Okay, Guardians, buckle up! We’re diving deep into the cosmic closet that is Destiny 2’s Armor 3.0, launching with the Edge of Fate expansion. Get ready for a quirky, easy-to-understand breakdown of what’s changing, what’s staying (mostly!), and how to get your gear game on point!
Destiny 2 Armor: A Whole New Wardrobe
Think of Armor 3.0 as a massive wardrobe overhaul for your character’s armour pieces. The way Destiny 2 armor works is getting a significant facelift, changing how armor stats, mods, and even Exotic pieces function. This new stat system is shaking things up!
Ability Stats: Out with the Old, In with the New!
First things first, the old guard of ability stats – Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect, and Strength – are getting a snazzy new look and purpose in Edge of Fate. Say goodbye to those familiar names! The new lineup features six fresh ability stats: Weapons, Health, Class, Grenade, Super, and Melee. These updated stat values affect everything from your weapon reload speed to your melee ability power.
Your current armor isn’t turning into space dust, thankfully! Existing pieces will see their stats transition at a simple 1:1 ratio (Mobility becomes Weapons, Resilience transforms into Health, and so on). This means a piece rocking 20 Mobility and 15 Discipline now will greet Edge of Fate with 20 Weapons and 15 Grenade. This applies across the board to both Legendary and Exotic new armor.
| Old Stat | New Stat |
| Mobility | Weapons |
| Resilience | Health |
| Recovery | Class |
| Discipline | Grenade |
| Intellect | Super |
| Strength | Melee |
These fresh ability stats boast updated benefits, and here’s a fun twist: they keep giving you goodies even past 100 points, all the way up to a glorious 200! Plus, every single point counts now, unlike the old stat system where only every 10 points made a difference. This means having 145 Weapons is genuinely better than 143 Weapons, and the increase in stat values is a nice, predictable straight line.
While the full details on what each new ability stats does are best seen visually (seriously, find a handy infographic!), the quick rundown is: more Health means you’re tougher, more Melee makes your punches pack a punch with increased melee energy, Grenade makes your explosions bigger, Super makes your Super better with faster super energy regeneration, Class buffs your class ability, and Weapons… well, you get it, it makes your weapons better, potentially improving weapon damage and weapon reload speed.
Since Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery are stepping back as primary armor stats, Bungie is setting them to fixed stat values. Titans and Warlocks will find their Mobility set at the old 30 mark, while Hunters get a snappier 40. Good news for those who love to zoom: new leg armor mods can push this Mobility higher! Resilience is getting locked in at the old 100 value, providing that sweet 30% damage resistance. Flinch resistance, however, is now primarily boosted by investing in the Health stat. And Recovery will hang around the old 60 mark, offering faster shield regeneration. These changes mean no more chasing high recovery stats on every piece of new armor.
Armor Tiers and Armor Archetype: Where Stats Get Their Groove
This is where the numbers game gets interesting! Armor in Edge of Fate is sorted into five distinct gear tiers or armor tiers. Each tier comes with a specific range of possible total armor stats. The higher the tier (especially Tiers 4 and 5), the more juicy additional stats the armour pieces can potentially roll with compared to what players might be used to on their current armor.
| Tier | Typical Total Stats | Mod Energy |
| 1 | ~48-57 | 10 |
| 2 | ~53-63 | 10 |
| 3 | ~59-69 | 10 |
| 4 | ~65-75 | 11 |
| 5 | 75 (Fixed) | 11 |
Higher gear tiers also offer extra goodies! Tiers 4 and 5 grant an extra point of armor mods energy (11 total instead of 10), allowing a bit more flexibility in your buildcrafting. Tier 5 armor even gets a special “stat tuning mod” slot, affecting the armor’s tuned stat. This extra slot lets you take 5 points from one stat and add them to another. The total stat count stays the same, preventing truly wasted stats from dragging you down, but you can fine-tune the distribution!
When you acquire a piece of new armor in Edge of Fate, it’ll belong to a randomly assigned stat archetype or armor archetype. This archetype is key because it determines which ability stats are prioritized. Each piece of new armor will feature three main stats: a primary stat, a secondary, and a tertiary. The primary stat and secondary are locked in by the stat archetype, while the tertiary is a wild card picked from the remaining four random stats.
Six stat archetype types are making their debut: Paragon, Grenadier, Specialist, Brawler, Bulwark, and Gunner. Each pairs a different primary stat and secondary stat. Knowing the stat archetype helps you avoid getting entirely wasted stats.
