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Abyss Defiant god roll & best perks

Abyss Defiant — Destiny 2 Auto Rifle
Legendary · Auto Rifle
Where it drops: Source: "Crota's End" Raid

“We will not go quietly.”

Full perk pool, stats & source for Abyss Defiant →

Built from 104 curated wishlist rolls for this Auto Rifle. Perks marked essential appear in every roll of a recommendation; alternatives are the other perks curators call worth keeping.

Recommended rolls

pandapaxxy

mkb controller pve 54 wishlist rolls

pandapaxxy (PvE / M+KB / Controller): "Abyss Defiant is a high-impact auto rifle with arguably better perks than Ammit. Ammit doesn’t have reliable reload perks but can definitely maintain great damage. Keeping all that damage, bumping it up a tad but slowing down the fire rate is Abyss Defiant’s main claim to fame (that was a mouthful). Reconstruction and Subsistence with your flavor of damage perk will give you a reliable auto rifle to completely destroy whatever is standing in your way. The combination of Heal Clip and Kill Clip is nice to see." Recommended MW: Reload.

Strong alternatives

Arrowhead Brake Appended Mag Reconstruction Incandescent Target Lock Kill Clip Subsistence Heal Clip Flared Magwell Smallbore Corkscrew Rifling

pandapaxxy

controller pvp 24 wishlist rolls

pandapaxxy (PvP / Controller): "High-impact autos in PvP are not strong. Can you slay out with them? For sure. Are they meta? Definitely not. Kill Clip is the strongest perk you can use on Abyss Defiant, and your choice of accuracy booster will keep your bullets true. Reconstruction is here for anyone who dislikes reloading. Eye of the Storm will help in pure 1v1 fights but will fall off in any 1v2+ fights. Swashbuckler could be fun with any of the melee heavy builds to get an incredibly fast 0.67s TtK with 4 crits and 1 body. (psst, with Radiant it becomes a 4 crit kill at 0.50s TtK, just FYI)." Recommended MW: Stability.

Strong alternatives

Arrowhead Brake Kill Clip Ricochet Rounds Zen Moment Eye of the Storm Swashbuckler Reconstruction High-Caliber Rounds Fluted Barrel

Community wishlist roll

16 wishlist rolls

Inspired by @PodvsEnemies Podcast vs Enemies episode 79 (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qz5FD88RfmGHDjedV6nGo?si=7e1c1558ecea4f1c) with @ImpetusAlways, @Saint_Kabr and @CourtProjects. First-choice PvE pick for melee builds add-clearing Minor Spec enemies in end-game content. First-choice PvE pick for add-clear against Minor Spec enemies in end-game content. Shapeable. High Impact Auto-Rifles aren't really first choice for PvE - they do have good range, and the frame intrinsic provides more accuracy when stationary or slow-moving, but Abyss Defiant has great stats and trait combinations, so may be worth a try. Handling is always low on HIs, so Fluted Barrel is your top barrel perk choice, although Arrowhead Brake does take recoil direction to 100, so is a decent option as well. In the mag perk slot, Flared Magwell rounds out a few more gunfeel stats, or take the combat effect mag perk of your choice. To make the most of the Cursed Thrall origin trait, which synergises well with melee builds and is a lot of fun for helping soften up groups of enemies when active, Pugilist is an obvious choice in the first trait column as the support perk, regenerating melee energy on weapon kills. In the second column as the signature perk, Swashbuckler is an obvious pairing, for a 33% damage boost at 5 stacks or you should be able to great an elemental pickup on a melee kill to pick up and proc Collective Action's 20% damage boost. Recommended MW: Handling or Reload Speed, with a damage boosting (Minor or Taken Spec) or Backup Mag mod.|tags: PvE, PvE-MinorSpec, PvE-EndGame, PvE-God, M+KB, Controller

Essential perks

Pugilist

Strong alternatives

Fluted Barrel Flared Magwell Swashbuckler Arrowhead Brake High-Caliber Rounds Armor-Piercing Rounds Ricochet Rounds Collective Action

