Destiny 2: Compass Rose God Rolls and Best Perks

Image: Bungie via HGG / Brett Moss

Human Made

Penned by Brett Moss

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Precision frame shotguns have always been popular in Destiny 2 thanks to their massive DPS potential. Shotguns enable some of the most fun strategies in the game, allowing you to either chunk through powerful enemies or hot swap between multiple shotguns during boss fights. Compass Rose is a Solar precision frame shotgun, so it has lots of potential in various builds. Today, we’ll cover how to get Compass Rose in Destiny 2, as well as some of the god rolls.

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How to Get Compass Rose

Compass Rose is one of the Solstice event weapons, so it’s only available to farm during the summer when that event is active. The 2023 Solstice lasts from July 18 to August 8, which is about the same time frame as previous years. If you want Compass Rose and Solstice isn’t active, you’ll just have to wait until next time.

During the 2023 Solstice, it’s incredibly easy to farm Compass Rose in Destiny 2. You can get it as a reward for completing the Bonfire Bash activity tied to the event, which doesn’t take too long. You’re not guaranteed one each time, but your chances are good and you can keep farming it all you want. If you want to make sure your Compass Rose is right for the activities you’re doing, here’s a rundown of both the PVE and PVP god rolls!

Compass Rose | Best PVE God Roll and Perks

Since Compass Rose is a precision frame shotgun, it fits into lots of PVE builds focused on DPS. You wouldn’t want to shoot Dregs with it, but it’s great for any yellow-bar (powerful) or boss level enemies.

Barrels

• Smoothbore
• Rifled Barrel
• Corkscrew Rifling

Choosing a barrel for shotguns is a little different than most weapons. Both Smoothbore and Rifled Barrel affect the range and/or pellet spread, instead of the more basic barrel options we get on most weapons. Smoothbore grants a nice +15 range bonus, and also increases pellet spread by 7.5%. This allows you to get more consistent ranged kills, but it does make landing precision shots a bit harder thanks to the increased spread. For anything other than boss DPS where you need precision shots, this is a fantastic option.

Rifled Barrel is a great choice as well, both in general and especially for boss fights. It grants +10 range at the cost of -15 handling, which is a pretty good trade off. It isn’t quite as much range as Smoothbore, but it’ll be easier to land your shots.

If you prefer something more well-rounded, you could also go with Corkscrew Rifling. It gives +5 to range, stability, and handling, so you can’t go wrong with it.

Magazines

• Assault Mag
• Tactical Mag

For magazines, we have two great options. Assault Mag is the strongest in general, since it gives +5 rounds per minute and +10 stability. For boss fights or just clearing out powerful enemies, this is a ton of help. +5 rounds per minute is going to significantly increase your DPS, and stability is always helpful when trying to land your shots while quick-firing. There’s no downsides to Assault Mag.

The other option we have is Tactical Mag. It grants +5 stability, +10 reload speed, and +1 to your mag size. The 5 stability and 1 extra round are both fantastic, but getting +10 reload speed might even be better. Since this weapon doesn’t have any of the best reload perks, having a quicker reload will matter more than with most DPS shotguns.

Perk 1

• Quickdraw
• Lead from Gold

This is another situation where the best perk really depends on what you want to use Compass Rose for. If you’re running a double-shotgun build or another build that wants to swap weapons frequently, Quickdraw is fantastic. It allows you to ready the weapon insanely fast, so it always works well in those kinds of builds. However, the downside to Quickdraw is that it only does the one thing. And what it does isn’t necessarily all that exciting, even though it’s efficient. Outside of boss DPS situations, you might want to consider the other option.

Lead from Gold is never a bad pick on special weapons since it allows you to get more ammo. With Lead from Gold, any time you pick up heavy ammo, you also get a bit of special ammo. If you’re using Compass Rose to help clear out powerful enemies, this is easily the best perk.

Perk 2

• Snapshot Sights
• Incandescent
• Trench Barrel
• Cascade Point

Compass Rose has four different perks in the last slot that could be viable for a god roll. The first is Snapshot Sights, which increases the speed in which you ADS. That might not sound amazing, but when paired with Quickdraw, it makes for a lightning fast machine of a shotgun.

Next up is Incandescent, which is one of the best perks on every weapon it’s available for. Incandescent causes scorching explosions to spawn on enemies you defeat, which makes it perfect for any Solar build. If you care about either scorch stacks or just clearing out enemies faster, Incandescent is one of the best perks to go with.

