Destiny 2 is getting pretty generous in the run-up to The Final Shape. Alongside Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, and Witch Queen becoming free to everyone for a month, we also now have a new easy way to unlock seasonal weapons from this year for crafting. Unless you're a pretty active player, it's likely you haven't unlocked every single gun from the seasons of Defiance, Deep, Witch, and Wish. It's a total of 24 weapons, and though some have been edged out of the meta in terms of perks, there are still a lot of decent guns.
If you're a new player, it's a fantastic opportunity to get a truckload of craftable weapons, and it's a bit of a steal considering you previously had to earn these through a lot of seasonal activities, or one weekly deepsight weapon at a time through the seasonal vendor. Where before it might have taken you a month to unlock a gun, this new system lets you do it in a few days. So, how exactly does it work?
In the run up to The Final Shape, your first completion of a seasonal activity each day will drop a random red border weapon from that season that you don't have unlocked yet. These activities include:
- Season of Defiance: Defiant Battlegrounds, Avalon "Exotic" mission
- Season of the Deep: Salvage, Deep Dive
- Season of the Witch: Savathun's Spire, Altars of Summoning
- Season of the Wish: Riven's Lair, The Coil, Starcrossed "Exotic" mission
Since you can earn one weapon per season daily, that's four overall. If you want to complete the speediest, I'd suggest Defiant Battlegrounds, Salvage, Savathun's Spire, and Riven's Lair. Sadly, you can't decide which red border weapon you get, so it's luck of the draw, but some guns are certainly better than others. It's also worth noting that these red borders don't include the class swords and Imperial Decree shotgun from the Recovered Leviathan Weapons focusing.
Currently the hottest weapons in the game are from the Brave Arsenal—available from the Into the Light release. So if you're after a best-in-slot grenade launcher, for instance, it may be worth dedicating your time to the new Onslaught mode instead. While the Brave Arsenal weapons are sticking around, you won't be able to unlock the special, 'shiny' version when The Final Shape is released. Whatever you choose, here are the guns we recommend from each of this year's seasons:
Season of Defiance
- Royal Executioner (Solar fusion rifle): The Reservoir Burst perk makes enemies explode if they're killed with the first shot of the battery, making Royal Executioner a great pick for target-rich environments like Onslaught.
- Regnant (Void grenade launcher): Though somewhat outclassed by Edge Transit now, this grenade launcher can still get Envious Assassin/Explosive Light, making it a decent boss DPS choice.
- Caretaker (Solar sword): Now that adaptive frame swords are strong again, Caretaker can be quite fun, especially as it's one of the few swords that rolls Incandescent for scorch.
- Raconteur (Stasis bow): Bows are a great weapon for the Headstone perk, but while Lunulata-4b is a lightweight frame, Raconteur is the harder-hitting precision frame that makes getting headshots easier.
Season of the Deep
- Until Its Return (Strand shotgun): This rapid fire shotgun is good for when you just need to quickly empty a lot of shells into a tough enemy. Its Overflow/Cascade Point roll is both very silly and fun.
- Thin Precipice (Strand sword): This is one of only two strand swords in the game, and considering the other is Dragoncult Sickle in the Warlord's Ruin dungeon, this might be your only option if you want a strand sword to run with Banner of War.
Season of the Witch
- Semiotician (Strand rocket launcher): This is one of only two strand rocket launchers in the game, the other being from last year's solstice event and no longer available. It rolls with Field Prep/Explosive Light, making it a decent DPS rocket.
Season of the Wish
- Supercluster (Strand shotgun): This precision slug shotgun can roll Reconstruction/Vorpal, which kind of makes it a discount roll of one of Destiny 2's best shotguns, Heritage. This gives it double ammo and lets it deal extra damage to bosses.
- Scatter Signal (Strand fusion rifle): Controlled Burst is an excellent damage perk, making Scatter Signal a meta pick for bursting down yellow bars or even champions after they've been stunned.
- Appetence (Stasis trace rifle): This trace rifle can get the excellent roll of Overflow/Killing Tally, giving it twice as much ammo in a mag, and increased damage with each kill provided you don't stow it.
- Lethophobia (Void bow): Though this bow isn't a hard-hitting precision frame, the fact that it can get Repulsor Brace makes it fun for a variety of void builds. It's also decent in PvP and for hand cannon swapping due to it getting Impulse Amplifier/Disruption Break.
- Subjunctive (Arc SMG): Some might call Subjunctive a discount Ikelos, but I think it's actually the best Arc Voltshot SMG due to the extra ammo the lightweight frame gets. Couple that with a reload perk like Threat Detector and you'll be zapping everything.
It's well worth taking a look through all of the available seasonal weapons before The Final Shape arrives either way, since there are a lot of other guns you can get besides these craftable ones.
For example, Season of the Deep has a whole selection of weapons that you can only focus, the Season of Defiance has separate craftable class swords, and Season of the Witch has some older focusable Vanguard weapons with new perks, like the Showrunner SMG that can roll Kinetic Tremors. If you're just starting the game, these seasonal guns can set you up with a whole range of options.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Brave Arsenal weapons were leaving the game when The Final Shape released. This is not the case: only the special edition variants will become unavailable.
