Destiny 2 has dozens of stats for players to look over. Armor stats, perks, Aspects, Fragments, mods, and weapon stats themselves will keep any min-maxer busy for hours at a time.
Weapons are one of the most confusing systems to unpack in Destiny 2. Most are familiar with weapon perks and archetypes, but many don't understand what makes a weapon tick. Unknown to most, over a dozen stats alter your weapons' behavior, giving them unique strengths and weaknesses. If you want to figure out the inner workings of Destiny 2's stats and gunplay, this guide is for you. We'll give an in-depth look at every weapon stat in Destiny 2 and explain what makes Destiny's gunplay the best in the business.
How Weapons Behave In Destiny 2
This section is for players unfamiliar with how Destiny 2 handles aim assist, accuracy, and how stats impact those mechanics. If you are already acclimated with these systems or only interested in weapon stats themselves, skip to the second half of the article.
To understand the impact of certain stats, you'll need to understand how weapons behave in Destiny 2. This gets surprisingly complicated, so take this section slow. Prepare to hear the word "cone" frequently.
How Do Destiny's Weapons Work?
Bungie uses a ton of mathematical trickery to make weapons feel as good as they do. Whenever you fire a weapon, the game will release a bullet towards the target on your crosshair. This crosshair is not a straight line. Every weapon utilizes invisible cones to determine a weapon's accuracy and aim assist. These cones allow your bullets to land in locations slightly off the center of your crosshair, making shots that would normally hit miss and vice versa.
An In-Depth Look At Cones
Have you ever wondered what those lines on your crosshair mean? Most weapons in Destiny 2 have a circle and four lines arranged in a "+" shape overlapping each other. These aren't for flair; they display your weapon's current aim assist cone and accuracy cone.
As you fire your weapon, you'll notice that one part of your crosshair will shrink while the other grows (shown in the image above). The growing symbol is your accuracy cone, and the shrinking symbol represents your aim assist cone. This is known as "bloom" by most of the community, referring to the "blooming" of your weapon's accuracy cone as you fire. This makes your weapon much less accurate as a gunfight continues, encouraging players to either pace their shots or fight at that weapon's intended range.
This behavior carries over when you aim down a weapon's sights, although both the accuracy and aim assist cones seem to tighten and lengthen. If you wondered why aiming makes your bullets feel so much more responsive than hip-firing, this is the main reason why.
Now that you understand how your weapon behaves on a mechanical level, there's one more thing you need to understand before we start analyzing the effects of each stat.
The Importance Of Accuracy, Aim Assist, Range, And Stability
There are four components of a weapon that impact its "feel" and consistency:
- Accuracy
- Aim Assist
- Range
- Stability
Accuracy
Accuracy dictates how well your weapon can land shots, frequently referred to as your weapon's "error angle." As your accuracy cone blooms, your error angle increases, making it harder to hit enemies.
Excluding Bows, Accuracy is treated as a fixed stat that is tied to a weapon's archetype. More precise weapons, such as Scout Rifles and Hand Cannons, tend to have excellent initial accuracy that gets much worse under continuous fire. Bullet hose weapons, such as Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns, have much worse initial accuracy but can be fired at maximum RPM with minimal issue.
Aim Assist
Aim assist causes your shots to curve towards a target, allowing narrowly-missed shots to hit an enemy. This stat has a direct correlation with your accuracy cone. As your accuracy worsens, your aim assist cone shrinks, making this stat much less powerful if you're continuously firing your weapon. In-game, this means that weapons like Hand Cannons will have a harder time landing headshots if you fire your weapon at its maximum fire rate.
Range
Range ties both of these stats together and is frequently regarded by the community as the most important stat. Besides influencing damage falloff, range impacts your weapon's aim assist. This was confirmed by ex-Bungie developer Jon Weisnewski on the Crucible Radio podcast (skip to 74 minutes):
Jon Weisnewski: If your range is higher, your aim assist is going to be better.
While Weisnewski was referencing the original Destiny in that podcast, that behavior seems to carry over to Destiny 2. Compare a 120 RPM Hand Cannon with a 180 RPM Hand Cannon. There is a sizable difference in how far your bullets will curve towards targets, mainly due to the absurd range 120 RPM Hand Cannons have. More range on a weapon allows your aim assist cone to influence your bullets at greater distances, allowing you to hit targets more easily.
Stability
Stability reduces the visual kick your weapons exhibit with each shot, making them much easier to control at max fire rate. This stat also impacts how quickly your weapon's aim assist cone resets, allowing you to land shots much more consistently. With a high aim assist stat, pairing it with a high stability stat (as seen with The Steady Hand) can result in a weapon that practically aims for you, landing headshots with little precision required.
Other Community Resources
If you're having a hard time visualizing accuracy and aim assist cones, Destiny community member Mercules has made a fantastic diagram displaying the relationship between each stat we've just discussed.
