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Combat style mods in Destiny 2 are the most important part of creating a good build for PVE activities. In PVP they are much less important, but most players will be hard-pressed to complete any endgame PVE activity without the right combination of combat style mods that complement their subclass and Exotic armor piece of choice.
Combat style mods can be divided roughly into three categories: Charged with Light mods, Warmind Cell mods, and Elemental Well mods. Currently, Elemental Well mods and Charged with Light mods remain the go-to option for most players, but even among those categories, there are some extremely underrated combat style mods Destiny 2 players hardly ever use despite their strength.
Honorable Mention: All Warmind Cell Mods
If there's one combat style mod category that needs a significant boost urgently, it's the Warmind Cell section. These mods haven't seen proper use in seasons, and it's high time that Bungie brought them back or revamped them.
Warmind Cell mods are dependent on the type of weapons the player uses, which makes them tricky to use. Players should have Seraph weapons or IKELOS weapons at hand in order to reap the benefits of some of these mods. Although Warmind Cells are weak, outdated, dependent on non-meta weapons, and don't have the best synergy with the 3.0 subclass reworks, some players might still find it fun to craft a build with them.
7 Overcharge Wellmaker
The Witch Queen era has emphasized elemental gameplay much more than previous years of Destiny 2, which is why Overcharge Wellmaker and mods similar to it deserve more attention and love than what they're currently getting. Because of the power of matching elemental wells to the player's subclass or to a heavy weapon, players will sometimes need to make elemental wells quickly on the spot.
That's where Overcharge Wellmaker comes in. Using a finisher on an enemy spawns two Arc elemental wells, regardless of the player's subclass. Pair this up with an Arc heavy weapon like The Hothead or Stormchaser and Font of Might just before a boss DPS phase for a gigantic damage boost. Don't sleep on this mod, as it can make or break damage phases.
6 Explosive Wellmaker
The Explosive Wellmaker mod is a Solar elemental well mod that seems to be somewhat misunderstood. The issue is that Bungie hasn't been specific about what "explosive" means exactly, which is why many players might not choose it over other Solar elemental well mods.
Luckily, the idea of "explosive" is quite flexible. Perks like Dragonfly and Firefly count in this scenario, as do just about every rocket and grenade launcher found in the game. The only catch is to kill the targets within a few seconds of each other and to ensure that the damage is Solar. For a great Reddit thread clarifying the meaning of explosive, credit goes to TravellerMcree.
5 Font Of Wisdom
Another less used elemental well mod is Font of Wisdom. Typically, players will use Font of Might to get a damage boost for a specific weapon element, but Font of Wisdom can be equally interesting if used properly.
Picking up an elemental well that matches the player's subclass will temporarily give them an Intellect boost. This in turn boosts their Super recharge rate, which can help them cycle their Super faster in difficult content. Warlocks with Well of Radiance in Master content will especially benefit from this if they have an empty mod slot with nothing else to slot in.
4 Lucent Blade
Now on to Charged with Lights mods, which are still quite powerful despite the nerf that many of them received (namely Protective Light). Lucent Blade is one of the most underrated mods in this category and suffers from that position primarily due to the lack of a sword meta.
That said, early on in a new season when players are underleveled and new content can be quite tough, most will fall back to swords as their primary damage weapon to do boss damage. This is especially true for Last Wish and Deep Stone Crypt raids. Lucent Blade not only buffs sword damage after dealing damage with it for five seconds, but if another Arc mod is slotted in, its secondary perk becomes active, which boosts the charge rate of swords. Never underestimate the importance of swords in Destiny 2, especially early in a new season.
3 Sustained Charge
While typically players become Charged with Light by picking up an Orb of Power or an elemental well (depending on the Charged with Light mod applied), it's also possible to become Charged by using specific weapons continuously and scoring multiple kills. That's exactly what Sustained Charge does, and out of all similar mods, it's definitely the easiest to get value out of.
This mod works for auto rifles, trace rifles, and machine guns. Trace rifles are definitely the weakest option here, but machine guns are an interesting choice due to the buff they received to their damage earlier this year. As such, this can be an interesting and surprisingly useful combat style mod for players to slot in, if they want to play around with the Charged with Light mods without having to pick up Orbs of Power (or if Orbs of Power are hard to come by).
2 Firepower
This Charged with Light mod isn't quite as underrated as some of the other options on the list, but it deserves a note since many casual PVE players might not know of its strength and existence. Firepower is a Solar Charged with Light mod, which boosts grenade recharge rate when players earn kills with their grenade ability, and when they're Charged with Light. One stack of Charged with Light will be consumed when a grenade kill is scored.
This is fantastic for players who struggle to charge their grenades fast enough. Or, if players can't achieve a Tier 10 Discipline stat, Firepower can also help them regain that lost, slowly charging grenade energy back faster.
1 Striking Light
Prior to season 18, Striking Light was quite a niche mod with a powerful secondary perk that few knew about. However, now that Arc 3.0 is out and melee-oriented gameplay is actually somewhat viable, Striking Light's primary perk effects are useful, too. Firstly, when Charged with Light, getting kills with melee or swords will generate an Orb of Power for other players.
Secondly, when another Arc mod is slotted in the same armor piece as Striking Light is, its secondary perk becomes active (it also becomes active if another Arc Charged with Light mod is slotted into any other armor, but those tend to have higher energy costs). The secondary perk is called Uncatchable and will provide the player a whopping 25% damage resistance while they're sprinting.
This is absolutely massive on top of Tier 10 Resilience, which already gives a general 40% damage resistance. For Grandmaster Nightfalls and Master raids, this mod is a must-have and should not be slept on.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia.