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Destiny 2 is no stranger to MMO mechanics. Raids, dungeons, gear stats, buffs, and debuffs are all core systems of Destiny 2. Buffs and debuffs are one of the game's less explained mechanics, leading to much confusion amongst new and returning players.
In essence, players can increase their damage output through certain "buffs." These typically come from abilities. Debuffs also increase your damage output by a considerable amount, but these behave a bit differently than buffs. Add to that weapons perks and other damage multipliers, and you have yourself a somewhat complicated damage model. Let's go over exactly what buffs and debuffs are, how they relate to weapon perks, and list every buff and debuff you can use in Destiny 2.
Updated September 20th, 2022, by Charles Burgar: While Arc 3.0 didn't add any damage buffs or debuffs to Destiny 2, it did add some strong utility buffs and a powerful Hunter Exotic that buffs damage upon breaking invisibility. We've updated this list with up-to-date buff and debuff values for Season of the Plunder, and we've added Gyrfalcon's Hauberk to the buff section of the guide.
What Are Buffs And Debuffs?
Buffs and debuffs are modifiers to character performance in Destiny 2, usually in the form of damage modifiers. Buffs increase the damage that you deal, while debuffs increase the damage that enemies receive. Buffs come in the form of weapon damage perks, certain subclass perks, armor mods like High-Energy Fire, and certain game mechanics. Debuffs typically come in the form of artifact mods, certain subclass abilities, and a handful of Exotic weapons and armor.
Weapon Damage Perks
Let's start with the simplest buff type in Destiny 2: weapon damage perks. Most weapons in Destiny 2 can randomly roll with a damage perk, amplifying your weapon's damage output by a percent amount for a variable duration. These perks include classics like Rampage, Kill Clip, Explosive Payload, Wellspring, One-for-All, and many more. Weapon perks modify your weapon's damage from 10% to 50% in extreme cases. Most perks buff your damage by 33 or 35%, so keep that in mind.
If you're one of the lucky few to own a weapon with two damage perks—for example, a Transfiguration with Kill Clip and Rampage—you might notice a massive damage spike when both perks are up. That's because weapon damage perks stack multiplicatively with one another. In Transfiguration's case, instead of dealing 66% more damage (33% for Kill Clip, the other 33% from x3 Rampage), you'd deal 76% more damage. Weapons that can roll with two damage perks simultaneously are exceedingly rare, so think twice about dismantling them. This behavior also applies to damage spec mods and character buffs.
Character Damage Buffs
Some Exotics, mods, and abilities in Destiny 2 might provide a temporary damage boost to all of your weapons. We call these character buffs, as they're bound to your character instead of a particular weapon. Unlike weapon perks, character buffs do not stack with one another. A few exceptions to this rule will be covered later in the guide. In situations where you're affected by multiple character buffs, the strongest buff will take effect until it expires. Character buffs stack with weapon damage perks and debuffs, doing so multiplicatively.
Let's give an example of how character buffs might work in an endgame PvE activity:
- You deal 1,000 base damage.
- Someone deploys a Ward of Dawn, granting Weapons of Light. You now deal 1,250 damage.
- Character buff (25%)
- An ally is using Lumina and decides to buff you with Blessing of the Sky. You now deal 1,350 damage.
- Character buff (35%)
- This overrides Weapons of Light while active.
- You have Vorpal Weapon active on your Heavy weapon. You now deal 1,485 damage.
- Weapon perk (10% on Heavy weapons)
- Blessing of the Sky ends, but you still have Weapons of Light. You now deal 1,375 damage.
As you can see, you don't get a massive damage jump from getting Blessing of the Sky since it doesn't stack with Weapons of Light; it merely overrides it. Vorpal Weapon stacks in both situations, giving you a 10% damage buff that stacks multiplicatively with the character buff that's active. However, there's one more damage multiplier we haven't mentioned.
Debuffs
Debuffs are negative effects that are applied to an enemy combatant, most of which cause the combatant to take increased damage from all sources for a certain duration. In general, an enemy can only have one damage-boosting debuff active at a time, although there are two exceptions we'll get to later. Debuffs stack with player and weapon buffs, acting as another multiplier to your damage. Most debuffs increase the damage an enemy takes by 15 or 30%. But just like player buffs, this can vary based on the debuff source.
Every Weapon Damage Perk
Every notable damage perk in Destiny 2 can be found below, showcasing their damage buff percentage in PvE and PvP. We did not include damage perks that buff ability or melee damage (sorry, One-Two Punch). These perks only affect weapon damage.
Notable Active Damage Buffs
- Adrenaline Junkie: Grants a 33% damage buff after landing a grenade final blow.
- Bait and Switch: Grants a 35% damage buff upon inflicting damage with all three weapons.
- Explosive Light: Rockets deal 25% more damage if you've grabbed an Orb of Power.
- Focused Fury: Grants a 20% damage buff after landing enough headshots.
