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?
The Top 5 Stasis Weapons
How a Stasis weapon interacts with the rest of your build makes all the difference in how effective it is in your loadout. If Headstone is the perk you need to trigger your abilities then obviously Fractethyst isn’t going to be a top competitor. That said, all of the weapons in this category are viable without being Stasis weapons, and that’s part of the reason I’m ranking them so highly.
First, Eyasluna and Peacebond are fantastic primaries for short to mid-range combat. Both weapons can roll with Headstone and shatter the Stasis crystal in fewer than two shots or bursts. Peacebond is the king of shattering Stasis crystals, but it can be a little tricky to land those headshots at range. Eyasluna has significantly more range given that it’s a 140 RPM Hand Cannon, although the tradeoff is that it takes two shots from Eyasluna to destroy a crystal.
Reed’s Regret can also roll with Headstone, but personally I’d avoid it. The roll you’re looking for here in group content is Triple Tap and Firing Line. Currently, Reed’s Regret is the only Linear Fusion Rifle that can roll with a perk that literally gives it free ammo. Firing Line is also the biggest damage buff you can get on a Linear Fusion Rifle currently, although Vorpal Weapon is the next best option if you’re playing solo frequently.
Ager’s Scepter doesn’t just freeze an enemy. It freezes every enemy in the room, down the hallway, and up to the next loading zone. It’s an insane exotic that’s viable in virtually every activity with fantastic ammo economy and perfect synergy with so many different Stasis aspects and fragments. That said, it’s still an Exotic, so you can’t pair it with Sleeper Simulant this season. Instead you’ll need to swap to Reed’s Regret while taking advantage of Font of Might and Elemental Shards for additional Stasis weapon damage.
Lastly, it’s impossible to not mention one of this season’s best PvP Shotguns: Fractethyst. It’s a powerful precision frame Shotgun that’s easy to grind rolls for, but it notably can’t roll with Headstone. For some builds this isn’t a big deal: any Stasis kill brings a Behemoth Titan closer to generating a Stasis Lance from Diamond Lance, and it also potentially works with Elemental Armaments and Font of Might.
More Stasis Weapon Options
Not feeling any of the above weapons? Don’t worry, they’re not the only viable Stasis guns. Vulpecula acts as Hand Cannon alternative to Eyasluna that fires faster with less damage. Like Eyasluna and Peacebond it can roll with Headstone, and it has slightly more damage-per-second compared to Eyasluna. The trade-off, like with Peacebond, is that you’ll need to be significantly closer to your targets to avoid damage fall-off. You’ll also be reloading more often given that Vulpecula only has one additional round in the magazine compared to Eyasluna. The feel of Hand Cannons is a very personal thing, so I’d suggest giving both weapons a shot if you can get Outlaw / Headstone rolls on both.
Zephyr is a reprised Year 1 Sword that’s back with a new Stasis element and a unique perk: Cold Steel. Powered hits, which is any attack when you have ammo, will slow and eventually freeze a target. It’s a potent pairing with mods and fragments that give you more damage on your subclass-matching weapons, as well as Whisper of Rime feeding you overshield if you’re generating Stasis shards. Zephyr can pair Cold Steel with Duelist Trance for more utility, Relentless Strikes or Tireless Blade for more ammo, Unrelenting for health recovery, or Thresh for even more super. There’s a lot to like here, but it’s hard to recommend Swords since they’re so situational.
Cryosthesia 77k suffers simply because it’s Exotic. In PvE content any primary with Headstone is just as effective for freezing targets, and your Exotic slot is probably better spent on Ager’s Scepter if you’re really looking to do some freezing. Still, there are meme builds you can play around with this season using Focusing Lens in PvP.
The Worst Stasis Weapon
Surprising no one: the game’s worst Stasis weapon is Salvation’s Grip! This thing is in desperate need of help. Its freezing capacity is totally outstripped by the actual abilities in our Stasis kits these days. The ability to create Stasis crystals rapidly is marginally more useful this season now that Glacier grenades have a longer cooldown, but Headstone exists. Ager’s Scepter exists. Salvation’s Grip is an Exotic Heavy Weapon that doesn’t increase your damage in a way that couldn’t be replicated by Tractor Cannon, especially now that Focusing Lens has been changed with regards to Well of Radiance. At the very least it should be spawning those enhanced Duskfields that Revenant Hunters have.
Again, the right Stasis weapon(s) for your loadout really depend on your playstyle. If Headstone means nothing to you then feel free to skip it and run Fractethyst, or maybe Eyasluna, Peacebond, or Vulpecula with a damage perk instead. Of course, you can always grab an Osmosis weapon too if you have enough cooldown! I think the growing Stasis arsenal is making Osmosis increasingly obsolete, but it’s an option if you need it.
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