15 Best Weapon Perks in Destiny 2, Ranked

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Human Made

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

Weapon perks in Destiny 2 are one of the easiest-to-understand systems in the game. They’re also among the most impactful. Pursuing god-tier weapon rolls is almost more important than collecting Exotics, because having the right perk combo can drastically improve your weapons.

Outside of the new Stasis subclass, perks are the most diverse and ever-expanding systems in the game. Damage buffs, explosive payloads, automated reload, and staggering effects, are just a few of the unique abilities you can roll. And Bungie keeps bringing in new effects, like the incredible All for One, every single season.

So that begs the question, what are the Destiny 2 best weapon perks?

What Are Weapon Perks and How to Acquire Them

Weapon perks are unique modifiers attached to Legendary and Exotic weapons. Each weapon will have between 2–3 perks generated at random from a specific loot pool. These perks can include:

General Perks: Stat buffs that activate based on a general in-game execution, such as a quick reload or killing within three seconds.
Situational Damage Perks: Damage buffs that activate based on a specific in-game condition, such as being surrounded by enemies.
Rocket and Sword Damage Perks: Damage buffs exclusive to Swords or Rockets.

The unfortunate thing with perks is that they are completely beholden to RNG. Yes, you can narrow down your rolls by going after specific weapons and playing Pinnacle or end-game content. However, there’s no certainty that you’ll actually get what you’re going after.

The key is to keep playing and be on the lookout for weapons you want with the perks that you want. A low-level Posterity with One For All and Opening Shot may pop during a Strike. First In, Last Out with Backup Mag and Surrounded may randomly be available at the Gunsmiths. Just combine it with a higher-level weapon and suddenly you have a top-tier killing machine at the ready.

How Do Perks Connect to Weapon Mods?

Perks and Weapon Mods generally work hand-in-hand. They both provide unique benefits, and in some cases, Weapon Mods will augment a perk (specifically Surrounded, Dragonfly, and Rampage). Generally, we recommend equipping Mods that benefit a Perk, but other than that, just look to add complimentary Mods that boost your stats.

Best Weapon Perks in Destiny 2 Ranked

There is a very diverse array of Weapon Perks in Destiny 2 worth pursuing. Honestly, everything on this list can be useful depending on your situation. And there are even perks like Explosive Payload that are still really solid but didn’t quite crack the top fifteen of our list.

Now, as you’re grinding out loot and aiming for Destiny 2 god rolls, it can become easy to be overwhelmed by the options. Which ones are good? Do I care about these perks with this weapon?

To help you work through them, here are the best Weapon Perks in Destiny 2.

15. Disruption Break

Description: Breaking an enemy’s shield will make them more vulnerable to Kinetic damage for a brief period.

Starting off our ranking at #15 is Disruption Break. When Disruption Break first arrived, it was fairly useless. It really wasn’t until more Major and Champion-type enemies entered the fray that it became a must-have perk. This includes Barrier Champions, which can be an incredible pain without a powerful weapon to shred through their health bar.

This perk helps alleviate that issue with a 50% increase in damage output from your Kinetic weapons after disruption. Surprisingly, this also directly affects Guardians. This means that you can break shields in Crucible and immediately look to shut down an enemy combatant. It’s a perfect perk for combating a popped Super or when taking on multiple Guardians simultaneously.

14. Rapid Hit

Description: Rapid precision hits increase stability and reload speed temporarily.

Oftentimes, any precision-fueled benefit requires you to kill an enemy. That is not the case with the Rapid Hit Perk, which only requires quick precision damage. On top of that, if you maintain your accuracy, you can stack the stability and reload speed buff up to five times. This will increase the duration of the effect, making it that much easier to keep it up.

This Perk is best implemented on a gun that currently lacks any stability, or has a dramatic kick or overly sluggish reload animation. This will give you a far more noticeable stability or reload increase over a weapon that is somewhere in the middle or overly built around these stats.

13. Reconstruction

Description: Slowly reload the weapon automatically over time, potentially doubling your ammo capacity.

