As I was reminded during the Diablo IV beta, I love to see an endgame boss intended for a large group of players getting soloed by one absolute madman. Destiny raids, which are designed for fireteams of six guardians, are no stranger to low-man completions, but there's still a special level of prestige for whichever chad among chads manages to solo the final boss first. That honor for the latest raid, Root of Nightmares, has just gone to TheSnazzzyRock, who a day ago posted the video above in which he beats Nezarec, Final God of Pain, in just under 12 minutes and three damage phases.
Even if you accept the current community sentiment that Root of Nightmares is relatively easy as Destiny raids go (it doesn't require the absolutely bewildering symbol memorization that Vow of the Disciple did), I confidently maintain that what Snazzzy has done here required astonishing skill, patience and concentration. The biggest stumbling block isn't dealing with the swarms of mobs in the arena, or the boss stomping around, but in trying to single-handedly perform mechanics that were designed to be done by six players.
The final encounter revolves around playing leapfrog along two seven-node paths—one light, one dark—activating various buffs, and periodically creating safe havens that prevent the boss from killing you with an instant death wave. The timing would be razor tight, even without the substantial problem of being shot at from all sides. I was not at all surprised to see that Snazzzy used Solar Warlock for the clear, because the class is in a frankly incredible spot now thanks to having healing on tap with the Phoenix Dive ability and ferocious damage output using fusion grenades coupled with the (almost certain to be nerfed) Starfire Protocol chestpiece.
His choice of weaponry also had me nodding enthusiastically as if, yes, perhaps I could do this too with a decade or so of practice. The Ignition Code grenade launcher enables him to shutdown adds by blinding them, while the Adept Hothead rocket launcher has long been one of the kings of Destiny 2 DPS. More leftfield is the choice of Erianna's Vow as his special, but it makes total sense when you consider he needs to periodically pop Nezarec's weak spot from distance to prevent being bounced into the air. Erianna's is easy to aim in a pinch and reloads itself over time—perfect for the lone wolf under pressure.
Also very cool to see was how Snazzzy hot-swapped builds mid-fight using the loadout system that shipped with the Lightfall expansion. In the video description Snazzzy explains his strategy in full, which involves multiple build switches. Even if you can't follow all the exact jargon, it gives a good sense of the sheer amount of stuff he's having to do during the fight.
"So this starts with me using Eriana's Vow a blinding grenade launcher, and having a rocket for DPS. I use Eriana's for the crits on Nez and the grenade launcher for the Colossus and adds. I pretty much do the encounter as normal while using Sunbracers to nuke adds around the map for heavy/special ammo drops. Once I finish the last node, I swap to a Felwinter's Helm loadout to use a finisher on the Colossus for a 20 second debuff. After that I run to under the flower for my damage phase. (This is only for 1st and 2nd DPS). I swap to a Lunafaction loadout and place my well, then swap to a Starfire loadout with a voltshot weapon and my rocket launcher. I kill an add for voltshot then as soon as Nezarec starts damage, I hit him with volt shot and do my [damage] rotation.
After that I do the same up until the 3rd damage phase. For this, I need to have full special ammo to pull off the kill with Merciless. So I need my damage to be good enough for only rockets but also I need to save one rocket. Once I hit the final stand I swap to Tractor Cannon with Lunafaction Boots on, apply the debuff, place my rift, then swap to my final stand damage loadout. From there I'm using Merciless. The key thing with this weapon is the perk 'Impetus'. This is pretty much like the old Kill Clip: It grants the gun a 50% boost to damage for five seconds when getting a kill. Huge W that it's over, so happy to be done. GGs to all running this challenge."
The moment where Nezarec finally succumbs happens at 11'35", at which point the Final God of Pain flops ostentatiously onto his back and Snazzzy's celebrations begin. They go like this:
YESSSSSSSS
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD
OH MY FUCKINGGGGG GOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD
HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT
HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT
[panting sounds]
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
[more panting]
OH MY GOD IT'S OVER
[furious typing]
IT'S OVER MAAAAAAANNNN
I DID IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT
MY HANDS ARE NUMB
MY HANDS ARE NUMB
MY HANDS ARE NUMB DUDE YESSSSSSS
And that, folks, is why video games rule. You can find more of The SnazzzyRock's escapades on his Twitch and YouTube channels. For those hoping to mirror his solo Nezarec kill, be warned that Bungie dropped a hotfix today to make Nezarec better able to deal with players in a Well of Radiance. I assume that means he's likely to yeet players right out of there. I do not look forward to my team finding out at the next reset.
