Tusk of the Boar checks two gigantic boxes for Destiny 2: it’s the game’s first Strand / Wave Frame / Special Ammo / Grenade Launcher, and it’s the second ever Special Ammo / Wave Frame that can roll Chain Reaction. It’s a great compliment to existing loadouts in PvE and PvP, and there are a few perks you should keep an eye out for as you dive into Iron Banner.
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Voltshot is a Arc weapon perk introduced in Season of Plunder, and it’s absolutely a perk you’ll want to chase down. You can acquire randomly rolled weapons with Voltshot, and obtain patterns to craft weapons with to Enhanced Voltshot if you dedicate enough time to getting the patterns.
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Repulsor Brace is a new perk available on Season 17 weapons that gives players an overshield when defeating a Void-debuffed target. It’s a relatively rare perk this season that can only roll on four weapons, and its unique effect makes it one of the most interesting additions to Void buildcrafting since, well, Void 3.0.
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Season of the Risen and The Witch Queen introduced an excellent line-up of craftable weapons, primarily from four loot pools: Savathun’s Throne World, Vow of the Disciple Raid, Psi Ops, and world drops. A lot of these weapons are fantastic in PvE, including the DPS monster Cataclysmic and the crowd control king Forbearance. Other weapons are strong picks for PvP, like the five weapons we’ll discuss below.
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Update: As of the launch of Lightfall the Reaping Wellmaker mod has been replaced by the class item mod Reaper. Reaper creates a single orb of light on the next weapon final blow after using your class ability. The content below is largely outdated, although in Season 20 Volatile Flow returned and works on orb of light pickup.
Reaping Wellmaker has become of the best Elemental Well mods in the game since Void 3.0 debuted with The Witch Queen. It’s a fantastic way to generated Void Elemental Wells–no matter what subclass you’re currently running. Unlike other mods like Melee Wellmaker and Elemental Ordnance, Reaping Wellmaker doesn’t care about your subclass, or the element of ability or weapon you’re currently using, making it a perfect mod for building around Volatile Flow.
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The next Destiny 2 raid is arriving on March 5th, and there’s more than enough time to get the best gear and items ready for Day 1 and Week 1 attempts! Over the next few articles we’ll take a look at items you should make sure you have before The Witch Queen arrives on February 22nd. This week we’re checking out weapons that’ll help you get your Day/Week 1 clears.
There are a lot of boss damage combinations that are viable for endgame content. In a Day 1 raid we’re primarily focused on ease of use. Building for complicated set-ups that require getting kills is just too much effort when you’re already low on Power Level. There are a lot of variables–are the damage phases long, short, close range, long range? We won’t know until we get in there, but we can at least get a head start by building an arsenal of competent weapons.
While we don’t know which weapon types will be buffed by Season 16’s Artifact mods, we do know that Rocket Launchers happen to be in a great place for boss damage. If Rockets get an Artifact mod of their own like Season 15’s Particle Deconstruction they’ll definitely be the go-to choice for a variety of boss encounters, especially if someone in the party has Gjallarhorn. So, which ones are best?
The weapon balancing TWAB from Bungie earlier this month made a few changes to Rocket Launchers. Different frames now have different damage multipliers, with Adaptive and Aggressive Frames receiving a buff, and Precision Frames receiving a nerf. Clown Cartridge tends to deliver the highest damage per second (DPS), so we’re really looking for Adaptive and Aggressive Rockets that can roll Clown Cartridge or at least a pair of otherwise solid perks. Lasting Impression can work, but with Vorpal Weapon nerfed I’d take Clown Cartridge over even an Overflow / Vorpal or Overflow Lasting Impression Hezen Vengeance.
The DPS king next season might be Hothead. It has the biggest PvE damage multiplier, can roll with Tracking / Clown Cartridge, and even has an Adept variant for mods like Adept Big Ones Spec. You don’t need the Adept roll, of course, but it’s handy if you happen to have one. Royal Entry also has Clown Cartridge but it’ll be nerfed in Season 16. Ultimately, any Rocket with Clown Cartridge or a damage perk will probably be fine. Just keep an eye out for better rolls of Adaptive and Aggressive Frames.
