Season of the Witch has arrived to Destiny 2 and marks the third season of the year of Lightfall. This time, players are graced with a Hive and Lucent Hive theme in both weapons and armor, as the story focuses on Savathun, Xivu Arath, and how they can assist the Vanguard in following the Witness within the mysterious portal.
Meanwhile, players are back to collecting the newest loot offerings for the season. As usual, the new seasonal weapons come with a brand-new Origin Trait, called Head Rush. When players stand up after being crouched for a short period, the weapons gain a boost in reload speed and handling. It's definitely not the most practical of Origin Traits in Destiny 2, but thankfully, compared to last season's weapon offering, the gear itself is looking a little stronger. All weapons can be created and enhanced, once enough patterns are unlocked.
6 Locus Locutus
- God roll: Arrowhead Break, Accurized Rounds, Overflow, High Ground/Opening Shot/Headstone
Sniper rifles continue to be in dire need of help in Destiny 2. The archetype is among the weakest in PVE, and only a select few sniper rifles are considered efficient and powerful enough to be run in the Crucible. As such, Locus Locutus, this season's Stasis sniper rifle, is likely to be a pass for many players.
It does still have some perks that could be interesting to try out for players looking for something new. Most notably, it comes with the High Ground perk in its second column, which buffs damage when players are shooting from above. In the first perk column, the best pick is definitely Overflow, to avoid reloading the rifle too much. If High Ground doesn't sound interesting, there are also classic perk picks like Opening Shot and Headstone that make for semi-strong options.
5 The Eremite
- God roll: Arrowhead Break, Liquid Coilds/Accelerated Coils, Lead from Gold/Heal Clip/Envious Assassin, Reservoir Burst
Fusion rifles could be making a comeback this season thanks to their anti-champion capabilities, but only time will tell. For now, The Eremite, this season's Solar fusion rifle, will rank as the second lowest of the bunch. But it's not all bad news for this weapon, as it does have a few cornerstone PVE perks that could potentially make it worth the craft.
First of all, there's the classic Lead from Gold, which is great for maintaining a good ammo economy in PVE. However, newly-introduced is Heal Clip, which casts Cure on the player and their nearby teammates after scoring a kill and reloading. Envious Assassin is also not a bad option here, provided the other weapon choices it's paired with are solid. In the second perk column, Reservoir Burst is a tried and tested favorite but Controlled Burst from last season could be interesting too as it buffs damage if every burst shot is landed properly.
4 Eleatic Principle
- God roll: Arrowhead Break, Extended Mag, Heating Up/Zen Moment, Adrenaline Junkie/Target Lock
Machine guns have definitely seen an improvement as an archetype since the year of The Witch Queen, but the Eleatic Principle does feel a little lackluster when compared to other Legendary machine guns. It's an Arc machine gun, of which there aren't too many in the game, save for the elusive Seventh Seraph Saw.
Players will want to look for Adrenaline Junkie or Target Lock, even after the perk went through changes earlier in the year, and Heating Up or Zen Moment. Even then, there are far better options available on the market (like Retrofit Escapade), especially now that Season of the Seraph weapons are back on the menu thanks to the Exotic mission rotator.
3 Kept Confidence
- God roll: Arrowhead Break, Accurized Rounds, Quickdraw, Eye of the Storm
Hand cannons have been given some massive buffs this season, but it's still too early to tell whether that will be enough to tip players over on the PVE side. That said, it's a good time to give a hand cannon the benefit of the doubt, which is why Kept Confidence, a Strand weapon, ranks this high above some of the other seasonal weapons.
Classic Crucible hand cannon perks reign supreme here, namely Quickdraw and Eye of the Storm for those looking to try Kept Confidence in PVP. Killing Wind and Multikill Clip is also a decent combination, though what this weapon really lacks is something to push it more toward the PVE side of activities.
2 Semiotician
- God roll: Volatile Launch, Alloy Casing, Field Prep/Impulse Amplifier, Frenzy/Explosive Light
Rockets continue to be meta in PVE when it comes to boss DPS, which is why most rocket launchers will serve players well, provided someone on the team has a Gjallarhorn. Semiotician is the newest Strand rocket launcher addition to the ever-growing roster of rockets, and while it lacks a good reload perk, it's still just fine.
The first perk column favors either Field Prep or Impulse Amplifier, with all the other perks entirely useless or negligible at best. In the second perk column, Explosive Light continues to be a classic, powerful option to boost damage, but players should definitely not overlook the power of Frenzy, which not only boosts damage but also reload speed and handling as well. Time will tell whether this rocket will see more use, but for now, it's a good early-game pickup for new players who have nothing better available.
1 Brya's Love
- God roll: Arrowhead Break, Accurized Rounds, Rapid Hit, Frenzy/Explosive Payload/Destabilizing Rounds
The best Season of the Witch weapon is Brya's Love, a Void scout rifle that comes packed with some of Destiny 2's strongest perks. Scout rifles may be slowly making a comeback soon, so picking this one up is an excellent idea.
The first column really only benefits from Rapid Hit, which is nothing special, but the second column is where things start to get interesting. Frenzy is absolutely amazing for buffing damage, reload, and handling. Meanwhile, Destabilizing Rounds and Explosive Payload are great for that extra ad-clear help with a primary weapon like this one. Pair it up with a Void subclass build, and it's definitely a fantastic long-range option.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.