Not many Destiny 2 weapons can go from zero to hero, but Warden’s Law seems to have achieved that tremendous feat. This once-terrible hand cannon is back, and it’s gunning to become one of the most coveted new weapons in Destiny 2—especially if you have a god roll for it.
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Warden’s Law is ushering in the new Heavy Burst archetype for hand cannons, which fires two bullets in quick succession. It feels like a mix of two-burst sidearms, Crimson with two bullets instead of three, or even a watered-down, slower-firing Graviton Lance depending on what invokes more familiarity for you.
In addition to the novelty of the archetype, Warden’s Law has access to a good perk pool from the get-go. Nightfall weapons usually come with desirable combinations, though some Nightfall weapons don’t get the luxury (The Swarm and BrayTech Osprey come to mind)—and we’re excited to see Warden’s Law falls into the first category, bringing in perks that are all-around good and even some that lean into the uniqueness of its archetype.
Here is our Warden’s Law god roll so you know what to aim for when farming and what to convert into Legendary Shards.
Warden’s Law PvE god roll
- Barrel: Polygonal Rifling, Corkscrew Rifling, or Smallbore
- Mag: Flared Magwell, Light Mag, or Appended Mag (Honorable Mention: Steady Rounds)
- First perk: Enlightened Action, Fourth Time’s The Charm, or Perpetual Motion
- Second perk: Kill Clip, Frenzy, or Rampage
Since Warden’s Law fires in a burst, we’ve aimed for stability and reload speed. Warden’s Law doesn’t really have much going for it in the reload department without a bit of help from its perks, and more stability makes it easier to land both rounds in its unique firing mode.
What makes Warden’s Law shine can also potentially make it trickier to use. Since the weapon kicks a bit, you may miss parts of the burst at longer ranges, either by missing a crit spot or not hitting the target altogether. That’s why Steady Hands made our cut as an honorable mention: The range penalty can hurt (less in PvE than in PvP), but the extra stability might be worth it. And regardless of what you get, Warden’s Law can prove to be a deadly hand cannon, and one with a distinct, satisfying feel.
Each of the perk columns on Warden’s Law brings quite a bunch of options to make it even deadlier, though. Enlightened Action works as a great option to stack reload and handling, which will offset the weapon’s slow reload speed. Fourth Time’s the Charm will proc every other burst as long as you’re hitting crits, which vastly increases your magazine size (though it doesn’t do anything for the reload itself). Perpetual Motion continues to be a bread-and-butter perk that vastly improves how this weapon feels. You can go with any of them and you’ll likely be set, but we were positively surprised by Enlightened Action.
You’ve got a few more-than-solid options in the fourth column as well. For sheer damage, you have Kill Clip, Frenzy, and Rampage at your disposal. Each has its own triggers and benefits, but they are some of the most sacred perks when it comes to improving your damage output. We’re partial to Kill Clip and Rampage for their simplicity, though Kill Clip scales better than Rampage in endgame activities.
If you’re looking for something to use in endgame activities, though, Frenzy might also just steal the top spot in your god roll. This perk will activate after being in combat for 12 seconds, giving you a noticeable damage boost and extra reload and handling. Since you don’t need to kill anything to get a proc, Frenzy will just vastly improve how the weapon feels (and, again, give it a nice damage bump).
Vorpal Weapon isn’t off the table, either. Since Warden’s Law is a primary, this will deal 20 percent extra damage to enemies that receive the benefits from this perk. That said, you probably won’t use Warden’s Law for most of the enemies that actually trigger Vorpal Weapon, so it’s not on our list. We’d just swap to a different weapon for the job, generally. Besides, Frenzy has a similar value and applies to all enemies once it’s activated.
You might stumble into a roll with Zen Moment in the fourth column. This isn’t a bad idea for Warden’s Law, though you’ll get more benefits out of it in PvP since it’s going up against the triumvirate of perks here, which makes it far harder to justify having Zen Moment over one of the three. It’s a good perk to have on an interim roll, though, and you can keep it until you find something better.
Regardless of how you build your Warden’s Law, this new hand cannon can be a positive surprise—and it’s more than enough to wash away this weapon’s old reputation as a peashooter.
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