Ever since the World’s First race for Root of Nightmares, which saw one of the fastest completions in Destiny 2’s history, the difficulty of the game’s latest raid addition has been up for debate. That only heightened as players began to post clears of each encounter—designed for six players—entirely solo, leading to a $1000 bounty for a complete Solo Flawless run.
As of April 23, that bounty has been claimed by a player called Xemo, who posted his elated reaction to the Nezarec kill on social media. It was his 54th attempt at the feat and the first time that such an impressive lone wolf run has even been possible in a Destiny 2 raid since release.
Raids are designed for six players and also often require many in the fireteam to simultaneously participate in encounter mechanics, preventing solo players from completing such mechanics. However, Root of Nightmares has a level of simplicity to all four of its core encounters which allow for certain builds and strategies to break through the usual barriers and make a solo run possible.
The Macrocosm encounter, better known as the planet room, was by far the most challenging to figure out, but after Twitch streamer NAPainter found an airtight build to conquer it, it seemed inevitable that Destiny 2’s first-ever complete solo clear could be next. This was when content creator evanf1997, best known for his video essays on Destiny 2 raid history, set the challenge and prize money for the world’s first Solo Flawless of the Root of Nightmares, deeming it “impossible” in his announcement.
Despite this label, Xemo managed to successfully complete his Solo Flawless of the raid only 13 days after evanf1997’s bounty was originally posted to Twitter. It’s clear the combination of Root of Nightmare’s low difficulty and the ability to hotswap between saved loadouts introduced in Lightfall have combined to make this into a surprisingly doable feat.
Despite a few reactions calling into question what an achievement like this being possible means for Bungie’s raid design philosophy going forward, the majority of the Destiny 2 community has responded to the run with excitement and awe. When accounting for Crota’s End and Wrath of the Machine, two raids from the original Destiny, this is only the third time a raid in the franchise has been finished flawlessly while playing solo.
Some eagle-eyed players even noted how lucky the Nezarec kill was, as Xemo ended up being granted a lifeline of five additional seconds when the boss performed a slam attack that momentarily delayed the wipe mechanic. Another player, u/SvenPeppers, even noted he would have failed if not for a stray Merciless bolt that missed Nezarec killing a minor enemy behind him and refreshing Xemo’s Radiant buff.
With only one more expansion left in the Light and Darkness saga—The Final Shape—Destiny 2 has only one more new raid that players know is on the horizon. While Root of Nightmares will cement its own place in history thanks to achievements like this and its notable amount of total clears during contest mode, players are more than likely hungry for Destiny’s next raid feature to be a real test of skill for the firepower of a full six-player fireteam.
