Destiny 2: The Final Shape - Hunter's Journal Artifact Guide (2024)

Destiny 2: The Final Shape has made some major changes to the way seasons work. The seasonal model has been replaced with an episodic model, trading the weekly drip-fed narrative for a more organic model that evolves over three acts. Each act comes with small changes and additions, ranging from modified activities to new quests.

The Artifact is one such element that has been modified by the new model. While it is functionally identical to past seasonal Artifacts, the Artifact tied to Echoes will receive new perks through each act. To help you get the most out of this altered Artifact, this guide will explain how the Artifact system works in Echoes, how to unlock it, and give a breakdown of how each perk works. Expect updates as the episode develops.

Updated August 31, 2024, by Charles Burgar: The last row of Artifact perks is now active in Episode: Echoes, bringing with it a new suite of Auto Rifle-themed perks. We've updated this guide to include exact numbers and notable information about every new Artifact perk.

How The Artifact Works In Episode: Echoes

The Hunter's Journal is unlocked partway through The Final Shape campaign, similar to seasonal Artifacts from past expansions. All XP you earn throughout the episode will increase the Artifact's level, unlocking additional Artifact perks while increasing your account's Power level. The more XP you earn, the more perks and bonus Power you'll earn.

For the first two acts of Echoes, the Artifact has 30 perks to choose from, broken up into five columns. From the inventory screen, inspect your Artifact to bring up the perk menu. These perks are passive and always active, even in PvP. The columns are set up in a hierarchical order, so you'll need to spend points on previous columns to unlock the next set of perks. You can have up to 12 perks active at a time.

• Column One: Unlocked by default.
• Column Two: Requires 3 unlocked passives from the previous column.
• Column Three: Requires 5 unlocked passives from previous columns.
• Column Four: Requires 7 unlocked passives from previous columns.
• Column Five: Requires 10 unlocked passives from previous columns.

Unlike the seasonal model, the new episodic model will actually change the Artifact over time. Each new act in the current episode will add new perks to the Artifact, presumably by adding a new row. It's unclear how perk limits will change to account for these new options, but keep this in mind when allocating perk points. We'll update this article as the Artifact evolves.

Resetting Your Artifact

If you aren't getting much use out of your Artifact, you can reset it by holding onto the "Reset Artifact" option in the Artifact menu. You can also select active perks on your Artifact to deactivate them, allowing you to reallocate your points. This might be useful if you're switching between builds or from PvE to PvP. Resetting your Artifact costs nothing and can be done as many times as you please.

Column One Perks

This column buffs your weapons with anti-Champion capabilities, which is needed to tackle Destiny 2's endgame PvE content like Nightfalls and Master Lost Sectors. These anti-Champion properties also give your weapons some unlisted effects:

• Anti-Barrier: You can shoot through immune objects and enemies (Cabal Centurion shields, healing Vex Hobgoblins, etc.), and your weapon deals 20% more damage to Titan Barricades.
• Overload: Combatants deal 25% less damage and stop casting abilities. Guardians suffer from 5% longer cooldowns.
• Unstoppable: Guaranteed to stagger non-boss units in PvE.

Additionally, any weapon buffed through these mods will gain the Overcharge tag in endgame content, increasing that weapon archetype's damage by 25%. This does not stack with elemental surges, but it does stack with all damage buffs.

Column Two Perks

Logic Reductor increases the effectiveness of the Radiolarian Transposer origin trait, although calculating an exact value is difficult. It seems to give roughly a 20% damage bonus and increases the origin trait's duration by one second.

Overcharged Armory buffs every weapon added in Final Shape and Echoes with overcharge, an endgame PvE modifier that grants weapons with active overcharge 25% more damage. This does not stack with surges and is only active in activities where overcharge is enabled, such as Master raids and Lost Sectors.

Authorized Mods: Elemental Charge sets the cost of the Elemental Charge mod to one energy. This is a leg mod that grants Armor Charge upon collecting subclass pickups. Consult our armor mods guide for more information on how this mod works.

