Glaives were released alongside Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen expansion, but Judgment of Kelgorath isn’t exactly like any other glaive in the game in Season of the Seraph. It’s the first Aggressive Frame glaive in Legendary rarity, meaning it has a slower rate of fire than its counterparts, but it makes up for it with more damage. That’s not all of its allure, though: this glaive brings an arsenal of good perk choices, which make for different god rolls depending on your playstyle.
Judgment of Kelgorath lets you lean into the melee archetype with the new Close To Melee perk, but you can also see Incandescent as a novelty for crowd control. The location of Impulse Amplifier—on the last column instead of the usual spot as the first perk—also makes for unique combinations.
Here are our god rolls for Judgment of Kelgorath, both PvE and PvP.
Judgment of Kelgorath PvE god roll in Destiny 2
- Haft: Low-Impedance Windings or Ballistic Tuning
- Mag: Light Mag or Appended Mag
- First perk: Overflow, Immovable Object, Demolitionist (Honorable mention: Pugilist, Tilting At Windmills)
- Second perk: Incandescent, Close to Melee, Unstoppable Force, or Surrounded (Honorable mention: Impulse Amplifier).
Our choices of god rolls focus on what makes Judgment of Kelgorath good while leaning on its uniqueness—and there’s a lot of it. As far as perks go, Judgment of Kelgorath balances staple glaive perks such as Immovable Object with new additions like Close to Melee and Incandescent (which is new to glaives).
Your playstyle will dictate which parts to chase in your Judgment of Kelgorath. We’re partial to shorter reloads, so we went with Low-Impedance Windings, but Ballistic Tuning is a good option for range without having to sacrifice reload speed.
Because of the sheer amount of options Judgment of Kelgorath brings, though, settling on a Judgment of Kelgorath god roll is a highly personal affair and depends tremendously on playstyle and preference. There are a few ways to double down on specific areas (for instance, getting extra projectile damage via either Surrounded or Unstoppable Force, or leaning into the newly added Close to Melee for melee damage), and if nothing else, Impulse Amplifier remains a good neutral perk to bring to a fight—a luxury that Lubrae’s Ruin, the other Legendary Solar glaive, can’t afford.
Judgment of Kelgorath PvP god roll in Destiny 2
- Haft: Ballistic Tuning or Auxiliary Reserves
- Mag: Appended Mag or Accurized Rounds
- First perk: Tilting at Windmills or Immovable Object
- Second perk: Unstoppable Force or Harmony (Honorable mention: Close to Melee)
PvP glaives have a certain method to them, and Unstoppable Force is at its core. Though Season of the Seraph toned down their effectiveness by reducing projectile damage and nerfing Unstoppable Force directly, the perk can be one of the best choices for PvP due to its simple trigger. Harmony could also do well, and Close to Melee has some room to shine if you can lean onto it in PvP. Tilting At Windmills and Close to Melee may help you close a gap and glaive your opponent to death, while Immovable Object and Unstoppable Force can be a good combination for more defensive play.
Judgment of Kelgorath god roll and best perks guide: Third column
Overflow
Overflow is an established perk in other weapon types, but Judgment of Kelgorath marks the first time it can roll on a glaive. And it’s certainly not a bad choice. Overflow allows you to increase your magazine capacity whenever you pick up an ammo brick, which allows you to bypass the somewhat lengthy reload on Judgment of Kelgorath. The enhanced version gives you an even bigger magazine to work with.
Since glaives operate somewhere between a Special and a Primary, you can get decent mileage out of this perk depending on your playstyle. If you’re more of a glaive shooter, you may have to get a few reloads in before finding an ammo brick. If you’re mostly melee-focused, you’ll keep those shots chambered and constantly refresh your mag without needing to reload. Regardless of how you play, though, Overflow can provide great benefit to your glaive, and that’s before factoring in its uniqueness—and that’s why it’s at the top of our god roll.
Immovable Object
A classic glaive perk and one half of the Immovable Object/Unstoppable Force combination, Immovable Object grants you extra shield charge if you’re standing still with your shield raised. It’s perfect if you’re going for a stalwart defender playstyle, soaking up bullets with your shield while holding the line or getting a revive. Normally, Immovable Object would also be stacking up against Impulse Amplifier, which normally rolls in the same column. With Judgment of Kelgorath, though, Impulse Amplifier has been pushed to the fourth column. This gives Immovable Object more room to shine, but Overflow can prove to be a strong matchup.
