Some eight months after its release, the final boss of Destiny 2: Forsaken's Last Wish raid has now officially been soloed. A player by the name of Tazus managed to kill Riven of a Thousand Voices entirely on his own using a mix of bugs and buffs, which all but guarantees his record-setting run will never be replicated.
The planets really had to align for this to be possible. Tazus was only able to kill Riven thanks to the Arcstrider bug which was introduced in the big arc week update. This bug lets players use the Combination Blow melee ability in tandem with the Raiden Flux Exotic chest to deal hugely over-buffed damage using the Arc Staff super, which is exactly what Tazus did to Riven. This bug is supposed to be fixed today, May 7, so Tazus was cutting it close with his run, which was posted this morning.
Even with this bug, it still took him two rounds of damage to whittle Riven down, so he also had to hit the 1/45 odds of shooting the correct eyes to stop her one-hit kill. I don't want to make it sound like Tazus' run was purely RNG though; his strategy for actually killing Riven - rather than merely damaging her - is masterful. Incidentally, it's also only possible on PC because changing gear on console takes too long due to inventory loading times.
While in the Ascendant Plane which leads to Riven's final phase, Tazus used grenades and a Taken Armaments mod to generate ammo for his rocket launcher, which he swapped to after using the Tractor Cannon to weaken Riven in the DPS phase. At the last minute, he swaps to the Foetracer Exotic helmet - which makes you deal more damage to low-health targets - to increase each rocket's power. At the same time, he headshots a Taken Phalanx in the Ascendant Plane to trigger Flawless Execution, allowing him to hit Riven with a perfectly timed Shattering Strike melee to weaken her defense.
To finish off Riven's heart, Tazus swapped to the Wormhusk Crown, which heals you when you dodge, and used a Reveler's Tonic - which is also going away in today's update - to boost his dodge cooldown. This allowed him to dodge repeatedly in order to tank the damage-over-time dealt by Riven's heart, which he destroyed using the trusty Ikelos shotgun.
Players always thought soloing Riven would never be possible because of her one-hit kill ability. Hitting a 1/45 chance is one thing, but what about a 1/2025? Before the Arc Staff bug, players simply couldn't deal enough damage to Riven in two DPS phases, meaning they'd have to shoot her eyes at least twice. The odds of hitting the correct eyes twice in a row are astronomical - again, 1/2025 - and too steep for even the most dogged challenge raiders.
Miraculously, through a combination of bugs and buffs which will never return, Tazus managed to shave off a DPS phase, literally beat the odds, and slay Riven single-handedly. I don't even want to know how many attempts it took him, but I reckon it was worth it. Unless Bungie introduces another wild damage bug or ability at exactly the right time, I don't think anyone will be able to solo Riven ever again, and that's a hell of a record to hold.
Need more challenge raids in your life? Watch PvE legend Slayerage solo Kalli, the Corrupted, the first boss in Last Wish.
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