No.
Almost. Failure or near failure like you described should do the trick.
When I use pyramids, I do 10, 8, 6, 4, 2+. The weights are really determined by that last set because I like to use the same increments as I go.
For example, my single arm DB incline work has looked like this:
50 x 10
55 x 8
60 x 6
65 x 4
70 x 4
Hitting 4 reps on my final set twice in a row tells me to add weight. The trick is that some of those early sets were also close to failure.
The first time I used those weights I only hit 5 on my set of 6. That’s part of my progression, too. Even if I hit all my reps on every other set, I wouldn’t call it a success because I missed that middle set.
I don’t like to do a lot of sets that aren’t challenging.