Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate’s entire suite of Artifact mods has been revealed by Bungie and they’re packing some serious heat, both literally and figuratively.
While the Edge of Fate‘s introduction of a new tiered loot system is guaranteed to cause a colossal shake-up of the established meta, the seasonal Artifact definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.
The limited-time buffs each provides typically dictate what does and doesn’t get used in the sandbox. Following an Arc and Void-focused Artifact in Episode Heresy, Solar, Strand, and Stasis subclasses are getting the lion’s share of attention for Edge of Fate, and there are some exceptional-sounding perks this time around.
We’ll break down which we think are best to prioritize shortly. First, check out the full list below.
The Edge of Fate Artifact mods
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Anti-Barrier Scout and Pulse Your equipped Scout Rifles and Pulse Rifles fire shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. | Flame Fiber Freeze Combines the Solar/Strand and Solar/Stasis Siphon mods into one. | Fever and Chill Rapid precision hits with Solar weapons grant Radiant. Rapid precision hits with Stasis weapons grant Frost Armor. | Threaded Blast Destroying a Tangle with Strand damage increases the radius of the explosion and its damage. | Radiant Shrapnel Dealing sustained weapon damage while Radiant or defeating a scorched combatant with a weapon causes the target to release Solar projectiles that deal damage and scorch on impact. |
Unstoppable Sidearm and Hand Cannon Aiming down the sights of a Hand Cannon or Sidearm for a short time loads a powerful payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. | Authorized Mods: Scavengers All Scavenger mods are discounted. | Elemental Benevolence Granting allies an elemental buff gives class ability energy. | Cauterized Darkness Stasis or Strand debuffed non-boss combatants take increased Solar damage from all sources. | Shieldcrush While you have Woven Mail, Frost Armor, or a Void overshield, your melee recharges faster and deals increased damage. While you are Amplified or Radiant, your grenade recharges faster and deals increased damage. |
Unstoppable Sniper Rifle Aiming down the sights of a Sniper Rifle for a short time loads a powerful payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. | One with Frost While Frost Armor is active, Stasis weapons gain increased reload speed and stability. Stasis Swords gain increased guard resistance. | Frost Renewal While you have Frost Armor, taking critical damage releases a burst that freezes nearby combatants and grants Frost Armor to you and nearby allies. | Elemental Daze Stunning a Champion with an elemental weapon creates an elementally aligned explosion, applying a matching elemental debuff to them and nearby targets. | Elemental Overdrive Picking up an elemental pickup or Tangle grants increased damage to weapons of the same element. |
Overload Shotgun Your equipped Shotguns fire disrupting rounds which stun the target, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. | Tightly Woven While Woven Mail is active, gain increased class ability and Grenade stats. | Reciprocal Draw Rapid non-Sidearm final blows grant Sidearms a period of increased damage for a short time upon next draw. | Shoulder to Shoulder Dealing sustained precision damage against combatants while near two or more allies grants you damage resistance. | Tangled Web Creating a Tangle by defeating a Strand debuffed target suspends nearby combatants. |
Overload Rapid Fire Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns grants bullets that stun combatants, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. | Rapid Precision Rifling Rapid precision hits or final blows with Scout Rifles grants them increased reload and reduced incoming flinch. | Refresh Threads Picking up an elemental pickup matching your subclass element or Tangle while you have a Strand Super grants energy to your least charged ability. | Elemental Coalescence Defeating targets has the chance to create an elemental pickup matching your equipped Super element. | Frigid Glare While Frost Armor is active, Stasis precision final blows cause combatants to release a freezing burst. |
Best Artifact mods – Implement of Curiosity
As it’s still early days in the Edge of Fate meta, what’s considered best and worst can change on a dime. However, some of this season’s mods are so powerful based on their synergy with specific subclasses, that Bungie’s clearly intended for them be potent payoffs for any Guardians who build around them.
Unsurprisingly, most of the best mods are confined to the Artifact’s final column, so you’ll have to do some light grinding to rank up and unlock them. Here’s out preliminary list of the best mods you should prioritize.
Mod | Column | Why It's Useful |
|---|---|---|
Radiant Shrapnel | 5 | Enemies defeated while Scorched or you're Radiant cause causes them to release Solar projectiles that Scorch on impact. Guaranteed to be an exceptional add-clear perk for any Solar or Prismatic builds. Could be comparable to Heresy's top-tier Void-based add-clear builds. |
Tangled Web | 5 | Essentially a lesser version of Warlock's Mataiodoxia Exotic, Tangled Web plays into Strand's MO of being the best subclass at crowd control. Depending on whether Edge of Fate has made any changes to the internal Tangle spawn timer, Tangled web will either be top-tier or borderline OP. |
Frigid Glare | 5 | Causes any enemies defeated by Stasis weapons while Frost Armor is active to release a freezing burst. A long-awaited payoff for maintaining Frost Armor, Frigid Glare will be a must-have for any Stasis build. |
Fever and Chill | 3 | Rapid precision Solar and Stasis weapon hits grant Radiant and Frost Armor, respectively. While there are methods to gain both buffs without Fever and Chill, this will ensure you're able to maintain either much more consistently. Pretty much a must-pick if you plan to run any Solar or Stasis build during Edge of Fate. |
Threaded Blast | 4 | Explosion radius and damage of Tangles are increased when destroyed with Strand damage. Pairs exceptionally well with Tangled Web and adds some much-needed DPS to Strand's otherwise CC-focused game plan. |
Unstoppable Sidearm and Hand Cannon | 1 | Assuming Rocket Sidearms maintain their place at the top of the PvE meta in The Edge of Fate, any Champion mods that include the weapon type will be a shoo-in, including this one. |
Reciprocal Draw | 3 | Sort of akin to a Sidearm-specific Bait and Switch, Reciprocal Draw boosts Sidearm damage when scoring rapid kills with any other source of damage. Expect Rocket Sidearms to continue their dominance of the Special weapon slot if they manage to escape any substantial nerfs. |
That’s a wrap on everything you need to know about Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate’s Artifact. To help you build a loadout that best synergizes with the above, check out all the best PvE and PvP weapons currently available.
