In Destiny 2, you can now benefit from the new artifact “Seed of the Silver Wings”. MeinMMO takes a look at the seasonal item and its powerful artifact mods. Included are highlights from past seasons and a cool new idea.
These are artifacts in Destiny: Artifacts accompany players throughout the course of a season and grant numerous bonuses. With the start of the Season 11, a new seasonal artifact has come into play: the Seed of the Silver Wings.
You have until September 22, the release of the next major Destiny chapter, to level up the new artifact. You will upgrade the item almost incidentally. Every time you gather experience points through activities like loot quests or events, they will feed into the artifact.
With an upgraded artifact, you gain two advantages:
- The artifact level adds to your power level and can theoretically increase indefinitely – as long as you really play a lot.
- Here you will receive the so-called artifact mods, which can offer enormous benefits and enable powerful builds.
If you would like a refresher on the artifact mechanics, you can find it here:
This is how you easily obtain the new artifact: The Seed of the Silver Wings and all its bonuses can be used by all Destiny players. You just need to play the introductory mission in the Season of Arrival on Io and find Eris.
The artifact’s progress is account-wide. Your second or third characters do not need to level everything again; all your guardians use the same artifact. Only the skill tree needs to be selected per character.
All artifact mods from the Season of Arrival
Interesting facts about artifact mods: With the Seed of the Silver Wings, you gain access to a total of 25 artifact mods from 5 categories. You can use 12 different mods simultaneously. Fortunately, you cannot overskill, as you can reset the artifact for Glimmer.
In each category, there are 5 mods that become more powerful with increasing levels. To unlock the next level of mods, you must have unlocked a certain number of mods in previous tiers.
Mods of Level 1 (no artifact mods required): The main focus here is on combat against powerful champions. They protect themselves with barriers, attack continuously, or heal themselves – unless you have the right mods prepared in your weapon.
- Anti-Barrier Rounds (Auto Rifles and SMGs): Grants the weapon shield piercing to bypass the defenses of opposing fighters. Strong against barrier champions.
- Overload Rounds (Hand Cannons and Pistols): Consecutive hits against enemies cause disruptions, delaying the regeneration of ability energy and reducing damage dealt to the target. Strong against overload champions.
- Unstoppable Hand Cannon: Using the targeting system charges a powerful explosive round that staggers unshielded enemies. Strong against unstoppable champions. Applicable to pulse rifles.
- Overload Arrow Tips (Bow): Arrows shot with a fully drawn bow cause disruptions. Affects enemy ability energy regeneration and reduces damage dealt to enemies. Strong against overload champions.
- Unstoppable Charge (Pulse Rifle): Using the targeting system charges a piercing explosive round that staggers unshielded enemies. Strong against unstoppable champions.
Mods of Level 2 (one artifact mod required): At Level 2, you will find improvements for your weapon handling. All mods are installed in your armor and are significantly cheaper than regular upgraded mods. Each mod costs 1 energy in the “Armor 2.0” system.
- Improved Pulse Rifle Loader: Significantly increases the reload speed of pulse rifles – Installed in the gauntlets.
- Improved Scout Rifle Aiming: Significantly reduces flinch from damage taken while aiming with scout rifles – Installed in the chest piece.
- Improved Auto Rifle Aiming: Significantly improves target acquisition, accuracy, and aiming speed for auto rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, pulse rifles, hand cannons, and fusion rifles – Installed in the helmet.
- Improved Sword Scavenger: Swords gain even more bonus reserves when you pick up ammunition – Installed in the leg armor.
- Improved Bow Loader: Significantly increases the draw speed of arrows – Installed in the gauntlets.
Mods of Level 3 (4 artifact mods required): The mods of Level 3 are designed to enrich your guardian and are focused on Glimmer gain. With one exception, they are leg armor mods and all have an energy cost of 1.
- Whirling Blade: Defeating enemies with swords gives a chance to earn a large amount of Glimmer.
- Prize Shooting: Defeating enemies with hand cannons or pistols grants a small amount of Glimmer – general armor mod.
- Automatic Prize: Defeating enemies with auto rifles or submachine guns grants a small amount of Glimmer.
- Dimensional Tenth: Defeating Taken has a chance to grant a small amount of Glimmer.
- Ascendant Bounty: Defeating Taken with finishers has a chance to grant a large amount of Glimmer.
Mods of Level 4 (7 artifact mods required): Mods at Level 4 further empower you against champions and create synergies with your fireteam.
- Counterattack (Chest Mod): Charges you with light whenever you or your fireteam stagger, disrupt, or break the barrier of a champion – costs 3 energy.
- Unstoppable Pulse Rifle (Gauntlet Mod): Grants your pulse rifle unstoppable explosive rounds that stagger Unstoppable champions while aiming – costs 2 energy.
- Overload Grenades (Chest Mod): Void grenades cause disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering damage dealt by enemies. Strong against Overload champions – costs 2 energy.
- Breakthrough Resonator (Chest Mod): Grants melee and grenade energy on final blows with shield-piercing weapons or when a member of your fireteam stops a barrier champion’s ability – costs 1 energy.
- Inferno Whip (Chest Mod): Solar melee abilities stagger unshielded enemy fighters. Strong against Unstoppable champions – costs 2 energy.
Mods of Level 5 (10 artifact mods required): These mods are the crown jewels of the artifact. They are all intended for the class item of your armor and go into the seasonal slot. Since the mods are so powerful, they come with quite high energy costs.
- Oppressive Darkness: Damage caused by void grenades applies a weakening effect to enemies (debuff of about 30%) – costs 6 energy.
- Solar Weave: Increases the damage of all solar melee abilities. Gain super energy through finishers while equipped with solar focus – costs 6 energy.
- Heavy Finisher: Finishers create heavy ammo. Requires half of your super energy – costs 7 energy.
- Transitional Void: Grants a bonus to void super damage when activated in a critically injured state. Lasts until the end of the super activation – costs 6 energy.
- Guardian Angel: Grants a chance to create healing orbs for you on precision final blows with scout rifles, sniper rifles, bows, and linear fusion rifles – costs 3 energy.
The highlights from the artifact of Season 11
Those who have been around for a while will notice that many mods were already present in previous seasons – it is practically a best-of artifact. However, some of the old favorites were adjusted in their elements or had their energy costs significantly reduced.
Many of the artifact mods are very strong and invite experimentation. Absolute top mods that you can’t go wrong with are:
- Counterattack – The light-loading mechanic makes its comeback, and you will also find many mods in the prism transformer that rely on the powerful loading system from Season 9.
- Oppressive Darkness – The ability to trigger the rare weakening effect with just a grenade frees up space in the exotic slot or allows for a wider variety of supers. This mod had many fans in Season 8.
- Unstoppable Pulse Rifle – An absolute novelty, for the first time, exotic weapons can benefit from anti-champion abilities thanks to the armor mod. Such a mod has long been desired by guardians.
- You can fully specialize in pulse rifles if needed: better reloading, less flinch, more aim assist, and handling are all in the artifact.
- Breakthrough Resonator continuously provides you with ability energy, regardless of the element.
Which mod makes your guardian heart race? We are curious about the insane builds that await us in Season 11 and will keep you updated.
By the way, a nearly forgotten exotic emerges from the shadows in the Season of Arrival and is set to storm the Olympus of weapons: Destiny 2: An old exotic now suddenly belongs to the super weapons of Season 11.
