It doesn’t look like much at first glance, but The Eremite—Destiny 2’s newest High-Impact fusion rifle—comes packaged with a surprising set of perks that make it a force to contend with in Season of the Witch. With a niche god roll in PvP allowing it to carve out its own spot in the pantheon of great Crucible fusions, and one of season 22’s new perks synergizing flawlessly with its other PvE perk options, The Eremite has something for every Guardian.
The first thing to look at are the stats we’re working with on The Eremite, and while they aren’t anything to write home about, it isn’t lagging too far behind the competition either. In comparison to other weapons in the High-Impact Frame subfamily such as Glacioclasm, its base stability and handling is lower, but its inherent aim assistance value is more competitive—a 59 stat in comparison to Glacioclasm’s 55.
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It’s in The Eremite’s perks that these stats can be easily made up for, though. Players will inevitably be drawn to the options that have worked well in the past on other fusion rifles: Offhand Strike in the third column, Envious Assassin, as well as the likes of Reservoir Burst and Controlled Burst in the fourth column. There’s no harm in building a roll of The Eremite with these perks in mind, but by doing so you effectively re-create the god roll of superior fusion rifles on one with a less popular frame and less enticing stats.
That means, to get the best out of this seasonal fusion rifle, we need to capitalize on what makes it unique. For example, Heal Clip, a new perk introduced in season 22, is here in the third column. With its ability to provide Cure for you and your allies, it can synergize with Solar Fragments such as Ember of Benevolence for massive ability regeneration rate gains in PvE. Slickdraw, a perk that was buffed in Season of the Deep’s mid-season update, can make this High-Impact Frame fusion rifle feel even more nimble than its lightweight counterparts.
As The Eremite is also craftable (and easily too, with the upgrades to the seasonal vendor that allow you to grab one free Deepsight weapon each week), you can experiment with all of these to create god rolls that sit in their own potent niche. Here’s our recommendations on what to look for.
The Eremite PvP god roll in Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch
- Barrel: Extended Barrel
- Battery: Projection Fuse
- First perk: Slickdraw or Offhand Strike
- Second perk: Golden Tricorn or Elemental Capacitor
Both the PvP and PvE god roll of The Eremite are going to come down to personal preference and your own confidence in your shot, but there are a few options to work with here that all have their own benefits. While it isn’t clear to see at first, the real strength of Slickdraw is that it will max out The Eremite’s handling, as displayed on sites such as d2foundry. This is what allows you to build into range so exclusively via Extended Barrel, Projection Fuse and a range masterwork without needing to worry about the reduction in handling.
You can still find success with Offhand Strike, the range and accuracy buff to hipfire after a kill just as deadly as it is on other fusion rifles, but the perk is simply better on guns with a faster charge time. Take this only if you’re in need of a temporary alternative before acquiring a fusion rifle such as The Wizened Rebuke.
In the fourth column, you have a bit more freedom because of The Eremite’s unfortunate lack of any hard-hitters. Golden Tricorn will be a reliable source to buff your damage and further increase that range, but Elemental Capacitor will be a safe and consistent suite of stat buffs for those who don’t want to rely on final blows to reap the rewards.
If you aren’t taking Slickdraw, make sure to replace the barrel option with an alternative such as Fluted Barrel or Smallbore to not further harm The Eremite’s already poor handling. It’s only by having Slickdraw that you can bear the brunt of such reductions in the weapon’s statistics due to the perk’s massive 100 handling bonus.
The Eremite PvE god roll in Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel
- Battery: Projection Fuse
- First perk: Heal Clip or Envious Assassin
- Second perk: Golden Tricorn, Reservoir Burst or Controlled Burst
The Eremite’s PvE god roll in Season of the Witch is incredibly flexible, and what you choose to put on this gun will depend entirely on what other elements of your build you want to synergize with. Heal Clip and Golden Tricorn is a potent set of perks together, but only if you are running The Eremite with a Solar subclass to maximize the utility of Heal Clip’s Cure procs. This can keep Fragments such as Ember of Benevolence consistently active, greatly improving your ability regeneration rate and thus also enhancing the efficacy of Golden Tricorn simultaneously.
If you aren’t running Solar, however, you might find more success with a more traditional roll such as Envious Assassin combined with Reservoir Burst or Controlled Burst. As we noted in our god roll guide for Royal Executioner, season 22’s big buff to Envious Assassin makes it synergize excellently with Reservoir Burst. Envious Assassin overflows the magazine to over double capacity, and Reservoir Burst’s bonus damage and explosion on killing blow will proc on every single overflowed burst.
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Unlike the PvP god roll, where Slickdraw is compensating for a lot of its statistical shortcomings, The Eremite’s PvE god roll should take into account that the feel of the weapon could do with some improvement. Fluted Barrel can offer up a nice buff to both handling and stability that does just that, and you can take out any choice of masterwork when crafting to build into a stat you personally want to strengthen further.
Projection Fuse isn’t a must-have when it comes to the battery you pick, but we found that the small bonus to range helped to provide consistency throughout the majority of the PvE encounters we used The Eremite in where other battery options did not. You could achieve a similar effect with Hammer-Forged Rifling for a barrel, allowing you to take Accelerated Coils, but it would mean missing out on an increase to the weapon’s handling that is sorely needed.