- Paragon: Primary stat Super, Secondary Melee.
- Grenadier: Primary stat Grenade, Secondary Super.
- Specialist: Primary stat Class, Secondary Weapons.
- Brawler: Primary stat Melee, Secondary Health.
- Bulwark: Primary stat Health, Secondary Class.
- Gunner: Primary stat Weapons, Secondary Grenade.
So, if a player is aiming for a grenade and super-focused build, the Grenadier stat archetype is likely the target. If weapons are the priority, the Gunner stat archetype is the way to go.
This means if a Tier 1 armour piece with 55 total stats drops with the Grenadier stat archetype, it might roll something like 30 in Grenade (primary stat!), 16 in Super (secondary!), and then maybe 9 in the new health stat (that random tertiary!). Any stats not boosted by the archetype or tertiary could be considered potential dump stats.
Feeling lucky? Ghost armor mods will be available to increase the chances of certain stat archetype types dropping. So, you can nudge the odds towards that Grenadier dream!
A little insider info on Tier 5 gear: it’s guaranteed to have 75 total armor stats with a breakdown of 30 in the primary stat, 25 in the secondary, and 20 in the tertiary. Sweet, less chance of truly wasted stats here!
Armor Set Bonuses: Mixing and Matching Fun
Legendary Destiny 2 armor in Edge of Fate is getting its own version of origin traits – armor set bonuses! These perks granted activate when you equip two or four armour pieces from the same set. This is great because it allows players to get the powerful four-piece bonus from an armor set while still wearing a favorite Exotic armor piece from a different same set. Alternatively, players could combine two different armor sets to get two different two-piece armor set bonuses from different same sets. Expect to see plenty of different armor set bonuses when Edge of Fate launches!
Exotic Armor: Old Friends and New Arrivals
New Exotic armor pieces dropping in Edge of Fate will generally roll as Tier 2 armour pieces, with armor stats between 58 and 63. While that might sound a bit lower than what’s currently possible, the changes to masterworking (coming up next!) make it less of a drastic difference, reducing the potential for wasted stats.
Existing Exotic armor (except for exotic class items) won’t magically update to the new system; their armor stats will just transfer over 1:1 from the old stat system. However, exotic class items will be fully updated to the Armor 3.0 system.
Bungie has hinted at possibilities for future Exotic armor to roll above Tier 2, and some Tier 4 Exotic armor with 11 mod energy has already been spotted in previews, minimizing wasted stats potential on those specific pieces.
Exotic class items specifically will be Tier 2 with a guaranteed 63 total armor stats: 30 primary, 20 secondary, and 13 tertiary. Their armor archetype and tertiary stat will depend on their specific perks granted. The leftmost perk determines the archetype (and thus primary/secondary), while the rightmost perk determines the tertiary. As a trade-off for this update, exotic class items will lose any existing Artifice mod slots.
For instance, if an Exotic armor class item has a perk in the left column that grants the Paragon archetype (Super/Melee) and a right column perk that provides a Grenade tertiary stat, that exotic class items would always drop with 30 Super, 20 Melee, and 13 Grenade. The exact perk-to-stat mappings for these exotic class items are still being fully discovered, and what happens if a tertiary stat matches a primary stat or secondary stat is a fun little mystery for launch day!
Interestingly, legendary armor piece class items can drop up to Tier 5! This means a legendary armor piece will contribute significantly more additional stats than before, making it much easier to push those total stat values way past 100 and reduce wasted stats.
The Masterwork Makeover
Masterworking is getting a fun little twist for all newly acquired Destiny 2 armor that drops in the Armor 3.0 system (that includes fresh Exotic armor and all legendary armor piece gear). The best part? You don’t need to masterwork for max energy anymore! All new armor drops with 10 energy, or 11 if it’s Tier 4 or 5. Hooray, no more Enhancement Core headaches just for mod capacity on your new armor!
So, what does masterworking do now? It bumps up the lowest stats on a piece of new armor by +1 per masterwork level, topping out at +5 for each of the lowest stats (a total of +15 bonus additional stats). Important note: Masterworking only increases these lowest stats; it does not increase the primary, secondary, or tertiary stats that the armor originally rolled with. Imagine masterworking that hypothetical Exotic armor class item with 30 Super, 20 Melee, and 13 Grenade. Its lowest stats (the ones not determined by the perks, effectively starting at zero) would get that +5 boost, bringing the total armor stats to 78. While a top-tier current armor Exotic masterworked might hit 80 total, a high-stat new armor Exotic masterworked armor might reach 78 – a pretty close race! Masterworking helps round out those dump stats that weren’t part of the main distribution.
