Bungie has been focused on turning Destiny 2 into an Action MMOFPS title, complete with armor stats and unique mods. Shadowkeep was the beginning of this radical change, overhauling the way armor worked and adding new seasonal mods to the game.
Season of Dawn has continued that trend by adding mods you can equip on Dawn-exclusive armor. These mods do not expire like the artifact mods do, meaning that these will always be available to make builds with. These buffs can get rather powerful too, ranging from near-infinite ammo to damage resistance. Here are the 10 strongest mods added in Season of Dawn.
10 Shield Break Charge
In order to use most of the powerful mods this season has added, you are going to need a method of gaining the Charged with Light buff.
Shield Break Charge is a unique mod that only costs 1 energy on your armor. When you break an enemy’s shield that matches your weapon’s elemental damage affinity, you gain one stack of Charged with Light. While simple, this is a reliable way of obtaining this buff to spend on powerful effects like extra damage or damage resistance.
9 Powerful Friends
For 4 Arc energy, Powerful Friends will grant nearby allies the Charged with Light buff when you gain the same buff, provided they did not already have it.
The issue with this mod is the range is incredibly small, maybe extending 15 meters away from you. The good news is if you apply another Arc mod on the same armor piece you gain a massive +20 to your Mobility stat. This Mobility boost is so powerful it’s worth running this mod alone just for its secondary effect, but the primary effect is useful if you have a team that communicates and sticks near you.
8 Void Battery
Yet another artifact mod, this one grants an overshield while using your class ability. It increases the cooldown of your class ability, but it only costs 5 energy on your class item.
This mod isn’t useful on Titans or Warlocks due to their defensive class abilities in nature, but this is a godsend for Hunters. You gain an overshield mid-dodge, meaning you can take lots of enemy fire while retreating in both PvE and PvP. Void also lets you go invisible with top tree, meaning Nightstalkers get even more benefit from this mod.
7 Solar Plexus
This mod is not a typical Season of Dawn mod, instead coming from this season’s artifact. Solar Plexus grants a large melee damage bonus and grants Super energy on finishers.
For 6 energy on your class item, you gain a 50% melee damage increase with Solar abilities. This is fantastic for Gunslinger Hunters using middle-tree or any Sunbreaker Titan spec. The Super gains are measly at best, meaning that the best use of this mod is making a melee build and using Solar Plexus for extra damage. Titan hammers with this mod can kill some mini-bosses in a single strike, making this an incredibly powerful mod when used properly.
6 Heavy Handed
Heavy Handed is another example of a secondary mod effect being stronger than the base counterpart. This mod consumes a stack of Charged with Light to refund half of your melee energy when used.
While useful for certain Titan builds and the new Warlock changes, the secondary effect of this mod steals the show. If you are surrounded by two or more enemies, killing an enemy grants Fusion Rifle, Shotgun, Sidearm, or SMG ammo. While it’s expensive at 7 Arc energy and needed another Arc mod in the same armor piece, this secondary effect means you have infinite Shotgun or Fusion ammo if used aggressively.
5 Quick Charge
Shotguns and Fusion Rifles got some great additions this season. The new Sundial Shotgun and Fusion are fantastic weapons, and the mods you can use on your armor further supports these weapon archetypes.
Quick Charge costs 5 Arc energy, granting a Charged with Light stack when getting a double kill with a Fusion Rifle or Shotgun. The time frame for this is incredibly lenient, making this a fantastic choice for both PvE and PvP. Combine this with Heavy Handed and you can have infinite ammo and constant Charged with Light stacks for extra benefits. Its secondary effect also lets you ready those weapons near-instantly.
4 High-Energy Fire
If you are a Hunter player and dislike how the other two classes can gain damage bonuses from their abilities, fret not! High-Energy Fire grants a 20% damage bonus to your weapons, consuming a Charged with Light stack when you kill an enemy.
If you are using Quick Charge or other charge generating mods, you will have this damage bonus up half of the time. If you use Stacks on Stacks, however, you gain 2 Charged with Light stacks instead of 1, meaning you can always have this buff active with Quick Charge or similar mods. A permanent damage bonus is incredibly useful for any gun, including exotics and pinnacle gear.
3 Heavy Ammo Finder
This mod isn’t new, technically. It has been in the game since Forsaken. That was during Armor 1.0, however, and Bungie has completely overhauled the perk system for Armor in Shadowkeep.
Heavy Ammo Finder has finally returned this season as a helmet mod, granting a higher chance of enemies dropping Heavy ammo on death. This isn’t a mod exclusive to the Dawn mod slot, however, so you can use this powerful mod on any Armor 2.0 helmet you please. No matter the Heavy weapon you use, this is one of the best mods you can use to constantly have ammo for them. Get two of them and laugh as you never run out of Machine Gun or Grenade Launcher ammo, making most content a breeze.
2 Taking Charge
There is no contest on what the best mod is for gaining the Charged with Light buff. Taking Charge costs 3 energy and grants the buff whenever you pick up an Orb of Light.
This can be from ally supers, abilities, or your own Masterworked guns. It is so easy to get Orbs of Light in Destiny 2 it’s hard to argue against this mod. With Stacks on Stacks, it allows you to always have High-Energy Fire up or other benefits that consume stacks.
1 Protective Light
At first glance, Protective Light doesn’t sound useful. It grants damage resistance when your shields break, consuming all Charged with Light stacks to increase its duration. It also reduces your Strength stat by 10.
In practice, this mod is arguably overpowered. It grants such a massive amount of damage resistance that minor enemies deal almost nothing, while enemies like Shirekers and Ogres deal a quarter of what they normally do. It grants 5 seconds of duration per Charged with Light stack consumed, meaning you can get this up to 15 or 20 seconds when modded correctly.
NEXT: Warframe: 10 Must-Have Mods