As you can see, as you fire your weapon, you'll experience a larger accuracy cone and a smaller aim assist cone, making it much harder to hit targets. Range and zoom (two stats we'll cover in their respective sections) make these cones cover a longer distance.
Hopefully, the way weapons work in Destiny 2 makes a little bit more sense now. It's a lot to take in, so feel free to reread this section repeatedly, do some in-game testing yourself, or check out YouTuber Drewsky's excellent "Accuracy, Aim Assist & Range Explained In-Depth" video.
With those concepts out of the way, let's finally dig into how each stat impacts your weapons. Feel free to skip to any section that interests you.
Accuracy
How well shots fired by this weapon hit their target.
Appears On: Bows*
*Accuracy is a quantifiable stat on Bows, although the concept of Accuracy itself persists on all weapon archetypes. This section will only cover Bow accuracy. If you're interested in how accuracy impacts all weapon archetypes, read the "How Do Destiny's Weapons Work?" section of the guide.
Bow Accuracy
In-game, a Bow's accuracy determines how easily it can land hits. A high accuracy stat will make your arrows land more consistently when hip-fired and from long distances.
Accuracy influences a Bow's accuracy cone, narrowing the cone while hip-fired to make it easier to land hits. While aiming, Bows with a high accuracy stat will apply their aim assist stat more liberally at further distances, similar to how the range stat behaves on most weapons.
Aim Assist
Determines the bullet magnetism of your shots, allowing you to hit targets that are slightly off your crosshair.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
Note: Aim assist has no in-game description; the text listed above is based on extensive community testing and developer explanations.
Aim Assist Misconception
Before we explain the intricacies of aim assist as a stat, a popular community misconception needs to be addressed:
Aim assist does not impact controller reticle friction whatsoever.
The "reticle stickiness" controller users experience is determined by a weapon's archetype and range stat. All weapon archetypes have a certain amount of reticle stickiness tied to them that does not correlate with aim assist in any way. For example, Hand Cannons are designed to have more reticle friction than Sidearms. Range impacts the effective range of your reticle stickiness, allowing you to more precisely line up shots at further distances.
Aim Assist Explained
Aim assist, referenced in-game as "target acquisition," is a weapon's tendency to land shots that are slightly off-target. Every weapon in Destiny 2 has an aim assist stat that determines how aggressively the weapon will curve towards a target. Unlike most stats, a weapon's aim assist can only be viewed through third-party websites such as Destiny Item Manager and Light.gg.
Increasing your aim assist stat enlarges your aim assist cone. The larger your aim assist cone, the more frequently your bullets will curve towards an enemy. Staying at a weapon's optimal range will make your aim assist stat much more noticeable, referred to by the community as your "aim assist sweet spot."
Blast Radius
Increases the explosion radius of this weapon.
Appears On: Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers
Blast radius is a stat tied to Grenade Launchers and Rocket Launchers, causing all ordnance fired from those weapons to have a larger explosion radius. This stat does not inherently increase the maximum damage of these weapons, but it allows you to kill enemies further away from the epicenter of the explosion.
Note that increasing your Blast Radius stat will reduce the damage dealt on direct impacts with your rockets and grenades. To make the most out of Spike Grenades and similar perks, it is recommended that you reduce your blast radius stat as much as possible.
There is a Blast Radius cap on certain weapons:
- Grenade Launchers (Special and Heavy): 55 blast radius
- Rocket Launchers: 100 blast radius
Charge Time
Determines how quickly this weapon can fire.
Appears On: Fusion Rifles, Linear Fusion Rifles
Charge time replaces the fire rate stat for Fusions, allowing them to fire energy bolts after a set duration. The lower your charge time, the faster your weapon will fire. Decreasing your weapon's charge time will also reduce its impact stat, causing your bolts to deal less damage.
Draw Time
Determines how quickly you can charge an arrow.
Appears On: Bows
Similar to charge time on Fusion Rifles, draw time affects how quickly you can charge an arrow with your Bow. The lower the stat, the faster you'll charge an arrow. Unlike charge time and fire rate, lower draw times do not reduce your impact stat.
All Bows have a draw time cap that cannot be exceeded, determined by the Bow's Intrinsic Frame:
- Precision Frames: 576 draw time
- Lightweight Frames: 540 draw time
Fire Rate
How fast this weapon fires. Listed as rounds per minute.
Appears On: Everything except Bows and Swords
A weapon's fire rate stat determines how many rounds it can fire in 60 seconds. Fire rate and impact have an inverse relationship. As you increase a weapon's fire rate, its impact stat will reduce and vice versa. Assault Mag on Shotguns, Tarrabah's Exotic perk, and The Messenger's Desperado perk are the only exceptions to this rule. A weapon's fire rate is determined by its Intrinsic Frame.
Guard Efficiency
Reduces the amount of energy required to guard an attack
Appears On: Swords
Guard Efficiency is hard to quantify, but this stat does have a noticeable impact on how much energy is drained upon receiving damage while blocking.
Guard Endurance
How long you can maintain your guard with this weapon.
