The Chain of Command is a new Stasis Heavy Machine Gun that Guardians can earn in Destiny 2, and it takes advantage of the weapon type’s damage buff.
Guardians need to get the Chain of Command Machine Gun in Destiny 2 as soon as possible. The Chain of Command is a new Stasis Heavy Weapon that serves as the ritual weapon for Season of the Haunted, and it is set up to be one of the best PvE options that the looter-shooter has to offer players. One of the major changes to the weapon sandbox in Season of the Haunted is the huge buff that Machine Guns received in PvE, specifically increasing damage against regular combatants by 40% and bosses by 20%.
Like other seasonal ritual weapons, such as the Ascendancy Rocket Launcher in Destiny 2, Chain of Command comes fully Masterworked and has two perk options in both the third and fourth columns. The third column’s perks are Adrenaline Junkie and Osmosis, while the fourth’s are Demolitionist and Adaptive Munitions. Adrenaline Junkie and Demolitionist are two perks that have some of the most synergies of any combination in Destiny 2, while Osmosis also compliments the strengths of Demolitionist. Adaptive Munitions is a perk that was introduced in Season of the Risen and suits the weapon nicely as it rounds out its potential damage capabilities in endgame PvE content.
Whether players are brand new or veterans that took a couple of seasons off, it’s important to know that ritual weapons are no longer acquired from Banshee-44 in the Tower. Instead, Guardians can get the Chain of Command as a Gambit, Crucible, or Vanguard reward in Destiny 2 by completing each of the activities, respectively. Each of the three activities will reward players with a Chain of Command once they complete Rank 16, giving Guardians the potential to earn the weapon three times. After resetting their ranks for each activity, players can also earn a unique ornament from each of the activities once they complete Rank 16 for the second time.
Machine Guns have seen relatively low usage overall in Destiny 2 for a long time, and it’s unfortunate that the buff to their damage output doesn’t apply to PvP activities. While they contain large magazines and often have high-crowd control capabilities, they often fall behind other popular Heavy Weapons in Destiny 2 like the Gjallarhorn Exotic Rocket Launcher for a couple of reasons. Weapons that consume primary ammo have an unlimited reserve, and Rocket Launchers, Linear Fusion Rifles, and Swords are far more effective at dealing damage to bosses in activities such as Grandmaster Nigthfalls, Raids, and Dungeons.
On top of the damage output increase to Machine Guns, what makes the Chain of Command a great Heavy Weapon option is its perk options. Adrenaline Junkie gives players the opportunity to increase that damage output by an additional 33% if they can get a grenade kill before engaging a boss, and Demolitionist can reload the Chain of Command instantly while generating grenade energy perk kill. Additionally, Osmosis allows players to change the elemental damage type of the weapon to their subclass type when a grenade is thrown. Only a handful of weapons in Destiny 2, Season 17 have Adaptive Munitions as well, which adjusts the damage output of the Chain of Command so that it deals increased damage to enemy shields that don’t match whichever type the weapon is currently dealing.
For endgame content that features the Match Game mission modifier, such as Nightfalls and Lost Sectors, players should experiment with combining Adrenaline Junkie and Adaptive Munitions to quickly defeat enemies that don’t have Stasis energy shields. Osmosis and Demolitionist is another great combination worth trying out, particularly if players have an elemental well grenade build equipped along with Font of Might. Font of Might increases damage temporarily for weapons that match the player’s subclass energy type if they pick up an elemental well of that same energy type.
For example, in Destiny 2’s Vow of the Disciple raid, Rhulk has enemies that spawn alongside him that can be defeated easily with a grenade. With the right build, players can defeat an enemy with a grenade, pick up the newly spawned elemental well, and instantly receive a damage increase for Chain of Command. When Rhulk’s damage phase starts, they’ll be prepped to deal additional damage in Destiny 2.
To set up the kind of aforementioned damage buff does take time, and requires that whatever endgame PvE encounter players are in has additional enemies in the area. Legend and Master Lost Sectors are perfect for that kind of setup, however, because the bosses are always accompanied by other enemies. For example, the K1 Revelations Master Lost Sector in Destiny 2 has multiple Hive Acolytes and Thrall enemies accompanying the boss. If players can get a grenade kill while Osmosis is equipped on the Chain of Command and then pick up the elemental well mod, they’ll do a 25% damage increase for 10 seconds if Font of Might is equipped in their armor. For comparison, Adrenaline Junie has a 33% increase that lasts for four seconds. Both benefits reset once the requirement is met again.
The aforementioned build isn’t going to work with every Guardian build, however, but rather those that specifically focus on the grenade and elemental well mods. For this to work as effectively as possible, Guardians that are using the Chain of Command should also have a high Discipline Character Stat in Destiny 2 so that their grenade energy recharges faster. While high-stat armor is possible to obtain by using the Discipline Armor mod, Guardians can also find armor with the stat focused by equipping the Discipline Armorer mod on their Ghost. This build will synergize nicely with the Solar 3.0 update as well in Season of the Haunted, and here are the mods that can make this work perfectly:
Destiny 2, Season of the Haunted may see a significant change in the endgame weapons that players use for PvE activities thanks to the buffs to Machine Guns. While the Chain of Command looks as if it could be the next best Legendary weapon option for a variety of endgame loadouts, other Machine Guns can take advantage of a similar build as well. For example, with an identical build setup, the Xenophage Exotic Machine Gun has the potential to deal massive amounts of damage to bosses just as it used it.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Google Stadia platforms.
Kaleb is a freelance writer for Screen Rant who regularly contributes to both of the Gaming Guides and Gaming Features sections. He has a BA in Digital Media Production from the State University of New York at New Paltz, focusing on the preproduction and production stages of TV & film. He also has an affinity for finding out the origin stories/inspirations of games and every character in them. Although he’s a mid-90s baby, Kaleb started gaming with Super Mario Bros, Pok√©mon Blue, Pac-Man, and Duck Hunt. Kaleb also has a limited Journalism background in NY politics, corporate shareholder activism, cybersecurity, and ESG (environment, social, & governance). He spends too much time watching Pok√©mon Nuzlockes and rewatching Letterkenny, Brooklyn 99, and anything Star Wars or MCU-related.