Despite the majority of Season of the Witch’s seasonal weapons offering up only disappointment in Destiny 2, one of the reprised weapons available to focus does not. The Showrunner, a 900 RPM submachine gun from the Red War, comes stocked with most of the greatest hits you could hope for when building a perfect god roll in PvE or PvP.
Weapons of The Showrunner’s subfamily like Funnelweb have already had a legendary impact on the game in the past, in large part thanks to its interactions with Void Volatile Rounds and the pre-nerf Veist Stinger Origin Trait. The Showrunner can’t similarly rely on horizontal build elements like those—after all, it’s a Kinetic weapon and part of the Nadir foundry—but it does still pack its own unique punch.
That’s thanks to third column perks such as Overflow, Rangefinder, and Dynamic Sway Reduction all being available to pair with Kinetic Tremors, Collective Action, Swashbuckler, and even Target Lock in the fourth column. The potential synergies possible here in your builds are already promising, but they’re made all the better with the presence of the Nadir Focus Origin Trait too. Nadir Focus is new in season 22 and increases your accuracy and range after a period of sustained fire. Those are two statistics you always want more of on a fast-firing submachine gun like The Showrunner.
There are a lot of great options to work with here. Getting your ideal roll of The Showrunner might take a little longer than the other Season of the Witch guns, but it’s going to be a grind well worth the time investment. Here are our recommendations for the god rolls you should be looking out for in both PvP and PvE.
The Showrunner PvE god roll in Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch
- Barrel: Polygonal Rifling or Fluted Barrel
- Magazine: Ricochet Rounds or Light Mag
- First perk: Overflow
- Second perk: Kinetic Tremors
Kinetic Tremors is always a head-turner when it shows up in the perk pool of a new weapon. With how prevalent Strand and Stasis weapons have become in the first slot, it isn’t often a new Kinetic primary finds its way into the game as it is. The fact it can be paired with Overflow here on a Lightweight Frame submachine gun like The Showrunner means this gun can easily be molded into an ad-killing machine.
Kinetic Tremors requires around 12 shots on a target in order to proc, so with Overflow’s buff active, The Showrunner can be capable of getting off a maximum of six total Kinetic Tremors detonations before even needing to reload. With how easy it is to get Special and Heavy ammo in the seasonal activities due to the Major Arcana cards too, Overflow can be consistently active throughout the majority of encounters.
Round that off with a few improvements to the weapon’s stats via the barrel and magazine and you have a well-rounded Primary weapon package to take into battle. While we personally recommend a focus on stability and range benefits with Polygonal Rifling and Richochet Rounds, there is room for personal preference here if you want to invest in the weapon’s handling or reload stats.
Related: The Eremite god roll and best perks in Destiny 2
The Showrunner PvP god roll in Destiny 2’s Season of the Witch
- Barrel: Smallbore
- Magazine: Ricochet Rounds
- First perk: Rangefinder or Dynamic Sway Reduction
- Second perk: Target Lock
Now, 900 RPM submachine guns aren’t exactly a weapon archetype you often see in the Crucible. The Aggressive Frame submachine guns such as The Immortal and the IKELOS SMG are far more prevalent and for good reason with the range they were once capable of. But with season 22’s alterations to zoom and how different weapons react to damage falloff, there’s a little more room to experiment with other submachine gun subfamilies.
That makes The Showrunner’s arrival perfectly timed, coming packaged with Rangefinder, Target Lock, and Nadir Focus for an impressive overall range boost beyond its usual constraints. The change to zoom does mean that Rangefinder no longer influences damage falloff, but it will still increase the falloff range of the weapon’s aim assist—a statistic that is just as vital to success in many engagements.
Related: Bungie scraps RNG raid rewards as iconic Crota’s End Exotic arrives in Destiny 2
But with the changes to Target Lock that punish you heavily for even a single bullet missed, some players may want to take Dynamic Sway Reduction instead to further improve the weapon’s accuracy and stability. This can help to keep your scope on the target more consistently and get the most out of Target Lock, especially when paired with the accuracy and range buffs that Nadir Focus provides.
A less impactful but potentially interesting alternative perk to explore in the fourth column is Fragile Focus. Fragile Focus was recently buffed so that its 20 bonus range will only deactivate after your shields break, rather than after taking any damage at all. That larger window means you have more time to reap the benefits of that bonus range and get Nadir Focus or Dynamic Sway Reduction fully ramped up before Fragile Focus is disabled by incoming fire.
How to get The Showrunner in Destiny 2
Despite the fact that The Showrunner is a Vanguard weapon with Vanguard perks, you won’t be getting this submachine gun from the Vanguard Ops playlist. Instead, players can acquire The Showrunner SMG in Destiny 2 through focused decoding at Season of the Witch’s Ritual Table in the H.E.L.M.
You can only obtain The Showrunner via the Recovered Red War Weapons Engram and it will set you back two Witch’s Engrams each time, so you’ll need to stock up. It is part of a four-weapon reprisal, which also includes Nightshade, Persuader, and Deadpan Delivery.
Fortunately, there are some upgrades available at the Lectern of Divination to make the farm for The Showrunner easier. The Minor Arcana card “Witch’s Boon: Altars of Summoning” will give you a chance to receive Red War weapons like The Showrunner when you use Witch’s Keys in the Altars of Summoning activity.
