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D.F.A. god roll & best perks

D.F.A. — Destiny 2 Hand Cannon
Legendary · Hand Cannon
Where it drops: Source: Nightfall

“"Osiris said that he started to pity the Red Legion, getting trapped in here for infinite eternities. I think they're getting exactly what they deserve." —Sagira”

Full perk pool, stats & source for D.F.A. →

Built from 212 curated wishlist rolls for this Hand Cannon. Perks marked essential appear in every roll of a recommendation; alternatives are the other perks curators call worth keeping.

Recommended rolls

YeezyGT's S18

pve 72 wishlist rolls

[YeezyGT's S18] [MW: Reload] "D.F.A. sounds amazing, and it looks great. You get access to the old Midnight Coup Outlaw/Rampage, or can emulate a 140RPM version of the Seventh Seraph Officer Revolver's Timed Payload perk set." tags:pve

Strong alternatives

Vanguard's Vindication Outlaw Fluted Barrel Timed Payload Steady Rounds Stunning Recovery Rampage Perpetual Motion Flared Magwell Accurized Rounds Polygonal Rifling Arrowhead Brake

Community wishlist roll

pve pve-minor controller 60 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 20. PvE backup roll for add clear. Both origin traits have their use in PvE - Stunning Recovery is very useful for when there's a Hand Cannon anti-champion mod in the season. Look for some extra stability from the barrel, and extra bullet or two in tha mag (D.F.A. suffers from a small base magazine). The first trait column adds ways to extend the magazine or speed up reloads to pair with a damage or ability boost in the second column. Recommended MW: Reload Speed, with a Backup Mag or damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Strong alternatives

Tactical Mag Polygonal Rifling Perpetual Motion Timed Payload Corkscrew Rifling Appended Mag Triple Tap Outlaw Rampage Vorpal Weapon Wellspring Smallbore Fluted Barrel

pandapaxxy

pve mkb controller 54 wishlist rolls

pandapaxxy (PvE / M+KB / Controller): "it shipped super underwhelming. DFA has a lot of competition in its slot. From the hugely popular Fatebringer to the fan favorite Dire Promise, from the OG Eyasluna to OG Austringer. Not even including the exotic kinetic hand cannons, DFA has a high hill to climb. The benefit DFA has over some of the other weapons is the possibility of getting adept rolls for the bonus masterworks and adept mods. This doesn’t entirely cover the fact that DFA’s perk pool just shipped underwhelming. Outlaw and rampage are tried and true but extremely boring. Vorpal weapon is great and makes DFA the first kinetic 140 with vorpal, but that alone doesn’t bring it up past some of the aforementioned powerhouses." Recommended MW - Reload.

Strong alternatives

Tactical Mag Outlaw Fluted Barrel Rampage Smallbore Appended Mag Extended Mag Perpetual Motion Triple Tap Vorpal Weapon Timed Payload

pandapaxxy

pvp mkb 11 wishlist rolls

pandapaxxy (PvP / M+KB): "For PvP you’re just better off using any other hand cannon. Fragile focus adds a good 2-3m of range without taking damage, but is unrealistic to keep up in 6s. In 3s it can be obtainable but is also hard to keep up once you start shooting. Perpetual motion is the best for adding stability and handling, two stats DFA does need. Opening shot coupled with fragile focus could make for some deep clean ups but the fall off of both will be very harsh." Recommended MW - Stability.

Essential perks

Accurized Rounds

Strong alternatives

Opening Shot Perpetual Motion Hammer-Forged Rifling Fluted Barrel Fragile Focus Steady Hands Timed Payload

Community wishlist roll

8 wishlist rolls

Chevy's S17 Super Pog PVE List Range MW tags:pve, M+KB

Essential perks

Hammer-Forged Rifling

Strong alternatives

Perpetual Motion Accurized Rounds Rampage Timed Payload Outlaw Tactical Mag

pandapaxxy

pvp controller 6 wishlist rolls

pandapaxxy (PvP / Controller): "For PvP you’re just better off using any other hand cannon. Fragile focus adds a good 2-3m of range without taking damage, but is unrealistic to keep up in 6s. In 3s it can be obtainable but is also hard to keep up once you start shooting. Perpetual motion is the best for adding stability and handling, two stats DFA does need. Opening shot coupled with fragile focus could make for some deep clean ups but the fall off of both will be very harsh." Recommended MW - Stability.

