As a Destiny veteran with over 2000 hours played, I live for dishing out extreme burst damage against the toughest PVE enemies. Mastering weapons and strategies that enable melting raid bosses and high tier Nightfall champions in seconds brings me endless satisfaction. So when renowned content creator Aztecross released his breakdown of the current best heavy DPS options in Destiny 2, I dove in deep to analyze the numbers and testing methodology.
The Damage Testing Rundown
Aztecross focuses his evaluation on weapons that can leverage short damage phase windows to unleash their full potential. He establishes baseline DPS values by emptying reserves against Rulk, the Disciple Rhulk boss from the Vow of the Disciple raid.
Weapons are tested solo first without any buffs or debuffs to set a neutral field baseline. Aztecross then measures damage amped up by the Warlock‘s Well of Radiance super and weapons buffed by Font of Might.
The key test adds Trophy Hunter to applyWeakened debuff for even higher damage scaling. The results conclusively prove that Izanagi‘s Burden paired with rockets as well as linear fusion rifles reign supreme for destruction.
The Base Breakdown
Here‘s a comparison of different weapons and their baseline sustained DPS performance:
| Weapon | Base DPS |
|---|---|
| Corrective // Machine Gun | 163,000 |
| Grand Overture | 228,000 |
| Taipan // Linear Fusion Rifle | 259,000 |
| 1K Voices | 164,000 |
| Xenophage | 170,000 |
| Sleeper Simulant | 130,000 |
Immediately evident is the substantial base damage advantage of precision weapons like linear fusions, far outpacing popular options like machine guns, Xenophage, or the quirky exotic Grand Overture.
1K Voices underperforms as its strength lies more in ease of use with sustained beam damage rather than maximizing a short burst window. Sleeper suffers from slow charge time and awkward delayed shots.
Scaling Up With Buffs
AddingPlayer buffs and enemy debuffs turbocharges weapon performance. Here‘s numbers for key weapons amped up:
| Weapon | Amped DPS | Boost |
|---|---|---|
| Taipan | 555,000 | 2.1x |
| Font of Might Taipan | 777,000 | 3x |
| Trophy Hunter Debuff Taipan | 1,000,000+ | 4x |
The power of amplification shines through, nearly quadrupling Taipan‘s output solely through damage modifiers! However, sustaining maxFont of Might and keeping Weaken applied is tricky without coordination.
This reveals a key tactic – leveraging abilities and teammates to stack buffs before unloading heavy weapons. The video also proves that linear fusions scale superbly from external amps compared to alternatives.
The Crème de la Crème – Izanagi Rockets & Linear Fusions
While the buffed numbers impress for Taipan, the winners for best burst DPS in Destiny 2 are Izanagi’s Burden paired with rocket launchers, as well as linear fusions.
Izanagi + Explosive Light Rockets
Izanagi‘s specialty comes from Honed Edge x4 delivering a colossal damage spike in a single sniper shot. Aztecross demonstrates that pairing even a sole Honed Edge shot with just a regular lasting impressions rocket surpasses all previous contenders.
Factoring full Honed Edge x4 reserves unloaded alongside missiles packing Explosive Light rockets pushes potential even higher. The combo leverages Izanagi‘s big damage INSTANTLY rather than requiring sustained precision fire. Meanwhile, auto-loading perks enable continual rocket launching without interfering with sniper reload.
For Hunters and Titans lacking Warlock style empowering abilities, Izanagi rockets certainly claim the crown. However, the skill floor stands high, demanding precision sniper accuracy even under enemy fire. Missing shots tanks overall DPS drastically.
Ideal Izanagi Rocket Perks
Izanagi’s Burden – Honed Edge and any mag increasing perk like Extended Mag
Rocket Launcher – Explosive Light + Demo, Autoloading Holster with Impact Casing or High-Velocity Rounds
Linear Fusion Reign
For most players, linear fusions present the best blend of damage, ease of use and sustainability. Their precision requirements are far more forgiving than Izanagi allowing safer damage dealing. Most offer perks sustaining ammo allowing rapid takedowns unmatched by other heavies.
Champions like Reed‘s Regret with Triple Tap and Firing Line push DPS potential while restoring precious ammo. Alternatively, Cataclysmic with Fourth Time’s the Charm enables endless firing without reloading. Paired with buffs, a Firing Line Reed‘s volley often eliminates bosses outright before needing to reload.
