Destiny 2 weapon perks are an integral part of the game’s design. A weapon isn’t made good by its stats so much as it is the perks available on it. This is something that a lot of newer players don’t quite understand, and it’s holding their game back.
There are a massive number of weapon perks in Destiny 2, which is why I’ve gone ahead and listed what I think are the top 15 here. I’ve been playing Destiny for over 7 years, so if anyone is qualified to talk about something like this, it’s me.
Whether you’re looking for a new perk to try, or you’re a beginner looking to learn the ropes, there’s something here for you. Learn these 15 Destiny 2 weapon perks, and you’ll never need to look up a perk effect again.
The Best Weapon Perks in Destiny 2
Rampage
As far as I’m concerned, Rampage is THE damage perk in Destiny 2. Each kill with the weapon adds a stack to the buff, up to 3x – with each stack increasing your weapon’s damage by 10%. The buff is active for 3.5 seconds, but it can be refreshed by getting a kill.
Rampage is the AD-clear king. It’s a monster of a perk on automatics that translates into a free 30% extra damage in almost any firefight situation. Pair it with something that helps your ammo economy, like Subsistence, and you have a T1 PvE weapon.
Kill Clip
Kill Clip is geared more towards PvP than PvE, but it’s a great perk in both. If you reload after a kill, it grants you a 30% damage increase for five seconds. You need to reload to activate it, making it somewhat sub-optimal in PvE, but great in PvP.
Combine it with something like Outlaw, which increases your reload speed after a precision kill, and you’ll find yourself winning 1v2s much more often in the Crucible.
Rangefinder
Rangefinder is a hit-or-miss perk. Sometimes, it’s useless. Other times, it’s a mandatory perk.
When it comes to Rangefinder, the only weapon type we’re talking about is hand cannons, given that they have naturally low range.
In both PvE and PvP, having Rangefinder on your weapon can be the difference between getting a kill, and simply doing chip damage. If you have Explosive Payload on your hand cannon, the perk is worthless. If you don’t, though, this is almost a mandatory perk for top-tier hand cannons.
Headstone
Headstone changed the Destiny 2 weapon perk game when it was introduced. It was the first perk that directly synergized with a subclass, and it lay the foundation for other perks of that nature. Incandescent, for example, takes inspiration from Headstone.
Headstone causes precision kills to spawn a Stasis shard wherever the enemy died. In both PvE and PvP, that’s incredible. Many Stasis builds are created around using shards to keep buffs active, so spawning them almost on command is very valuable.
Tracking Module
It’s rare that a perk is T1 in both PvP and PvE, but that’s exactly what Tracking Module is. It’s a rocket launcher exclusive perk that simply makes your rocket lock onto a target if you fire while ADSing.
In PvE, this is good because it means you don’t have to pay attention to your accuracy – something that’s invaluable if you’re DPSing a boss that moves around a lot.
In PvP, though, it’s pretty much a guaranteed free kill, and what perk effect is better than that?
Firefly
Firefly is a shell of what it once was. Back in Destiny 1, its weapon perk equivalent was arguably the best perk in the entire game. It’s still great these days, but not that good.
Firefly causes enemies to explode upon a precision kill. It also increases your reload speed. Any perk that lets your main AD-clearing weapon kill more things is great, although there’s an argument to be made for Explosive Payload over Firefly.
Firefly, in general, is better for clearing out groups of enemies, though. One shot is often enough to kill five or six minor enemies, provided they’ve just spawned in together.
Explosive Payload
Speaking of Explosive Payload, this perk is incredible in the right circumstances and can completely change the viability of a weapon.
The effect of this Destiny 2 weapon perk is simple. It makes your bullets explode on impact for a little bit of extra damage. Great, so what? Well, that explosive damage doesn’t have falloff, so the range won’t impact it.
Weapons that are particularly susceptible to range, like hand cannons, find themselves suddenly being able to deal good damage across massive distances, completely changing the way the weapon functions.
Rather than the explosions, think of Explosive Payload like a free overpowered range buff.
Blinding Grenades
Blinding Grenades is one of the best Destiny 2 weapon perks for the PvE endgame. By that, I mean Grandmaster Nightfalls and Master raids.
