The Messenger god roll & best perks

The Messenger — Destiny 2 Pulse Rifle
Legendary · Pulse Rifle
Where it drops: Source: Trials of Osiris Challenges

“The bearer of bad news.”

Full perk pool, stats & source for The Messenger →

Built from 383 curated wishlist rolls for this Pulse Rifle. 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-pvp 120 wishlist rolls

[YeezyGT's S16] [MW: Range] [Requires Arrowhead or Counterbalance Stock] "Messenger is one of the most powerful Primaries in the game. It comes loaded with a stellar perk pool and strong stat package, with really two primary playstyles; Desperado or Kill Clip. Typically, you'll want (Rapid Hit/Outlaw with Desperado) or (Heating Up/Rapid Hit with Kill Clip). There's some strong options outside of this, but that's where you'll find the most success - personal preference plays a role here. I usually find more success with Kill Clip, as I prefer maintaining a uniform RPM."

Strong alternatives

Arrowhead Brake Kill Clip High-Caliber Rounds Heating Up Desperado Rapid Hit Ricochet Rounds Armor-Piercing Rounds Light Mag Flared Magwell Smallbore Hammer-Forged Rifling Fluted Barrel Corkscrew Rifling Polygonal Rifling

Community wishlist roll

controller pve 95 wishlist rolls

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

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Arrowhead Brake Armor-Piercing Rounds One for All Outlaw Frenzy Kill Clip Desperado Heating Up Appended Mag Extended Mag Fluted Barrel Smallbore

Community wishlist roll

40 wishlist rolls

Inspired by Destiny Massive Breakdowns Podcast 229. PvE first choice roll. Recommended MW: Stability with Counterbalance mod.

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Kill Clip High-Caliber Rounds Chambered Compensator Outlaw Polygonal Rifling Heating Up Ricochet Rounds Frenzy Flared Magwell One for All

Community wishlist roll

32 wishlist rolls

Inspired by Destiny Massive Breakdowns Podcast 229. PvP backup roll. Recommended MW: Stability with Counterbalance mod.

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Kill Clip Ricochet Rounds Chambered Compensator Flared Magwell Outlaw Polygonal Rifling Moving Target Heating Up Killing Wind Desperado

Community wishlist roll

controller pvp 26 wishlist rolls

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

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Headseeker Arrowhead Brake Ricochet Rounds Moving Target Heating Up Killing Wind High-Caliber Rounds Desperado Kill Clip Chambered Compensator

Community wishlist roll

pvp 24 wishlist rolls

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

Essential perks

Extended Barrel

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit High-Caliber Rounds Desperado Kill Clip Headseeker Moving Target Heating Up Killing Wind Ricochet Rounds

Community wishlist roll

19 wishlist rolls

Inspired by Destiny Massive Breakdowns Podcast 229. PvE first choice roll. Recommended MW: Stability with Backup Mag mod or Minor Spec mod.

Essential perks

Arrowhead Brake

Strong alternatives

Kill Clip Outlaw High-Caliber Rounds Rapid Hit Ricochet Rounds Frenzy Flared Magwell Heating Up One for All

Community wishlist roll

8 wishlist rolls

Inspired by Destiny Massive Breakdowns Podcast 229. PvP first chioce roll. Recommended MW: Stability with Targeting Adjuster mod.

Essential perks

Arrowhead Brake

Strong alternatives

Moving Target Kill Clip Ricochet Rounds Flared Magwell Killing Wind Desperado

Community wishlist roll

4 wishlist rolls

Inspired by Destiny Massive Breakdowns Podcast 229. PvP first choice roll. Recommended MW: Stability with Targeting Adjuster mod.

Essential perks

Arrowhead Brake Outlaw

Strong alternatives

Kill Clip Ricochet Rounds Flared Magwell Desperado

Community wishlist roll

pve 4 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 14. PvE first-choice roll for general content. The Alacrity trait is surprisingly useful for solo Lost Sectors. Recoil Direction needs attention, which Arrowhead Brake sorts without the need for a Counterbalance mod. Rapid Hit and Outlaw pair well with Kill Clip or Desperado to improve damage output after a kill. Recommended MW: Handling or Reload Speed, with a Backup Mag mod or damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Arrowhead Brake

