Destiny 2 Armor Stats Explained: Everything You Need to Know

Image: Bungie Entertainment

Human Made

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

Reviewed by

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep overhauled many of the game’s systems to be easier to manage and understand. Out of all of these, the Armor 2.0 system may be the most notable change. Mods, elemental affinities, and armor stats are introduced, while Base stats more closely resemble those of the original Destiny.

In practice, this is a much more streamlined system. But when you’re actually looking through this somewhat complex system, it can come off as overwhelming. This is especially true if you’re trying to min-max stats and synergize specific Armor Mods. So, to help you uncover the secrets of this system and prepare to handle end-game content, here is our complete guide on Destiny 2 armor stats.

Destiny 2 Armor Stats Explained

There are currently six different armor stats that can be attributed to armor, weapons, Mods, and even your subclass. With the new Destiny 2 Armor 2.0 max stats system, mobility, resilience, recovery, discipline, intellect, and strength are all distributed randomly depending on what you have equipped.

You’ll be able to directly view this distribution in your pause menu, by hovering over each stat on the right-hand side. These point totals are added together based on the stats of your Helmet, Gauntlets, Chest and Boots, with every 10 points increasing your affinity by one tier. You have the potential to increase each stat up to tier 10, with any additional investment in a given stat having no benefit after that point.

Here’s what each armor stat does for your Guardian:

Destiny 2 Armor Stats
Mobility Increases your walk and strafe speed, while also improving the height of your first jump. Sprint speed and your secondary jump ability will not be boosted by this stat.
Resilience Increases the duration of your shield, but does not increase your overall health. This stat can be increased almost exponentially as long as you continue to invest in it.
Recovery Increases your health regeneration speed and decreases your shield recharge delay. Similar to Resilience, this will increase exponentially the more you invest in it.
Discipline Reduces your grenade cooldown, but with diminishing returns the more you invest.
Intellect Reduces your Super cooldown, but with diminishing returns the more you invest.
Strength Reduces your melee cooldown, but with diminishing returns the more you invest.

Best Class Armor Stats

Every class will utilize all six base stats to define efficiency for different in-game mechanics. That said, each class has unique strengths that can be increased by investing in specific stats.

Hunter Armor Stats: For Hunters, it’s all about being elusive and quick. Mobility is the best armor stat for Hunters, as it dictates the length of the their dodge cooldown.
Titan Armor Stats: Titans need to be able to absorb a ton of damage and remain unscathed. The best armor stat for Titans is Resilience, which dictates the length of their Barricade cooldown.
Warlock Armor Stats: Warlocks fit somewhere in the middle, popping in and out of battle to lay out AOE damage. Recovery directly affects the length of their Rift cooldown, making it the best armor stat for Warlocks.

What Destiny 2 Armor Stats Should You Invest in?

D2 Armor Stats — *Image: Bungie Entertainment via HGG*

You should invest in your preferred class to get the most out of your stats, but you’ll still need to keep a decent balance and carefully incorporate Mods. Your strategy here will depend on your playstyle and which parts of the game you’ll be playing. Difficult encounters like Raids, for example, will likely require high Resiliency, Recovery and Intellect for you to be effective.

Another thing to keep in mind is that each stat investment scales differently. While Mobility, Resilience and Recovery have exponential growth, the remaining three see drastically diminished returns past a certain point. You’ll typically want an evenly balanced stat pool to get some incremental boosts, then capitalize on your layout with Mods.

It’s also worth noting that Stasis currently has different cooldown periods, meaning that your investment may differ with this subclass.

What About Armor Mods?

The other key component of Armor 2.0 is Armor Mods. These grant a wide range of buffs and can be equipped to your helmet, gauntlets, chest, boots, and class items within a certain energy limit. Increasing your stats requires you to add General Mods, which cost 1–5 energy and grant +5 or +10 bonuses, basically giving you a half or full-tier boost.

D2 Armor Mods — *Image: Bungie Entertainment*

There are a wide range of additional Mods that boost recharge rates outside of your general stats, as well as ammo, weapon and other powerful mechanics. You can read more about this system in our Armor Mods Guide.

Destiny 2 Armor Stats: Elemental Affinities Explained

One somewhat misleading component of Armor builds and stats is elemental affinities. While this may seem like it ties specific armor to different subclass types, it’s really just a Mod limiter. In short, there are specific Armor Mods that are associated with specific elemental charges and provide additional benefits.

Solar Mods are tied to Grenade boosts, and the Solar Combat Style Mods are stackable. Arc Mods are tied to melee and have secondary perks, and Void Mods are tied to your super and grant powerful variations in exchange for a stat decrease. You can always change your affinity out on a given armor piece, but it will require an Upgrade Module.

Overall, these are important to be aware of when applying Mods, but they don’t have a direct impact on stats.

How to Upgrade and Masterwork Armor

Masterclass D2 Armor — *Image: Bungie Entertainment via HGG*

One key way to boost your stats and Mod energy is by Masterworking your armor pieces. This requires you to upgrade each piece ten times (some armor starts 2–5 levels in) with each upgrade providing an additional energy point. Each upgrade requires Legendary Shards, with the final two levels requiring Ascendant Shards and Enhancement Prisms.

Once Masterworked, you’ll gain an additional +2 to every armor stats, with some stats getting a random larger boost alongside it. Additionally, you’ll have 10 Energy to work with, meaning you have the ability to add General Armor Mods to further boost your stats. It should be your goal to Masterwork any armor your fond of, especially if they have well-balanced initial stats.

How to Earn High-Stat Armor

For the most part, everything in Destiny 2 is randomized. Sure, some game modes have specific loot pools — rare quests like Presage can guarantee specific high-tier weapons, and Trials of Osiris is known for relatively solid armor rolls. For high-stat armor, your best bet is to run Raids or anything that gives a Pinnacle reward.

You can also fine-tune your gear rolls with the Umbral Engram decoder, which seems to be a seasonal mainstay. The only requirement is that you’ll need to unlock specific lenses over time, meaning high-stat gear in specific categories will be locked at first.

There’s unfortunately no sure-fire method for rolling high-stat gear. The best thing you can do is look into the loot pool, pursue Pinnacle gear, and keep running game modes with the gear you want.

Become a High Grounder

Armor stats may be complicated, but once you understand how to tweak them, they can be a boon for your Guardian. To help your Fireteam min-max their builds, be sure to share this article on your favorite social platforms. For the latest on Destiny 2, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the know.

Happy gaming!

Related Reading