Best Ergo Sum Exotic Sword Perks in Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Destiny 2: The Final Shape brought a metric ton of new weapons and some of the most unique Exotics the game has ever seen. One of them is the Ergo Sum Exotic Sword, which is cool not only because it’s the first Special ammo sword in the game but also because it can roll with weapon perks from other Exotics. And that’s today’s topic: The best Exotic perks you can get on the Ergo Sum Exotic Sword.

Top 5 Exotic Perks on the Ergo Sum Exotic Sword

The Ergo Sum can roll with perks from 8 other Exotic weapons, from the classic Riskrunner to the Cloudstrike Sniper Rifle and other, even more powerful weapons. I’ll be discussing the best five of these today.

Before we get started, though, I should also mention that the Ergo Sum can roll with any of the five Sword frame types, from Wave Frame to the Aggressive slam attack frame. In most cases, I find Wave Frame to be the most useful, as it opens up opportunities for activating Exotic perks from a distance, something a sword would otherwise have trouble with.

Wolfpack Rounds from Gjallarhorn

For some unknown reason (read: it’s cool), Bungie put the Gjallarhorn‘s iconic Wolfpack Rounds on a sword. Oh, and they work exactly like you’d expect. Every powered Heavy attack, which costs three units of ammo, sends out several seeking rockets that do additional damage to one target or multiple.

For all frames other than Wave, the rockets come out of the Ergo Sum itself. For Wave Frame versions, they come out of the explosion at the end of the wave, or when such hits an enemy. Sadly, the Ergo Sum doesn’t also confer the Destiny 2 Gjallarhorn’s Pack Hunter buff to other Guardians on your fireteam, but we can’t have everything we want in life.

Arc Conductor from Riskrunner

The number of times I’ve seen the local PvE expert in my clan use Riskrunner to trivialize even the hardest content in the game is too damn high. And now its ability, Arc Conductor, is on a sword. It’s not quite as easy to activate on the Ergo Sum, as you need to do a powered heavy attack to make the perk go online, but once you do, you take massively reduced damage from Arc sources and chain lightning to any enemy near where the attack landed. For many of the more recent activities in Destiny 2, where enemies come in great numbers and have equal amounts of aggression, such protection and clearing ability is a godsend.

Stormbreaker from Cloudstrike

The Cloudstrike Exotic Sniper has always been incredibly powerful, but is hamstrung by there being other technically better Exotics for raw DPS. Ergo Sum with Stormbreaker is likely in the same boat, but its status as a sword with the ability to call down lightning strikes on final blows might give it an edge. If you come into a boss encounter where there are both lots of adds and a mobile boss, it could do wonders. Ergo Sum is in the special slot, which also opens up your Heavy and Kinetic slots for more traditional DPS options.

The Perfect Fifth from Polaris Lance

Solar ignitions are probably the most satisfying effect in all of Destiny 2. Who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned explosion? Adding Perfect Fifth to the Ergo Sum makes every fifth hit with the weapon’s light attack detonate the target. The hits themselves also scorch, meaning this Exotic perk makes a fantastic pairing with any Solar build and puts Ergo Sum in a good place for single-target DPS.

The main problem is the ammo economy of a sword is quite a bit different from a Primary, but its base damage output as a Special weapon is also much higher. It evens out in the wash, save for the explode-y part.

Gathering Light from Traveler’s Chosen

Do you remember Traveler’s Chosen? If you weren’t around during Season of Arrivals, you probably don’t. And honestly? I was around back then, and I forgot about it. As cool as its perk is, turning final blows into energy for all abilities when you stow the weapon, that the original weapon was a Sidearm in a time when Sidearms were pretty bad really got in the way. Put that kind of Exotic perk on a sword, though? Now we’ve got something to discuss. Again, ammo economy becomes a problem if you aren’t getting Special ammo drops, but with the green stuff being so much more common than Heavy ammo, it’s less of a concern.

Those are my picks for the best perks you can put on the Ergo Sum Exotic Sword in Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Luckily, the weapon is fairly easy to farm via the Overthrow game mode and Pathfinder system. It’s just a matter of getting the perfect one. For more on The Final Shape and Destiny 2 in general, check out our D2 guides hub.