Not having to concern yourself with the amount of ammo you have is an incredible benefit. With Reconstruction, your weapon can be either equipped or stowed and still activate the auto-reload. The amount of ammo and the speed does fully depend on the weapon type, but you can usually expect 1–2 shells every 3–5 seconds or so.

What’s truly beneficial about this is that it has the potential to double your ammo capacity. This makes it incredibly useful for Shotguns and Fusion Rifles, which have incredibly small clips.

12. Vorpal Weapon

Description: Increased damage against bosses, vehicles, and Guardians with their Super active.

Similar to the Major or Boss Weapon Mods, the Vorpal Weapon Perk is all about damage output. However, the main benefit to this 15% damage increase against bosses and minibosses is that there is no activation criteria. That’s right — aside from Guardians needing to pop their Super in PvP, any Major enemies in PvE get a debuff against you.

The only thing is that this Perk is not great on Primary weapons like Pulse Rifles and Auto Rifles, which have relatively low DPS. To truly get the most out of this Perk, you need to roll it on a Shotgun or Sniper Rifle. This gives you high-powered weapons either up close or from a distance, that already have relatively high DPS.

11. Opening Shot

Description: The opening shot of an attack gains increased accuracy and damage.

Opening Shot is one of the best PvP weapon perks since you’ll be entering and exiting combat constantly. Gaining that increased range and accuracy can make a world of difference in providing you with an advantage over your opponent. If possible, try to roll this with a Scout Rifle, Hand Cannon, or other well-balanced weapons to get the greatest benefit.

Additionally, if you’re patient and willing and able to pause between shots, you can activate this multiple times. That’s right, it can actually activate this boost throughout a clip, without you exiting a firefight.

10. Chain Reaction

Description: Create an elemental damage explosion with each final blow.

Don’t you just love when you lay out a wave of explosive destruction with a well-placed Grenade shell or Rocket blast? With the Chain Reaction Perk, you can do just that and then some. The key here is to land precision hits with your Power weapon to unleash it.

Once you do, there’s no going back, since Chain Reaction kills activate the perk again. Meaning that you can create a cascading effect in PvE and PvP. It’s simply one of the best enemy clearing Perks out there.

9. Killing Wind

Description: Increase your mobility, weapon range, and handling upon successful final blows.

This may be one of the best Perks for Hunters. It plays like it was designed with them in mind, with any final blow providing a massive boost to your mobility, alongside increased range and refined handling. In short, this makes you elusive but accurate for 5–10 seconds.

The real benefit is that you can continue to stack the Perk, perpetually resetting it as long as you get kills. It’s most useful in PvP, where the ability to kill and evade is vital. However, it can be a viable PvE Perk for end-game play where you can’t simply bash your way through with additional damage. If you can, try to boost these stats even further, run it with a handful of handling and accuracy Armor Mods.

8. Surrounded

Description: When surrounded by 3 or more enemies, damage output increases by 30%.

Surrounded is built for close-range weapons. Having groups of enemies get close, provides enough of a damage buff to clear Minor enemies and quickly manage Majors or Champions. And if you have the Surrounded Spec Mod equipped, you increase the damage output by an additional 5%, plus keep it for 1.5 seconds after enemies disperse.

You want to run weapons like Swords, Shotguns, or Submachine Guns to get the most out of this perk. Really, the only drawback is that enemies have to be close, which can be deadly in end-game content. To compensate, equip Armor Mods that boost your Resilience and Recovery.

7. Wellspring and Demolitionist

Description: Kills with this weapon generates grenade (Demolitionist) or ability (Wellspring) energy.

These two are similar enough to group together, with both providing decreased downtime for your abilities. For Demolitionist, any kills with the weapon increase your Grenade recharge. Plus, once you throw the Grenade your weapon will automatically reload.

