Summary
After a season of extremely underwhelming seasonal weapons inDestiny 2, Bungie brought in a whole host of new tools of destruction that are already proving their worth with one common perk alone. The new Land Tank perk that boosts the player’s resilience gives all of these seasonal weapons a ton of worth, regardless of their ranking on this list.
To get these weapons, players simply had to play Psi-Ops Battlegrounds activities or purchase them from the H.E.L.M.’s War Table with materials. Here’s which of theRisen weapons players should craft first inDestiny 2, and what their god rolls are.
Updated on July 27, 2025, by Anastasia Maillot:It has been over a year since Season of the Risen, or season 16 of Destiny 2, opened up the year of The Witch Queen for the game. It introduced craftable seasonal weapons, and the Psi-Ops gear continues to be some of the best seasonal craftable weapons the game has seen since then. For a while after Lightfall was introduced, Risen weapons were available only in limited ways through Xur or Banshee-44, but as of Season of the Witch, the Exotic mission rotator allows players to earn Deepsight weapons from the year of The Witch Queen. In order to earnRisen weapons in 2023 of Destiny 2, players need to wait for Vox Obscura to be the weekly Exotic mission. It has a chance to drop Deepsight versions of these weapons, but players who have Deepsight Harmonizers can also extract patterns from weapons without red borders. In light of all the meta changes for PVE (and to a degree, PVP), here are thebest Season of the Risen/Psi-Ops battleground weapons in Destiny 2, ranked.
6Sweet Sorrow
Although auto rifles have certainly received improvements since the Risen weapons were first introduced, Sweet Sorrow’s perk pool is its biggest weakness when compared to other craftable auto rifles.Rufus' Fury, for example, is a far better pick, as is the Ammit AR2.
The Arc auto rifle therefore earns its rightful spot at the bottom of the list. Out of its weaker perk pool that definitely could use something like Voltshot, Perpetual Motion and Demolitionist seem like the most solid combination for those who insist on choosing this auto rifle in PVE.
5Under Your Skin
Under Your Skin is now one of several craftable bows in the game, and as such, it’s nothing remarkable. Bows continue to be very niche in PVE, but depending on the seasonal artifact perks, they can be quite useful against champions or depending on an activity’s overcharge weapons and surges.
Under Your Skin is a Void bow, and it suffers from a long draw time due to being a Precision Frame one. That’s why players should craft one with Archer’s Tempo and pair it with Explosive Head for that extra AoE damage against hordes of enemies.
4Recurrent Impact
Recurrent Impact was quite a sight when it was first introduced, being one of the few Stasis heavy weapons in the game—and a machine gun at that. Now that machine guns have received substantial buffs and are a staple of clearing out hordes of enemies, it has lost a bit of its luster against other,better machine guns.
That said, it does have a decent perk pool that saves it from being completely irrelevant. While there are a few good combinations that can be argued for, Subsistence is fantastic even after its nerf to avoid reloading a heavy weapon. Frenzy further buffs reload, as well as increases damage substantially along with handling, so long as players are in combat.
3Thoughtless
Snipers are set to receive more buffs before The Final Shape, so getting Thoughtless, the Stasis sniper rifle from Season of the Risen might be a good call for any PVE enthusiasts. That said, it does come with stiff competition in the form of Succession, a kinetic sniper rifle with the powerful Braytech Origin Traitfrom the Deep Stone Crypt raid.
Those who can’t access raids easily can simply complete Vox Obscura on its corresponding week to get their hands on Thoughtless' patterns instead. For perks, Overflow is excellent to avoid reloading such a sluggish weapon, and Firing Line boosts precision damage against enemies when allies are in close proximity.
2Piece Of Mind
A kinetic slot pulse rifle, Piece of Mind saw great popularityin the PVP side ofDestiny 2when it first came out. While that might be less the case now, Piece of Mind remains a solid pick, even if pulse rifles are in a bit of a weak spot on the PVE side of matters.
Perpetual Motion andMoving Targetis the best combination here, with the first perk buffing three stats in total while moving (handling, reload speed, and stability), whileMoving Targetlets players have better mobility with this weapon out and aiming down its sights. Alternative options for PVP would be Heating Up and for PVE Adrenaline Junkie.
1Explosive Personality
Grenade launchers are back and with avengeancesince The Witch Queen days, and Wave Frames are especially popular. The likes of Forbearance are dominating the scene, but for a Solar option, Explosive Personality is pure perfection.
Auto-Loading Holster is the must-have perk here, but the second perk option is where things get a bit more interesting, and where players can pick and choose depending on what their preference is.Disruption Breakis fantastic, as it buffs any kinetic damage dealt on targets that have their shield broken by Explosive Personality. On the other hand, Frenzy just provides such a massive damage boost that it’s hard to ignore it as a second potential option.
