For quite some time now, Destiny 2 has assigned Origin Traits to its vast array of weapons. These traits represent the unique characteristics of each weapon, whether they are crafted by a single foundry on Earth or obtained from special seasonal sources. While some of these Origin Traits are incredibly useful, others are situational at best and downright terrible at worst. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at every Origin Trait currently available in Destiny 2.
The Best Origin Traits in Destiny 2
Field-Tested
This Origin Trait gradually increases range, stability, handling, and reload speed when you defeat targets or deal damage with the weapon. Swords also gain an increased charge rate and guard resistance.
Field-Tested is absolutely fantastic. The best part is that you don’t even have to fully defeat a target to reap the benefits. Simply damaging enemies gives you a valuable boost to most of your stats. It’s an incredibly solid Origin Trait that can elevate your performance in high-level activities and player-versus-player encounters.
Nanotech Tracer Rockets
Landing multiple hits with this weapon turns your next shot into a homing micro-rocket.
Who doesn’t love some free damage? Granted, it may not be a substantial amount of damage, but all you have to do to activate this effect is shoot things. It’s a simple yet satisfying Origin Trait.
Alacrity
When you are the last surviving member of your fireteam or running solo, you gain increased reload speed, stability, aim assist, and range.
Oh, this one’s a gem. While it may not be as helpful in activities with a fireteam, it truly shines when you’re venturing into solo Lost Sectors or clutching Trials as the last player standing on your team. It’s a lifesaver in those intense moments.
Runneth Over
Reloading near allies causes the magazine to overflow.
This Origin Trait is easy to trigger, assuming you’re running with a fireteam. It’s straightforward, exceptionally useful, and overall a powerhouse Origin Trait that excels in any situation.
Souldrinker
You gain health based on the number of hits before reloading.
Unlike some other healing-oriented Origin Traits in Destiny 2, Souldrinker actually feels impactful. It triggers on hits rather than kills, which means it can keep you alive while dealing damage to bosses. It’s especially handy on weapons like Cataclysmic.
Stunning Recovery
When you stun a Champion, your magazine partially refills, health regeneration is triggered, and recovery improves for a short duration.
If you frequently find yourself running Nightfalls, you’ll be stunning Champions quite often. This Origin Trait helps you dispatch them more quickly and keeps you alive in the process. It’s an excellent alternative perk on Nightfall weapons that would otherwise have lackluster traits like Vanguard Vindication.
Veist Stinger
Damaging an enemy with this weapon has a small chance to reload the magazine and increase movement speed while aiming down sights. Bows receive faster draw speed, and swords receive faster charge rate when this perk is active.
Tired of constant reloading? With Veist Stinger, you won’t have to do it nearly as often. It pairs beautifully with large-magazine, high rate-of-fire weapons like Krait and Funnelweb. Even after the nerf, it remains a potent Origin Trait.
Extrovert
Final blows near multiple combatants or Nightmares restore health.
Here we have another great survivability Origin Trait. Extrovert can help you withstand damage in encounters with numerous lower-level enemies. While the Nightmare aspect may not be relevant in most situations, it does become useful in Lost Sectors and Season of the Haunted and Shadowkeep content.
Omolon Fluid Dynamics
The top half of the magazine grants increased reload speed and stability for this weapon.
If you’re a frequent reloader, Omolon Fluid Dynamics is the Origin Trait for you. This versatile Trait essentially combines the benefits of Compulsive Reloader and Dynamic Sway Reduction into a single package. It’s a versatile and valuable bonus that works well with most weapon types.
Suros Synergy
Reloading this weapon grants bonus handling and reduces incoming flinch for a short duration.
Considering how often you reload your weapon, Suros Synergy will likely activate regularly. While it may not have the same impact as Omolon Fluid Dynamics or Veist Stinger, it’s a reliable and dependable Origin Trait.
Land Tank
Final blows with this weapon grant increased Resilience and additional damage resistance from combatants.
On its own, a 5% damage resistance boost may not seem significant. However, this effect can stack up to three times and be refreshed, making it quite beneficial.
Noble Deeds
Assisting your allies through revives, healing, overshields, and subclass buffs grants charges. Defeating foes consumes charges. While charged, this weapon gains bonus handling, reload speed, and sword charge rate.
Noble Deeds is an excellent Origin Trait for builds that focus on supporting and buffing allies. If you’re already providing overshields, heals, and other forms of assistance, Noble Deeds effectively grants you free buffs to handling, reload speed, and more.
Dawning Surprise
Rapidly defeating targets grants a Dawning gift. Powerful targets count as more than one.
Bungie really needs to rethink some of these Origin Traits because Dawning Surprise is actually fantastic. Each “Dawning gift” looks like an engram, but it grants energy for all your abilities along with a healing effect. It’s a delightful and rewarding Trait.
Rasputin’s Arsenal
Breaking a target’s shield partially reloads this weapon’s magazine.
With Rasputin’s Arsenal, you’ll receive half of your magazine back each time you break an enemy’s shield. It’s a handy effect, especially now that Match Game is no longer a concern.
Middling Origin Traits in Destiny 2
Ambush
This Trait improves range, handling, and damage against combatants at the beginning of an engagement.
Ambush is essentially the Origin Trait equivalent of Frenzy. It provides a solid damage buff of around 10% in player-versus-environment scenarios for a few seconds after not dealing or receiving damage for five seconds. While it may not last very long and is useless in prolonged engagements, it can still be handy in certain situations.
