Destiny 2’s annual Solstice event is a time that most players celebrate for the access it provides to farmable high-stat armor more than anything else, but like with every other Destiny 2 event, it comes packaged with a variety of exclusive weapons to chase too.
Whereas previous years introduced the Compass Rose shotgun and the Something New handcannon, this year’s Solstice weapon has a more explosive personality.
The Crowning Duologue rocket launcher is Destiny 2’s first Strand rocket launcher, something that in and of itself will make it an arsenal addition many players will desire to collect. However, its energy type aside, Crowning Duologue is complicated—when hunting for traditionally popular rocket launcher perks in its pool, we realized it has none.
Rocket launchers aren’t a weapon type as flexible as others. There tends to only be a few different ways of building out a launcher’s perk pool that will make it effective, and rocket launchers lacking those tools fall by the wayside. Crowning Duologue’s saving grace is it is Strand, and is the only launcher to come stocked with Strand-based perks.
Related: How to get the Crowning Duologue Solstice rocket launcher in Destiny 2
That’s an important thing to consider when looking at what a prospective Crowning Duologue god roll might be since we’re lacking the usual suspects such as Explosive Light, Vorpal Weapon and even Frenzy. Unless you’re willing to prime Adrenaline Junkie or Swashbuckler for a damage phase, Crowning Duologue’s most effective arena of combat is going to be against groups of smaller enemies and not the beefier single targets.
Crowning Duologue PvE god roll in Destiny 2
- Launcher barrel: Volatile Launch
- Magazine: Impact Casing or Black Powder
- First perk: Field Prep or Auto-Loading Holster
- Second perk: Chain Reaction or Hatchling
Since we’re lacking any of the real perks you’d usually look for in a rocket launcher god roll, Crowning Duologue’s god roll instead has to rely on its strengths as an ad clear tool. Field Prep’s bonus to reserves when combined with the additional area-of-effect damage Chain Reaction or Hatchling can provide allows you to get the maximum value out of the gun’s place in your Heavy weapon slot.
Both Chain Reaction and Hatchling will also synergize with your Strand subclass, allowing them to interact with your Fragments and Aspects for greater overall impact. There isn’t a lot this launcher is capable of, so capitalizing on what it can do is vital.
What’s easier to recommend is the perks to avoid, moreso than the perks to hunt down. Shot Swap and Ensemble in the third column are rarely going to serve much purpose in comparison to the alternatives available, a sentiment that similarly exists for Envious Assassin and One For All in the fourth column. Envious Assassin isn’t an inherently bad perk, but the choice to put it in the only column that provides damage-boosting perks makes it fall into irrelevancy on Crowning Duologue specifically.
Crowning Duologue PvP god roll in Destiny 2
- Launcher barrel: Volatile Launch
- Magazine: Black Powder
- First perk: Impulse Amplifier
- Second perk: Cluster Bomb or Chain Reaction
When building a rocket launcher for PvP, a god roll should focus on expanding its blast radius and its impact in a wider area of effect. Fortunately for the Crowning Duologue PvP god roll, it has a lot of perks that can build toward this end goal.
Cluster Bomb and Chain Reaction are the immediate go-to choices in that fourth column, but in the third column, things get a little trickier. With how few of the perks benefit a rocket launcher with a single rocket in the chamber, Impulse Amplifier is the best you can get as it at least provides a useful stat boost. Finish things off with Volatile Launch and Black Powder further increasing Crowning Duologue’s blast radius and you’ll be able to have an incredibly consistent rocket launcher in your back pocket for the Crucible.
The perks to avoid are the inverse of the perks to look at in PvE for the most part, with the trusty choices in the third column like Field Prep and Auto-Loading Holster being effectively irrelevant in a PvP environment. A lot of the perks in the fourth column like Hatchling, Swashbuckler and Adrenaline Junkie also require multiple kills to produce any meaningful effect—a fact that nullifies the perks in the Crucible where you will only ever have one rocket to fire after picking up Heavy ammo.
