Calus’s head. Just begin to unload after that. The Plate will only last so long though. Watch Calus since he will pull out a gun and shoot the plate doing damage (scaling based on difficulty). After that, the plate will sputter out.
With the Plate spent, the fireteam needs to rotate to the next one in the sequence.
As the Fireteam damages Calus, he will be revealed to be a Robot. Once the glowing portion of his torso is revealed, that is now his weak spot and the Fireteam needs to target that.
Final Stand
When Calus’s Health hits close to Zero, a final Shield bubble will surround him and his hands will start to glow. Energy will arc above his head from his hands. You need to destroy the Shield and strike the Death Blow to Calus before he finishes this attack or the Fireteam will wipe.