The Hunt for “Illegal” Combos
With only six initial stat archetype types, some armor stats pairings possible on current armor won’t naturally appear in the new stat system. These are the so-called “illegal combos.” A popular one players have been chasing is the Mobility/Intellect combo, which translates directly to the weapons stat/Super in Armor 3.0.
Should players be frantically farming for these now? Generally speaking, if a player is preparing for tough challenges like the contest mode raid or high-level solo content right at launch of Final Shape, having a few pieces with these specific high-stat rolls from the old system could potentially offer a slight edge. Otherwise, it’s probably not necessary to stress about getting these specific random stats.
Calculations suggest that with ideal Tier 5 legendary armor pieces in Armor 3.0, it should still be possible to achieve very high total armor stats, even hitting impressive numbers like 175 in the weapons stat and 200 Super. This would involve smart use of stat archetype choices, the armor’s tuned stat option, and maybe some help from specific armor mods that provide additional stats.
Getting Prepped: The Pre-Expansion Grind
With Edge of Fate looming before Final Shape, getting your gear ready is a smart move. The focus here is on grabbing certain armour pieces before the Armor 3.0 changes kick in.
The Exotic Armor Advantage (Before It Changes!)
As highlighted, new armor that is Exotic will generally roll as Tier 2, whereas existing Exotic armor can potentially have higher base armor stats, giving them a slight stat advantage after masterworking compared to new armor. Because the old armor stats convert 1:1 (Mobility to the weapons stat, Intellect to Super), farming for Exotic armor with high Mobility and Intellect could be beneficial, especially for builds that want high weapons stat and Super stats. These high stat values reduce the impact of potential dump stats.
Certain Exotic armor pieces that synergize well with Supers or particular weapon types might be prime targets for this pre-expansion hunt, aiming for those high Mobility/Intellect rolls. Other Exotics prioritizing different armor stats might be easier to acquire with good rolls via the new focusing methods in Edge of Fate.
So, how to acquire these potential gems? Grandmaster Nightfalls are great for Exotics and materials, often rewarding resources like Ascendant Shards. Focusing Exotics at Rahool is excellent for targeting specific Exotic armor, provided you have the Engrams and resources. Don’t forget to check old season passes for unclaimed Exotic Engrams using the Destiny Companion App! Solo Lost Sectors on days featuring Exotic armor drops are another option, just watch the rotation. Defeating minor and major combatants can also occasionally drop engrams.
Legendary Hunts and Class Item Glow-ups
Beyond Exotic armor, hunting for legendary armor pieces with high Mobility and Intellect is also useful for that potential weapons stat/Super spike. Focusing seasonal engrams that tend to drop spiky armor stats, perhaps with a Ghost mod prioritizing Mobility, can be effective. The challenge is gathering the required seasonal currency, engrams, or materials.
Remember, Exotic class items are getting a full upgrade to Armor 3.0 with fixed stat values determined by their perks granted. Farming for specific exotic class items now, particularly those with perk combinations that result in desirable stat values in the new stat system, could be advantageous, ensuring fewer wasted stats.
Finally, having a collection of strong legendary armor weapons is always a good idea. Keep an eye out for weapons with promising perk combinations from current activities like Nightfalls or seasonal content, as these can be powerful tools regardless of armor stats changes. Weapons that improve damage versus minor and major combatants or help against boss combatants are key. Perks that grant super energy gained, grenade energy gained, or melee energy gained upon final blows or damaging targets are always useful. Look out for grenade regeneration speed scalars, melee regeneration speed scalars, and class regeneration speed scalars on armor or mods. Some weapon perks might even help with ammo bricks produced indirectly or directly through effects.
In a nutshell, preparing involves prioritizing specific high-stat Exotic armor and legendary armor pieces (especially those with Mobility/Intellect), hunting for key exotic class items with good perk rolls, and stocking up on solid legendary weapons. It’s all about getting a head start on building those future Armor 3.0 masterpieces for tackling minor and major combatants, major combatants, and even boss combatants in Final Shape! Landing those final blows will feel extra rewarding. Focus on gear that improves weapon damage, reload speed, and overall effectiveness.