- Frenzy: Gain a 15% damage buff while in combat (requires periodic damage dealt or taken to remain active).
- Golden Tricorn: Kill a target to gain a 15% damage buff. Land a matching elemental ability kill, and that buff increases to 50%.
- One for All: Grants a 35% damage buff for hitting three unique enemies.
- Swashbuckler: Grants a 33% damage buff after landing a melee final blow (charged or uncharged).
Notable Passive Damage Buffs
- Explosive/Timed Payload: Passively deal 12% more precision damage and 15% body shot damage in PvE activities.
- High-Impact Reserves: Deal up to 25% more damage (6% in PvP) as your magazine expends ammo.
- Firing Line: Deal 20% more precision damage if two or more allies are nearby.
- Full Court: GLs deal more damage as the grenade travels further, up to 25% more damage.
- Vorpal Weapon: Always deal bonus damage to bosses and Champions (20% for Primaries, 15% for Specials, and 10% for Heavy weapons).
Every Damage Buff
Destiny 2 has quite a few character damage buffs you can obtain, most of which are obtained from your abilities. We've created a table that showcases every buff in the game, broken down by global buffs and class-specific buffs. A subsection right under the table showcases which of these buffs can stack. Buffs that increase ability damage (i.e., Verity's Brow) are not listed.
Which Buffs Stack?
Most character buffs in Destiny 2 do not stack with one another, but there are some exceptions. This is every buff in Destiny 2 that can stack with other character buffs:
- Font of Might: Grants a 25% damage buff to weapons that match your subclass element.
- Mask of Bakris: Light Shift gives your Arc weapons a 10% damage buff.
- Mechaneer's Tricksleeves: Your Sidearms deal 100% more damage while critically wounded.
- Lucky Pants: Hand Cannons deal 60% more damage perk stack, capping out at 600% damage at 10 stacks.
These buffs will stack with other character buffs like Weapons of Light and High-Energy Fire, doing so multiplicatively. A common PvE build is to combine Font of Might with another damage buff to gain a massive damage bonus. Hunters have a few more ways to stacking buffs than the other classes, although they require you to use a certain weapon type. And as we mentioned earlier, these buffs also stack with weapon damage perks and debuffs.
Every Damage Debuff
There is a wide range of debuffs currently usable in Destiny 2, most of which originate from Void subclasses. We'll only be listing debuffs currently usable. Oppressive Darkness and other past seasonal Artifact mods that apply debuffs won't be listed.
Which Debuffs Stack?
There are only two debuffs in Destiny 2 that stack:
- Mask of Bakris: Slowed targets take 10% more damage while Light Shift is active, stacking with other debuffs.
- Power of Rasputin: Enemies near your Warmind Cells take 10% more damage from all sources, stacking with other debuffs.
Beyond those two, you can't stack debuffs in Destiny 2. Just like character buffs, multiple debuffs will cause the strongest one to take effect.
How Weaken Works
Void 3.0 has introduced the Weaken keyword into Destiny 2, created specifically for Void subclasses. Whenever a subclass Fragment, ability, or item states that it weakens targets, it's usually a 15% debuff. In PvP, the effect of Weaken is halved, causing Guardians to take 7.5% more damage.
Well, at least that's how it's supposed to work. Not all items in Destiny 2 follow this keyword logic. Some notable examples include:
- Shadowshot: This applies a 30% Weaken on targets despite its wording.
- Divinity: Applies a 30% Weaken effect.
- Tractor Cannon: Debuffs enemies for 30% in PvE and 50% in PvP.
Utility Buffs And Debuffs
Not every buff and debuff in Destiny 2 increases your damage. Some effects buff your character stats, limit your opponent's actions, or otherwise improve your character in some fashion. Most of these effects come in the form of Keywords, verbs that are used by certain subclass elements. You might also find some utility effects provided by subclass Fragments. We cover each Keyword and Fragment in our subclass 3.0 guides, which you can find here:
- A Complete Guide To Arc 3.0
- A Complete Guide To Solar 3.0
- A Complete Guide To Void 3.0
- A Complete Guide To Stasis
As for utility buffs, there are only a few worth mentioning:
- Amplified (Arc): Grants +50 Mobility, +40 handling with a 0.96x scalar, 33% slide distance, and allows you to enter superspeed upon sprinting for a few seconds.
- Superspeed grants 12.5% sprint speed, 50% slide distance, and 15% DR in PvE.
- Restoration (Solar): Regenerate 50-80 HP/s while active. This cannot be interrupted.
- Devour (Void): Restore all HP on kill. Gain ~15% grenade energy with each kill while Devour is active.
- Font of Wisdom (Mod): Grants +100 Intellect
While that isn't every utility buff in Destiny 2, those buffs are rather common and don't give exact descriptions in-game. Other utility effects are either tied to weapon perks or covered in our subclass guides.
