There are a lot of weapon perks in Destiny 2, and it can be hard to keep track of them all. Some are incredibly useful, while others have applications that could be called niche at best. Of course, the best perks vary across weapons, builds, and activities, but there are some that have all-around utility. Here’s a look at some of the generally best PVE weapon perks in Destiny 2.
1. Rapid Hit
Rapid Hit rewards repeated precision hits, granting an increasing bonus to reload speed and stability that last for a couple of seconds. At full stacks, it gives a substantial bonus to reload speed, and the fact that it triggers on hits rather than on kills makes it much more useful than kill-based perks like Outlaw for high-level content, where even red bar enemies can take a lot of punishment.
2. Subsistence
Speaking of perks that trigger on kills, Subsistence partially reloads your magazine on weapon kills. This is an excellent perk for weapons with large magazines like auto rifles and SMGs, and can also mitigate low intrinsic reload speed. Subsistence can also be a lot of fun on shotguns, where each killing shot refunds a round — meaning that you hardly ever need to manually reload.
3. Voltshot — The Best PVE Destiny 2 Perks
Added in Season of the Plunder, Voltshot is an excellent Destiny 2 perk that has some synergy with Arc 3.0. Killing an enemy with a Voltshot weapon then reloading procs the perk, which adds the Jolt keyword to the next round. It isn’t on a whole lot of weapons right now, but Voltshot is a top-tier add clear perk that can easily wipe out whole groups of enemies at once.
4. Headstone
Another elemental perk, Headstone creates a Stasis crystal after a precision kill. On its own this might not seem like much compared to something like Voltshot, but if anything it’s actually more flexible. You can shatter the crystal to take out other nearby enemies, or use it to benefit from Stasis fragments like Whisper of Chains, which grants a huge 40% damage reduction.
5. Firing Line
For snipers and linear fusion rifles, there are few perks better at damaging bosses than Firing Line. It grants a constant 20% damage buff to precision hits, with the caveat being that you have to be near two or more allies for it to work. That’s usually fine for Raid and Nightfall DPS phases, but Firing Line won’t do anything for you if you’re running content solo.
6. Bait and Switch — The Best PVE Destiny 2 Perks
It requires a little more setup than other DPS-focused weapon perks, but Bait and Switch grants a huge 35% damage increase while active. Proccing it requires you to do damage with all of your weapons in a quick span of time, and for most bosses, the easiest way to do this is to use Witherhoard and a primary weapon like a scout or auto rifle. Toss a Witherhoard shot, squeeze off a round with your primary weapon, and blast away with your heavy (as of now, Cataclysmic).
7. Incandescent
Solar 3.0’s elemental weapon perk in Destiny 2 is exceptionally powerful, spreading the Scorch debuff to enemies around targets you kill with an Incandescent gun. Incredible on Calus Mini-Tool, Ammit AR2, and the BxR-55 Battler, even if you aren’t using a Solar subclass. And if you are, you can use fragments to both increase its effects and gain further benefits from them.
8. One for All
One of the best Destiny 2 damage perks for high-level PVE activities, One for All pops when you hit three or more targets within three seconds of each. At that point, it gives you a non-refreshable 35% damage buff, which really helps with tough Grandmaster enemies. Pairs wonderfully with Stats for All, which has a similar trigger condition but grants a reload speed and other weapon stats for the duration.
9. Explosive Payload
Explosive Payload may not seem like much at first glance, but it’s a reliable perk that can help you in a wide range of situations. It grants a straight-up 15% damage buff and splits your damage between the bullet shot and the resulting explosion. Like One for All, it’s useful in situations where it’s tough to reap the benefits of kill-based damage perks. It also gives you better damage at range, since the explosion isn’t affected by damage falloff.
10. Demolitionist — The Best PVE Destiny 2 Perks
With the complete set of 3.0 subclasses available now in Destiny 2, grenade abilities are arguably stronger than ever. Demolitionist maximizes your grenade uptime by giving you energy with every weapon kill. In addition to that, it reloads your weapon whenever you throw your grenade, which makes it both an ability-buffing perk and a reload perk. Versatile and powerful, Demolitionist is a fantastic perk for anyone who builds into grenade abilities.
