The Royal Executioner fusion rifle isn’t a gun you’d predict to be having a resurgence in Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch at first glance. It initially released at the end of February as part of the seasonal loot pool for Season of Defiance, with only a handful of perks worth chasing which all paled in comparison to what other Adaptive Frame fusion rifles were capable of building into with a god roll.
Luckily for Royal Executioner though, season 22’s suite of balance changes have given it an unexpected bump up the rankings among its fellow fusion rifles thanks to one key perk that it has: Envious Assassin. In Season of the Witch, Envious Assassin got a notably large quality-of-life buff, with the time limit on it getting removed. That time limit used to reset the perk’s stacking magazine capacity benefit if players took too long between kills or in switching to the weapon to activate it.
Now, players can enjoy Envious Assassin’s potential to overflow the magazine to over double the usual capacity without worrying about any narrow operational windows. This means that what used to be a lackluster third column of perks for Royal Executioner now has a standout choice, which then has ramifications for the potential god rolls that players can build into with the weapon.
Related: How to get Royal Executioner in Destiny 2
If season 22’s new weapons aren’t really doing it for you, now is the perfect time to grind out a rock solid Royal Executioner drop and, with any luck, unlock its pattern for crafting. Here’s our recommendations on what to look for while you’re out in the Defiant Battlegrounds playlist.
Royal Executioner PvE god roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel
- Battery: Accelerated Coils
- First perk: Envious Assassin
- Second perk: Reservoir Burst or Enhanced Incandescent
With the latest buff to Envious Assassin, Royal Executioner finally has something of worth to pick out in the third column for PvE. There’s something to be said for the reliability of Lead From Gold here as well, but the bonuses to your ammo economy simply don’t provide the same scale of benefits as Envious Assassin does when paired with something like Reservoir Burst.
That’s because Reservoir Burst has a unique property. Despite its intended functionality of only providing bonus damage and an explosive payload on the first shot at the top of a magazine, those benefits will also be provided to all of the shots that are loaded into the magazine as overflow. Since Envious Assassin is capable of increasing the magazine by 150 percent at maximum, you’re getting more than an entire magazine worth of Reservoir Burst-buffed shots in Royal Executioner with Envious Assassin appropriately stacked. This kind of synergy takes Royal Executioner from being your average seasonal fusion rifle to a PvE monster.
Players that want to indulge in a very different synergy, however, do also have access to Incandescent as a replacement for Reservoir Burst. While there’s no fun bonus functionality with Envious Assassin, Incandescent is strong enough on its own to merit its potential inclusion in a god roll. This is especially true of its Enhanced variant, which is accessible on a crafted version of Royal Executioner.
Royal Executioner PvP god roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: Smallbore
- Battery: Accelerated Coils
- First perk: Firmly Planted
- Second perk: Killing Wind
Royal Executioner’s PvP god roll requires making the most out of a very limited set of options. Other fusion rifles such as Pressurized Precision, Techeun Force, or Glacioclasm undoubtedly make for a better Crucible choice, but all of them are a lot harder to get because of their rarer sources.
Firmly Planted has been hit with a lot of nerfs over the years and even more when it comes to fusion rifles specifically. As of right now, all of its benefits to accuracy and stability are halved when its on a fusion rifle. Yet there still isn’t any better options for PvP in this column, and at the end of the day, a stat bonus is a stat bonus and Royal Execution is sorely in need of those to keep up with its competition.
Related: Unending Tempest god roll and best perks in Destiny 2
Killing Wind is a perk that’s here for a similar reason, buffing the weapon’s range by a sizeable amount after a kill to make it easier to chain together a spree with Royal Executioner. Players who aren’t reliant on muscle memory when it comes to fusion rifle charge times could replace Killing Wind with Successful Warm-Up to reap the benefits of a faster charge time after getting a kill. This can be very effective at catching other players off guard, but the variable feel to the weapon won’t sit right with everyone.
