How to beat Calus in Destiny 2’s legendary Lightfall campaign

As they did with The Witch Queen, Bungie has once again given us a legendary campaign mode for Lightfall. And even if players aren’t thrilled with the story content of the expansion, the combat challenges are still quite fun and towards the end can prove quite difficult.

There is one segment in particular, the final boss in the entire story, Calus, that is far more difficult than anything that came before it, as I suppose a final boss should be. I’ve heard of people being stuck on him too hoursand i will admit i died probably 25 times the first time i tried to beat him but once i figured out what to do i did it my first try on my second character.

This is obviously not just strategy, but that’s what I found very effective. And it’s not literal cheese, which also exists for this segment, so Google it if you want. So here is my loadout and tactics for a “legit” fight:

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Osteo Striga – This is the key to making the whole thing work, and if you want what is essentially a cheat code for the entire campaign, use Osteo. The constant poison ticks will mean that Calus will continue to take damage even if you’re busy fighting tormentors, clearing ads or dashing around the room. Build up poison on him whenever possible, as the tick will also prevent him from forming a Strand shield.

Blind GL – I use Truthteller, but this is honestly mainly only for awesome Tormentors, as these are the “lower” Tormentors that are actually vulnerable to blind and freeze, unlike the boss tier.

Retrofit Escapade – A machine gun buff has made the weapon class better, but this Seraph submachine gun with Target Lock does a lot of damage. I mainly use it to shred Tormentors as you can target weak points.

Armor – Not going to give a full build here, just make sure you have anti-solar armor mods on your chest as that’s what you’ll take the most damage from I think. Or Void for Tormentors, if you will.

Underclass – Beach – Yes, I know some people skip Strand here because you don’t have a “real” Strand build and maybe like your own subclass better. But if Calus gets his Strand Shield, you want the underclass to take it down quickly (a grapple melee pretty much wipes the whole thing out) and in the final melee segment, you really want the grapple melee.

Tactics:

Phase 1 – When he’s damaging, just start pumping him with Osteo Striga rounds to get the poison flowing. Remove any other adds that spawn on the bridge between you and Calus with Osteo. Back up in the area you first start in and damage him until you break past his first phase.

After that, use your Strand super on him to get him to around half health or below. You might not want to hurt him also lot from here until you kill the first Tormentor, so as not to spawn two at the same time. I would still fight mostly in the square starting area, remove ads and kite Tormentor if he gets all the way to you. Poison him, blind him, tear down his weak points with Retrofit. Remember that Tormentors can also be completed.

Constantly keep pumping Calus full of Striga rounds and he’ll just keep ticking down and down until you finally kill him. If his Strand shield pops up, just use one or two string abilities to take it off. Hitting him with the grappler itself will confuse him. In this segment you really don’t need to stay mobile if you can clear adds and Tormentors fast enough. Calus can do a beam move to hit you with encroaching darkness on the platform if you take too long. In that case, you must leave and then return to the platform after skipping around.

Phase 2 – There is essentially only one rule here: don’t get meleeed outside the edge. This is the main reason I think you should pick up Strand, because when you’re ziplining over the area, Calus can’t knock you off the edge when you’re in his literal grasp. So the tactic here is to zip all the way across the arena, turn and shoot Calus with Osteo and Retrofit as he charges you, then zip across the arena again right when he’s about to hit you. Osteo can also remove Psions that spawn, so don’t let them build up. I wouldn’t recommend leaving any Tormentors alive when you get to this phase as they won’t despair between phases and make everything much more difficult. You won’t really have time to kill them now with Calus charging you all the time and you don’t want them to overwhelm you. I would actually delay killing Calus in phase 1 to make sure you killed them both.

This part is just patience and watching the poison do its job. You should also have an extra Strand super during this segment, so use it to take a large chunk of his health before continuing to wear him down. Again, if he gets a beach shield, just fight him and then keep sliding away. Repeat to death.

The main takeaway here even if you don’t have Osteo Striga is tick damage, because you want Calus to take damage while you deal with other things. So if you don’t have Osteo Striga you can use Anarchy or Witherhoard, but Osteo is best if you ask me.

Good luck!

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