The best buffs in Destiny 2 PVE

Important takeaways

• Enhanced buff improves movement speed and weapon handling in Destiny 2, helping with neutral play strategies.
• Frost Armor adds stacking damage resistance to Stasis builds, providing healing and melee energy per stack.
• Invisibility disrupts enemy sightlines, which is essential for the Void Hunter build in PVE.

Destiny 2like many MMOs and RPGs, it's all about buildcrafting. If a player wants to maximize their time with Fatethey must learn to optimize every stat, weapon set, armor, and subclass build. A big part of these builds are the various buffs available from various sources, offering increased damage, speed, survivability and more.

Each subclass has a variety of unique ways to buff a player, and this list shows the ten most popular buffs available in the game. While there is a mix of neutral game buffs, super abilities, and straight up damage boosting powers, what they all have in common is their ability to push a Guardian a bit further and maximize their power potential.

10 Reinforced

It's all about speed

• Source: Arc and Prismatic Subclasses

Amplified is the main Arc subclass keyword that directly applies to the player. It increases movement speed, jump height, glide distance, and weapon handling speed. While it doesn't buff damage or resistance like many other entries on this list, Amplified is a useful neutral game boost that can make long platforming areas feel a little less frustrating.

There are also some exotic weapons and legendary weapon perks that benefit from the player being buffed, so it could be a simple enough buff to build an entire loadout around, should a player wish to do so.

9 Frost armor

Become an icy tank

• Source: Stasis Subclasses

Frost Armor is the newest of the buffs on this list, added with the Stasis rework The final form. This buff is a stacking system that slowly adds increasing damage resistance with each stack, up to a max of 5 stacks, giving 22.5% damage resistance. The main way to add stacks of Frost Armor is by picking up stasis shards, which also offer a small amount of healing and melee energy when picked up.

While this stacking damage reduction is nice and offers multiple build options for each class, it's hard to argue that it alone offers enough strength for endgame PvE. But as an addition to a powerful stasis build, like an Osmiomancy Gloves Warlock, Frost Armor is a welcome buff.

8 Invisibility

Disappear from the battlefield

• Source: Void and Prismatic Subclasses

Invisibility is unlike anything else on this list. It does not increase stats, heal, increase weapon damage, or reduce damage. Rather, it simply renders the player invisible, breaks enemy sight lines, and makes the player a much harder target to kill.

Many players have come to love Invisibility in PvE, especially on a Hunter using Gyrfalcon's Hauberk or Omnioculusand many builds rely on turning invisible to activate specific exotic armor or weapon perks, making risky revives a little less daunting.

7 Warlock Empowering Rift

Increased damage on request

• Source: All Warlock Subclasses

The debate between Warlocks using the Healing Rift and those using the Empowering Rift is fierce. However, with all the available methods of healing currently in the game, the Empowering Rift has a clear place in advanced PvE activities.

Simply dropping the rift on the ground gives the whole team access to a 20% damage increase for all their weapons, which can be crucial when fighting a boss or a room full of very healthy enemies. Add the exotic helmet Stayor Secant filament boots to further enhance the rift with a damage resist, or give the caster Devour, and survivability won't be a problem.

6 Devour

Heal from the death of enemies

• Source: Void and Prismatic Subclasses

Speaking of Devour, here it is. A void subclass ability, available on Prismatic as well, Devour allows the player to heal on every kill and provides some grenade energy, all while extending the buff. It's an incredibly powerful ability, making every kill feel life-saving and allowing the use of a grenade without worrying about the cooldown.

The only major downside to using Devour in higher quality PvE content is that it requires a death to activate, meaning if the player can't kill an enemy before the buff wears off, it simply goes away, leaving them in a tough spot .

5 Warlock Song Of Flame

A damage boost for roaming

• Source: Solar and Prismatic Warlock Subclasses

The newest Warlock super, Song of Flame, offers a whole heap of benefits to both the caster and their nearby allies. As a roaming super, Song of Flame grants the wielder 90% damage resistance, as well as dramatically reduced melee, grenade, and class ability cooldowns, and the ability to apply scorch with both solar and kinetic weapons.

All nearby allies also gain 30% damage resistance, burning rounds, and a 15% cooldown rate per second. It's a lot, but as a super, this is to be expected. It's a very powerful weapon in any Warlock's arsenal, but doesn't quite measure up to the best of their supers when looking at the buffs they provide alone.

4 Beaming

Quick and easy Increased damage

• Source: Solar and Prismatic Subclasses

Radiant is a very strong buff available to all three classes, provided they use either the Solar or Prismatic subclasses. Through several means, the player can become Radiant, providing a 25% damage increase, as well as allowing all weapons to pierce Barrier Champions' shields.

There are very few players who would argue against the use of Radiant in all aspects of PvE, as it is a versatile powerhouse when used in damage rotations and makes dealing with champions much easier. Any solar or prismatic build will benefit from the inclusion of this buff and requires very little input to use it.

3 Warlock Well Of Radiance

The original form of radiant

• Source: Solar Warlock Subclass

Well of Radiance has gone through several changes since it was first re-released Abandoned, and is undoubtedly a shell of its former self. Despite this, it is still one of the most powerful PvE supers in the game and provides some of the best buffs to both the user and their team.

Not only does everyone in the well automatically get a 25% damage increase, but the well also grants 20% damage resistance, immunity to stasis effects, 50 healing per second, and the same shield piercing rounds given by regular radiation. In addition to this, when a player leaves the well, a player will have radiant for 8 seconds. It's also very easy to get wells back to back with the simplest builds, making it an easy first choice for many Warlock players.

2 Blessing of heaven

For players who really want to be a support

• Source: Boots of the Assembler and Lumina Exotics

This is a hugely underrated buff by the majority of players, only really used by speedrunners and those attempting the hardest challenges Fate has to offer. Both the Exotic Lumina Hand Cannon and the Exotic Warlock Boots, Boots by Assemblercan grant the Blessing of the Sky buff to both the user and allies.

This buff restores 90 health as well as providing a 35% weapon damage increase, for simply tagging an ally with this weapon, or dropping a rift with the boots equipped. Purely based on the numbers, this is the second highest damage increasing buff in the game and is incredibly easy to use, only requiring one player on a team to run any of these exotics.

1 Titan Sentinel Shield

The best buffet, according to the numbers

• Source: Void Titan Subclass

The last buff on this list is again a super, in the form of the Void Titans Sentinel Shield. By simply activating the super and holding down the block button, any allies that shoot through the shield gain a 40% weapon damage buff, as well as being protected for the duration of the super.

There was a time when chaining these supers back to back was the only way to beat some of the hardest content in the game. While that may not be true anymore, this is still an incredibly powerful buff that is often overlooked in raid groups due to the fact that it takes a player's damage out of the equation.