Saint's Inspiration behaves similarly to Ambitious Assassin. Melee damage triggers Cast no Shadows, which will overflow the magazine while this artifact perk is active. This can overflow up to double your base magazine size, the same as the Overflow perk.

Winning Hand is a tough perk to test, but it seems to give your Pale Heart weapons a discount variant of Firefly. All weapons with Dealer's Choice (the Pale Heart destination weapons) will trigger a small Solar explosion on precision kills and multikills. The explosion covers roughly a two-meter radius and deals slightly less damage than Firefly, although the explosion has damage falloff. This makes the explosion far weaker in practice.

Wielding multiple Dealer's Choice weapons will increase the explosion's overall damage, but it does not affect the explosion's damage falloff or blast radius. We suggest using this perk since it's free damage in PvE; just don't expect it to pull much weight.

Authorized Mods: Scavenger reduces the cost of all scavenger mods to one energy. Scavenger mods are found on leg armor and increase the amount of ammunition you gain from ammo bricks.

Authorized Mods: Charged Up reduces the cost of the Charged Up chest mod to one energy. This increases your maximum Armor Charge capacity by one and stacks up to three times.

Column Three Perks

Elemental Siphon creates an elemental pickup matching your Super element when you land multikills with a matching damage type. For example, if you land multikills with a Strand weapon, you'll create a Tangle. This perk triggers after three rapid kills. Pickups are as follows:

• Arc: Ionic Trace
• Solar: Firesprite
• Void: Void Breach
• Stasis: Stasis Shard
• Strand: Tangle

Overload Sword allows your Swords to stun Overload Champions upon landing three hits. This can be tricky to activate on an Overload Champion in the middle of combat, but you can prime this perk by hitting other enemies first. Additionally, all Swords are considered overcharged in endgame PvE content, provided the modifier is active.

Creeping Chill releases a pulse of Stasis energy whenever you defeat a Stasis-debuffed foe with a Stasis weapon. Enemies caught in the pulse are slowed, restricting their movement and ability usage. This perk works in PvP and has absurdly strong synergies with Wicked Implement, which is currently the only Primary weapon that can slow enemies with consecutive hits.

Press the Advantage is an amazing neutral game bonus for every PvE build this season. Breaking a PvE enemy's shields will grant +20 stability, +30 handling, and +30 reload speed for ten seconds. This buff can be refreshed by breaking another combatant's shields, allowing for near-constant uptime in most activities. This does not trigger in PvP.

Threaded Blast is more of a sidegrade than a raw upside. When you detonate a Tangle with a Strand weapon, its blast radius will double at the cost of half damage. This makes it better for clearing out fodder units, but if you're using Tangles in endgame PvE content or even Crucible, this is usually a straight downgrade. Threaded Blast does not affect any Aspects that modify Tangles, such as The Wanderer and Whirling Maelstrom.

Incendiary Rifle Rounds buffs your Sniper Rifles with Scorch ammo. Landing a precision hit with a Solar Sniper Rifle will inflict x25 Scorch, increased to x35 with Ember of Ashes (Solar subclasses only). With good aim, you can now trigger Ignitions with Solar Snipers, which will greatly increase your single-target DPS. Great weapons to pair with this include Whisper of the Worm, Still Hunt, and the IKELOS Sniper Rifle.

Sustained Fire gives you a 40% damage resistance buff for six seconds upon landing consecutive damage with an Auto Rifle. You must actively be dealing damage with the weapon for Sustained Fire to proc. The buff itself is displayed as "Resist x3" on your HUD and can be refreshed. This DR buff stacks multiplicatively with other DR sources. You cannot activate this perk by damaging Guardians in PvP.

Column Four Perks

Counter Energy restores a whopping 30% ability energy to your least-charged ability whenever a Champion is stunned. This works in all PvE content with Champions, including Grandmaster Nightfalls and Master Lost Sectors. Counter Energy doesn't have a cooldown either, so this perk is nothing short of S-tier if you plan on farming any difficult PvE content.

Blade Stamina restores three ammo whenever you land a triple kill with a Sword, allowing you to hypothetically use your Sword indefinitely while slaying adds. In practice, the timing for this perk is incredibly tight, requiring you to land that triple kill within a three-second window to receive that bonus ammo.

