Silicon Neuroma has come back to Destiny 2 with a bang. This weapon once dropped from The Pyramidion Nightfall on Io, but was briefly absent after Bungie removed Io from the game and capped the weapon’s Power Level. With The Witch Queen, though, the weapon returned to the Nightfall pool, giving players different perk options and another chance to obtain the version rifle without a Power Level cap.
The new version of Silicon Neuroma boasts a few different perk combinations that stand out. Here’s our god roll for Silicon Neuroma, both in PvE and PvP. We’ve prioritized handling and magazine size for the first two columns, with the two perks aiming for boss damage in PvE.
Silicon Neuroma god roll (PvE)
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel, Arrowhead Brake, or Corkscrew Rifling
- Mag: Extended Mag, Appended Mag, or Tactical Mag
- First perk: Triple Tap
- Second perk: Firing Line or Focused Fury (Honorable mention: Frenzy)
Silicon Neuroma god roll (PvP)
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel, Arrowhead Brake, or Corkscrew Rifling
- Mag: Armor-Piercing Rounds or Appended Mag
- First perk: Snapshot Sights or Steady Hands
- Second perk: Opening Shot
While finding a god roll for most weapons is usually a matter of preference, especially in Primaries or general-purpose guns, snipers follow a somewhat rigid formula, particularly when it comes to perks. Barrels don’t matter as much, but we’ve picked ones that boost handling to improve weapon swap and ADS speeds.
Magazines, on the other hand, can be the difference between having three rounds in the mag or more, and matter more, particularly in PvE. Extended Mag and Appended Mag will give you more to shoot with, and more room to get Triple Tap procs.
Here’s a breakdown of Silicon Neuroma’s perks so you know what to keep, what to dismantle, and why, based on the full rolls available at light.gg.
First perk column
Triple Tap
Nearly every sniper rifle PvE god roll has Triple Tap (if it’s available), and for good reason. This perk puts one bullet in your magazine after landing three precision shots in quick succession, and if you’re using Silicon Neuroma to damage a boss or a champion, the extra procs will definitely make a difference.
Snapshot Sights or Steady Hands (PvP)
Snapshot Sights has been one of the most valuable PvP perks across all weapons, but it’s particularly useful in snipers. It lets you enter scope mode almost instantly, maintaining your awareness and even letting you quickscope if you need. You can’t go wrong with it in the Crucible.
That said, Steady Hands has been the rising star of PvP perks, giving you a major boost to handling across all weapons for a moderate duration after getting a kill. Choosing between the two is up to preference and availability, but they stand leagues above the competition in the god roll.
Compulsive Reloader
Sometimes, you just need to use a sniper to land one or two precision shots and swap. In those cases, Compulsive Reloader will work for you. In any other scenario, though, this perk deactivates. If you can slot it into your playstyle, then sure, but this goes directly against Triple Tap—and more often than not, that’s the one you’ll want to go with.
Perpetual Motion and Firmly Planted
Perpetual Motion is a tri-stat boost to handling, stability, and reload speed as long as you’re moving. If you can get it to activate, then it can be beneficial, but odds are you’ll be standing still when shooting a sniper regardless, so this falls off a bit. It’s a beneficial perk if it slots into your playstyle, but even then, it’s hard to compete against Triple Tap (PvE) or Snapshot Sights (PvP). The same principle applies to Firmly Planted: a buff to handling, stability, and accuracy when crouched is definitely helpful if it fits into how you play, but not as useful as Triple Tap or Snapshot.
Second perk column
Firing Line and Focused Fury
The gold standard for raiding and group play, Firing Line has the potential for a tremendous damage boost in the right conditions. It greatly increases your precision damage when near two or more allies, meaning it’ll activate during most boss fights. The boost only applies to precision damage, though, so players should be extra careful when going for it. If you want a boss or Champion melter for group content, though, then Firing Line might be the play.
If Firing Line was the gold standard, though, Focused Fury is gunning for its throne. Though the tooltip on the perk can be slightly confusing, Focused Fury activates after landing half your magazine as precision damage and boosts all your damage for roughly 10 seconds. Add to that the short magazine size on Silicon Neuroma and odds are you’re getting a proc after just two precision hits, making this easily among the best perks in slot for PvE.
Opening Shot (PvP)
In PvP, hitting the first shot can lead to an advantage against your opponent. This is even more true with snipers since the first shot( if landed properly) is bound to take out your opponent from the fight. Opening Shot is a staple in PvP rolls, especially with snipers. It’s also the only explicitly PvP perk in the list, so aim for it and go.
Frenzy
If you don’t have a Silicon Neuroma with Focused Fury or don’t have a group for Firing Range to proc, then Frenzy may be the best choice for damage or general use. It only triggers after being in combat for 12 seconds but has the upside of boosting damage across the board instead of just critical damage (compared to Firing Line). If you’ve already been in combat, too, you’ll get the full bonus damage instead of having to set it up, and it also boosts other stats.
Adrenaline Junkie
Adrenaline Junkie isn’t a bad choice, but its activation trigger means you need to get at least one kill with the weapon or a grenade to get some benefit out of it. If you’re going up against sturdier targets, then odds are you don’t activate it. If you want to just take out a couple of priority targets, though, this can do just fine—and you can always throw a grenade near an unsuspecting mob to stack it up quickly.
Demolitionist
Free grenade energy on a kill isn’t really bad in itself, but Demolitionist may not proc as often on a sniper. If you’re running a sniper to take out priority targets, you’ll have some procs when you do. if you’re going up against a boss or Champion, though, odds are you won’t get much value out of it compared to Firing Line.
