Destiny 2 The Dread guide: How to beat every enemy

Destiny 2: The Final Shape is the last major expansion for the game, introducing a brand new sandbox area for players to explore, the conclusion of the Light and Dark Saga, and a new enemy type for you to master your new Exotics against, The Dread.

The expansion’s new location, The Pale Heart, isn’t the first place you’ll have encountered The Dread. Though only sparingly, this enemy race was present in the Lightfall expansion as Tormentors. In this new location, there are many more enemies in The Dread’s ranks for you to destroy. You’ll need to learn the mechanics of how they fight and develop strategies to beat them. Luckily, I’ve done a lot of the hard work for you and have listed every Dread foe and how to beat them below.

All The Dread enemies in Destiny 2 and how to beat them

I’ve listed every enemy in The Dread race that you’ll face in Destiny 2 below, alongside some helpful tips for how to beat them. Note that there will undoubtedly be some special variants of these enemies, named versions with larger health pools, that are added over time with the game’s new Acts system. These aren’t listed here because they are like minibosses, each with their own unique mechanics, even if that is just a larger health pool.

Tormentor

Tormentors are The Dread enemy you’ll remember from Lightfall. They’re big and look like a sci-fi version of The Grim Reaper. They have two main attacks. First, they’ll get up close and hit you or grab you for some pretty massive damage. Second, they fire a barrage of energy at you that can wipe you out if you take too many hits.

When it comes to Tormentors, I recommend staying back and shooting them in their weak spots as much as you can while darting between covers. They often appear with groups of other enemies, but you shouldn’t underestimate them. Use whatever weapons and Subclasses you’re comfortable with, but anything that helps you get a lot of distance from them quickly is best.

Once they hit about three-quarters of their health, they’re going to be much more relentless and throw everything they have at you. Focus on shooting them and getting them out of the way, and you’ll survive whatever encounter they’re part of.

Grim

Grims are the smaller flying enemies among The Dread’s ranks. They flit around the battlefield, taking shots at you, usually from the back of a group and in swarms. Their power comes into play when you get too close. They suppress Guardian abilities, making dealing with every other enemy you’re facing much more difficult.

Shoot these guys as soon as you see them. Grims are a pain, but they don’t have to get in the way if you take them out quickly. There are larger Dread enemies to worry about, but you can dodge them, so deal with the Grims first and make the most of your abilities at full strength.

Husk

Husks are nasty melee enemies that get right up close to you with two huge swords and slash away to try to kill you. They’re tough, able to take quite a few hits before they go down, and have a nasty surprise waiting for any Guardian silly enough to destroy them incorrectly.

If you kill a Husk correctly, exploding its glowing core, then it’ll just die. You won’t need to worry about it anymore. However, if you don’t detonate that core, a Geis will emerge and hunt you down, exploding when it touches you. This is a small, glowing beetle that floats through the air.

It’s best to attack Husks from medium to long-range if you can, but they close the gap quickly. Aim for the glowing core to detonate it, but be on the lookout for any Geis flying your way if you pop your Super and accidentally cause some to spawn.

Attendant and Weaver

The Weavers and Attendants, shown on the left and right, respectively, in the image above, are Psions that have been reshaped by The Witness. Weavers use Strand to pull and suspend you on the battlefield, while Attendants will freeze you with their Stasis powers.

Outside of their Darkness abilities, these enemies are fairly basic, but they’ll usually always appear together. This means that you might get tangled up and frozen, exposed, so you can be shot and killed more easily by the group.

The best way to kill these enemies is to work through them one at a time as you would with any others. The Attendants definitely pose the biggest threat since they can cause you to become a static target, so focus any firepower you have on them first. I find that grenades and weapons like rocket launches that can deal a lot of damage and knockback buy you enough time to deal the remaining damage required to obliterate a group.

Omen and Harbinger

The Omens and Harbingers are dangerous masters of Stasis and Strand and lead The Dread into battle. Like the Attendants and Weavers, they use Darkness powers you have access to to exploit you and make you a target, just like you do to your enemies.

They wield massive spears in battle and target you as the forces they’re leading rush your way. These enemies won’t hold back, using Strand to ping you around and smash you against the environment or freeze you in place to make you easier to destroy.

Since these enemies are often accompanied by hordes of others that will get up close to you pretty fast, you need to judge each encounter for yourself. Grims will dampen your abilities, so take them out to stay at full power, and watch for Husks because they might end you while you’re targeting an Omen or Harbinger.

Leave the small enemies that won’t bother you too much if you can while you focus on these larger foes. Provided you’ve got the tactical advantage and maybe a few grenades or a nice melee ability to stun them, you should be able to take them out before they take you down.