Haliaetus god rolls and best perks in Destiny 2

Haliaetus, Ash & Iron’s new rocket launcher, gives players a new option for their heavy slot while featured gear is still key in Destiny 2.

This new rocket launcher brings some perks to watch out for, though you’ll probably miss a couple of big-ticket perks for heavies. This item drops pretty often, so you’re bound to pick up a couple of copies of it (and I’m constantly reminded of Strohl’s awakening in Metaphor: ReFantazio).

Here are our top pick for the Haliaetus rocket launcher in Destiny 2.

Haliaetus PvE god rolls in Destiny 2

• Barrel: Quick Launch, Linear Compensator, or Smart Drift Control
• Mag: Impact Casing, High-Velocity Rounds, or Alloy Casing
• First perk: Envious Assassin, Auto-Loading Holster, or Impulse Amplifier
  • Honorable mention: Cluster Bombs
• Second perk: Elemental Honing or Aggregate Charge
  • For a smaller focus on boss DPS, Binary Orbit, Bipod, and Reaper’s Tithe can also work.

Strand gets another rocket launcher in contention for boss DPS phases, after Cynosure’s addition in Heresy. Haliaetus is part of the High-Impact archetype, and it’s also the first Strand rocket launcher tied to the tier system.

A quick look at Halietus’ perk pool shows the absence of two big contenders we’ve been accustomed to in heavy weapons: it doesn’t roll with Bait and Switch, nor does it bring Envious Arsenal to the fold. This doesn’t mean you should instantly dismantle your copies of Haliaetus, though: you can still get some good mileage out of this rocket launcher.

For perks, we recommend gunning for Auto-Loading Holster, Impulse Amplifier, or Envious Assassin. Each has its advantages depending on how you’d like to use them. Envious Assassin gets you an overloaded magazine so you can unload more often, but stops offering benefits after that. This isn’t as much of an issue with the right magazine, though.

Auto-Loading Holster can work in tandem with other weapons in your damage rotations, such as using Mint Retrograde or New Malpais to hit the boss while you wait for the automatic magazine refill (though going with either of them might mean one less stack of Elemental Honing). The uncalled-for nerf in Update 8.1.0 does hurt the perk a bit, though it gives you a bit more time to land a couple of different damage types to stack Elemental Honing. Lastly, Impulse Amplifier vastly improves your rocket’s projectile speed and reload, making it a comfortable pick.

Grenade-based builds might get some benefit out of Blast Distributor, and Cluster Bomb can help you double down on damage, especially after the 10-percent buff to each explosion in Ash & Iron when the perk is Enhanced. The jury is still out on that last bit, and choosing Cluster Bomb over one of the other perks is arguably too much of a loss, so we classed it as an honorable mention instead.

For boss damage, we recommend going for Elemental Honing, which you can stack somewhat easily if you distribute your elemental damage types across your build. This is probably the tried-and-true method, though you can get similar benefits with Aggregate Charge and the proper setup. It’s easier to trigger it in multiplayer scenarios, since it tallies the number of elemental debuffs on a target.

For parts, we went for the tried-and-true Impact Casing, High-Velocity Rounds, or Alloy Casing. Impact gives you slightly more damage on a hit, while High-Velocity Rounds makes your rocket faster and shortens your reload. Alloy Casing provides a hefty boost to reload speed at the expense of stability, which can also be useful if you’re using Envious Assassin.

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