There’s a chance that Rocket Launchers won’t be ideal. In that case, a good Sword, Heavy Ammo Grenade Launcher, Linear Fusion Rifle, and Sniper Rifle are worth keeping. Here’s what you’re looking for:
Somewhere in your line-up you’ll probably have an Exotic weapon for dishing out boss damage, or to support your team’s weapons. There are basically three options for Exotics: damage weapons like Sleeper Simulant that largely take the place of your Legendary DPS picks, supplemental damage weapons like Anarchy or Witherhoard that add extra damage on top of your Legendary weapon, and support or enabling exotics like Gjallarhorn, Tractor Cannon, or Divinity that boost your team’s damage while potentially tanking your own.
There are a ton of big hitter exotics out there. Under perfect conditions Deathbringer has among the highest DPS in the game, but you need to be firing as fast as possible and making sure every orb hits its target. Sleeper Simulant just got a massive buff that’s sticking around after Particle Deconstruction leaves. Izanagi’s Burden remains the king of burst damage, while close range picks like Legend of Acrius, Lament, and Fourth Horseman are incredible if you can get close enough to a target.
Here’s the list of top Exotic DPS weapons that I think are best for next season:
Dealing damage:
Supplementing Legendary weapons:
Supporting the team:
Damage phase length, whether the boss has an easy to hit weak point, and the ranges you’re shooting from make all the difference with your DPS loadout. Add in the potential to see Champions, the need to kill regular enemies, and the utility that some Exotics provide, and you can see why it’s extremely difficult to suggest one loadout. The best advice I can give is to unlock a varied arsenal so you can adapt to whatever the raid happens to throw at you. Do it sooner, rather than later, and you’ll be thanking yourself in March.
Void 3.0 is coming in Season 16 alongside the The Witch Queen expansion, and it promises to promote existing Void subclasses (Sentinel, Nightstalker, and Voidwalker) to the Stasis Aspect/Fragment system. It’s not just a port: Void subclasses are being reworked with new abilities, new roles, and a more cohesive take on the buffs and debuffs that currently exist within these subclasses. There are so many possibilities to consider with each subclass, but we’re still working with limited information. In the meantime, I wanted to share some theory crafting I’ve been doing regarding the new melee ability for Titans: Shield Toss.
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Destiny 2’s Season of the Lost introduced Legendary Stasis weapons for the first time following the introduction of Stasis in Beyond Light. Season of the Lost launched with a handful of new Stasis weapons, including Peacebond, Reed’s Regret, Fratethyst, and Vulpecula in addition to the new Exotic Trace Rifle Ager’s Scepter. The 30th Anniversary dungeon Grasp of Avarice added another Stasis Hand Cannon, Eyasluna, and The Dawning event added a new Stasis Sword called Zephyr.
Stasis weapons are better than ever since the December balance changes. Behemoth Titan players can now create Diamond Lances by simply racking up kills with a Stasis weapon, and there are some insane builds out there for low-cooldown Stasis grenades on Hunters. Zephyr comes with a unique new Stasis perk that slows and eventually freezes enemies on consecutive hits. Oh, and Cryosthesia 77K was recently buffed. Combined with the new Stasis mods in Season 15 there are a plenty of reasons to give Stasis weapons a shot. The question is: which guns are worth using in the first place?
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Adrenaline Junkie is a powerful damage perk that’s similar to Swashbuckler, but for grenades: stacking handling and damage on successive weapon kills up to 33%, or granting the full damage boost all at once after a grenade kill. An Adrenaline Junkie weapon seems like a perfect fit for a grenade-heavy build, but it typically occupies that same slot as another favorite perk for grenade enthusiasts: Demolitionist.
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Season of the Lost continues in Destiny 2 in December with the Bungie’s 30th Anniversary Event on December 7th. A new balance patch with a host of updates to abilities, exotics, weapons, and perks is planned for the same day. The November 18th This Week At Bungie outlined a dozens of changes, including a major shift in the potency of certain Stasis abilities. Bungie previously teased that Stasis subclasses were due for a rework in this update, and specifically they mentioned taking a look at Revenant Hunters and Shatterdive, as well as the Behemoth Titans.
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