The Summoner Auto Rifle, first released way back in Season of the Worthy almost four years ago, has come back with a vengeance in Season of the Wish. Already a monster, with its refreshed perk pool, a god roll Summoner cuts straight through enemies in both Destiny 2 PvE and PvP.
The Summoner PvE God Roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: Arrowhead Brake, Corkscrew Rifling
- Magazine: Ricochet Rounds, Light Mag
- Trait 1: Heal Clip, Overflow, Subsistence
- Trait 2: Kill Clip, Icandescent, Rampage
Solar weapons are in vogue in Destiny 2 and have been since the advent of Solar 3.0 a while back. The Summoner, however, takes all the advantages of being a solid Solar workhorse weapon and adds literally the best PvE perks in the game. Overflow, Subsistence, Kill Clip, Incandescent — any combination of these four perks makes PvE with a Solar Primary a joy. You can get every combination, plus a new perk, Heal Clip, that provides healing when you reload after defeating an enemy.
Heal Clip/Kill Clip has everything you could want in a perk combination: survivability, extra damage, and general usability. The thing is, you don’t need it, but it is very nice to have. Sometimes, going for pure damage is a bit better than cutting your output, but at the highest levels, Summoner will get a lot of play.
The Summoner PvP God Roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: As PvE
- Magazine: As PvE
- Trait 1: Zen Moment, Dynamic Sway Reduction
- Trait 2: Target Lock, Kill Clip
The fact that The Summoner is as good or better in PvP than it is in PvE is something of a crime, but 600 RPM Auto Rifles have a history of completely dominating the Crucible when it’s their time in the sandbox. And oh, how the Summoner sings. With perks that make the gun more of a laser beam, like Ricochet Rounds, Arrowhead Brake, and Zen Moment, you can maximize your time with Target Lock active. And the longer Target Lock is active, the more damage you deal. Hit all your shots, and any enemy Guardian will go down in less than three-quarters of a second.
Did I mention that the weapon just feels good to use? Even with non-meta perks, The Summoner is incredibly satisfying to fire. The weapon’s sights are some of the better ones in the Auto Rifle category, it’s a 600 RPM with a relatively large magazine, and has solid base stats before you add in optimal perks. That it’s as effective as it is with the PvP god roll is a nice bonus.
How to Get The Summoner Auto Rifle in Destiny 2
The one problem (for me) about getting The Summoner is it’s locked behind Trials of Osiris, the endgame PvP mode in Destiny 2. Trials this late into a season usually have a fairly low population, making both bad connections and cheaters a much larger issue.
Thankfully, unless you want the Adept version of The Summoner, you don’t need to go Flawless (win seven matches in a row). You can simply earn Trials engrams by playing, and win or lose, and you can eventually add The Summoner to your Collections (provided it’s the featured weapon that week). Then, you can Focus Decode any additional Trials engrams at Saint-14 to farm them for the right perks.
Sure, Trials can be a massive pain, especially without a fireteam, but if you go into it not expecting to do much winning and still putting in the effort for your teammates, you’ll do fine. That’s how I try to see it, anyhow.
Those are the god rolls you’ll want for PvE and PvP if you decide to farm Trials of Osiris for The Summoner Auto Rifle in Destiny 2. Depending on your tolerance for some of the game’s most annoying parts, it can be well worth the frustration. If you have a dedicated fireteam that can at least do passably, things get astronomically easier. For more Destiny 2 content, check out our guides hub.
