I think most people would agree that the Royal Pools (Bathers) encounter of the Leviathan raid is one of the toughest for people getting their first clear. Fortunately the raid rewards a shotgun (Legend of Acruis) that makes the encounter much easier for subsequent runs – if you haven’t tried it yourself I recommend it for your next run. Acrius packs a powerful punch to Bathers; it only takes two shots (one clip) to kill a bather, and the purple brick they drop gives you back those 2 shots. TLDR: Acruis kills bathers in seconds and remains ammo-neutral for the entire encounter. Use supers to destroy the lanterns.

When you’re standing on a plate and raising the lanterns, focus on ads (duh). Personally I like to use Better Devils and Uriel’s Gift. If any of them get close, make sure to punch them to activate a raid Gauntlet perk (but it’s not necessary). When you see a Bather start to rise, move forward quickly until you’re right in front of him, fire your first Acrius shot while he's still getting out of the water, and move back to your plate. If you’re fast enough, the plate won’t pause. The Bather will hop out of the pool and land directly in front of you as you stand on the plate – fire your second shot and he’ll drop at your feet. The oiled pool he creates on Prestige will be far enough away so it affect your protection, and you can immediately switch back to basic ad control until you’re relieved. On your way out, walk over the purple brick to restock (and remember to reload for the next Bather).

Keep your supers and grenades for the DPS phase (you won’t need them for the Bathers or ads). Warlocks should run bottom tier Dawnblade (with an empowering rift) and Titans should run top tier Sunbreaker – these ranged supers melt Lanterns as their hits generate extra damage. The first hunter in the fire team should run top tier Nightstalker – simply fire a tether at the center of the room to capture any ads that get close. Any additional Hunters should run a bottom tier Celestial Nighthawk Gunslinger – the Golden Gun will kill a full health lantern by itself. The fire team should discuss which cluster of lanterns each person will super – try to have at least one Warlock or Titan per cluster. Once the supers are out, the remaining damage can be done with energy or kinetic weapons. Golden Gun Hunters can clean up any stragglers before time runs out. As you’re firing at a cluster, keep an eye on the pool below it. When a bather hops out, swap to Acrius, fire two shots to drop him, and return to damaging the lanterns. You should be able to destroy all 9 lanterns in a single damage phase.