The quick explanation is that this mod will increase your damage by 15% and can be used as solo player or in a group. Keep reading for a more in-depth dive, where I’m going to tell what it is, why it’s good, you how to get it, and how to use it effectively.
Video Guide
New Destiny 2 Weakened Clear Mod Explained
How It Works
Weakened and Clear is a new artifact mod from Season 19. This mod is similar to a previous mod called Breach and Clear from Season 14. Once unlocked, you’ll need to equip this in your class item for 5 energy. Once it’s equipped, Grenade Launchers will apply an important buff called Weakened Clear. This will give a 15% debuff to targets causing them to take 15% MORE damage.
Hit something with a grenade launcher or the Damage over Time effect from something like the Witherhoard and you’ll get 15% more damage for 20 seconds.
This buff is exceptionally strong when combined with another new mod called Solo Operative. This is also a season 19 mod which costs 5 energy and also a class item. When playing solo, this mod gives 15% increased damage and stacks with Weakened Clear.
Some notes on this mod:
- It gives the same debuff as Divinity Weapon
- It will not stack with Tractor Cannon or Hunters Tether
Here’s a helpful graphic courtesy of Court Projects, click on the image below for the full spreadsheet and all the information he’s collected.
As you can see from this graphic, Tether and or Tractor Cannon will essentially override the damage debuff and apply only the highest. The strength of this mod is that it is accessible to everyone with a variety of weapon choices and combinations. Moreover, you can build your solo loadout or group around keeping high uptime and absolutely destroying content.
How To Get
In this season, you’ll need 15 points in your seasonal artifact by leveling up your season rank. There’s a variety of ways to do this quickly, but the simplest is by getting bounties and completing activities that revolve around powerful and pinnacle drops and seasonal challenges.
Once you have those 15 points, make your way to the far right of your artifact by unlocking various ones and stop by Grenade Launcher Holster and Unstoppable Grenade Launcher.
I was at around 50 or so season rank when I was able to use this mod. Unlock and use 5 energy to equip in your class item and use a grenade launcher that’s it!
How to Build for It
The best way I’ve found to use this mod is either in solo Lost Sectors, the new dungeon Spire of the Watcher or in Raids is Witherhoard.
Witherhoardis an exotic that can be obtained from the exotic archive at the tower. It shoots out a projectile that does damage on impact of in an AoE PLUS it has a strong damage over time effect for 4.5 seconds.
The really interesting part of Witherhoard is that each tick of the DoT refreshes the Debuff, which causes it to last a lot longer.
Also, if you complete the Witherhoard catalyst (which can be a nightermare for non-pvpers) you’ll get automatic loading on the grenade launcher.
The auto loading opens up a big combination of options. One example is firing off Witherhoard for damage over time, and the debuff. Swapping to a heavy Rocket Launcher with Auto Loading as well, fire it off, the swapping to Kinect weapon until both Witherhoard and the rockets are auto reloading. This will be different for each player but was roughly 3-4 seconds depending on reload speed.
Now you get huge debuff damage and massive burst which is perfect for boss burns and phasing bosses quickly.
Other Weapons Combinations
Some other weapons that I’ve experimented with and are good options are Pardon Our Dust, which is a red bar, craftable weapon, and once obtained you can level up and recraft it for the exact perks you want. Auto-Loading Holster + Vorpal Weapon or Auto Loading and Demolitionist are great options.
Deafening Whisper is a void Grenade Launcher and with Lead from Gold + Auto-Loading Holster this also works well. Then two in the heavy slot, Cry Mutiny which is a solar Grenade Launcher or you can use Typhon GL5 Stasis with Demolitionist + Explosive Light traits. Each can fire multiple rounds in rapid succession and is great to use in Lost Sectors or solo content when you need massive add clear.
Two other notes about the artifact this season which is really incentivizing folks to use grenade launchers is the Grenade launcher Holster, which essentially does the same thing Winterhoard does but at the cost of 1 energy in the leg slot.
Additionally, Unstoppable Grenade Launcher is also an option, though it costs a whopping 7 energy in the arm slot. It’s very expensive but useful in high unstoppable champion areas if you’re like me and do not like using hand cannons if they can be avoided.
Other information
Also, I will participate in the Destiny 2 Dawning event in 2022. If you want to see more of Destiny 2 this week’s action, consider watching me live at twitch.tv/deltiasgaming, and checking out the website for more guides (click), Destiny 2 Beginner Builds (click) and End-game PvE Builds (click).
