Destiny 2: How To Generate Orbs Of Power

Image: Bungie via HGG / Adam W.

Human Made

Penned by Adam Watkins

My name is Adam Watkins. I am an English Literature and Media major who absolutely loves video games. Some of my favorites are Super Mario Bros. 3,... Read more

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

Orbs of Power are an essential part of many of the most powerful Guardian builds in Destiny 2. Learning how to generate orbs of power in Destiny 2 (and use them well) will make life easier for you and your fireteam when tackling some of the game’s more difficult content. The process of generating orbs of power can be a bit confusing to both new and experienced players, but don’t worry — we’ve got you covered.

The are two ways to reliably generate orbs of power in Destiny 2. The first involves the use of armor mods, and the second requires the player to equip their Guardian with specific subclass fragments. Each one of these methods will demand some resources and setup but they both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Popular Destinations..

Destiny 2 Waystone | Navigation Page

Destiny 2 Events Calendar: PvE, PvP, Lost Sectors, Weekly Loot, Xur (The Final Shape, Episode II)

Generating Orbs of Power Via Armor Mods

Let’s start with armor mods, since these can allow players to generate a consistent stream of orbs of power with minimal impact on the player’s playstyle. Armor mods are kind of like perks that can be applied to a Guardian’s armor, and can modify the Guardian’s attributes, grant them new abilities, or generate resources when certain conditions are met.

Best Orb Generating Armor Mods

How to Obtain Armor Mods in Destiny 2

Prior to the Lightfall expansion, weapon and armor mods could be obtained by purchasing them from NPCs at the Tower. This is no longer the case — weapon and armor mods are now rewarded to players as they progress through Destiny 2’s content. 

Progressing through the game’s story and content will award players with a Guardian Rank. You won’t have access to most of the game’s armor and weapon mods until you reach Guardian Rank 6, so make that a priority before moving forward with this method.

Where Do You Equip Armor Mods?

Now that you’re Guardian Rank 6 and have got your hands on most of the armor mods in the game, you’ll want to equip some of those mods and start generating those sweet, sweet orbs of power. By Guardian Rank 6, you should have your fair share of Legendary (purple) weapons and armor. You may have even managed to get your hands on an Exotic (yellow) or two.

Open your character menu and hover over the armor piece to which you want to equip a mod. When it comes to generating orbs of power using armor mods, your best bet is to use siphon mods for the helmet. You can also find orb-generating mods for some of your Guardian’s other armor pieces, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s stick with this one. While hovering over the helmet, press the “Details” button. This will bring up the armor mod menu. 

What Are Armor Slots?

Each piece of armor in Destiny 2 has four armor slots. The first slot is for general mods, these mods can increase any one of your Guardian’s stats by either 5 or 10. The remaining three slots are where you can equip armor mods that modify your Guardian’s abilities or generate resources for your fireteam after fulfilling certain requirements.

What is Armor Energy?

Armor mods cost energy to equip, and each piece of armor can have its available energy increased to a maximum of 10. Most armor that you obtain while playing Destiny 2 will come with an energy level of 1 to 4. You can increase the energy charge of any armor piece using materials like legendary shards, enhancement cores, and enhancement prisms. The higher the armors energy level, the more of these materials you’ll need to level it up. 

Mods that Generate Orbs of Power

Once you have a helmet with a decent energy level you can finally start equipping mods that generate orbs of power. One of the best mods for generating orbs of power is the Kinetic Siphon mod. This mod allows your Guardian to generate orbs of power by getting multiple kills in a row with their kinetic weapon. 

All of the other siphon mods are great options for Guardians looking to generate orbs of power using multiple different weapons. These mods allow you to generate orbs of power by rapidly killing enemies with weapons of a specific energy type. These mods are great if most of your weapons are the same energy type, or you have an energy weapon that uses primary ammo (white ammo)  instead of special ammo (green ammo).

Most of these siphon mods will cost 1 to 3 energy to equip, so you should have plenty of energy left over for a general mod and a couple of other mods to flesh out your Guardian’s build. Also, keep in mind that you can stack multiple of the same armor mods in order to increase how often they trigger or increase the strength of their effects.

What Are Kinetic Weapons?

Kinetic weapons sit in the kinetic weapon slot, which is located directly underneath your Guardian’s elemental sub-class. Here’s a little trick for remembering which weapons are kinetic and which ones are energy; the icon for kinetic weapons will always show the weapon pointing to the left, while the icon for energy weapons will always show the weapon pointing to the right. 

How to Generate Orbs of Power with Class Abilities

Players can access their Guardian’s subclass by opening the character menu, hovering over the subclass icon, and pressing the Details button. This will take you to a new menu that shows your subclass’s available supers, class abilities, aspects, and fragments.

Each subclass in Destiny 2 has a fragment that allows the user to generate orbs of power when getting kills with a specific class ability or while affected by a class-specific buff. For example; the Solar Warlock has a fragment called Ember of Wonder that generates an orb of power whenever that Warlock gets multiple solar ignition kills in quick succession.  

Both methods of orb generation are very effective, however, it’s recommended that newer players use the armor mod method for generating orbs of power since it is the easiest, cheapest, and most consistent method available for players with limited gear. 

The fragment method may be better for experienced players who have the resources to create specific builds around the fragment their using. Doing so will allow them to use that newly cleared armor mod slot to push their build to even greater heights.

Join the High Ground!

Now that you know how to generate orbs of power in Destiny 2, you and your fireteam can get out there and start crafting some powerful armor charge builds. Looking for some powerful armor charge build guides or maybe you want to know what the best exotic is for your Strand Warlock build? Sign up for our newsletter today and check out our Destiny 2 guide overview page!

Happy gaming!