Clan Elysium wins Destiny 2 Vow of the Disciple Raid race: Recap

After server issues marred the start of Destiny 2’s Vow of the Disciple Raid race, Clan Elysium triumphed above it all to take home a back-to-back World First crown in The Witch Queen expansion.

There’s nothing else quite like an old-fashioned Raid race in Destiny. What began as a tradition in the Vault of Glass has carried on for the past eight years with each new expansion.

Every team competing on day one shares a common goal: to go down in the history books as the first Guardians who made it through the Raid. While some Fireteams have earned championship belts for their efforts, others have caused drastic in-game changes through their actions.

The Vow of the Disciple Raid was no different. However, it did have plenty of drama — from disconnects to a wild final boss fight.

At the end of it all though, Clan Elysium emerged as the first back-to-back winners in Destiny 2 history.

Destiny 2 Vow of the Disciple Raid race recap: Clan Elysium wins

From multiple-time Raid race winners to some of Destiny’s biggest personalities, the Vow of the Disciple drew all the top Fireteams to Savathun’s Throne World.

Record-holders like Gladd, Sweatcicle, and Gigz to name a few will all be competing. Having mastered earlier Raids and claimed a few belts along the way, these players were all looking to make some history once again.

However, a three-horse race between Elysium, Ascend, and Datto’s squad quickly emerged amid all the early connection issues.

• Read More: Destiny 2: Where is Xur this week?

As they all pushed towards the final boss in Rhulk, Elysium managed to hold strong. After Ascend wiped near the very end of the boss, Saltagreppo and his squad edged out Datto’s squad by minutes — with the star streamer once again forced to be the bridesmaid.

It took Saltagreppo, Quazz, Moople, Slap, Cruz, and Kyros seven hours and 14 minutes to clear, with Datto’s squad coming in three minutes later.

Destiny 2 Vow of the Disciple Raid race: Contest Mode

Each team was fighting an uphill battle too with Contest Mode in place for the first 24 hours.

All competitors entering the Raid race had their Power capped for the duration of the run to keep things balanced — set to 1530. While enemies did scale much higher, Guardians were limited to that ceiling.

As soon as the 24-hour window passes, however, Contest Mode will disappear for the new Raid. Expect teams to blitz through each encounter from day two onwards once mechanics have been figured out.