Essential perks

Smallbore Accurized Rounds

Strong alternatives

Opening Shot Perpetual Motion Fragile Focus Steady Hands Timed Payload

Community wishlist roll

pve pve-god pve-minor pve-endgame pve-champion controller 1 wishlist roll

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 20. PvE backup roll for end-game add clear. Both origin traits have their use in PvE - Stunning Recovery is very useful for when there's a Hand Cannon anti-champion mod in the season. Chambered Compensator adds a bit of Stability and near-maxes out Recoil Direction, and Tactical Mag adds an extra bullet (D.F.A. suffers from a small base magazine), Stability and Reload Speed. Perpetual Motion adds even more useful stat boosts, and Timed Payload adds finch, a little extra damage and extends the useful range. Recommended MW: Reload Speed, with a Backup Mag or damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Tactical Mag Perpetual Motion Timed Payload Chambered Compensator

What these D.F.A. perks do

Vanguard's Vindication

Weapon Kills restore 10 HP.

Outlaw

Precision Kills grant 70 Reload Speed with a 0.9x decreased Reload Animation Duration for 6 seconds. Buff is removed on stow.

Timed Payload

Splits off 55% of the Weapon's Bodyshot damage into a Explosive Payload that detonates after a 0.6 second delay. The Payload deals 30% increased damage in PvE and staggers PvE Combatants more. The remaining Impact damage portion receives an increased Crit Multiplier to compensate for the Payload not benefitting from crits. [PvE] Total damage is increased by ~16.5% of the weapon's Bodyshot damage. On Crits, the overall increase is 10.9% for Adaptive/Precision Hand Cannons and 10.17% for Aggressive Hand Cannons. [PvP] Total damage remains roughly the same but can vary by 1-2% in either direction for crits.

Stunning Recovery

Stunning a Champion refills the magazine from reserves, restores 60 HP, and grants 40 Recovery for 3 seconds.

Rampage

Weapon Kills grant a Stack of Rampage. Maximum of 3 Stacks. Stacks expire one at a time every 4.5 seconds. Grants a 10%|21%|33.1% damage increase at 1|2|3 Stacks. Does not buff the Splash/Explosive damage elements of other perks.

Perpetual Motion

While moving at a minimum of 2 meters per second: Grants a Stack of 'Perpetual Motion' after 2 seconds and a second Stack after 10 seconds. Each Stack provides 10 Stability, 10 Handling, and 10 Reload Speed. All Stacks are removed if movement speed is below 2 m/s for 0.5 seconds. Works and can activate while stowed.

Triple Tap

Scoring 3 Precision Hits within 2 seconds of each refills 1 Ammo into the Magazine from thin air. Cannot load the Magazine beyond its base capacity. Precision Hit counter persists through stow.

Vorpal Weapon

Deals increased damage against Minibosses, Bosses, and Vehicles, as well as Players in their Super Ability. Damage increase by Ammo Type: • Primary Weapons: 20% [60%] • Special Weapons: 15% [20%] • Power Weapons: 10% [20%]

Opening Shot

Grants the following benefits for your first shot (of the burst): • 20 Aim Assist and 25 Range • 5% decreased Accuracy Cone Size • 10% decreased Accuracy Cone Growth Special weapons only receive 50% of the benefits. Stats are rounded up. Firing the weapon prevents the perk from activating for 3 seconds.

Fragile Focus

Passively grants 20 Range but deactivates if you drop to 0 Shield HP (Critical Health). Buff reactivates 1 second after your Shields HP fully regenerates.

Steady Hands

Weapon Kills grant 100 Handling and a 0.825x Handling Animation Duration Multiplier to all weapons for 8.5 seconds. Additional kills while the perk is active refresh the duration to 6.5 seconds.

Wellspring

On Weapon Kill: Grants 8% Ability Energy split equally amongst all uncharged abilities. Abilities with multiple charges only receive one third of the ability energy normally split to them once they have a full ability charge ready. 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.

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

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