Destiny 2 Heresy Artifact: Perks and How to get it

The XP grind is one of the core pillars of the Destiny 2 experience. By earning XP, you earn gear and items through the Season Pass, but more importantly, you can level up your Seasonal Artifact. On top of granting you extra Power Levels, the Artifact also allows you to unlock extremely powerful Mods.

In this guide, we cover everything there is to know about the Seasonal Artifact, including its Perks, Power level gains, and how to get it.

How to get Episode 3’s Heresy Artifact

Obtaining the seasonal artifact is always easy and straightforward. All you need to do is complete the introductory Episode: Heresy quest and claim the artifact at the H.E.L.M. The introductory quest is free-to-play and doesn’t require either The Final Shape or the Episode: Heresy.

How it works

Every episode comes with a new Artifact, which you can find on your Guardian’s inventory screen. As mentioned before, it plays an important role because it grants extra Power Levels and includes several Seasonal Mods. The extra Power Levels are useful for high-end content. On the other hand, the Seasonal Mods are mandatory, as they include the mods needed to deal with Champions (plus other meta-breaking mods).

Heresy Artifact Perks: Tablet of Ruin

The Tablet of Ruin Artifact features 25 perks:

With Heresy calling Guardians to return to the Dreadnaught, we’re going to need all the firepower we can get, so our Artifact for this Episode is especially strong. The Hive and the Dread aren’t going to go quietly so Heavy and Special weapons are picking up anti-Champion capabilities for the Episode, with future acts authorizing further options.

Just as in previous seasons, these are divided into several columns, requiring you to unlock most Perks in the first column before being able to move on to the next column.

Tablet of Ruin Artifact, Destiny 2

Column 1 Perks:

• Unstoppable Fusion: Aiming down sights for a brief period with any Fusion Rifle you are wielding loads a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants.
• Overload Machine Guns: Shots from Machine Guns you are wielding disrupt combatants, stunning them, delaying ability energy regeneration and exhausting them. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Machine Guns are always overcharged when that modifier is active. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage.
• Piercing Sidearms: Your equipped Sidearms fire shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. Additionally, Sidearms are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
• Anti-Barrier Sniper Rifle: Sniper Rifles you are wielding fire shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. Additionally, Sniper Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
• Unstoppable Glaive: Glaives you wield fire a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Additionally, Glaives are always overcharged when the modifier is active.

Column 2 Perks:

• Overclock and Load: While you are amplified or have Bolt Charge, Arc weapons gain increased handling and reload speed.
• Deep Alchemy: Weapons with the Subjugation Origin Trait gain stability and reload speed for a short duration when hitting any target. These weapons are also overcharged when that modifier is active.
• Volatile Marksman: Rapid Void weapon precision hits and rapid Void weapon final blows grant Volatile Rounds. BOOST: Volatile detonations grant class ability energy.
• Legend Incarnate: Weapons with the Timelost Magazine Origin Trait gain bonus damage; these weapons are also overcharged when that modifier is active.
• Unraveling Orbs: Picking up an Orb of Power or a Tangle grants Strand weapons Unraveling Rounds.

Column 3 Perks:

• Hold the Line: While surrounded, Machine Guns and Glaives gain increased reload speed and stability; final blows heal you.
• Dielectric: Defeating Arc debuffed targets grants Bolt Charge. BOOST: Rapidly defeating Arc debuffed targets spawns an Orb of Power and heals a small portion of health.
• King’s Vestige: Defeating powerful Taken loads your weapon with Taken energy. The next time you fire, launch 3 Taken seeker rounds that disrupt and exhaust targets. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage.
• Disruptor Spike: Improves the effects of Exhaust and Sever, lowering a target’s damage output even further. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage. Exhaust is applied by disrupting combatants or by wepaons with the Psychohack or Subjugation Origin Traits.
• Photonic Flare: Defeating an exhausted or severed target with Arc damage releases a blinding burst. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage. Exhaust is applied by disrupting combatants or by weapons with the Psychohack or Subjugation Origin Traits.

Column 4 Perks:

• Dreadful Finisher: Defeating powerful combatants with your finisher spawns Special ammo for you and your allies; defeated Subjugators, Tormentors, or Champions spawn more ammo.
• Maligned Harvest: Rapidly applying Volatile causes your next instance of Void weapon damage to create a weakening burst.
• Flashover: When you gain maximum Bolt Charge, you also become amplified. Lightning bolts deal more damage.
• Horde Shuttle: Damaging unraveled targets with a weapon occasionally spawns a Threadling.
• No Bell: Rapid Glaive melee final blows grants Special ammo Glaives additional ammo. Blocking damage with Glaives increases their melee damage to targets.

Column 5 Perks:

• Particle Reconstruction: Dealing sustained damage with Fusion Rifles or Linear Fusion Rifles partially refills the magazine from reserves and grants them bonus damage for a short duration against that target.
• Elemental Supercharger: Defeating exhausted or severed targets with weapons that match your Super element grants Super energy. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage. Exhaust is applied by disrupting combatants or by weapons with the Psychohack or Subjugation Origin Traits.
• Heavy Ordnance Regeneration: Dealing sustained damage to targets with a Heavy Machine Gun or Rocket Launcher grants damage resistance and increases grenade and melee regeneration for a short duration.
• Defibrillating Blast: Stunning a Champion grants maximum stacks of Bolt Charge. Triggers an Arc bolt that heals you and jolts combatants that it damages.
• Void Flux: Defeating weakened targets with a Void weapon applies Volatile to nearby targets. Powerful targets increase the radius of the explosion.

Important Changes Introduced since Season 20

In Season 20, the Artifact evolved in ways it had never done before. The Artifact’s Mods, which you previously had to equip on your Armor, become passive Perks:

Artifact mods are now artifact perks.These are passive and you don’t have to slot them into armor pieces. Once you unlock an artifact perk, it automatically applies to your Guardian.

Other changes to Artifact Mods/Perks included:

• Specific Perks can now be toggled on and off (instead of having to reset the entire artifact!)
• You can reset the artifact at no cost any number of times.
• Artifice Armor has a unique mod slot that grants three additional points to a character stat of your choice.

Before you go

Don’t miss our XP guide, featuring every trick in the book to increase your XP gains during your playtime. Also, don’t neglect Power Levels, the other pillar of the Destiny 2 leveling experience.