Far be it from me to say that FOMO is fundamentally baked into the way Destiny 2’s loot grind works, but I need to remind you that this is the last week you’ll be able to get a PLUG ONE.1 fusion rifle for the foreseeable future. Next season it leaves the rotation of potential Nightfall rewards, with no return date. That matters because PLUG is a very strong Arc weapon, making it well-placed to take advantage of whatever Arc synergies arrive with season 18′s subclass rework. You want a decent PLUG in your arsenal.
How to get Plug One Adept
The good news is that you have until the next weekly reset (6 pm BST/10 am PST/1 pm EST on August 16) to grind for the gun, and it’s relatively easy. In order to acquire a PLUG you need to run this week’s Nightfall strike. Note that the likelihood of the gun dropping increases according to the difficulty level, so you’re going to want to choose at least the Legend (1560) or ideally Master (1590) version.
Really, I recommend putting on your big Guardian pants and going for Grandmaster. It requires you to be at 1585 power, and caps your effective level so that you’re taking more and dealing less damage, but the benefit is that you’re guaranteed a weapon with every successful run—provided you kill all the Champions and thereby earn a Platinum rating. Your reward will be the ‘Adept‘ version of PLUG, which grants a slight stat boost once masterworked and enables you to slot adept mods.
I’ve spent a ton of time using adept rolls of PLUG over the last couple of seasons, so am well placed to give perk recommendations. If you want to see everything available, check out D2 Gunsmith, where you can build out your own perfect roll. Below I’ve broken down the perks you should be looking for in PvE and PvP, with my preferred options towards the top.
What’s the Plug One god roll?
In PvE this is an easy one: Reservoir Burst is by far and away the most important to perk to look for. It deals an AoE blast with amped up damage whenever you have a full magazine. Perfect for clearing out waves of adds with a single shot. As you always want to be firing with a full magazine, Compulsive Reloader and Feeding Frenzy pair perfectly. If you don’t get either of those, consider using a Fusion Rifle Holster mod on your boots so you can swap to the PLUG and be confident it’ll be fully loaded. In terms of damage Accelerated Coils and Liquid Coils are basically a wash, so it comes down to whether you want burst or sustained damage respectively. One slightly more niche option to consider is Adaptive Munitions, which will make the weapon substantially more effective against non-matching shields. Handy in high-end content with the Match Game modifier, especially as the multiple bolts in a burst ramp the effect up fast.
| Barrel | Magazine | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smallbore | Accelerated Coils | Compulsive Reloader | Reservoir Burst |
| Corkscrew Rifling | Particle Repeater | Feeding Frenzy | Adrenaline Junkie |
| Fluted Barrel | Liquid Coils | Adaptive Munitions |
What’s the PvP Plug One god roll?
As is often the case, in PvP you’re looking to make the weapon into a more consistent killing machine. In PLUG’s case, that means barrels and magazines that boost range and stability. In terms of the main perks, Under Pressure is god tier in PvP because the lack of ammo means its effect is pretty much always active. Killing Wind and Successful Warm-Up pair beautifully because both proc on, making them perfect if you’re already the kind of player who slays out with fusion rifles. More situational is Kickstart, which definitely requires some getting used to, but grants a 20% damage buff and increased charge rate when sliding.
| Barrel | Magazine | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer-Forged Rifling | Particle Repeater | Under Pressure | Kickstart |
| Smallbore | Projection Fuse | Killing Wind | Successful Warm-Up |
| Polygonal Rifling |
What mod should I use with Plug One?
For PvE, Adept Big Ones mod is particularly useful, as it provides +7.77 damage against Elites, Minibosses and Bosses (i.e. all Orange and Yellow bar enemies). For PvP, Adept Charge Time will enable you to fire slightly faster without sacrificing the five-bolt kill. Otherwise, I’d again be looking to boost range or stability, depending on what your roll needs help with most. Voop-loving PvP expert Legoleflash recommends trying an Adept Targeting mod in his PLUG guide, which I’ve embedded below.
Tips for beating this week’s Nightfall: The Arms Dealer
- Arbalest is essential: In any content with Barrier Champions and the Match Game modifier, Arbalest is an absolute beast. So much so that I expect it to get nerfed again next season. Arby’s ability to chew through all shields means you can take advantage of the Solar singe for your energy and power weapons. We used scout rifles to handle Unstoppable Champions (Vision of Confluence or Staccato-46) and then Rocket Launchers for boss damage (Hezen Vengeance or Ascendancy). One fireteam member should run Gjallarhorn so that everyone gets the benefit of Wolfpack Rounds.
- Skip the ramp section: One of the only sticky parts in what is otherwise a pretty easy strike is the area with the ramp leading onto the big Cabal ship. Happily, almost all of this section can be skipped. Either climb up the far left side of the ramp, or Sparrow through the gap underneath and go up the far right side. Whichever you choose, once on the ramp, post up behind a box and pick off the Barrier champ with your Arbalests. As soon as he’s dead, book it up the ramp to safety on your Sparrows, ignoring all the other enemies.
- Easy bake the boss: Arms Dealer is a cakewalk provided you don’t get into a drawn out fight with the boss and his cronies. In order to avoid that we’re going to kill him whilst the elevator is travelling up to his arena. To help the burn happen, before activating the elevator one of your team should climb all the way up the chain. This will spawn the boss early, buying valuable seconds of DPS. Dump rockets into him on the ride up and then finish him off with burst supers like Thundercrash, Blade Barrage and Nova Bomb.
As ever, GM aficionado Ekuegan has an excellent guide to fast, safe Arms Dealer runs up on his channel, which again I’ve embedded below. Jump in and be sure to let me know if you drop a god roll in the comments. I’ll be on the hunt for a Reservoir Burst/Compulsive Reloader roll all week, or until my RSI becomes unmanageable. I know what’s more likely to happen first.