Destiny 2 Deconstruct: Weapons and Perk guide

When Deconstruct was first released in late 2023, it was one of the weakest options at the time. With no enticing buffs other than extra damage to vehicles and constructs, the perk was inarguably dead on arrival.

However, now Deconstruct is the talk of the town. What changed, and why is it now so popular? Let’s take a look.

Deconstruct weapons in Destiny 2

Currently, these are all the weapons that can roll with Deconstruct:

Art	Weapon	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?
	Cold Front	Submachine Gun	Aggressive	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Free-to-Play	Seasonal	Primary	Kinetic	Average ❘ B	-	Event: Dawning	No	Free-to-Play	Season 12	Kinetic	No
	Eye of Sol	Sniper Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Kinetic	Lightfall	No	Special	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvP	Trials of Osiris	No	Lightfall	Season 10	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Breakneck	Auto Rifle	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Playlist: Gambit	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Kinetic	No	Top-tier	Kinetic Tremors
	Scatter Signal	Fusion Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Special	Strand	Season 23	Yes	Special	Strand	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Belisarius-D	Pulse Rifle	Aggressive Burst	Legendary	Primary	Strand	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Strand	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Crucible Competitive	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Imperative	Scout Rifle	High-Impact	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Season 23	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Worst ❘ D	-	Undying	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Kinetic	Craftable		Kinetic Tremors
	Supercluster	Shotgun	Pinpoint Slug	Legendary	Special	Strand	Season 23	Yes	Special	Strand	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier	Reconstruction
	Appetence	Trace Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Stasis	Season 23	Yes	Special	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Naeem's Lance	Sniper Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Special	Strand	Deluxe Edition	Yes	Special	Strand	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Warlord's Ruin Dungeon	No	Deluxe Edition	Season 23	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Tusk of the Boar	Grenade Launcher	Wave	Legendary	Special	Strand	Free-to-Play	Yes	Special	Strand	Ongoing...	-	Iron Banner	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Kinetic	No
	Retrofuturist	Shotgun	Lightweight	Legendary	Special	Void	Free-to-Play	Yes	Special	Void	Average ❘ B	-	World loot pool	No	Free-to-Play	Season 13	Energy	No
	Retold Tale	Shotgun	Precision	Legendary	Special	Void	Free-to-Play	Yes	Special	Void	Best ❘ S	PvP	Shattered Throne Dungeon	No	Free-to-Play	Season 13	Energy	No	Top-tier
	Uzume RR4	Sniper Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Special	Solar	Free-to-Play	Yes	Special	Solar	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Nightfall: The Ordeals	No	Free-to-Play	Season 14	Energy	No	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Darkest Before	Pulse Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Solar	Average ❘ B	PvP	Prophecy Dungeon	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Energy	No
	The Title	Submachine Gun	Aggressive	Legendary	Primary	Void	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Void	Average ❘ B	PvE	Event: Guardian Games	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Energy	No		Repulsor Brace
	Ros Arago IV	Auto Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Primary	Void	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Void	Strong ❘ A	PvE	World loot pool	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Energy	No	Top-tier
	Lethophobia	Combat Bow	Lightweight	Legendary	Primary	Void	Season 23	Yes	Primary	Void	Strong ❘ A	PvE + PvP	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Albedo Wing	Glaive	Aggressive	Legendary	Special	Arc	Free-to-Play	Yes	Special	Arc	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Event: Dawning	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Energy	No	Top-tier
	Optative	Hand Cannon	Precision	Legendary	Primary	Void	Season 23	Yes	Primary	Void	Average ❘ B	PvE	Undying	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Energy	Craftable
	Adhortative	Pulse Rifle	Adaptive	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Season 23	Yes	Primary	Solar	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Undying	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Scalar Potential	Pulse Rifle	Rapid-Fire	Legendary	Primary	Arc	Season 23	Yes	Primary	Arc	Strong ❘ A	PvP	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier
	Parabellum	Submachine Gun	Adaptive	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Solar	Average ❘ B	-	World loot pool	No	Free-to-Play	Season 23	Energy	No
	Indebted Kindness	Sidearm	Rocket-Assisted	Legendary	Special	Arc	Deluxe Edition	Yes	Special	Arc	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Warlord's Ruin Dungeon	No	Deluxe Edition	Season 23	Energy	No	Top-tier
	Doomed Petitioner	Linear Fusion Rifle	Aggressive	Legendary	Heavy	Void	Season 23	Yes	Heavy	Void	Best ❘ S	PvE	Seasonal activity	Yes	Season 23	Season 23	Heavy	Craftable	Top-tier	Reconstruction
	Edge Transit	Grenade Launcher	Adaptive	Legendary	Heavy	Void	Free-to-Play	Yes	Heavy	Void	Ongoing...	-	Onslaught Activity	No	Free-to-Play	Into the Light	Heavy	No

What does Deconstruct do: Hard Figures

Deconstruct’s in-game description is already one of the longest in the game but provides no solid numbers.

Here’s a more in-depth analysis of the perk’s inner workings, available from d2foundry.gg:

• Upon scoring multiple hits (see below) within 6 seconds of each:
  • Refills 10% of the magazine (rounded up) from thin air. Can be reactivated without a cooldown.
  • Grants 40% increased damage against Constructs and Vehicles for 5 seconds. Additional hits refresh the buff duration.
• Hits required to activate:
  • If magazine is 1: 3 hits.
  • Otherwise: 2 + 50% (25% on Primary weapons) of base magazine capacity, rounded down.
• Hits against Constructs and Vehicles provide 1.5x activation progress for Primary weapons and 2x for Special.

Not only does this perk have a bunch going on with it at base, but it also has an equivalent amount of quirks (some of which we’ll talk about later). Let’s reiterate some of that information from above for the sake of clarity.

Getting multiple hits (either on a single target or multiple), the number of which is dependent on your weapon’s magazine size, activates Deconstruct. Fewer hits are required if they’re on a Vehicle or Construct.

Upon perk activation, Deconstruct reloads 10% (rounded up) of your magazine from thin air, and provides a 40% damage increase against Vehicles and Constructs. Additional hits can refresh and reactivate both of these bonuses.

Finally, Deconstruct does have an enhanced variant, but all it does is increase the duration of the buff from 5 seconds to 6.

How to use Deconstruct and what synergizes with it?

While Deconstruct is considered a waste on most weapon types, some do benefit greatly from the perk’s ammo buffs.

In the case of breech-loaded (Special) wave frame grenade launchers, scoring a direct hit with the projectile counts for two hits. This means that even if you’re only doing damage against a single target, you’ll be able to fully regenerate your ammo from thin air if you play your cards right (since the 10% is rounded up to 100%, in this case). In this sense, Deconstruct is effectively a power-crept version of every other ammo economy perk in the game.

This same notion applies to drum grenade launchers, like Edge Transit. While it won’t allow you to shoot infinitely like with wave frames, Deconstruct’s ammo benefits are extremely potent and function as a non-precision variant of Triple Tap or Fourth Time’s the Charm.

While most of Deconstruct’s benefits apply to the portions that don’t involve Constructs or Vehicles, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention them. The most common use for this perk outside of ammo economy is for Cabal Threshers and Hive Shriekers, which both become more vulnerable to weapons with Deconstruct active. 

Before you go…

New ways to increase Kinetic Tremors’ potency and synergy with builds are always coming. As always, we encourage you to take this perk a step further and make it your own! And just as Kinetic Tremors is a top-tier Kinetic perk, definitely check out Repulsor Brace, its Void counterpart.