Players of Bungie's Destiny 2 know they need the right combination of weapons, armor, mods, and Perks to dominate the battlefield. Moreover, just the wrong combination can wreck a Guardian's performance in PVP and PVE. However, thanks to the Charged with Light mechanic, players can add a new layer of complexity to their character builds. Additionally, this mechanic – made available in the Season of Dawn – can add new variations to playstyles thanks to their benefits.
Thankfully, the Charged with Light mechanic in itself isn't too confusing. For starters, Charged with Light mods either "add" Light charges or consume them based on certain criteria. As such, entire Charged with Light builds rely on certain mechanics or skills players want to maximize. However, just what are the best Charged with Light mods to boost a player's performance?
Updated August 9, 2021 by Rhenn Taguiam: Officially debuting in Season of Dawn, Guardians of Destiny 2 can tap into more reserves of Light through special modifications. This new buff, called Charged With Light, gives Guardians access to interesting perks and abilities that can upgrade their approach in combat. At its core, the Charged With Light mechanic requires players to equip Mods that grant them Charges and Mods designed to consume them. As a result, Gear tailored for the Charged With Light mechanic often play around with these two Mod Types. And players who want to maximize the full slate of benefits Charged With Light Mods offer need to maximize the kind of Mods they equip based on their particular playstyle.
15 Blast Radius
Courtesy of Blast Radius, players can become Charged With Light when defeating multiple enemies at once with Rocket Launchers or Grenade Launchers. Players do need to consider its 3 Mod Cost and Solar Affinity, but it greatly helps with heavily aggressive builds.
Given the AOE potential of Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers, Blast Radius easily becomes a reliable Charged With Light supplier in the long term. Players reliant on burst attacks and AOE strategies can capitalize Blast Radius to gain easy access to Charged With Light.
14 Swift Charge
With Swift Charge, players can get Charged With Light whenever defeating multiple foes quickly with SMGs, Sidearms, or Pulse Rifles. If using Pulse Rifles in particular, players who defeat enemies can drop Special Ammo for allies. Given the rather easy access to Charged With Light, it makes sense for Swift Charge to come at a 5 Mod Cost. It also possesses an affinity to Arc.
Players with a penchant for speedy kills can greatly benefit from Swift Charge. Highly mobile builds and Classes such as Hunters can score a lot of Charged With Light when using Swift Charge. And with its benefits for Pulse Rifles, Swift Charge is easily a go-to Mod for extended encounters.
13 Sustained Charge
Thanks to Sustained Charge, players get Charged With Light when quickly defeating foes with Machine Guns, Trace Rifles, and Auto Rifles. Unlike Swift Charge, Sustained Charge uses 4 Mod Slots and has a Solar Affinity.
Players who love a more aggressive build should probably use Sustained Charge instead of Swift Charge. This Mod works great when wanting to build Charged With Light while capitalizing heavily on short yet quick encounters. Of course, players who want access to Special Ammo quickly might want to use Swift Charge. However, more DPS-oriented Classes might want to use Sustained Charge to get easier access to Charged With Light benefits quickly.
12 Energy Converter
Courtesy of Energy Converter, players can use all stacks of Charged With Light to get Super Energy. Granted, this requires using a Grenade Attack and comes with a -10 Discipline debuff. It also costs 4 Mod Slots and has a Void Affinity.
Despite these caveats, Energy Converter can help players get access to handy Supers much faster. This works great when fighting bosses or elite foes, and even when stuck in sticky situations during firefights. The sheer offensive (and even utility) value of Supers can greatly benefit from Energy Converter. After all, why waste a good Super when Energy Converter can give players easy access to them?
11 Kindling The Flame
With Kindling The Flame, players who revive downed Guardians also get a burst of healing. At 2 Mod Slots with a Solar affinity, using Kindling The Flame’s ability also only costs one stack of Charged With Light.
Given these immense benefits, Kindling The Flame is easily a must-get support Mod. Guardians preparing for longer encounters can benefit from the revival-heal that Kindling The Flame provides them. When faced with difficult bosses or an extended mission, Kindling The Flame is easily a reliable Mod to acquire.
10 Charge Harvester
Thanks to the Charge Harvester, players that actively spend Charge with Light can "recharge" their stacks faster. After all, this mod steadily increases the chance of Guardians to acquire Charged with Light after kills and assists. As such, a few kills can easily grant them a free charge provided they don't have Charged with Light yet.
While this mod imposes a -10 penalty to Recovery, Resilience, and Mobility, the potential to continuously get Charged with Light may compensate for this setback. Moreover, given how players will most likely kill mobs at a steady rate, they'll likely always get new Charges anyway.