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Kill Clip Outlaw Desperado

Community wishlist roll

pve 4 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 14. PvE backup roll for general content. The Alacrity trait is surprisingly useful for solo Lost Sectors. Recoil Direction needs attention - without Arrowhead Brake you may need a Counterbalance mod. Rapid Hit and Outlaw pair well with Kill Clip or Desperado to improve damage output after a kill. Recommended MW: Handling or Reload Speed, , with Counterbalance mod or, if you can handle the wonky recoil, a Backup Mag mod or damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Kill Clip Outlaw Desperado

Community wishlist roll

pve 2 wishlist rolls

Inspired by DMB Player Versus Enemies Podcast 14. PvE first-choice roll for end-game content. The Alacrity trait is surprisingly useful for solo Lost Sectors. Recoil Direction needs attention, which Arrowhead Brake sorts without the need for a Counterbalance mod. Rapid Hit or Perpetual Motion and Frenzy work well for end-game content, improving weapon feel and passively boosting damage. Recommended MW: Handling or Reload Speed, with a Backup Mag mod or damage-boosting (Minor, Major or Taken Spec) mod.

Essential perks

Arrowhead Brake Frenzy

Strong alternatives

Rapid Hit Perpetual Motion

What these The Messenger perks do

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.

Outlaw

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

Desperado

Finishing a reload 5.2 seconds after a Precision Kill or 3 kills within ? seconds of each reduces Firing Delay by 30% for 6 seconds. Buff is removed on stow.

Moving Target

Grants the following while Aiming Down Sights (ADS): • 10 Aim Assist • 10% decreased ADS Movement Speed Penalty

Killing Wind

On Weapon Kill, for 5 seconds: • 50 Mobility • 40 Handling and 20 Range • 5% increased Damage Falloff Distance Additional Kills extend the duration by 5 seconds, up to 8 seconds. Buff is removed on stow.

Rapid Hit

"Buffed Hits" grant 1 Stack of Rapid Hit for 2 seconds. Maximum of 5 Stacks. "Buffed Hits" refer to any "Yellow Number" Hits such as Precision Hits or Hits against debuffed targets. Benefits at 1|2|3|4|5 Stacks: • 2|12|14|18|25 Stability • 5|30|35|42|60 Reload Speed • 0.99x|0.96x|0.95x|0.945x|0.92x Reload Duration Multiplier

Heating Up

Weapon Kills grant a Stack of Heating Up for 5.5 seconds. Maximum of 2 Stacks. Benefits at 1|2 Stacks of Heating Up: • 15|30 Stability • 20|40 Recoil Direction • 15%|25% decreased Accuracy Cone Size • 15%|25% decreased Accuracy Cone Growth Buff remains active while stowed.

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%.

Frenzy

After being in Combat for 12 seconds: Grants 15% increased damage, 100 Handling, and 100 Reload Speed for 7.2 seconds. Works and can activate while stowed. Dealing and receiving damage refreshes the buff duration. For Frenzy, being in Combat is defined as having either dealt or received damage within the last 5 seconds. Self-damage and environmental damage do not count.

One for All

Scoring Weapon Hits against 3 Separate Enemies within 3 seconds of each grants 35% increased damage for 10 seconds. Does not require Direct Hits. Buff duration cannot be refreshed.

Armor-Piercing Rounds

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

Headseeker

Dealing non-Precision Direct damage grants the following benefits for 0.55 seconds: • 20% increased Precision Bonus (complicated, see specific damage increases below) • 3% increased Aim Assist Cone size Precision damage increases by weapon type/frame: • Pulse Rifles: Adaptive: 7.1%, Aggressive Burst: 10%, Heavy Burst: 9.5%, High-Impact: 8.74%, Lightweight: 6.3%, Rapid-Fire: 10.3% • Sidearms: Adaptive Burst: 8.46%, Heavy Burst: 7.36% • Scout Rifles: Precision: 8.66% [Bug] Heavy Burst Hand Cannons: 7% increased Weakspot damage. The distinction between Weakspots and Critspots is complicated and we might write an explainer blog post about it eventually. For the purposes of PvP, the two are equivalent.

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.

Stats for All

Upon damaging 3 Separate Enemies within 3 seconds of each, for 10 seconds: • 35 Handling and Reload Speed • 10 Stability and Range • 5% increased Damage Falloff Distance • 0.95x Reload Duration Multiplier Buff duration cannot be refreshed.

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

The Messenger in Destiny 2

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