Even in Season of the Wish, Destiny 2’s BxR-55 Battler Pulse Rifle is one of the strongest weapons in the sandbox. Introduced with the 30th Anniversary event in 2021, its unique frame and perks—inspired by the Halo franchise—have stood the test of time.
The BxR’s strengths aren’t exclusive to PvP or PvE either. There are fantastic god rolls for both that this Pulse Rifle is capable of, made even better by the fact it’s craftable, granting it access to the enhanced variants of strong perks like Incandescent and Demolitionist. That versatility, in combination with the best-in-class hip-fire accuracy and stability that the gun’s Legacy PR-55 frame provides, means that it feels great to use in any activity.
That’s why, even after a perk pool refresh in Season of Plunder, the BxR-55 Battler is a gun that’s still worth chasing for any player in search of a new Pulse Rifle to main. Here’s how to get your own, as well as our recommendations on a BxR-55 Battler god roll in both PvP and PvE.
How to find a BxR-55 Battler in Destiny 2
To acquire a BxR-55 Battler Pulse Rifle, complete runs of the Dares of Eternity activity, which is accessed through the Eternity destination. With each activity completion, you will receive a Treasure Key. Take this to the treasure chest at Xur’s Treasure Hold and turn the key in for a random weapon from the anniversary set—one of which is the BxR.
When receiving a weapon from the treasure chest, there’s a small chance it’ll have Deepsight Resonance. If you acquire five patterns for the BxR-55 Battler, you’ll unlock the ability to craft the weapon at The Enclave. This is absolutely worth the extra time investment, both for the access to freely tweak the gun’s perks and to equip the stronger variations of those perks.
What is the god roll for the BxR-55 Battler in Destiny 2?
BxR-55 Battler PvE god roll
- Barrel: Arrowhead Brake
- Magazine: Ricochet Rounds
- First perk: Demolitionist or Pugilist
- Second perk: Incandescent or Blunt Execution Rounds
- Masterwork: Reload Speed
For the BxR-55 Battler’s PvE god roll in Destiny 2, one set of perks stands tall above the rest: Demolitionist and Incandescent. While they both need to be enhanced to reach their maximum potential, the synergy between these two components makes the BxR one of the strongest workhorse Pulse Rifles in the game.
Enhanced Incandescent has long cemented its place at the top of the perk sandbox, with the consistent application of Scorch damage on combatants able to greatly improve the efficacy of any primary weapon against large groups of enemies. It’s particularly great here when paired with Demolitionist or Pugilist, as any kills caused by the Scorch application will count toward the ability energy generation that these two perks provide. Demolitionist will be the go-to for the majority of players, but Pugilist is just as effective a choice for players that prefer to build around their melee.
However, I’d be remiss to not talk about the BxR’s exclusive perk here—Blunt Execution Rounds. When used right, this perk has a lot of potential. Simply hitting an enemy combatant with a melee grants the weapon’s next burst a massive 500 percent damage boost. It does have a small internal cooldown timer of four seconds to prevent it from being exploited aggressively, but a damage boost of that magnitude (even for a single burst) can’t be overlooked. Players that prefer to play close-range should experiment with this perk to see if it’s a good fit for them.
For the barrel, Arrowhead Brake is a popular choice to go for since the bonus 30 recoil direction neatly caps the BxR at a perfect 100. The weapon already feels pretty great with its base statistics, but this makes the gun’s kick a complete non-issue. Ricochet Rounds is a recommendation with a similar point of origin for the magazine, providing a small increase to both range and stability to further improve the BxR’s consistency.
BxR-55 Battler PvP god roll
- Barrel: Arrowhead Brake or Hammer-Forged Rifling
- Magazine: Accurized Rounds
- First perk: Heating Up or Killing Wind
- Second perk: Kill Clip or Blunt Execution Rounds
The BxR has a lot of excellent options for a PvP god roll, but one of the most reliable you can craft is Heating Up and Kill Clip. After securing an opening kill, the instant and sweeping boosts to accuracy, stability and damage give you a massive edge over the competition.
Kill Clip needs little introduction. Reloading after a final blow to get a 25 percent damage boost has been one of the strongest PvP perk benefits since the early days of Destiny 2. It is particularly good here thanks to the existence of perks like Heating Up and Killing Wind in the third column, which provides the kind of utility that makes Kill Clip’s effect shine even more brightly. Which perk you go for is down to personal preference, but I recommend Heating Up for its hidden accuracy buff.
The BxR-55 Battler is already a gun that promotes hip-fire use thanks to its frame, encouraging the player to engage in close to mid-range combat more than the long-range duels that Pulse Rifles are known for. Heating Up allows you to lean into this strength even further, stacking additional accuracy bonuses on top of the accuracy bonuses that the Legacy PR-55 frame is already intrinsically offering. That’s not to say Killing Wind is a bad pick by any means, but a range boost feels less essential to this weapon than it is to other Pulse Rifles.
If players take Heating Up, Arrowhead Brake can also potentially be swapped out for Hammer-Forged Rifling. At maximum stacks, Heating Up gives an identical boost to recoil direction you would otherwise be equipping Arrowhead Brake to obtain. Arrowhead Brake is still a good choice—reaching two stacks of Heating Up isn’t easy—but you can experiment with the barrel a bit more to see whether or not one that amplifies your range or stability feels better overall to your taste.
As with the PvE god roll, Blunt Execution Rounds is a bit of a niche pick here in the fourth column. The damage boost is also only 100 percent against players in comparison to the massive 500 percent damage boost the perk provides against AI combatants. However, even a 100 percent damage boost on a burst from the BxR effectively means your opening shot in a fight is going to have the same impact as two bursts normally would, drastically reducing the weapon’s overall time-to-kill.