Meanwhile, Bait and Switch on Cataclysmic leverages movement for a major damage hike, so players can weapon swap to keep uptime near 100%. Linears simply excel at maximizing short damage windows compared to alternatives.
Ideal Linear Perks
Reed‘s Regret – Triple Tap + Firing Line
Cataclysmic – 4TTC/Focused Fury + Bait and Switch
Stormchaser – No Distractions + Focused Fury
I‘ve crafted all three of these linear god rolls this season and strongly recommend players add them to your repertoire.
Supporting Abilities & Synergies
While weapon choices deliver the killing blow, optimizing subclasses and team synergies takes damage to unseen heights through amplification.
Void 3.0 Energy
The Void 3.0 rework offers tons of synergistic options to boost weapon lethality like Weaken, Volatile, and suppressions reducing enemy attacks. Hunters can alternate Moebius Quiver shots to perpetually Weaken targets. Meanwhile, Titans proc Offensive Bulwark by simply blocking damage with overshields active for a nice 20% weapon damage increase.
Warlocks should focus on maximizing Empowering buffs. Starfire Protocol enables near constant uptime through fusion grenades empowering allies. Drop a Well or Luna Rift with boots that extend duration before unloading weapons.
artifact mods
Many seasonal artifact mods directly boost weapon damage like Particle Deconstruction‘s resistance piercing bonus. Combine those with Font of Might, High Energy Fire, Volatile Flow and more alongside your heavy of choice.
The extensive options for stacking damage modifying effects enables easily doubling or tripling weapon damage against elite enemies.
Alternatives & Situational Picks
While Izanagi combos and linear fusions dominate burst potential, alternatives still thrive situationally:
- Xenophage‘s ease of use and sustained damage output makes it incredible for handling Oracle‘s in Templar and Atheon encounters.
- Grand Overture excels against crowds of minor enemies compared to single target focus of other heavies.
- Gjallarhorn remains invaluable forbuff juggling Wolfpack Rounds between fireteam members.
- Thunderlord still chews through waves of adds incredibly quickly when used properly.
Machine guns generally fare poorly due to limited reserves and reload times disrupting damage. However something like Corrective // with Subsistence can still compete with minor tweaks.
1K Voices suffers somewhat similarly, as staying still channeling maximum beam duration often means taking excessive damage. That said, its add clear and invader countering in Gambit remains top tier.
For solo players without team buffs, the Sleeper Simulant buff makes it incredibly viable with the catalyst. Paired with other Fusion Rifle boosts, it can still melt in the Crucible and strike playlist activities.
And course if Bungie releases another seasonal mod boosting grenade launchers, something like Wendigo will undoubtedly surge up once more.
The key remains leaning into seasonal champion mods and weapon boosts in the artifact to maximize damage potential with favorites.
Future Sandbox Shifts
While Izanagi‘s and linear fusions have maintained a top DPS throne for multiple seasons now, balancing passes can easily shift the meta. For example, several seasons ago grenade launchers ruled supreme until Bungie nerfed spikes and auto-loading interactions.
Similarly, Anarchy reigned for years until tweaks limited its ability to multi-tick damage on bosses. I expect repeat champion mods and seasonal boosts will continue propelling Arbalest and anti-barrier exotics into top tier use each season.
For top contenders like Izanagi and Reeds, its unlikely Bungie directly nerfs their damage numbers or functionality. However, its plausible small tweaks to reload behaviors, flinch or aim assist stats impact viability. Inventory shuffling speed can greatly influence total damage output in a narrow window.
Meanwhile, lacking champion stunning ability compared to Arbalest limits Izanagi and Reeds‘ flexibility in higher tier content. Champion armor mods often dictate loadout choices each season. Its also likely underused archetypes like bows or scouts receive artifact mods enticing guardians to dust them off.
My safest bet remains on linear fusions retaining dominance due to ease of use and flexibility. However, smart players remain vigilant for patch notes and are ready to rapidly adapt preferred loadouts to maximize damage potential each season.
Conclusion
If your goal is deleting the toughest PVE bosses and champions in seconds, Izanagi’s Burden rocket combos and linear fusion reign supreme currently. Their raw precision damage combines devastatingly with external buffs and debuffs to obliterate enemies in record time.
However, loadouts must adapt to meet evolving seasonal metas and encounter challenges. Regardless of sandbox changes, keeping up with the intricate Destiny 2 meta proves what keeps me chasing god rolls and min-maxing loadouts after years of enjoying the chase. I wish my fellow guardians happy hunting and hope these DPS insights serve you well!