Who won the Destiny 2 Lightfall Root of Nightmares World First race?

It’s time to take the fight to The Witness.

Destiny 2 Lightfall’s new raid, Root of Nightmares, is finally here and there’s a special World First race to go along with it. Top Destiny 2 PvE clans from around the world are queuing up to attempt to be the first to finish the difficult endgame activity and be crowned World First champions.

Follow along with our live blog below to keep up with who’s winning, who’s falling behind, and who’s about to earn themselves a sweet championship belt.

Destiny 2 Lightfall Root of Nightmares World First race: Live updates

• 3:20pm CT: Bungie confirms it: HITP, otherwise known as Team Hard in the Paint, has achieved World First for the Root of Nightmares raid. Congratulations to Roen, Punz, Osiris, SK, Kai, and Grangalf on their impressive victory.
• 2:36pm CT: Another team, led by axsD2, has now defeated Nezarec as well. Over an hour after HITP’s completion, they are believed to be runners-up in the race for World First. Until Bungie validates the winner, they could be in contention for victory.
• 2:14pm CT: As we await confirmation of HITP’s World First, the rest of the fireteams competing in the race remain stuck on Nezarec. Despite being neck and neck with Roen and crew at one point, ATP’s team is still yet to get the killing blow needed to claim a podium finish behind them.
• 1:31pm CT: Bungie confirmed that it has reports of a World First completion and is currently validating the winners. The HITP clan fireteam—Roen, Grangalf, Osiris, SK, Punz, and Kai—are believed to be the victors. At just over two hours, this has been one of the shortest raid races in Destiny 2’s history.
• 1:25pm CT: RoenXD has defeated Nezarec, and returned to orbit. Now confirmation awaits from Bungie to see if they were indeed the first team to complete Root of Nightmares.
• 1:21pm CT: RoenXD and All_The_Players are neck and neck, consistently knocking out an impressive first damage phase against Nezarec. But both teams keep wiping before they can continue further into the fight.
• 1:12pm CT: RoenXD and crew were able to get Nezarec down to half health before wiping on another attempt, getting nearer and nearer to a final stand faceoff.
• 1:06pm CT: RoenXD’s team have managed to complete a somewhat successful damage phase against Nezarec, giving them a small advantage over ATP. Many other teams remain stuck at the third encounter, including Saltagreppo, Datto and Gladd.
• 12:54pm CT: As of now, two teams—those of All_The_Players and RoenXD—are confirmed to be on what is likely the final encounter of the raid. As was theorized prior to release, they face down Nezarec, Final God of Pain.
• 12:46pm CT: Less than two hours into the race for World First, ATP’s team has cleared the third encounter and progresses forward with what looks to be a narrow lead over their closest competitors.
• 12:41pm CT: Destiny 2 has now peaked with over 520,000 viewers on Twitch. All_The_Players continues to lead the charge against the Explicator of Planets in the third encounter, having reached the final stand of the fight.
• 12:34pm CT: Saltagreppo, Gladd, panora, and many other teams have now joined in the battle against the Explicator of Planets in the third encounter. But we’re still yet to see a team have a solid go at a damage phase against the boss.
• 12:24pm CT: ATP’s team has made it to the third encounter before Saltagreppo after Elysium ran into connection issues during the jumping puzzle between encounters. They appear to be the first there and the encounter features the first real boss fight of the raid.
• 12:06pm CT: Saltagreppo and the rest of Elysium have now cleared the second encounter and continue deeper into the raid. The majority of the other leading teams have made it to the second encounter, now trying to catch up to them.
• 11:41am CT: Gladd, Sweatcicle, and the rest of Redeem have also completed the first encounter and now join Saltagreppo in trying to tackle the second.
• 11:36am CT: Destiny 2 is currently sitting at the top of the Twitch directory, surpassing Just Chatting with 468,000 viewers locked in as the race to World First gets underway.
• 11:23am CT: Twenty minutes into the raid race, current reigning World First holder Saltagreppo has cleared the first encounter, taking what appears to be an early lead while many other teams continue to try and chip away at the opening section.
• 11am CT: With nearly 300,000 viewers with their eyes on Destiny 2 in the Twitch directory already, the Root of Nightmares raid race has officially begun.
• 10:46am CT: With less than 15 minutes until the raid race begins, Bungie has announced that the Necrotic Grips Exotic has been disabled in all raids due to an issue.
• 10:36am CT: The Twitch Rivals stream is now live and players can start watching to earn the emblems available through Twitch drops. The official raid race tailgate is being hosted by AdamSavage, ProfessorBroman, and Reck1568.
• 10:02am CT: For the first time ever, there’s an official livestream for the World First race, and it’s none other than Twitch Rivals. You can tune in and watch along there, or find most participants in the Destiny 2 directory on Twitch.
• 10am CT: Good morning, Guardians. It’s time to strap in for yet another World First race in Destiny 2, beginning in about an hour. All eyes will be on Saltagreppo and Clan Elysium, winners of the most recent World First race for King’s Fall, and three-time World First winners. Can they do it again? Or is this finally the time for Datto and Math Class to take home the title after years of close calls?

Root of Nightmares World First race notable streams

Here are just some of the top notable Destiny 2 PvE streamers who are jumping into another World First race.

• Saltagreppo
• Gladd
• Datto
• Gothalion
• Sweatcicle
• GernaderJake
• Ekuegan
• Leopard
• GsxrClyde
• MrFruit

When does the Root of Nightmares World First race start?

As soon as players are able to select the activity, the raid race begins. Contest Mode in Root of Nightmares is set to start at 11am CT on March 10 and last for 48 hours. After that, Contest Mode will be disabled and the raid will be playable as normal.

What is Contest Mode in Destiny 2 Lightfall?

Contest Mode is a special difficulty for the launch of a new raid. It will last for 48 hours this time, instead of 24 hours like for previous raids, and finishing the raid within that time frame will reward a special emblem.

Here’s how Contest Mode works.

• The Raid will launch with Contest Mode enabled for two days.  
• You will need to be at 1780 Power to be at the cap for all of the encounters.   
• Any Power higher than 1780 will be irrelevant for the duration of Contest Mode, in an effort to level the playing field.
• Several weapons and items have been disabled due to bugs or issues to maintain competitive integrity.
• The first team to finish the raid, claim the related triumphs and rewards, and return to orbit will be crowned the winners.
• Winners of the race will receive their own customized championship belts.