Trench Barrel and Cascade Point are both more fringe picks, but they have a ton of potential. Trench Barrel is great for people who can spam their melee abilities, especially during boss phases. All you have to do is land a melee hit to gain +30 reload speed, +30 handling, and 50% bonus damage for either 5 seconds or until 3 shots have been fired. It’s not good for every build, but for melee users it’s insane.

Cascade Point is a really fun perk to use, but it can be annoying to activate. With Cascade Point, you gain significantly increased rate of fire whenever you land final blows or get multiple precision shots with another weapon. It can definitely work in the right situations; you’ll just have to get a feel for how to make it work best for you.

Compass Rose | Best PVP God Roll and Perks

Compass Rose is a solid shotgun for both PVE and PVP, but it is slightly better in PVP at the moment. Shotguns are one of the most popular weapon types in PVP, and this one holds up fairly well against some of the more meta options. Here’s the PVP god roll for Compass Rose!

Barrels

• Smoothbore
• Rifled Barrel

Just like in the PVE build, Smoothbore and Rifled Barrel are both great picks. Both give a nice range bonus (+15 for Smoothbore, +10 for Rifled Barrel), but Smoothbore increases your pellet spread as well to compensate for how much range it gives.

Ultimately, this one comes down to personal preference. If you feel like you can land your shots easily with the pellet spread, then Smoothbore is obviously the better option. But Rifled Barrel gives also gives a lot of range without affecting your spread. It does also give -15 handling, but that isn’t a huge problem since our main perks make up for it.

Magazines

• Accurized Rounds

As is often the case in PVP, Accurized Rounds is the best magazine for Compass Rose. It gives a flat +10 range bonus with no downsides, and that’s always going to be good in PVP, where range matters so much. With this bonus, you’ll be able to take out enemies from further away with no penalties. It’s amazing.

Perk 1

• Quickdraw

Since you won’t always have your shotgun out (well, probably), Quickdraw is invaluable for helping grab last-second kills. It’s a simple perk, and simply states that “this weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.” When you’ve got your hand cannon out but an enemy bursts through a door right on top of you, Quickdraw gives you a real chance of still getting the kill. And since Compass Rose doesn’t really have any other PVP options in the first perk slot, it’s the obvious pick.

Perk 2

• Snapshot Sights

Snapshot Sights is a great perk to pair with Quickdraw, as both synergize well in letting you use the weapon much faster. This perk simply allows you to aim down sights quickly (specifically 20% faster for special weapons). With Quickdraw and Snapshot Sights, you’ll be able to swap to Compass Rose and almost instantly line up a perfect headshot.

Where to Use Compass Rose

Compass Rose can be used effectively in either PVE or PVP, even though it isn’t really a meta choice in either at the moment. Shotguns are often forgot about in PVE outside of specific boss fights, but they absolutely can be used well in that environment. And anyone who’s played a bit of Destiny 2 PVP knows how good shotguns are there. Here are three good places to use Compass Rose in Destiny 2!

Non-GM Nightfalls

While we probably wouldn’t recommend Compass Rose (or many shotguns at all) in Grandmaster Strikes due to their high difficulty, they can be great for the easier modes. Precision frame shotguns can be great at taking out powerful enemies or even chunking away at bosses in Nightfall strikes, as long as you’re careful not to get too close and die. You wouldn’t want this in The Corrupted GM, but for most easier content, it’s great.

Casual PVP

While it might not be as strong as some of the best PVP shotguns, Compass Rose is a good pick for causal PVP in Destiny 2 if you like the way it feels. In PVP, the “feel” of a weapon is often more important than its actual stats. This is because your confidence with your weapon will largely dictate how you play. If Compass Rose works for you, then use it!

Boss Fights

While double shotguns aren’t nearly as common as they once were (looking at you, Taniks), shotguns in general are still helpful in a lot of boss fights. Obviously they only work well in fights where you can get close to the boss consistently, but there are a lot like that. For example, Nezarec in Root of Nightmares definitely gets close enough where a shotgun can be put to great use. Just make sure you know the limitations of shotguns in general before you hop into a raid group with one.

Join the High Ground!

That’s it for our guide on the god rolls for Compass Rose in Destiny 2 — thanks for reading! If you’re reading this while the Solstice event is active, get out there and farm your rolls before it goes away! And if not, well, there’s always next year.

Happy gaming!