There are big changes coming in Destiny 2 next Season, which will release in 11 days, on the same date when Bungie will hold a showcase of The Witch Queen expansion. Two days ago, the company revealed which seasonal Champion mods will be featured in Season 15 after it asked on Twitter to get a post to 7,777 likes, which was achieved in under five minutes. Staying true to its end of the promise, Bungie did eventually share the Champion mods, which are quite peculiar compared to past Seasons and may indicate that a big meta shift is coming. The addition of new content could also justify all the Unstoppable Champion mods.
As a matter of fact, there will be three Unstoppable Champion mods in Season 15, and likely just one for Barrier Champions and two for Overload Champions, instead. Five mods were revealed, and Bungie hinted at the sixth possibly being Overload Swords, which would make for a very different meta for Destiny 2 in its longest Season yet. Furthermore, grenade launchers will probably rotate out of the meta for three reasons. The first is that the current mods have a chance of favoring loadouts with double primary weapons, the second is that the all-powerful Anarchy will finally be nerfed, and lastly, Breach and Clear will be removed from the Artifact mods next Season.
New Seasonal Mods, Fusion Rifles, and Linear Fusion Rifles in Season 15
The first thing to talk about is which mods will be available next Season, and they will be as follows: Unstoppable Sidearms, Unstoppable Pulse Rifles, Unstoppable Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles, Overload Bows, and Anti-Barrier Auto Rifles. Again, based on Bungie's follow-up tweet stating that the company "forgot" to mention the sixth mod, saying "the pen is mightier... but in this case we got overloaded," it seems very likely that there will be Overload Swords too. This opens up new combinations for which loadouts to use, as the Overload Bows mod is one of the most reliable to stun the respective Champions, while Unstoppable Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles are an interesting choice.
Linear fusion rifles were recently buffed and made more viable in high-end content, and fusion rifles will undergo a few changes when Season 15 comes - though Bungie will reveal more details about that in next week's TWAB. Another thing to note here is that in the Season of the Splicer, the special weapon mod was for grenade launchers, which were also the weapon of choice for the weakening mod - namely Breach and Clear. This could become a trend for next Season as well, meaning that both linear fusion rifles and fusion rifles could be the trigger for the new debuff. In turn, they would be almost mandatory to use in endgame content such as Grandmaster Nightfalls.
The Unstoppable Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles mod also makes Exotic guns like Sleeper Stimulant, Vex Mythoclast, Jotunn, and Telesto all the more viable in PVE, as they can now stun Champions. However, it's likely that Bungie will find a way to break Telesto in the process, as it usually happens when changes to the gun or its archetype are made.
Destiny 2: Possible Meta Options for Season 15
Still, many players don't like to play the game with double primary guns, which is especially true in GM Nightfalls. This could make the meta a bit stale in Season 15 due to the fact that most of the weapons that will be getting Champion mods don't come with special ammo counterparts. For example, pulse rifles don't have any special ammo gun within the category, and there are only four energy pulse rifles in the game right now. The same logic applies to bows, sidearms, and auto rifles, thus making linear fusion rifles and fusion rifles the only options for special ammo.
Another possible setup is with Eriana's Vow, as it takes the energy weapon slot while also coming with special ammo and built-in Anti-Barrier Champion rounds. This choice would allow for plenty of options in the kinetic and power slots, considering there are several possible combinations with bows in the kinetic slot and linear fusion rifles in the power slot. A kinetic pulse rifle and a sword to stun Overload Champions could also be viable. Having all Champion types covered can be achieved with the use of Divinity as well, which provides a great damage boost while also being an out-of-rotation gun that can stun Overload Champions, mirroring Eriana's Vow perk.
Having mods and weapons able to stun all Champions is rarely required, however, and most likely players will eventually choose two of the Champion mods to use and employ any other gun for the third slot that matches their build. As such, the combinations are endless, especially because most of the weapons with seasonal Champion mods come in several slots.
For example, Arbalest is a very nice choice for modifiers like Match Game because it allows for greater damage against all shields and it can be paired with Unstoppable Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles, making it a reliable gun with plenty of utility. Given auto rifles are the only Anti-Barrier mod for the Season, it may be useful to have a Shadow Price rolled with Disruption Break, as it works on Barrier Champions as well, making kinetic guns exceptional at deleting them after a stun.
Why Three Unstoppable Mods are a Big Deal
There is a strong chance that Season 15 will be set in the Dreaming City and the Tangled Shore, and thus the Scorn could finally get Champions as well. This seems like a very plausible theory because of the three Unstoppable mods in Season 15, as there are not many Unstoppable Champions in the game aside from some Hive, Taken, and Cabal.
There are four races of enemies with Barrier Champions in Destiny 2, whereas Overload and Unstoppable are only three each. This could warrant the Scorn being the race that makes it all even, featuring Overload and Unstoppable Champions as its only options, which would explain why there are three Unstoppable mods in the seasonal pool. Ultimately, the meta is likely to revolve mainly around bows and fusion rifles, including the linear ones.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.