Community wishlist roll

8 wishlist rolls

Inspired by @PodvsEnemies Podcast vs Enemies episode 79 (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qz5FD88RfmGHDjedV6nGo?si=7e1c1558ecea4f1c) with @ImpetusAlways, @Saint_Kabr and @CourtProjects. First-choice PvE pick for add-clear against Minor Spec enemies in end-game content. Shapeable. High Impact Auto-Rifles aren't really first choice for PvE - they do have good range, and the frame intrinsic provides more accuracy when stationary or slow-moving, but Abyss Defiant has great stats and trait combinations, so may be worth a try. Handling is always low on HIs, so Fluted Barrel is your top barrel perk choice, although Arrowhead Brake does take recoil direction to 100, so is a decent option as well. In the mag perk slot, Flared Magwell rounds out a few more gunfeel stats, or take the combat effect mag perk of your choice. For end-game activities, Enlightened Action in the first trait slot as the support perk provides passive boosts to reload and handling, which you should hit max stacks of quickly, and Collective Action in the second column as the signature perk is a reliable 20% damage boost for collecting an elemental pickup. The Cursed Thrall origin perk synergises well with melee builds and is a lot of fun for helping soften up groups of enemies when active. Recommended MW: Handling or Reload Speed, with a damage boosting (Minor or Taken Spec) or Backup Mag mod.|tags: PvE, PvE-MinorSpec, PvE-EndGame, PvE-God, M+KB, Controller

Essential perks

Collective Action Enlightened Action

Strong alternatives

Fluted Barrel Flared Magwell Arrowhead Brake High-Caliber Rounds Armor-Piercing Rounds Ricochet Rounds

Community wishlist roll

2 wishlist rolls

Inspired by @PodvsEnemies Podcast vs Enemies episode 79 (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qz5FD88RfmGHDjedV6nGo?si=7e1c1558ecea4f1c) with @ImpetusAlways, @Saint_Kabr and @CourtProjects. First-choice PvE pick for Solar synergy add-clear against Minor Spec enemies in general content. Shapeable. High Impact Auto-Rifles aren't really first choice for PvE - they do have good range, and the frame intrinsic provides more accuracy when stationary or slow-moving, but Abyss Defiant has great stats and trait combinations, so may be worth a try. Handling is always low on HIs, so Fluted Barrel is your top barrel perk choice, although Arrowhead Brake does take recoil direction to 100, so is a decent option as well. In the mag perk slot, Flared Magwell offers the biggest boost to reload speed. The fun solar combination when you're not too underlevelled is the new-to-season-22 Heal Clip in the first trait column as the support perk, for a burst of Cure for you and anyone nearby when reloading after a kill, and Incandescent in the second column as the signature perk for add control and working with the scorth and ignite verbs. The Cursed Thrall origin perk synergises well with melee builds and is a lot of fun for helping soften up groups of enemies when active. Recommended MW: Reload Speed, with a damage boosting (Minor or Taken Spec) mod.|tags: PvE, PvE-MinorSpec, PvE-God, M+KB, Controller

Essential perks

Ricochet Rounds Heal Clip Incandescent

Strong alternatives

Fluted Barrel Arrowhead Brake

What these Abyss Defiant perks do

Collective Action

Elemental Pickup Interactions grant 30% [10%] increased damage for a variable duration based on the pickup. Can be activated while stowed. Ionic Traces, Stasis Shards, and Tangle Detonations grant the buff for 4 seconds. Throwing a held Tangle grants 4 additional seconds. Firesprites and Void Breaches grant the buff for 8 seconds. Additional Pickups can extend the duration up to the maximum of 16 seconds. Elemental Pickup Interactions: • Destroying a Tangle (or Elemental Orbs), either by shooting or throwing. • Collecting Firesprites, Ionic Traces, Stasis Shards, or Void Breaches Does not trigger with Stasis Shards generated from Facet of Awakening or Facet of Command.