Void Hegemony grants +15 Void Overshield whenever you defeat a weakened foe as a Void or Prismatic subclass. Void Overshields cap out at roughly +45, so you'll need to kill three weakened enemies to receive a full overshield. Reactivating Void Hegemony will also refresh your Void Overshield timer.

Radiant Orbs is back and remains an S-tier pick. While on a Solar or Prismatic subclass, picking up an Orb of Power will grant Radiant for ten seconds, increasing all weapon damage by 25%. This also buffs the damage output of Golden Gun for Hunters. Virtually every Solar and Prismatic build will want this perk active.

Galvanic Armor provides a 30% damage resistance buff while affected by Amplified, an Arc keyword that increases your movement speed and jump height. This DR bonus is reduced to 10% in PvP. Galvanic Armor does stack with other sources of DR, doing so multiplicatively.

Solar Fulmination doesn't technically buff your Ignitions. It instead adds a second damage instance with each Ignition explosion. This second damage instance is about 25% as effective as a standard Ignition, covers a ten-meter radius, and benefits from Ignition-related fragments like Facet of Ruin.

Targeting Autoloader's in-game description is slightly misleading. While you're actively using an Auto Rifle, kills will build stacks of the Targeting Autoloader buff, up to five stacks. At maximum stacks, your Auto Rifle restores 40% of its magazine with each kill and deals 20% more damage. This buff only applies to Auto Rifles, not all weapons like the in-game description implies. This buff stacks with other damage buffs, including Radiant and surges.

Column Five Perks

Prismatic Transfer offers a 20% damage bonus for ten seconds to all allies with a non-matching Super element. This counts as an empowering buff and does not stack with Radiant, Weapons of Light, and similar character-bound damage buffs. It does stack with leg surges and weapon perks, however.

Argent Blade increases all Sword damage by 10% for five seconds while active. You must damage an enemy with a Sword while you have Armor Charge for this perk to trigger. Unlike Prismatic Transfer, Argent Blade stacks with all damage buffs, making this a fantastic option for PvE encounters where Swords are ideal.

Expanding Abyss has a somewhat misleading description. Weakened enemies receive more damage from all Void weapons, increasing the magnitude of the weaken debuff; this is not a damage buff like Radiant or Argent Blade. The source of weaken doesn't matter. As long as you damage the target with a Void weapon, you'll receive the bonus damage.

• 15% Weaken ⇾ 25% with a Void weapon.
• 30% Weaken ⇾ 35% with a Void weapon.

Shieldcrush is technically two perks in one. While you have a defensive keyword active—Frozen Armor, Void Overshield, or Woven Mail—your melee abilities will deal 25% more damage and recharge 25% faster in PvE. While you have an offensive keyword active—Amplified or Radiant—your grenades deal 25% more damage and recharge 25% faster.

This perk works in PvP, albeit with reduced effectiveness. Your abilities deal 10% more damage and recharge 5% faster in the Crucible.

Transference buffs the Transcendence state of Prismatic. While Transcendent, your grenades and melee abilities deal 10% more damage, stacking with other damage modifiers like Exotics and Shieldcrush. Additionally, kills with weapons during Transcendence will refund Transcendence energy once the effect ends, restoring 2.5% Super energy for every enemy slain. The maximum refund you can receive is 50% energy.

Sniper's Meditation grants up to a 15% damage buff with all Sniper Rifles, stacking with all other damage buffs like Radiant and leg surges. Each hit grants one stack of Sniper's Meditation, lasting seven seconds. You'll need to hit five stacks to achieve the maximum 15% damage bonus. This works on all Sniper Rifles as well, including Still Hunt, Whisper of the Worm, and Izanagi's Burden.

Shock and Awe returns from previous seasons and works as you'd expect. While you are Amplified, all Arc kills (including weapons) will trigger a miniature Storm Grenade at the target's location, spawning a cluster of lightning bolts that deal heavy damage and inflict Jolt. This effect has a five-second cooldown between activations.