9 Taking Charge
Guardians in the front lines will need quick access to their special abilities, especially when taking on mobs. As such, gaining Orbs of Light becomes handy when recharging Supers, as they can easily decimate the battlefield. Unfortunately, Guardians going all out with their Supers might end up without valuable ammo, leaving them vulnerable once their shining moment ends.
However, players avoid this risk with the Taking Charge mod. With this mod, players also gain stacks of Charged wit Light whenever they pick up Orbs of Light. Depending on their equipped mods, they can use these additional stacks to provide valuable buffs before, during, and after their Supers.
8 Empowered Finish
Fights aren't always about who unleashes their Super first. With the Empowered Finish mod, players can easily gain a Charged with Light stack after defeating a combatant. However, gaining a stack with this method costs a tenth of Super energy.
As such, players who want to explore multiple ways of using their Charged with Light stacks can take advantage of Empowered Finish. For instance, the Striking Light mod consumes a stack but releases one Orb of Light when defeating mobs in melee. With Empowered Finish, they can easily regain that lost stack.
7 Powerful Friends
Fireteams focusing on Charged with Light builds will benefit greatly from Powerful Friends. This mod activates when the Guardian using it becomes Charged with Light. In turn, allies nearby will also get a stack of Charged with Light.
Moreover, this mod also comes with a +20 Mobility boost, which makes this extremely helpful for support roles or Guardians who like to roam around the battlefield. Unfortunately, it does cost four Arc energy to equip, meaning a player who wants to use this in a fireteam should use it with players that have dedicated Charged with Light builds. Otherwise, Guardians are better off using that Arc energy for other mods.
6 Shield Break Charge
Thanks to shields, both Guardians and enemies have become much harder to eliminate. After all, Guardians need to use weapons that match the particular element a shield uses before destroying it. In the meta, this caveat calls for another layer of customization in terms of weapon loadout. However, thanks to the Shield Break Charge mod, players who make an effort to match enemy shield elements with their weapons can get Charged with Light once they break said shield.
With this mod, Guardians can take advantage of other Charged with Light mods that buff their damage output once enemies have been weakened without their shields.
5 Heavy Handed
The Heavy Handed mod maximizes Guardians who like to get in the front lines. They can consume a stack of Charged with Light to regain half their melee energy immediately after using a melee ability. As such, this advantage opens up a Guardian for faster melee attacks against multiple enemies.
Moreover, Guardians who equip another Arc mod in the same armor as Heavy Handed grants Heavy Handed an additional effect. Under this condition, players that use SMGs, Sidearms, Shotguns, and Fusion Rifles to kill enemies that surround them will get additional ammo for that particular weapon type.
4 Protective Light
Enemies breaking a Guardian's shield will leave the latter vulnerable for attacks. Thanks to the Protective Light mod, this disadvantage doesn't need to happen. The Protective Light mod consumes all Charged with Light stacks to increase damage resistance by a huge amount once they destroy a Guardian's shield.
Unfortunately, this mod also comes with a -10 Strength caveat. As such, Guardians with a heavy focus on melee-based abilities such as Titans should carefully consider the tradeoff between Protective Light's damage resistance and the speed of their melee ability recharge.
3 Surprise Attack
Thanks to the Surprise Attack mod, Guardians may easily convert their Sidearms into battering rams. With this mod, simply readying or reloading a Sidearm consumes all Charged with Light stacks to give them major damage buff stacks.
While Guardians deplete this stack as they hit enemies, the buff stack they get essentially doubles their damage. Trading in two Charged with Light stacks grants 10 bullets, three grants 15 bullets, and four grants 20 bullets. This mod works well with builds that rely on switching weapons every now and then, as switching into the Sidearm immediately activates the mod.
2 Heal Thyself
Guardians who find themselves in a pinch might retreat to cover and resort to grenade attacks. Thankfully, with the Heal Thyself mod, this moment of desperation grants a tactical advantage. With this mod, players that defeat enemies with grenade attacks can grant healing to the character in place for a Charged with Light stack.
With the right timing, grenade attacks can essentially become instant heals as tearing through weakened enemies grants free heals. Moreover, the Heal Thyself mod stacks with other Heal Thyself mods in other armor pieces. However, while this mod essentially becomes a powerful healing tool, it does cost four energy.
1 Extra Reserves
Despite the power of Special weapons, Guardians might find it a bit difficult to come across Special ammo in tight situations. With the help of the Extra Reserves mod, Guardians who defeat combatants using Void damage can gain a cumulative chance for a Special ammo drop. As such, the more stacks they trade, the easier they can gain the ammo drop.
Unfortunately, this mod does have a -10 Intellect penalty, meaning Guardians will need to spend a bit more time gaining Super energy. As such, they need to decide whether they can wait a bit longer for their Super in place of easier Special ammo drops.