Gjallarhorn’s comeback toDestiny 2was dreaded and anticipated at the same time because of the weapon’s legacy and how powerful it proved to be inDestiny. When Gjallarhorn came back, it was during the longest Season in the history ofDestiny 2, alongside the 30th Anniversary Pack and theGrasp of Avarice Dungeon. Season of the Lost already had a defined meta with fusion rifles shredding through everything thanks to recent buffs and the effects of the Particle Deconstruction seasonal mod, which remains one of the most powerful ever introduced.
In fact, Particle Deconstruction altered the meta in a way that made it hard to justify using any non-fusion rifle weapon archetype in at least one slot, with players even using one for both the Energy and Power slot at the same time. Gjallarhorn was not handled well in terms of power balance, but it was just introduced at a time when its power was not creeping over everything else, thus not making it the go-to weapon across all game modes. Yet, this Exotic rocket launcher is nowdominating the charts inDestiny 2’s Season of the Risen, and that might justify nerfs to Gjallarhorn in the near future.
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Why Destiny 2’s Gjallarhorn is Too Powerful
Season of the Risen’s less defined meta that doesn’t rely on a single powerhouse mod is the perfect testing ground for how potent Gjallarhorn really is, and how consistently good it can be. Gjallarhorn is still one of the hardest-hitting weapons in the whole game: it has tracking missiles, two rockets in the magazine with its catalyst, and a good balance of ammo economy versus ammo needed.Destiny 2’s endgame is balanced through hard modifiers such asMatch Game or the new Acute Burns, which Gjallarhorn can ignore thanks to its sheer damage and utility.
This situation is not dissimilar from what Bungie experienced inDestiny, back when Gjallarhorn became such a powerful weapon that the community started using it as a jack-of-all-trades to tackle all sorts of difficult content. This went so far as to have “looking for group” posts, commonly referred to as LFG, stating that players had to own Gjallarhorn to be invited, gating content behind RNG - either players had the Exotic or they didn’t. The same doesn’t apply toDestiny 2, but other issues persist.
Gjallarhorn is currently the most-used weapon in PvE across the board by a significant margin, which says a lot considering it is an Exotic gun, and it still ranks quite high in terms of usage in competitive PvP matches because it’s a fire-and-forget weapon that one-shots. Gjallarhorn is used by 8.43 percent ofDestiny 2players in PvE, withFunnelweb coming in at second placewith only 7.05 percent usage. Gambit is an even worse use case for Gjallarhorn, as manyDestiny 2players tend to abuse its tracking and sustainable ammo economy.
This is achieved thanks to ammo crates and High-Value Targets dropping Heavy ammo bricks, making Gjallarhorn an insane clearing tool that’s also easy to use while invading. On top of that, Gjallarhorn has insane DPS potential for bosses, making it a no-brainer pick. The weapon is too strong in its current state, and it does need a nerf that brings it more in-line with other Exotic guns in terms of raw power and reliability. Fans know this is just repeating history when looking to the nerfs Gjallarhorn got prior to the launch ofThe Taken King inDestiny.
Destiny 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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