By now most Destiny 2 players should be plenty familiar with the Particle Deconstruction seasonal mod introduced with Season of the Lost. For those that might not know, the mod buffs the damage of fusion rifles to an absurd amount, allowing weapons like One Thousand Voices and Vex Mythoclast to shred through PvE enemies and bosses.
However, some Destiny 2 players might be overlooking another great seasonal mod in the hoopla over Particle Deconstruction. There is another seasonal mod that is actually great for boosting boss DPS, but the mod’s description doesn’t make that entirely clear.
How Does the Focusing Lens Mod Work?
Focusing Lens is a returning seasonal mod for Season of the Lost and it is still a great option when it comes to melting Destiny 2 bosses. The mod boosts the damage of all light abilities used on a target affected by Stasis. In other words, a teammate throwing a Stasis grenade at a boss would boost another player’s Thundercrash damage on that target.
What the Focusing Lens description does not make clear is that damage from within a Well of Radiance also counts as a “light ability.” So any damage done with weapons inside the Well would be read as ability damage and buffed by Focusing Lens on a Stasis-affected target. It’s unclear if this is intentional, but considering that Focusing Lens has returned for Season of the Lost, Bungie must not find it that game-breaking. And to be fair, there are more pressing issues at the moment, like the Hawkmoon one-shot glitch.
Unlike Particle Deconstruction, the important detail is that every fireteam member has to have Focusing Lens equipped to take advantage of the 25% damage buff. It’s not a total loss since the Well of Radiance also grants a 25% damage buff, but Well can’t stack with other buffs. Focusing Lens can.
In order to fully take advantage of Focusing Lens, fireteam members should use both Focusing Lens for the 25% buff, a Weapons of Light 35% buff from the Ward of Dawn, Particle Deconstruction for a 40% buff at full charge (5 hits), any 30% debuff like Nightstalker Tether (must be applied after Particle Deconstruction), and any other buffs they might want to apply – Font of Might is a popular one for Vex and One Thousand Voices.
There are lots of different options when it comes to applying the Stasis effect, and it depends on the situation. For a boss with a lot of health, it’s likely better to use the Revenant Hunter’s Super, but a Duskfield grenade can work in a pinch. Or if players want to use a non-Stasis subclass, they could apply Stasis through a weapon like Salvation’s Grip.
Originally, Bungie had said that Destiny 2 would no longer stack buffs and debuffs and instead prioritize the highest percentage, but many buffs and debuffs seem to ignore that rule. Focusing Lens is an example of a mod that will help players squeeze a little extra damage out of their DPS phases, and it could be extremely useful for boss melts, Master Vault of Glass, or Grandmaster Nightfall strikes.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.