Enlightened Action

Weapon Hits grant Stacks of Enlightened Action for 2 seconds. Maximum of 12 Stacks. Stat bonuses at 1|2|…|12 Stacks: 2|7|12|15|20|25|30|35|38|40|45|50 Handling and Reload Speed Stacks granted per hit by Weapon Type: • Hand Cannons: 3 Stacks • Bows: ? Stacks • Automatic Weapons: 1 Stack

High-Caliber Rounds

Hits inflict increased Flinch on Enemies. PVE: Tier 1-2 Minors can be repeatedly staggered. Higher Tier Combatants stagger quicker. PVP: Flinch against Players varies based on damage and Weapon Archetype. Flinch increase ranges between 5-10%.

Armor-Piercing Rounds

Grants 5% increased damage against Elemental and Barrier Champion Shields. Allows bullets to overpenetrate enemies once.

Pugilist

Weapon Kills grant 10% Melee Ability Energy. Kills with Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, Glaives, and Fusion Rifles grant 20%. Dealing Melee Damage grants 35 Handling for 3 seconds. Ability energy gained may be significantly decreased based on your selected ability's Chunk Energy Scalar. Learn more about this mechanic in our explainer blog post on the Clarity website.

Swashbuckler

Weapon Kills grant a Stack of 'Swashbuckler' for 4.5 seconds. Maximum of 5 Stacks. (Glaive) Melee Kills grant all 5 Stacks instantly. Damage increase at 1|2|3|4|5 Stacks: 6.7% | 13.3% | 20% | 26.6% | 33.3% Stowing the weapon removes the buff.

Heal Clip

Finishing a reload within 5.3? seconds of a Kill grants Cure x2 to you and Cure x1 to allies within 15 meters.

Incandescent

Weapon Kills trigger a Solar explosion that applies 30 Scorch Stacks (40 with Ember of Ashes) and deals up to 30 damage to enemies within 4 meters of the target. Killing Elite or higher tier Combatants and Players increases the radius to 8 meters and applies 10 more Scorch Stacks. Scorch damage can be increased through Weapon Damage Buffs.

Reconstruction

Every 6 seconds while not firing the weapon: Loads 25% of the Magazine Capacity (rounded up) into the Magazine from reserves. Can overfill the Magazine up to double the normal capacity. Works even while stowed.

Target Lock

Successive Hits within 0.2 seconds of each grant a ramping Damage Buff after scoring 12.5% of the Magazine Capacity as hits. Missing deactivates the buff. Stacks displayed on-screen are only visual aides, the buff ramps up with each shot once active. Reaches maximum strength at 5 Stacks. % of the Magazine Capacity as Hits required for each Visual Stack: 12.5%|35.5%|54.5%|74.5%|110.33% Damage Buff ramps up from 16.73% [10.46%] to 40% [25%] upon reaching maximum strength. Assuming no missed shots, it provides roughly a 25% [15.85%] Damage Buff on average after firing 100% of the Magazine Capacity.

Kill Clip

Finishing a reload within 3.6 seconds of a kill grants 25% increased damage for 5 seconds. Stowing the weapon removes the buff. Does not buff the Splash/Explosive damage elements of other perks.

Subsistence

Weapon Kills refill 10% of the magazine (rounded up) from reserves. Submachine Gun and Auto Rifle Kills refill 17% of the magazine.

Zen Moment

Weapon Hits grant 1 Stack of the perk for 1 second up to the maximum of 5? Stacks. Benefits granted per Stack: • Grants ?% Flinch Resistance • Reduces Visual Weapon Shake by 15% • Reduces Reticle Bounce by 15% Stacks gained per Weapon Hit by weapon type: • Hand Cannons, Scout Rifles: 2? • Pulse Rifles, Sidearms: 1.5 • Other Weapons: 1

Eye of the Storm

Grants a scaling buff to Handling and Accuracy as your Shield Health drops below 40 and reaches maximum strength at 0 Shield HP. Buff at maximum strength grants: • 30 Handling • 40% decreased Accuracy Cone Size • 17% decreased Accuracy Cone Growth The buff linearly scales from 0% at 80 Shield HP to 100% at 0 Shield HP (Critical Health). It initially triggers as you drop to 40 Shield HP — giving you 50% of the maximum buff. However, as you regenerate your Shield Health, the buff will still remain until you reach 80 Shield HP where the benefits scale down to zero.

Recommendations aggregated from curated community wishlists; credit to the curators linked above.

Abyss Defiant in Destiny 2

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