And there you have it! A quirky deep dive into the upcoming Armor 3.0 stat system in Destiny 2: Edge of Fate. Get ready to experiment, optimize, and look fabulous while saving the galaxy! Understanding how these new stat values and gear tiers work is key.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Destiny 2 Armor 3.0?
Destiny 2 Armor 3.0 represents a massive, sweeping overhaul of your character’s entire armor system, launching with the Edge of Fate expansion. This extensive rework is set to fundamentally change how armor stats, armor mods, Exotic armour pieces, and overall gear progression function, impacting virtually every aspect of buildcrafting in Destiny 2.
When does Armor 3.0 launch?
Armor 3.0 will be introduced as a core component of the upcoming Edge of Fate expansion, meaning it goes live simultaneously with the expansion’s release.
What are the new armor stats in Armor 3.0?
The new stat system replaces the old six ability stats (Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect, and Strength) with a fresh lineup of six distinct stat values: Weapons, Health, Class, Grenade, Super, and Melee. Each of these new stats governs different aspects of your Guardian’s capabilities.
How do my old armor stats convert to the new Armor 3.0 stats?
Fear not, your current armor isn’t obsolete! Existing armour pieces will have their armor stats transition directly at a 1:1 ratio to the new system. Specifically, Mobility becomes Weapons, Resilience transforms into Health, Recovery switches to Class, Discipline fuels your grenade ability, Intellect boosts your Super, and Strength powers up your melee ability. For example, if you have a piece of gear with 20 Mobility and 15 Discipline right now, it will convert to 20 Weapons and 15 Grenade in Edge of Fate. This consistent 1:1 conversion applies to both Legendary and Exotic armor.
Do all stat points matter in Armor 3.0, or only every 10 points?
In Armor 3.0, every single point in an ability stat now provides a benefit, unlike the old stat system where only every 10 points would yield a discernible difference. The increase in benefits is linear, meaning that 145 Weapons is genuinely better than 143 Weapons, and the improvement from 143 to 144 is precisely the same as from 144 to 145.
Do stats still cap at 100 in Armor 3.0?
No, ability stats in Armor 3.0 now continue to provide benefits even after reaching 100 points, scaling all the way up to a maximum of 200 points. Beyond the original 100 cap, each stat unlocks secondary bonuses, allowing for deeper specialization and higher overall power levels for your Guardian.
What happens to Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery in Armor 3.0?
Since Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery are no longer primary armor stats that drop on gear, Bungie has set fixed stat values for them across all classes. Hunters will find their Mobility set at what used to be 40, while Titans and Warlocks will have theirs fixed at 30. All classes will receive a baseline of 100 Resilience, providing a consistent 30% damage resistance. Recovery will be set at around the old 60 mark, offering solid default shield regeneration. While you won’t chase these on gear, new leg armor mods will allow players to increase Mobility, and the Health stat will now primarily boost flinch resistance and faster shield regeneration.
How does armor stat distribution work with armor archetypes?
When you acquire a piece of new armor in Edge of Fate, it will randomly roll with a specific armor archetype (also referred to as a stat archetype). This archetype is crucial because it dictates which ability stats are prioritized on that particular piece. Each armour piece will feature three main armor stats: a primary stat (the highest value), a secondary stat, and a tertiary stat (the lowest of the three). The primary stat and secondary are fixed and guaranteed by the chosen stat archetype, while the tertiary stat is a wild card, randomly selected from the remaining four random stats, creating more “spiky” and focused drops.
What are the different armor archetypes and their stat focuses?
Six distinct stat archetype types will be introduced with Armor 3.0, each designed to emphasize different pairings of your new ability stats:
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Paragon: Primary stat Super, Secondary Melee.
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Grenadier: Primary stat Grenade, Secondary Super.
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Specialist: Primary stat Class, Secondary Weapons.
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Brawler: Primary stat Melee, Secondary Health.
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Bulwark: Primary stat Health, Secondary Class.
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Gunner: Primary stat Weapons, Secondary Grenade.
How can I target specific armor archetypes when farming?
To help players chase their desired builds, Ghost armor mods are being updated. Instead of guaranteeing a certain number of points in an old stat, these mods will now specifically increase the chances of certain stat archetype types dropping for your new armor. For instance, if you’re aiming for a powerful grenade ability and Super combination, you can use a Ghost mod to prioritize the Grenadier stat archetype.
What are armor tiers, and what benefits do higher tiers provide?
