As your Power grows and you move onto greater challenges, you’ll encounter content and quest steps that set you against Champions. Champions are tough, but we’ll make sure you’re tougher.
In the guide, we’ll cover what Champions are, how to beat them, and where to farm them. Let’s set you up for success, Guardian.
Updated as of Season of the Wish (S23).
What are Champions in Destiny 2
Champions are miniboss-like enemies that appear in a variety of PvE activities. There are three variants of them (Barrier, Unstoppable, and Overload), all of which have a unique way of disrupting them.
Anti Barrier Champions, Destiny 2
After losing around a third of their health, Barrier Champions will pop a shield and begin regenerating HP. To stun them, you’ll need to use any weapon or ability with anti-barrier capabilities attached to it. Assuming you’re successful, they will become stunned: their shield will drop, they’ll stop regenerating health, and they’ll become slightly more vulnerable to damage.
How to fight champions in Destiny 2
For all three Champion types, you will need to stun them using the right weapon/mod combination. Once stunned, the Champions will pause, drop their guards, and become more vulnerable to attacks.
The ability to stop these mini-bosses in their tracks and make them vulnerable to your attacks can take some of the most troublesome enemy types in the game and make them almost trivial. Trust us, though, when facing Champions in endgame content, you’ll want every advantage you can get.
Some Exotic weapons can intrinsically deal with Champions without the need for a specific mod:
However, Seasonal Mods, earned by leveling up your seasonal artifact, are what will allow you to defeat these champions for the most part. These mods will change each season as well.
Destiny 2 Anti-Barrier Champions
For Barrier Champions, after they receive about a third to half of their health in damage they will pop a barrier and begin to heal. To stun them, break their barrier with your anti-barrier weapon. If successful, they will stop healing and become stunned/more vulnerable to damage.
It’s worth noting that Anti-Barrier weapons work against non-champion barriers as well. So you could use a weapon empowered on one of these mods to shoot through a Hive Knight Shield, for example.
Anti-Barrier weapons:
| Art | Name | Type | Archetype | Rarity | Ammo? | Element? | Requirements | In loot pool? | Ammo | Element | Tier | Excels | Source | Craftable? | Requires | Released | Slot | Can be Crafted? | Best of? | Top Perk? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Arbalest | Linear Fusion Rifle | Exotic | Exotic | Special | Kinetic | Lightfall | Yes |  Special |  Kinetic | B › Average | - | Exotic Quest |  No |  Lightfall | Season 6 | Kinetic | No | ||
 | Revision Zero | Pulse Rifle | Exotic | Exotic | Primary | Kinetic | The Witch Queen | Yes |  Primary | Kinetic | A › Strong | PvE | Operation: Seraph's Shield | Yes |  Witch Queen | Season 19 | Kinetic | Craftable | Top-tier | |
 | The Lament | Sword | Exotic | Exotic | Heavy | Solar | Beyond Light Pack | Yes |  Heavy |  Solar | A › Strong | PvE | Exotic Quest | No |  Beyond Light Pack | Season 12 | Heavy | No | Top-tier | |
 | Wish-Ender | Combat Bow | Exotic | Exotic | Primary | Kinetic | Forsaken Pack | Yes | Primary | Kinetic | S › Best | PvE | Exotic Quest | No |  Forsaken Pack | Season 4 | Kinetic | No | Top-tier |
Destiny 2 Overload Champions
For Overload Champions, uninterrupted fire will eventually stun them. Laying a steady stream of rapid-fire on your target with the empowered weapon will accomplish this fairly easily. Once stunned, they, too, will become more vulnerable to your attacks.
Overload weapons:
| Art | Name | Type | Archetype | Rarity | Ammo? | Element? | Requirements | In loot pool? | Ammo | Element | Tier | Excels | Source | Craftable? | Requires | Released | Slot | Can be Crafted? | Best of? | Top Perk? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Divinity | Trace Rifle | Exotic | Exotic | Special | Arc | Shadowkeep Pack | Yes | Special |  Arc | A › Strong | PvE | Exotic Quest | No |  Shadowkeep Pack | Season 8 | Energy | No | Top-tier | |
 | Le Monarque | Combat Bow | Exotic | Exotic | Primary | Void | Forsaken Pack | Yes | Primary |  Void | B › Average | PvE + PvP | Exotic Kiosk | No | Forsaken Pack | Season 5 | Energy | No | ||
 | Thunderlord | Machine Gun | Exotic | Exotic | Heavy | Arc | Forsaken Pack | Yes | Heavy | Arc | B › Average | PvE | Exotic Engram | No | Forsaken Pack | Season 4 | Heavy | No |
Destiny 2 Unstoppable Champions
For Unstoppable Champions, Guardians will need to aim down sights their Unstoppable modded weapons for a few moments to trigger the effects of the mod, shown as giving the weapon a glowing red barrel. Once active, shoot the Unstoppable Champion using that weapon to stun them.
Unstoppable weapons:
| Art | Name | Type | Archetype | Rarity | Ammo? | Element? | Requirements | In loot pool? | Ammo | Element | Tier | Excels | Source | Craftable? | Requires | Released | Slot | Can be Crafted? | Best of? | Top Perk? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bastion | Fusion Rifle | Exotic | Exotic | Special | Kinetic | Shadowkeep Pack | Yes | Special | Kinetic | B › Average | - | Exotic Kiosk | No | Shadowkeep Pack | Season 9 | Kinetic | No | ||
 | Devil's Ruin | Sidearm | Exotic | Exotic | Primary | Solar | Shadowkeep Pack | Yes | Primary | Solar | B › Average | PvE + PvP | Exotic Kiosk | No | Shadowkeep Pack | Season 9 | Energy | No | ||
 | Leviathan's Breath | Combat Bow | Exotic | Exotic | Heavy | Void | Shadowkeep Pack | Yes | Heavy | Void | A › Strong | PvE | Exotic Kiosk | No | Shadowkeep Pack | Season 8 | Heavy | No | Top-tier | |
 | Malfeasance | Hand Cannon | Exotic | Exotic | Primary | Kinetic | Free-to-Play | Yes | Primary | Kinetic | S › Best | PvE | Exotic Quest | No |  Free-to-Play | Season 4 | Kinetic | No | Top-tier |
Where to farm Champions
Champions can be farmed in a few ways. You might often find yourself with a quest or challenge involving stunning or landing final blows against Champions. This can be challenging in regular content matchmaking when you can’t necessarily communicate with your fellow blueberries easily. That is where farming comes in handy. Activities each Season will have opportunities to farm Champions to varying degrees of success. However, some methods are evergreen.
One popular way to farm Champions is to solo Legend Lost Sectors. These Lost Sectors rotate daily, so be sure to check your Director and planetary maps to see where they are each day.
Another tried and true method is to load up a Nightfall at ranks Hero, Legend, or Master solo or on a fireteam. Each ascending rank will spawn more Champions per run. Champions also appear in Grandmaster Nightfalls at the highest density, but for farming purposes, it would be faster to make multiple runs at a lower difficulty.
Before you go…
You now know everything there is to know about Champions. If you’re interested in other enemy types, we cover all the Destiny 2 Enemies here.
Loved this post! I was struggling to take down some of the champions in the raids, but this guide has given me the edge I needed. The info on the mod and exotic perks is super helpful, thanks for sharing!