How to Cheese Desperate Measures In Destiny 2 Lightfall

The Destiny 2 Lightfall campaign can be hard, particularly for those who are trying to complete the endeavor solo in Legendary mode. For those who have made it all the way to the end and are finding themselves stuck when facing the almighty Calus, fear not, there is a cheese strategy that can help to clear Desperate Measures with ease in Destiny 2 Lightfall.

For those who may not be versed in the terminology, a cheese strategy is one that uses cheap and underhanded tactics, oftentimes game-breaking, to make the content being completed a lot easier. Understandably, after meeting their demise from Calus one too many times, Guardians may wish for a nice helping of cheese.

Destiny 2 Lightfall Desperate Measures Cheese (Phase 1)

The fight with Calus starts out at the Veil, with him looking all cool and menacing facing away from you. He will not attack you until you approach him, so take as much time as necessary to get familiar with the area here. Once you have decided it’s time to cheese, you should plant the Rally banner and use the Strand crystal. Approach Calus to start the fight.

Immediately after starting the fight, turn around and look at the stairs you just walked down to enter the arena. By hopping a small ledge to the left or right of the stairs, you can actually jump down and underneath the stairs. This is where you want to go because if there’s one thing a misguided Cabal emperor can’t deal with, it’s stairs.

Once you are successfully underneath the stairs, you will notice Calus becomes very angry towards you and will try to shoot you. Make sure that you crouch down and back up all the way to the wall while facing toward the arena. This will make sure that the only thing Calus can use to hurt you are his words.

Shoot Calus through the little cracks in the stairs until he has just a tiny sliver of HP remaining. This may or may not take a while, depending on what weapon you are using, but Osteo Striga and Quicksilver Storm work well here.

After Calus is at a sliver of HP, it’s time to look up to either the left or right, and notice the catwalks to the side. This is where you will want to go next. Make sure NOT to defeat Calus right before this happens. 

Once you make it on top of the catwalks, shoot Calus until his health reaches 0. This will start phase 2, and the more difficult portion of the fight. Thankfully, we can cheese this too.

How to Cheese the Calus Boss Fight in Destiny 2 Lightfall (Phase 2)

During Phase 2, Calus will yell at lot to the Witness, and then a large purple bubble will cover the area. When this happens, players will notice they will start receiving the Joining Fireteam countdown. At the first sign of this, use the Strand Grapple to grapple up on top of the purple bubble. 

If done successfully, you will now be on top of the purple bubble, and Calus will be running around underneath – unsure of what to do. While there are openings inside of the bubble, they are actually hard surfaces, so you can walk along the bubble and find good openings to fire down on Calus and his minions. 

You will simply need to dodge fire and chip away at his life, making sure to stay up in the center of the bubble to avoid being teleported in. With enough time and bullets fired, Calus will meet his maker and the bubble will disappear. 

Players will then drop down into the arena below and the fight with Calus will be over. Now, the only thing left to do after giving Calus the cheese treatment is to enjoy the new Strand subclass.

For guides on the newest Strand subclasses and abilities, check out our guides section for Destiny 2 and become the ultimate Guardian.