With this perk equipped, enemies caught in your grenade’s blast radius are blinded. This prevents them from shooting or using their abilities. If you’ve ever played through a GM, you don’t need me to tell you why that’s powerful.
With one button press, you can neutralize a group of enemies all capable of killing you in a split second. It carries endgame runs.
Outlaw
I previously mentioned Outlaw in relation to Kill Clip, and that’s because the two perks together is one of the most powerful weapon rolls in the game.
All of the best PvP pulse rifles run Outlaw and Kill Clip. Without Kill Clip, Outlaw is a quality of life improvement that increases reload speed on a precision kill. With Kill Clip, it’s a perk that enables crazy 1v2 and 1v3 plays.
As far as weapon perks go, you’re almost always looking for an ammo/damage combination, and Outlaw is one of the best options in that regard.
In PvE, it’s still got value as it increases your gun-up times, but it’s not nearly as good here as it is in PvP.
Subsistence
Subsistence is my personal favorite PvE perk in the game. In fact, my main AD-clear weapon has a combination of Subsistence and Rampage.
Subsistence partially refills your magazine any time you get a kill. In PvP it’s useless, but it’s massive in PvE.
When enemies only take a few bullets to kill, having Subsistence means that instead of getting three or four kills per magazine, you’re getting upwards of eight or nine. When that’s combined with Rampage, which requires kills to stay active, it makes that 30% damage buff pretty much permanent.
Demolitionist
Demolitionist combined with the next perk on this list creates one of the most fun synergies in the entire game. On Demolitionst’s part, getting kills with it regenerates your grenade energy.
Now, grenade regen has never been easier than it is now, thanks to a lot of really powerful class builds – especially for Warlock. As a result, Demolitionist has lost some of its value. Still, it’s an incredible perk that helps keep your grenade up-time as high as possible – and that’s incredibly important in a lot of different builds.
Adrenaline Junkie
Adrenaline Junkie got itself a tasty little buff that turned it from a B-tier perk into a solid A/S-tier. It gives you a damage buff whenever you either get a kill with the weapon or your grenade. The latter half of that effect is where its synergy with Demolitionist comes into play.
Combined with Demolitionist and a build designed around grenades, Adrenaline Junkie is pretty much always active, giving you a flat damage buff that you don’t need to worry about micromanaging.
Like Rampage, this is phenomenal for PvE AD-clear weapons, making it one of the best Destiny 2 weapon perks.
Snapshot Sights
Snapshot Sights is an exclusively PvP perk, so don’t waste your time running it in any PvE activities.
The perk’s effect simply increases the speed with which you aim down your sight (ADS). For most weapons, this isn’t all that. However, on Sniper Rifles, it’s a critical perk to have.
Sniper Rifles have a long ADS time, making certain situations incredibly difficult to navigate, such as needing to scope in quickly for a kill or getting in position at the start of a game for a cross-map snipe. Snapshot Sights eases those burdens and gives you the timing needed to hit some of those early snipes that you would otherwise not hit.
Opening Shot
Like Snapshot Sights, Opening Shot should only really be considered for PvP play, and again, only on certain weapons. Specifically, you want to run Opening Shot on high-damage weapons like a hand cannon or sniper rifle.
The perk only makes your first bullet have better range and accuracy, so the stronger that bullet, the better.
In particular, this is a great perk to run alongside Snapshot Sights on a sniper rifle. The increased ADS speed combined with the accuracy buff makes hitting snipes off of a round start much easier than it otherwise would be.
In PvE, though, don’t waste your time with this perk.
One-Two Punch
Last on our best weapon perks in Destiny 2 is One-Two Punch. Unlike the last two perks, this is a perk exclusively used in PvE. Furthermore, it’s used almost exclusively by Titans.
If you’ve been around the Destiny 2 endgame PvE scene for the last year or so, you know why this perk is so powerful. If you hit every pellet of your shotgun shot with this perk, you get a massive increase to your melee damage for a few seconds.
A lot of endgame Titan builds focus on melee damage, especially Solar Hammer builds. In fact, these builds are so broken that they’re capable of melting a lot of bosses in a matter of seconds. At one point, Bungie even disabled these builds until they could balance them.
While it’s not the monster of a perk that it used to be, One-Two Punch is still a vital part of a lot of Titan builds – so you should always have a shotgun with it sitting in your Vault for a rainy day.
