Raids and dungeons are where Destiny 2 keeps its hardest puzzles, its most distinctive loot and many of its best moments. They can also look intimidating from the outside. This guide explains how the two activity types differ, how to find a group, what to bring and how to prepare so your first clear goes smoothly.
The short version
| Raids | Dungeons | |
|---|---|---|
| Fireteam size | Six players | Three players |
| Group | Built for a pre-made team | Built for a pre-made team |
| Length | Several encounters, often a long evening for a first clear | Shorter, usually fewer and more compact encounters |
| Solo play | Not realistic | Possible for skilled players as a challenge |
| Loot | Raid weapons, armor set and a raid Exotic | Dungeon weapons, armor set and usually an Exotic |
What makes a raid a raid
A raid is a six-player activity built around mechanics. Each encounter has a set of rules the team has to learn: carrying buffs, calling out symbols, splitting into roles, defending positions. Damage on the boss usually only opens up once the team has completed the mechanic correctly, so coordination matters more than raw firepower.
Some raids are friendlier starting points than others. Deep Stone Crypt and Root of Nightmares are generally rated among the more approachable raids. Garden of Salvation, on the other hand, has a reputation for being demanding. You can read how each one plays in our guides for Deep Stone Crypt, Root of Nightmares and Last Wish.
What makes a dungeon different
Dungeons are designed for three players. They feel like compact raids: there are still mechanics to learn and bosses that punish mistakes, but there are fewer people to coordinate and fewer roles to fill. That makes them a good place to build raid habits such as listening to callouts and sticking to your job.
Do not mistake small for easy, though. Some dungeons are harder than certain raids, because every player carries a bigger share of the work. Read up before you pick one for your first run. Our Shattered Throne, Prophecy and Warlord’s Ruin pages walk through the encounters one by one.
Checkpoints: you do not have to finish in one go
Raids save your progress as you clear encounters, so you can stop and come back to the same point later. When a group launches the activity, it starts from the fireteam leader’s checkpoint. This is why you will see groups advertising specific checkpoints in LFG, for example a team that is already at the final boss looking for one more player.
For a first clear, agree on a plan before you start. If the group cannot play for several hours, decide how far you want to get tonight and make sure the same leader hosts next time so you keep the progress.
How to find a group
Raids have no matchmaking, and dungeons are also designed around a pre-made team, so in most cases you will be putting a group together yourself. You have a few options:
- Fireteam Finder. Bungie added an in-game group finder during Season of the Wish in late 2023. You can create a listing or browse others for raids, dungeons and most other activities without leaving the game.
- LFG sites and Discord servers. Community LFG platforms and large Discord communities have dedicated channels for raids and dungeons, including teaching runs.
- Your clan. A clan is the most reliable way to raid regularly with the same people.
As a first-timer, look for listings marked as teaching runs or “fresh” runs and say up front that it is your first time. Groups that advertise this are expecting to explain mechanics and will not be surprised by mistakes. Voice chat is effectively required in raids, so have a working microphone ready.
What to bring
You do not need a perfect loadout for a first clear, but a few basics make a big difference:
- A survivable build. Staying alive helps the team more than a few extra points of damage. Look at your class abilities and healing options on our subclasses pages.
- One good boss damage weapon. A heavy weapon you are comfortable with is worth more than a theoretically better option you have never used.
- A reliable add-clear weapon. Most encounters have waves of enemies to deal with while the mechanics play out.
- Answers to Champions. Higher-difficulty versions often include Champions; our Champions guide shows which weapons stun each type.
- Flexibility. Have a couple of loadouts saved so you can swap if the team needs a different element or role.
Our build planner lets you put subclass, armor and weapons together and share the build with your group before you start.
Loot and Exotic drops
Each raid and dungeon has its own pool of weapons and an armor set you cannot get anywhere else. Most also have an Exotic weapon that drops from the final encounter, such as One Thousand Voices in Last Wish or Heartshadow in Duality. Exotic drop chances are low, so expect to run an activity several times before you see it.
Raids also hand out Spoils of Conquest, a currency you can spend on extra loot from the raid’s chests. Each of our raid and dungeon pages lists the full loot table, the armor set and the Exotic, so you can decide which activity to farm for the item you want.
Contest mode and harder difficulties
New raids launch with contest mode, which in recent years has run for the first 48 hours after release, and recent dungeons have had contest launches too. During contest mode, players are held to a fixed power level relative to the enemies, so everyone faces the same challenge regardless of gear. This is when the world-first races take place. The Desert Perpetual, for example, opened a few days after The Edge of Fate, on July 19, 2025, with a 48-hour contest window. Once contest mode ends, the activity opens up at its normal difficulty.
Many raids and dungeons also have harder versions with tougher enemies and better rewards. Raid Master difficulty has, for instance, been the way to earn Adept versions of raid weapons. The available difficulty options change between updates, so check the activity in the game before you plan around one. As a first-timer, start on the standard version.
How to prepare for your first clear
- Read the encounter overview first. You do not need to memorise everything, but knowing the basic idea of each encounter saves the group a lot of explaining. Every raid in our raids database and every dungeon in our dungeons database has a written guide.
- Start with a dungeon. A three-player dungeon is easier to organise and teaches the same skills: mechanics, communication and holding a role.
- Set aside enough time. A first raid clear with a new group can easily take a full evening.
- Ask questions. Raid groups prefer a player who asks for clarification over one who guesses and wipes the team.
- Watch the activity’s requirements. Some raids and dungeons ask for a minimum power level or a completed campaign, which you can see on each activity page and in the game.
Once you have one clear behind you, the second goes much faster. Most players remember their first raid as the moment Destiny 2 clicked, so it is well worth the effort to find a patient group and give it a go. New to the game overall? Start with our Destiny 2 beginner’s guide.