Wellspring, on the other hand, balances your regeneration boost between all abilities. This can be very potent if you’re running increased Intellect or Discipline stats, potentially topping off a heavy recharge increase. Really, the only drawback for these Perks is that you need to be able to get kills and have to map your build-around abilities.

6. Quickdraw

Description: Draw your weapon incredibly fast.

Quickdraw is a must in Crucible when running your Special weapon. Similar to Opening Shot, this gives you an edge in a 1-on-1 fight, allowing you to almost spontaneously equip the weapon. This makes it crucial for close-quarters or long-distance combat, allowing you to lay down cover fire with a Primary and quickly change tactics.

The only thing we’ll say is don’t waste a Perk roll on this for PvE. You simply don’t need that level of speed, even in end-game content. But if you run PvP at all, make sure you have a Secondary with it equipped.

5. Lasting Impression

Description: Causes Rockets to attach to targets and create a delayed explosion with increased blast radius and damage.

Any Rocket Launcher Perk that refines the shell capability is worth looking into. With Lasting Impression, the sticky rockets are useful, but it’s the fact that damage and the blast size are increased that makes it one of the best heavy weapon perks. It’s rare to see a combo like this, with blast radius typically limiting how much damage you can do.

Additionally, this requires no conditions to activate. So, try to add Charged With Light or Warmind Cell buffs through Armor Mods to amplify it even further.

4. Multikill Clip

Description: After killing a target, reload your weapon to gain increased damage for each enemy you killed.

Multikill Clip is like the suped-up version of Kill Clip. It still provides a damage boost after reloading, but you can actually stack kills with this one. That means you can rack up three kills and shift the damage boost from +17% to +50%. The only caveat is that you can accidentally reset the Perk if you get fewer kills after a streak and then reload.

However, the likelihood that this will happen is fairly low. And the true benefit is that you can get a buff with different killstreaks, making it far more useful and versatile. It’s one of the best primary weapon Perks you can run with Assault Rifles or Pulse Rifles.

3. Rampage

Description: Grants increased damage for each kill, stackable up to 3 times.

Rampage is very similar to Multikill Clip, but activating it and stacking it is much easier. One kill can lead to a rolling increase in your time to kill, almost guaranteeing a full-stack. Additionally, if you equip the Rampage Spec Mod, you’ll get an additional second out of your stack.

If you’re surrounded, you can easily keep your stacks maxed out, effectively generating a DPS boost throughout a firefight. Now, this is most useful in PvE, but it can also be very effective when facing multiple Guardians in Crucible. Just make sure you can actually get a kill or opt for a different Perk roll.

2. Frenzy

Description: Staying in combat for an extended period of time for increased damage, handling, and reload speed.

Season of the Chosen brought in this confusing but incredibly beneficial Perk. Basically, after being in combat for at least twelve seconds, you’ll gain a 20% damage buff that remains active as long as you’re in combat. This is defined by either taking damage or damaging an opponent with a five-second gap to work with.

The best thing about this Perk is that it activates naturally. It can even activate while the weapon is stowed, allowing you to stack the perk multiple times. It may provide lower damage output, but it basically requires no skill test to make it usable.

1. One For All

Description: Hitting 3 enemies in quick succession grants a damage buff for 10 seconds.

Once again, Season of the Chosen brought out the heavy hitters when it comes to new perks, with One for All being among the best. If you can damage three opponents within three seconds, you gain a 35% damage buff for ten seconds. The length alone here is ridiculous and in PvE content, getting hits on three opponents is perfectly doable, especially with rapid-fire weapons like Submachine Guns.

Now you can’t continuously refresh this buff, but once it runs out you can reactivate it within the same skirmish. It’s incredibly effective and a god-tier perk roll to look for.

Become a High Grounder

Weapon Perks are the most interesting and vital status buffs in Destiny 2, making them worth pursuing and potentially holding different setups of the same weapon. To help your Fireteam find the right perks for their playstyle, be sure to share this article on your favorite social platforms. And for the latest on Destiny 2, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

Happy gaming!

15 Best Weapon Perks in Destiny 2, Ranked