Demolitionist, Pugilist
The two energy-generating perks are also available in Judgment of Kelgorath, and they’re not exactly bad choices either depending on what you want from this glaive. Demolitionist has the handy side effect of reloading the equipped weapon when you throw a grenade, which might save you some reloading in the absence of Overflow, and the free grenade energy on projectile kills isn’t bad either. Pugilist, on the other hand, plays a similar role in a melee-centric weapon, though it won’t reload your weapon with a kill (that’s Grave Robber’s job).
Tilting at Windmills
Tilting at Windmills is another part of the glaive-specific perks that launched alongside The Witch Queen, and it takes the opposite approach as Immovable Object. Tilting at Windmills increases your movement speed while you have your glaive shield up, which helps when closing the gap against an enemy. If this suits your playstyle, go for it.
Genesis
Genesis leans into the same space as Overflow by allowing you to bypass reloads, but its trigger is a bit more circumstantial. In lower-end content (without Match Game enabled), you can find an OK amount of enemies with shields, and this perk refills your magazine on a shield break and regenerates some ammo on hit. On higher-end content, though, you’ll only break Solar shields with it, which reduces its general usability by a good chunk. It’s not a bad perk when used properly, though.
Judgment of Kelgorath god roll and best perks guide: Fourth column
Incandescent
Incandescent is one of the new kids on the block when it comes to glaives, and it’s a handy perk to have in Judgment of Kelgorath. While glaives are adept at crowd control in general, having Incandescent means you can whittle down mobs more easily by spreading Scorch and applying a damage-over-time effect on enemies—and that’s before factoring in any possible Solar synergies.
Close to Melee
A fresh new perk in Season of the Seraph, Close to Melee leans into glaives’ melee power by increasing blade damage after you get a kill with a projectile. It’s a hefty damage increase, too, and you can extend it further by doing damage with the glaive. This perk helps lean into the glaive’s dynamism by encouraging you to alternate between shooting and slashing, making Judgment of Kelgorath shine in uniqueness.
Unstoppable Force
The Season of the Seraph nerf hit Unstoppable Force a fair bit, dropping its bonus from 30 to 20 percent, but this perk continues to be a good choice. Unstoppable Force has an easy trigger: just block any damage and your projectile shots will get an extra 20 percent damage. Even in its weakened state, though, Unstoppable Force is a solid addition to a guardian’s arsenal.
Surrounded
The same patch that hit Unstoppable Force also gave Surrounded some extra juice by embedding Surrounded Spec’s effects into the base functionality, and the enhanced version means you can get even more of its benefits. For close-range engagements, Surrounded can turn Judgment of Kelgorath into even more of a beast, but its effects only apply to the projectile and only when you have three enemies within eight meters of you. You should get decent uptime on it even if you don’t actively play to its strengths, but if you’re outside that range often, you can consider other choices.
Impulse Amplifier
Impulse Amplifier is easily among the best neutral perks for a glaive since it increases reload speed and projectile speed. Normally, this perk appears in the third column, but Judgment of Kelgorath pushes it into column four. This doesn’t help Impulse Amplifier’s case: it’s competing against Incandescent, Close to Melee, and Unstoppable Force all at once. Impulse Amplifier is a good choice in a sea of great options, and even if it doesn’t outright boost your damage, it makes Judgment of Kelgorath surprisingly comfortable for its archetype. You can somewhat offset the reload benefits with the right parts, though, so don’t feel like Impulse Amplifier is necessarily a must.
Wellspring
Wellspring provides free ability energy when getting a kill, but like Demolitionist, it seems to only apply to projectile kills. While you can get good benefits out of Wellspring, the benefits you get from it are usually not as good as some of the other perks in our god roll unless you’re really looking for some ability energy.
Harmony
Harmony provides a damage boost after you get a kill with a different weapon, but it may not see as much usability as some of the other perks in the list. Since glaives play in that space between a Special and a Primary, odds are you may not swap out of them as often as you would with other weapons. And even when you do, Unstoppable Force provides the same damage bonus with a simpler trigger. Harmony isn’t bad, but it’s outclassed by other perks.
