Season of the Chosen in Destiny 2: Beyond Light brings with it a new Seasonal Artifact that has some powerful mods for Guardians to utilize during the season. The current Seasonal Artifact Mods will expire at the end of Season of the Chosen. However, some mods may return in future seasons of Destiny 2. Seasonal Mods have allowed Bungie to direct Guardians to use certain weapons for their builds to change the meta of the game in unique ways.
Most Guardians will be familiar with the Anti-Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable Mods found in the Seasonal Artifact. Some mods, however, are brand new and have already been displaying their immense power in various builds. The Seasonal Mods, such as Glacial Inheritance, Volatile Conduction, Sundering Glare, and Focusing Lens, are proving to be extraordinarily strong when used in endgame-level content.
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Glacial Inheritance in Destiny 2 is a Class Item Mod costing 6 Energy to use. Glacial Inheritance will refund Super Energy for defeating targets with a Stasis Super. Since Glacial Inheritance is focused on targets and non-combatants, this means it will work in PvP as well as PvE.
Glacial Inheritance is easy to use as long as the Guardian’s Stasis Super gets the final blow. If a target is defeated with something other than the Stasis Super, Glacial Inheritance will not refund Super Energy. For example: If a Hunter throws out their Stasis Super, and other Fireteam members kill the targets before the Stasis Super, the Hunter will not be refunded Super Energy, even if the target was affected by the Super.
Glacial Inheritance refunds Super Energy after the Super is over, it will not extend the Super timer as the Super is active. The Hunter Revenant Super has the ability to uniquely pair Glacial Inheritance with the Charged with Light mod, Energy Converter, and the Whisper of Bonds Stasis Fragment.
Since the Revenant Super is not a roaming Super, Guardians can throw their Super and immediately throw their grenade to convert any stacks of Charged with Light into Super Energy from Energy Converter. Whisper of Bonds will continue to grant Super Energy as the Revenant Super freezes and defeats targets. When the Revenant Super is over, it will then grant a burst of Super Energy from the Glacial Inheritance mod.
Volatile Conduction is a Class Item Mod that grants bonus Arc Super damage if cast when critically wounded, and lasts until the end of the Super Activation. Volatile Conduction costs 6 Energy to use. While this mod is similar to previous Seasonal Mods, it is gaining more attention this season due to the new Titan Exotic Chest Armor, Cuirass of the Falling Star.
Volatile Conduction gives a 30 percent buff to Arc Super Damage. While this damage buff is nice for any Arc Super, it also stacks with the damage buff from Cuirass of the Falling Star. Combining Volatile Conduction with the Cuirass of the Falling Star makes for a much more potent Thundercrash Super from Titans, who love to live out their Superman dreams in Destiny 2.
The Seasonal Artifact Mod, Sundering Glare, is a Class Item Mod that causes rapid precision hits to weaken distant combatants for a short duration. The description for Sundering Glare is rather vague so many Guardians may not give this mod a chance, but its value should not be understated. To take advantage of Sundering Glare, Guardians will want to choose a weapon that is effective at long range such as a Scout Rifle or Rapid-Fire Sniper Rifle.
Sundering Glare will apply a weaken Debuff on distant combatants which means that the combatants affected by the Sundering Glare Debuff will take an extra 20 percent damage for about 10 seconds. The distance that Guardians need to be at to activate Sundering Glare seems to be at about 40 meters. Unfortunately, there is no on-screen prompt or timer to inform Guardians when Sundering Glare is active. Instead, the Guardian's weapon will flash with a white light to inform them that Sundering Glare is active.
Since Sundering Glare is a debuff, it will stack with other Guardian buffs such as the previously mentioned Volatile Conduction. Guardians using Sundering Glare will need to coordinate with their Fireteam, informing them when Sundering Glare is active to make the most out of this mod. Sundering Glare is an enormously powerful mod and because of that, it costs 6 Energy to use in Destiny 2.
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The Focusing Lens Class Item Mod grants approximately a 25 percent bonus to Light Ability damage against combatants affected by Stasis. This Seasonal Artifact Mod is pretty useless in solo content however, when used with a Fireteam with at least one Stasis, and one Light Subclass, Focusing Lens really starts to shine. Focusing Lens only costs 3 Energy to use, making it an easier option for Guardians to fit into their builds.
Focusing Lens also stacks with other buffs and debuffs which creates even more ways to increase damage output. Focusing Lens also stacks with itself so Guardians can run 2 Focusing Lens mods on their Class Item. One of the best ways to use the Focusing Lens mod is with a Warlock Well of Radiance. When standing in a Well of Radiance, normal weapon damage is counted as ability damage, this allows Guardians to convert their weapon damage to ability damage which is then increased because of Focusing Lens.
The Seasonal Mods are powerful on their own but even stronger when combined together. Using the different ways these mods stack buffs and debuffs in Destiny 2, Guardians can massively increase their DPS. Using the Taniks Raid Boss as an example, Guardians can see how these mods stack.
A Titan Ward of Dawn bubble gives Weapons of Light to Guardians for a 35 percent Weapon damage buff. A Guardian activates Sundering Glare on Taniks, (it works through Taniks’ bubble), activating a 20% Debuff on Taniks. A Duskfield Stasis Grenade gets thrown on Taniks while a Warlock drops a Well of Radiance. This activates Focusing Lens and converts the already buffed Weapons of Light weapon damage into Ability Damage, and gives it another 25 percent buff. Finally, apply the 30 percent debuff from the Exotic Trace Rifle, Divinity, to maximize damage output.
Guardians in Destiny 2: Beyond Light currently have multiple ways to stack buffs and debuffs to increase their overall DPS. These new Seasonal Artifact Mods are some of the most powerful mods Guardians have experienced. While these mods are powerful, they are also temporary and will expire at the end of Season of the Chosen. Some of these mods may return in future seasons while others may never return to Destiny 2.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.