In the long history of Destiny as a franchise, there’s always been one feature of the game that brings players together from across the world. Raid races.
Ever since The Vault of Glass back in 2014, gamers have raced or tuned in to watch streams of players attempting to become the first-ever to clear the hardcore endgame activity, and Destiny 2’s The Edge of Fate expansion continues the trend with the new raid, The Desert Perpetual.
One team of six Guardians will “become legend” and earn bragging rights and exclusive loot as the only team to become first in the world to finish The Desert Perpetual. Top streamers and Destiny 2 players will be logging on and taking part, but you, too, can do so by playing when the raid goes live on July 19 at 12pm CT.
If you can’t watch or play, but want to stay in the loop on who’s winning, keep it locked right here for our live blog down below. Buckle up and get ready for what should be an exciting day of Destiny 2 raiding.
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Who’s winning Destiny 2 ‘The Desert Perpetual’ Raid Race? Live blog
- 11:30am CT: As the streamers and their teams all make last-minute preparations and jump around the Tower, sound off: where are you watching from? Will you be participating? Hit up the comments section below, Guardians.
- 11:14am CT: Speaking of Salvation’s Edge, that raid race’s winner Team Parabellum will be looking to repeat today, while Saltagreppo and Clan Elysium will look to extend their record and win their fifth race.
- 11:01am CT: One thing to keep an eye on today as we get started is server stability. Players have been having issues with servers and the game itself soft-locking in specific encounters and activities, so let’s hope the raid is clean. Also, how long will we go? Last year’s Salvation’s Edge raid that came with The Final Shape had a race that went well into the morning hours of the following day. For my sake, I hope this is a quick one!
- July 19, 2025, 10:50am CT: Good morning, gamers, Guardians, and dear readers. It’s the most wonderful day of each year in Destiny 2. It’s time for a new raid. Get ready to lock in and watch as teams across the world attempt to win the title of world first
What is Contest Mode in Destiny 2?
In Contest Mode for The Desert Perpetual, Guardians are capped at 100 Power. This means that anything higher than 100 Power will default to the cap number, thus ensuring vast difficulty as enemies will progressively become higher Power levels throughout each encounter.
Every player that completes the raid during Contest Mode will be granted the raid’s exotic weapon. Once Contest Mode ends on July 21, Power advantages will be enabled once again.
Disabled items
To ensure competitive integrity, several items are disabled for the duration of Contest Mode.
- Weapons
- Outbreak Perfected
- Third Iteration
- Choir of One
- Icebreaker
- Barrow Dyad
- Hierarchy of Needs
- Grand Overture
- Armor and Mods
- Temporal Tracker Weapon Mod
- Temporal Blast Seasonal Weapon Mod
- Temporal Armaments Seasonal Weapon Mod
- Temporal Adapter Seasonal Weapon Mod
- Temporal Loader Seasonal Weapon Mod
- Miscellaneous
- Bounty and Weapon Leveling Progression for Combatant Kills
Raid Race rewards
Anyone who completes the raid during Contest Mode (ends on July 21 at 12pm CT, 48 hours after it begins), will earn the exclusive emblem Timeline’s Blade. Anyone who completes the raid at any point will receive the emblem Third Unknown, pictured above.
The winners will receive special rewards including a world first raid race championship belt. Bungie will also sell a special jacket, bag, and pin for anyone who links their Bungie account to the Bungie Store and completes the raid, as part of the Bungie Rewards system.
The Desert Perpetual loot pool
Data mines reveal that the raid’s exotic will be a Strand rocket launcher, but there is also an auto rifle, combat bow (new crossbow weapon archetype), fusion rifle, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, and submachine gun when it comes to legendary weapons, along with exclusive armor sets for each class.
More about which encounters drop which piece of gear will be revealed as players progress through the raid.
Raid race streams to watch
Bungie is partnering with several streamers across different languages and regions who will be hosting watch parties for the race, along with the developer hosting a pre-show beginning at 11:45am CT.
- Bungie pre-show
- Evanf1997 and CbGray pre-show and full raid
- WiseThug and Merj1 (FR)
- Nexxoss Gaming and EllyKnalltRein (DE)
- Masseo (IT)
- El Tío Toland (LATAM MX)
Individual player perspectives will also be found in the Destiny 2 Twitch directory, featuring top streamers and raid racers looking to win their first race. Others will be looking to become two-time, three-time, or even four-time winners.
Here are some top streamers to watch (more will be added throughout the day):
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