Bray Inheritance
Dealing damage regenerates a small amount of ability energy.
On paper, Bray Inheritance sounds great, but the amount of ability energy you gain is often negligible. It may find some use on weapons with perks like Incandescent and Voltshot, but overall, its impact is limited.
Tex Balanced Stock
Damaging targets while firing from the hip increases handling, reload speed, and movement speed while aiming down sights.
Tex Balanced Stock isn’t terrible by any means, but its effect isn’t particularly impactful. Additionally, it requires you to switch between hip firing and aiming down sights, which can be a bit challenging to master.
Harmonic Resonance
Equipping multiple weapons from this set grants increased reload speed and handling for this weapon. It also deals increased damage against Tormentors, Lucent Hive, and Guardians using their Supers.
Harmonic Resonance is… fine. It requires you to use multiple Root of Nightmares weapons to fully unlock its benefits, which can be cumbersome. While it offers a nice boost against Tormentors, Lucent Hive, and Supers, its situational nature limits its overall effectiveness.
Hot Swap
Switching to this weapon while you are damaged significantly increases its handling for a short duration. Swords gain increased charge speed, guard resistance, and guard endurance instead.
The Bungie 30th Anniversary weapons were already top-tier, and it seems like Hot Swap was chosen as a more balanced Origin Trait to not overpower guns like the BXR-55 Battler. It’s a useful Trait that can help you swap weapons in crucial moments, but it’s not particularly remarkable.
Classy Contender
Final blows with this weapon grant class ability energy.
Classy Contender is simple and generally useful. However, the amount of energy it provides is relatively low, and currently, it’s only available on one weapon: The Title, obtained from the Guardian Games.
Right Hook
Dealing melee damage grants this weapon increased target acquisition and range for a short period. Dealing melee damage again extends the effect.
Right Hook may not be a game-changer, but it shines when combined with weapons that can roll melee-focused perks like Swashbucker and Pugilist. It adds an extra dimension of power to your melee-heavy playstyle.
Search Party
While no allies are nearby, this weapon grants faster aim down sights speed and movement speed while aiming down sights.
Consider Search Party a slightly inferior version of Alacrity. While it can still be useful in certain situations, it doesn’t quite measure up to some of the other Origin Traits.
To Excess
Final blows with this weapon while your Super is full grant a bonus to Strength and Discipline for a moderate duration.
To Excess may not be as strong as Extrovert, which debuted in Season of the Haunted, but it can still provide a nice bonus to your melee and grenade recharge rates if you have a reason to hold onto your Super. It’s particularly useful for Hunters using Star-Eater Scales.
Hakke Breach Armaments
This weapon deals increased damage against vehicles, turrets, barricades, and Stasis crystals.
While not as universally useful as other foundry Origin Traits in Destiny 2, Hakke Breach Armaments can be effective in specific circumstances. It can help you break through Titan Barricades in Trials, and when running a Stasis build, it may allow you to shatter Stasis crystals with a single hit, depending on the weapon.
The Worst Origin Traits in Destiny 2
Dream Work
Once per reload, assists or assisted final blows partially refill the weapon from reserves, potentially overflowing the magazine.
Dream Work used to be incredible upon its introduction, essentially granting Overflow on any weapon as long as you tagged an enemy with a Dream Work gun and let an ally finish them off. However, after the rework, it has become a more situational version of Overflow.
One Quiet Moment
This Trait grants increased reload speed when out of combat.
One Quiet Moment is pretty useless. Who really needs a reload speed boost when they’re out of combat? It may have its applications for reloading after engagements in Crucible, but there are certainly more desirable Traits available.
Gun and Run
Rapidly defeating targets with this weapon grants bonus sprint speed. Guardians, powerful combatants, and high-value targets grant this bonus more quickly.
Gun and Run is an improvement over the old Gambit Origin Trait, but it still lacks significant impact, especially in the post-Arc 3.0 world where Guardians frequently reach max sprint speed.
Psychohack
Sustained damage from this weapon lowers the target’s damage output for a short duration.
The damage reduction caused by Psychohack is barely noticeable. It could have been useful as a mini-Suppress effect if it were stronger, but as it stands, it’s one of the weakest Origin Traits in Destiny 2.
Skulking Wolf
When at low health, final blows with this weapon grant enhanced radar and remove you from opposing radar.
Skulking Wolf remains an extremely situational Trait, even in Crucible. While its rework has brought some utility, it’s still not particularly impressive.
Vanguard’s Vindication
Final blows with this weapon grant a small amount of health.
Vanguard’s Vindication provides only a minuscule amount of health, and there are much better healing Origin Traits available in the game. Thankfully, weapons that roll with Vanguard’s Vindication often have another Origin Trait to compensate.
Bitterspite
While this weapon is equipped, taking damage accelerates its next reload.
When it comes to reloading buffs in Destiny 2, there are more reliable Origin Traits to consider. Bitterspite’s effect is rather lackluster, limiting the potential of weapons like Duality that could otherwise benefit from traits with broader utility.
The Best and Worst Origin Traits in Destiny 2 article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of each Origin Trait’s strengths and weaknesses. The insights shared here will help you make informed decisions when choosing which weapons to employ in your adventures across the Destiny 2 universe.