Appears On: Swords
The higher your Guard Endurance is, the longer you can hold the guard button. A Guard Endurance stat of 100 allows you to block for around ten seconds.
Guard Resistance
Damage reduction while guarding with this weapon against most attacks.
Appears On: Swords
While holding the block button, you will take reduced damage. Guard resistance will impact the damage reduction you receive while blocking. A guard resistance stat of 100 gives 80-90% damage resistance, determined by the Sword's Intrinsic Frame.
Handling
The speed with which the weapon can be readied and aimed.
Appears On: Everything except Bows and Swords
The higher your handling stat is, the faster you can swap, stow, and aim with a given weapon. Reaching a handling stat of 100 allows the weapon to be readied and aimed exceptionally quick, similar to how the Quickdraw perk behaves.
Impact
Increases the damage inflicted by each round.
Appears On: All non-launcher weapons
This stat determines how much damage your weapon deals. Impact is determined by your weapon's Intrinsic Frame and certain perks. Damage perks do not increase your impact stat.
Impact is also affected by your weapon's fire rate. The faster your weapon fires, the lower your impact will be. Tarrabah's Exotic perk and The Messenger's Desperado perk are the main exceptions to this rule. Bows are excluded from this rule since they use draw time instead of fire rate.
Inventory Size
The amount of spare ammo you can carry for your weapon.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
Inventory size is a hidden stat that can only be found through third-party apps. This stat determines how much spare ammo you can carry. The conversion between your inventory size stat and ammo reserves is dependant on the weapon archetype. For most weapons, you'll have a larger spare ammo reserve than what your inventory size states.
Magazine
How many rounds you can fire before reloading.
Appears On: Everything except Bows
Magazine size influences how many rounds are in your magazine or how many Sword swings you can make. Magazine size is increased through the Backup Mag mod and certain perks.
Range
Increases the effective range of this weapon.
Appears On: Everything except Bows, Swords, and launcher weapons
The range stat allows you to damage targets from a further distance before experiencing damage falloff. This stat also enhances the effective range of your weapon's aim assist cone. As a result, your weapon's optimal time-to-kill and consistency persist at greater distances.
Zoom has a multiplicative effect with this stat, drastically increasing your weapon's effective range at long distances while aiming.
Range also increases the distance controller users will experience reticle friction or "reticle stickiness."
Recoil
The bounce intensity and direction your weapon experiences when fired.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
When you fire a weapon, your weapon will begin to bounce in a certain direction. While stability reduces the intensity of the gun's recoil, the only way to change your recoil direction is by altering this stat.
Destiny 2 uses a dampened sine wave to determine your weapon's recoil direction (shown above). Lower recoil values will cause the bounce intensity of your gun to be higher. Values for recoil direction are as follows:
- Vertical: 5, 10, 15, 20, etc; 100 recoil is also vertical
- Right: 0-4, 16-24, 36-44, etc.
- Left: 6-14, 26-34, 46-54, etc.
Reload Speed
The time it takes to reload this weapon.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
Reload speed determines how long it takes to reload your weapon. The higher your reload stat is, the faster your weapon reloads. Weapon archetypes each have different reload speeds, making this stat's usefulness vary on the weapon type in question.
Certain perks, such as Outlaw and Feeding Frenzy, have a reload speed multiplier on top of granting a flat boost to the reload speed stat. This allows reload-oriented perks to still shorten your reload speed despite having a weapon with a reload speed stat of 100.
Stability
How much or little recoil you will experience while firing the weapon.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
Stability actually influences two stats on your weapons:
- How much recoil or "kick" your weapon has after a shot
- The reduction of your aim assist cone while firing
As explained at the beginning of the article, your aim assist cone shrinks whenever you fire with your weapon. Stability is the only stat in Destiny 2 that alters this, with higher stability making your aim assist cone degrade much slower. This is why Hand Cannons, such as The Steady Hand, that have high stability can easily land headshots despite having a wide accuracy cone. Weapons with a high stability stat will also recoil much less, making it easier to land consecutive shots in the middle of a gunfight.
Velocity
Increases the speed of projectiles fired by this weapon.
Appears On: Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers
Velocity makes your projectiles travel faster than normal. The boost in projectile speed is minimal on Rocket Launchers, although there is a noticeable difference for Breech-Loaded Grenade Launchers.
Keep in mind that Breech-Loaded Grenade Launchers have a minimum travel distance before they can be manually detonated. The velocity stat will increase the minimum travel distance needed to detonate your greandes.
Zoom
Increases the effective range of your weapon while aiming by narrowing your field of view.
Appears On: All non-Sword weapons
Zoom is a hidden stat that can only be viewed through third-party apps. Similar to the range stat, zoom increases the distance you can damage targets without experiencing damage falloff. Unlike range, zoom only applies when you're aiming with a weapon. Higher zoom values will drastically improve your weapon's effective range, acting as a multiplier to your range stat. Consequently, higher zoom stats will reduce your field of view, making it harder to see targets from your peripheral view.
