Destiny 2 Hammerhead god roll guide: Best perks, barrels, and magazines

The highlight of Destiny 2's Into the Light update is the Brave Arsenal—12 classic weapons reprised and refreshed to thrive in today's sandbox. Hammerhead is one of them, a void machine gun that first arrived during Season of the Forge. At the time it was an add-clear monster, but its original set of perks would feel tame in the current game—particularly in comparison to the Deep Stone Crypt raid's craftable Commemoration.

Luckily, the version of Hammerhead that's returning for Into the Light is well worth hunting down. Bungie has loaded it up with absolutely cracked perks in both the third and fourth column, meaning there are plenty of options that make it viable in both PvE and PvP. But what is the Hammerhead god roll? With the right perks, Hammerhead is downright disgusting—so here's what you'll be wanting to grind.

Hammerhead PvE god roll

Barrel: Arrowhead Brake, Smallbore
Magazine: Appended Mag, Flared Magwell
3rd Column: Rewind Rounds, Rampage
4th Column: Onslaught, Killing Tally

There are two main combinations you want to chase for your PvE roll. The first is based around the perk Onslaught, which activates from final blows and increases the weapon's rate-of-fire. It's a lot of fun, but absolutely chews through ammo, meaning you'll want to pair it with Rewind Rounds—refilling your magazine based on the number of hits you land on enemies. When you do finally empty your mag, Onslaught also increases your reload speed, meaning you'll be back to full in no time at all.

The other option is to go all-in on damage. Rampage is no longer a top-tier damage perk, but the new Hammerhead has it available in the third column. That means you can pair it with a second damage perk to stack buffs on top of each other. The obvious pick here is Killing Tally, as they have the same activation method—both gaining damage stacks with kills. If you can keep both at maximum stacks, you're looking at amazing damage potential against even major enemies.

Hammerhead PvP god roll

Barrel: Hammer-Forged Rifling, Extended Barrel, Smallbore
Magazine: High-Caliber Rounds, Ricochet Rounds
3rd Column: Under-Over
4th Column: Killing Tally, Tap the Trigger

While grenade launchers are still the heavy weapon king in PvP, a recent nerf to detonation damage does open the space to other types of gun. Machine guns also got a damage buff in PvP, so they're certainly viable as an easier-to-use alternative. Perk wise, Hammerhead is more geared towards PvE, but there are a couple of Crucible options that are worth checking out.

In the third column, Under-Over is a good option—it does extra damage to Overshields, making it a great pick for dealing with Void Titans or any Warlock you find sitting in a Healing Rift. For the fourth column, Killing Tally will reduce the time-to-kill at one stack for players at tier seven resilience or lower, and at two stacks for all players regardless of resilience. But the better option for a machine gun is a consistency perk like Tap the Trigger—which will bump up your stability for the entire duration of the weapon's optimal time-to-kill.

TOPICS

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.