In Armor 3.0, armour pieces are categorized into five distinct gear tiers (or armor tiers), ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 5. Each tier corresponds to a specific range of possible total armor stats, with higher gear tiers consistently offering more juicy additional stats. Furthermore, Tier 4 and Tier 5 armor pieces come with an extra point of armor mods energy, providing 11 total energy instead of the standard 10, which allows for slightly more complex buildcrafting.
What is the “stat tuning mod” on Tier 5 armor?
Tier 5 new armor pieces gain a unique and powerful “stat tuning mod” slot. This special slot allows players to fine-tune the distribution of their armor stats by taking 5 points from one stat and adding them to another. The overall total armor stats remains the same, but this feature helps to minimize wasted stats and lets you further optimize your armor’s tuned stat to your preferred build.
What are armor set bonuses in Armor 3.0?
Legendary Destiny 2 armor in Edge of Fate will feature armor set bonuses, akin to origin traits but for armour pieces. These powerful perks granted activate when you equip either two or four armour pieces from the same set. This new system encourages collecting full sets for unique benefits.
How do armor set bonuses work if I want to use an Exotic armor piece?
The armor set bonuses are designed with Exotic armor in mind! You can achieve the maximum four-piece bonus from a legendary armor piece same set while still utilizing a favorite Exotic armor piece in your loadout, as the bonus does not require all five slots to be from the same set. Alternatively, you could mix two different armor sets (e.g., two pieces from Set A and two pieces from Set B) to gain two different two-piece armor set bonuses.
How will new Exotic armor pieces drop in Armor 3.0?
New Exotic armor pieces obtained in Edge of Fate will generally roll as Tier 2 armour pieces, meaning their total armor stats will typically fall within the 58 to 63 point range. While this might appear slightly lower than the absolute highest possible stat rolls on some existing current armor Exotics, the changes to masterworking (which applies universally to new armor) help to significantly narrow this statistical gap.
What happens to my existing Exotic armor when Armor 3.0 launches?
For most of your current armor Exotic armor pieces (excluding exotic class items), their armor stats will simply transfer 1:1 to the new stat system (e.g., your high Mobility roll becomes a high weapons stat roll). However, these existing Exotics will not automatically gain the new armor archetype properties or armor set bonuses associated with freshly dropped Armor 3.0 gear.
How do Exotic class items change in Armor 3.0?
Exotic class items are a special case: they will be fully updated to the Armor 3.0 system. They will consistently roll as Tier 2 armour pieces with a guaranteed 63 total armor stats, specifically distributed as 30 in the primary stat, 20 in the secondary, and 13 in the tertiary. Their armor archetype and tertiary stat will be determined by the unique perks granted by the class item itself (the leftmost perk influencing archetype, the rightmost influencing tertiary). As a trade-off for gaining these inherent stats, exotic class items will lose any existing Artifice mod slots.
Do I still need to masterwork armor for max mod energy in Armor 3.0?
No, this is a fantastic quality-of-life improvement! All new armor that drops in Armor 3.0 will automatically have its maximum armor energy available from the start (10 energy for most, or 11 for Tier 4 and 5 gear tiers). This means you no longer need to spend precious Enhancement Cores or other materials just to fully utilize your armor mods.
What does masterworking armor do in Armor 3.0 now?
With max energy built-in, masterworked armor now serves a different, but still valuable, purpose. Masterworking an armour piece will boost its lowest stats by +1 per masterwork level, topping out at +5 for each of those three lowest stats, for a total of +15 additional stats. It’s important to note that masterworking only increases these bottom three stats; it does not alter the primary, secondary, or tertiary stats that the armor originally rolled with. This effectively helps to round out any dump stats that weren’t the focus of the piece.
What are “illegal combos” and should I farm for them before Edge of Fate?
“Illegal combos” refer to specific armor stats pairings that were possible on current armor but will no longer naturally drop on new armor in the new stat system, as none of the six new stat archetype types provide them directly. A popular example is the old Mobility/Intellect combination, which translates to the weapons stat/Super. Generally speaking, if a player is preparing for extremely tough challenges like the contest mode raid or high-level solo content right at the launch of Final Shape, having a few well-rolled pieces with these now-unavailable combos could provide a slight edge. However, it’s not strictly necessary to stress extensively about farming for these random stats, as the increased overall stat values and mechanics of Armor 3.0 will still allow players to achieve very high total armor stats across their build through other means.
