Mods are a new way in Destiny 2 to gain various bonuses. We introduce them and show you how to get the maximum out of your equipment.
Mods come in various types, all offering certain advantages. You can upgrade your weapons and armor pieces with blue and purple mods. As only legendary (purple) mods grant a bonus to power level, blue mods will not be considered here.
How can I obtain legendary mods?
There are several ways to obtain legendary mods:
- You can get legendary mods by reaching power level 280 and visiting the Gunsmith Banshee-44. At this power level, he will grant you the ability to convert blue mods into legendary ones, provided you have three blue versions of each.
- In addition, you can buy random blue mods from Banshee. If you do this often enough, you will eventually own three copies of them, which you can also exchange for legendary mods.
- Furthermore, you will receive a legendary mod with every exotic piece of equipment. Note that you can only use mods once. Once they are bound to a weapon or armor piece, you cannot reuse them.
What weapon mods are available?
The selection of weapon mods is extremely limited:
- For Kinetic weapons, you can only obtain mods that increase the power level of the affected weapon by 5 points.
- For Energy and Power weapons, you at least get a corresponding element as well.
Legendary mods for Energy and Power weapons always come with an element (Void, Solar, Arc) and the bonus of 5 points to the power level. Since the choice of element is situational, we do not provide recommendations here; the selection of available weapon mods simply does not allow for it.
What armor mods are available?
Armor mods offer significantly more options. Here’s what you can do with armor mods:
- Reduce the cooldown of your grenade / melee / class ability
- Increase an attribute (Mobility / Recovery / Resilience) by one point
- Increase the reload speed of Kinetic / Power weapons
- Improve weapon handling for Energy and Power weapons
- Improve recoil for Kinetic and Energy weapons
The attribute-increasing mods are generally not recommended, as the increase of one point results in only a marginal effect. The impacts of other mods are noticeably more significant.
Tests by Guardians have shown that increasing reload speed is quite noticeable (12% for Kinetic weapons, 9% for Power weapons). Mods that focus on weapon handling increase the speed at which a weapon is ready by about 15%.
However, you will have the best experience with mods that reduce cooldowns as well as for the Crucible with mods that improve weapon handling.
The cooldown reduction of your abilities
The exact effects of armor mods on the cooldown of your abilities have been examined in detail by the streamer Datto. Many players have complained that cooldowns are too long. These mods can help reduce them. But that’s not all. They are even stackable.
You can equip up to two mods at the same time for melee and grenade abilities, and up to three for class abilities (depends on the chosen class and focus)! With three mods, the Nightstalker can use their class ability every 18 seconds. Note that the effect is multiplicative with each additional mod. Each mod reduces cooldowns by about 9%. With three mods, you thus gain a time advantage of 27%!
For melee attacks, the Titan and Warlock have a cooldown of about 1:23 minutes. With two mods, this can be reduced by almost 15 seconds. Datto has compiled the exact figures in this document.
Balance Adjustment – The Star in the Crucible?
In addition to reducing your cooldowns, you also have the option to influence the recoil of your weapons. This effect is also stackable.
If you equip two mods that improve the recoil of your kinetic weapon, you hold a laser in your hand. A savvy player has tested this extensively. The following screenshots show the firing behavior of a weapon with no weapon handling mod equipped, one mod equipped, and two mods equipped:
As can be clearly seen in the screenshots, the firing behavior with two equipped mods is significantly more vertical. This makes the weapon more manageable and allows you to land critical hits more easily. A significant advantage in battle against other Guardians!
Summary: In the fight against computer-controlled enemies, reducing cooldowns is a great feature; it’s worth investing in the appropriate mods. If you already have a very stable weapon in your hands, this setup is also recommended for the Crucible.
If you want to improve the firing behavior of your weapons to dominate in the Crucible, you should consider the mods that positively influence recoil. They offer bonuses that come very close to the weapon perk Balance Adjustment in Destiny 1.
What mods and setup are you using? Let us know in the comments!
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