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The Hothead (Adept) god roll & best perks

The Hothead (Adept) — Destiny 2 Rocket Launcher
Legendary · Rocket Launcher
Where it drops: Source: Season of the Lost Nightfall Grandmaster

“Think of it as a weaponized temper tantrum.”

Full perk pool, stats & source for The Hothead (Adept) →

Built from 218 curated wishlist rolls for this Rocket Launcher. Perks marked essential appear in every roll of a recommendation; alternatives are the other perks curators call worth keeping.

Recommended rolls

YeezyGT's S16

god-pve 164 wishlist rolls

[YeezyGT's S16] [MW: Velocity/Reload] "The Hothead's a completely different beast now that Gjallarhorn's in the mix. Clown Cartridge + Gjally has proven itself to be one of the strongest DPS options in lieu of buffs, and Hothead allows you to bolster this with Field Prep/Ensemble as reliable reload boosters. Outside of Clown, Explosive Light is especially strong, then Vorpal as the backup choice. I think Ensemble could potentially be very strong here, if you're willing to forgo the reserves buff from Field Prep / unable to stay in one uniform position for very long."

Strong alternatives

Clown Cartridge Field Prep Quick Launch Impact Casing Explosive Light Vorpal Weapon Ensemble Demolitionist Black Powder Alloy Casing High-Velocity Rounds Smart Drift Control Countermass Hard Launch Linear Compensator

Community wishlist roll

controller pvp 23 wishlist rolls

File auto generated from csv pandapaxxy-s15-roundup (tags: controller,pvp)

Strong alternatives

Volatile Launch Vorpal Weapon Black Powder Tracking Module Quickdraw Explosive Light High-Velocity Rounds Confined Launch Quick Launch

Community wishlist roll

pve 16 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 12. PvE first-choice roll for sustained Boss DPS. Great for pairing with a Gjallerhorn in a fireteam, and worth tucking a roll away for Arc 3.0. Now that adaptive rocket launchers do additional damage than other subtypes, they're a very good choice for Boss DPS. Use barrel and mag to improve velocity and reload speed, and then use maximise damage output with your last two traits - Field Prep for better reserves and faster reload while crouched (or Ensemble if you're in a fireteam), and Clown Cartridge for two in the chamber on reload. Recommended MW: Reload Speed, with a damage-boosting (Adept Big Ones or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Clown Cartridge

Strong alternatives

Hard Launch Field Prep Alloy Casing Quick Launch Linear Compensator Smart Drift Control High-Velocity Rounds Ensemble

Community wishlist roll

pve 8 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 12. PvE first-choice roll for burst and sustained Boss DPS. Great for pairing with a Gjallerhorn in a fireteam, and worth tucking a roll away for Arc 3.0. Now that adaptive rocket launchers do additional damage than other subtypes, they're a very good choice for Boss DPS. Improve velocity and reload speed with your barrel and mag, and then use Auto-Loading Holster and a damage-boosting trait, and pair with a sniper to continue damage while it reloads in its holster. Recommended MW: Stability, Handling or Reload Speed, with a damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Auto-Loading Holster Impact Casing

Strong alternatives

Hard Launch Explosive Light Quick Launch Linear Compensator Smart Drift Control Lasting Impression

Community wishlist roll

pve 2 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 12. PvE backup roll for burst and sustained Boss DPS. Great for pairing with a Gjallerhorn in a fireteam, and worth tucking a roll away for Arc 3.0. Now that adaptive rocket launchers do additional damage than other subtypes, they're a very good choice for Boss DPS. Your choice of barrel and mag, and then use Auto-Loading Holster and a damage-boosting trait, and pair with a sniper to continue damage while it reloads in its holster. Recommended MW: Handling, with a damage-boosting (Adept Big Ones or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Auto-Loading Holster

Strong alternatives

Explosive Light Lasting Impression

Community wishlist roll

pve 2 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 12. PvE backup roll for sustained Boss DPS. Great for pairing with a Gjallerhorn in a fireteam, and worth tucking a roll away for Arc 3.0. Now that adaptive rocket launchers do additional damage than other subtypes, they're a very good choice for Boss DPS. Your choice of barrel and mag, and then use maximise damage output with your last two traits - Field Prep for better reserves and faster reload while crouched (or Ensemble if you're in a fireteam), and Clown Cartridge for two in the chamber on reload. Recommended MW: Reload Speed, with a damage-boosting (Adept Big Ones or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Clown Cartridge

Strong alternatives

Field Prep Ensemble

Beenlab

pve 2 wishlist rolls

Beenlab (PvE): B-Tier (Average). Recommended MW: Handling.

Essential perks

Vorpal Weapon Quick Launch Impact Casing

Strong alternatives

Tracking Module Quickdraw

Community wishlist roll

controller god-pvp 1 wishlist roll

File auto generated from csv pandapaxxy-s15-roundup (tags: controller,god-pvp)

Essential perks

Volatile Launch Black Powder Explosive Light Tracking Module

What these The Hothead (Adept) perks do

Explosive Light

Orb of Power pickups (even while the weapon is stowed) grant 1 Stack of Explosive Light. Maximum of 6 Stacks. Firing the weapon comsumes 1 Stack per Shot, granting increased damage and 100 Blast Radius. Grenade Launchers: 60% increased Explosive damage. Rocket Launchers: 25% increased Impact and Explosive damage. (Does not affect Wolfpack Rounds)

Auto-Loading Holster

Refills stowed weapon from reserves after 3.5 seconds of it being stowed.

Impact Casing

Increases Impact damage by 10%, resulting in a 2.2% total damage increase (not accounting for other damage perks). High-Impact Rocket Launchers only receive a 1.03% total damage increase.

Lasting Impression

Passively grants 50 Blast Radius. Rockets attach on impact and detonate after 3 seconds, dealing 35% increased Explosive Damage. Due to the split of impact and explosive damage on Rocket Launchers, this perk only provides an overall increase of 26-27% damage for the sake of boss DPS. Does not buff the damage of Wolfpack Rounds.

Clown Cartridge

Reloading randomly overfills the Magazine from reserves by 10% to 50% of the base Magazine Capacity (rounded up). Works out to a 30% overfill on average.

Field Prep

Grants the following while Crouched: • 50 Reload Speed • 0.8x Reload Duration Multiplier • 0.8x Ready/Stow Duration Multiplier Passively grants 20 Ammo Generation stat. (50% more than 1 Ammo Generation armor mod)

Ensemble

Grants 30 Handling and 40 Reload Speed while within 15 meters of an ally. Buff lingers for 1.5 seconds once you're no longer near allies.

Tracking Module

While Aiming Down Sights and targeting an Enemy: Fired Rockets track the targeted enemy. Diminshed effectiveness in PVP. Tracking persists for 1 second once no longer aiming at the enemy.

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%]

Quickdraw

Switching to the Weapon grants 100 Ready/Stow Handling and a 0.95x Ready Animation Duration Multiplier for 1 second. Buff is removed as soon as ADS input is pressed.

Demolitionist

Weapon Kills grant 10% Grenade Ability Energy. Kills with Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, Glaives, and Fusion Rifles grant 20%. Using your Grenade Ability refills the Magazine with a 3 second cooldown. 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.

The Hothead (Adept) in Destiny 2

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