While sniper rifles have now long been overshadowed by linear fusion rifles in Destiny 2‘s boss DPS meta, the IKELOS sniper rifle was a popular choice back in its prime. It’s v1.0.3 incarnation, released with Season of the Seraph, aims to recover some of its former glory with a new set of perks that create an even stronger weapon for the scenarios it already exceled in.
The god rolls of old are still here, with combinations like Fourth Time’s The Charm and High-Impact Reserves still just as deadly against a raid boss’s weak spot as it was in Season of Arrivals. But power creep and new tools in the hands of Guardians has led to what used to be the optimal loadout now struggling to compete. Bungie knows this, and to make the IKELOS_SR_v1.0.3 a compelling gun to grind this season, it has taken on the likes of Focused Fury and Overflow to offer more options.
As with its other IKELOS family members, the sniper rifle is also now craftable once the pattern has been unlocked. This not only makes it easy to build the god roll of your dreams, but it also gives players access to Enhanced versions of its best perks. Enhanced High-Impact Reserves builds its damage boosts earlier into the magazine. Enhanced Overflow increases the percentage by which the magazine is overflowed. Every infinitesimal improvement can go a long way over the course of a full damage phase.
With the likes of Witherhoard being nerfed this season and Bungie teasing that a new DPS meta in the Heavy weapon slot awaits in Lightfall, now is a great time to grab a fantastic roll of this reprised sniper rifle for when the meta inevitably shifts back to the weapon type in the future.
These are the IKELOS sniper rifle god rolls and best perks in Destiny 2
IKELOS_SR_v1.0.3 PvE god roll
- Barrel: Chambered Compensator
- Magazine: Tactical Mag
- First perk: Fourth Time’s The Charm
- Second perk: Focused Fury
IKELOS_SR_v1.0.3 PvP god roll
- Barrel: Corkscrew Rifling
- Magazine: Seraph Rounds
- First perk: Moving Target
- Second perk: Incandescent
Ultimately, there are multiple paths that you can take for a PvE god roll of this weapon now. Focused Fury is no doubt a more consistent option than High-Impact Reserves, but the Enhanced version of High-Impact Reserves yields a greater bonus to its base effect than Focused Fury’s.
Similarly, Overflow’s impressive bump to magazine size can lead to lengthy uptime for your damage output during a DPS phase. However, it requires regularly having Special or Heavy ammo to pick up to activate. Fourth Time’s The Charm is a safer option with the same style of impact, if Special ammo is something that you are struggling to scavenge throughout a full encounter.
The IKELOS sniper rifle is not designed for PvP, but still comes with a variety of perks that can be constructed into a great choice nonetheless. As with other IKELOS weapons this season, the sniper rifle can come with Incandescent, giving each kill an explosive effect against grouped up enemies. Moving Target and Perpetual Motion are also classic choices for enhancing your stats and making a sniper rifle like this one feel better in a PvP environment.
First perk column
Fourth Time’s The Charm
It was the best perk on the IKELOS sniper rifle before, and it continues to be so on its newest reprisal. While Overflow offers some great competition and an interesting alternative to explore when it comes to enhancing your boss DPS efficiency, Fourth Time’s The Charm’s ability to generate free additional ammo is too economically effective to be beaten. However, unlike Overflow, it’s Enhanced variant does not offer any boosts that will impact the sniper rifle in such scenarios.
Overflow
Overflow is an interesting addition to the perk pool, and it’s extremely effective in the majority of encounters that the IKELOS sniper rifle is used in. As long as you can consistently produce bricks of Special or Heavy ammo, the significant bump to the magazine size can be one of the best ways to improve your damage output within a short damage phase. A worthy alternative to Fourth Time’s The Charm in its Enhanced form.
Moving Target
Moving Target doesn’t serve much purpose in PvE, but the bonus to target acquisition can be a great boon in PvP environments. If you’re building a roll of the IKELOS_SR_v1.0.3 for use in the Crucible, your choice in the first column ultimately boils down to this or Perpetual Motion. Perpetual Motion is great at offering general boosts to the gun’s statistics, but if you desire an increase to bullet magnetism instead to more confidently hit your shots, Moving Target is the way to go.
Perpetual Motion
Perpetual Motion is a newer perk to be gaining traction on sniper rifles. At first glance, it’s effect doesn’t seem too fitting to the weapon type, but the bonus to handling will allow you to ready the weapon rapidly and potentially score the first shot in engagements against other players. With the intensity of flinch in PvP currently, being the first to land a bullet can often be the difference between living and dying when it comes to sniper rifles.
Surplus
Surplus serves a similar purpose to Perpetual Motion, but requires your abilities to be fully charged most of the time in order to function. This is fine if you have rapid cooldowns or tend to avoid using your abilities much, but even just popping a class ability from time to time can drastically reduce the benefits you receive from this perk. It’s inconsistency can harm the feel of using a sniper rifle, making it a hard recommendation compared to other options in this slot.
No Distractions
Another perk solely recommended for PvP, No Distractions serves the niche purpose of countering flinch if you tend to scope in with sniper rifles for long periods of time. A nimble, Rapid-Fire Frame sniper rifle like the IKELOS isn’t one to usually be utilized in such a way, but if your playstyle involves holding a lane for long periods, this perk can save you from missing shots due to intense flinch.
Fragile Focus
Not a bad perk in and of itself, but one with little use on a weapon such as this. There are few scenarios where the bump to range is needed on a sniper rifle, and with that range boost going away the moment you take damage, it’s very little reward for a very high cost.
Second perk column
Focused Fury
Focused Fury does everything High-Impact Reserves does, but better to some degree. If you’re bringing the IKELOS sniper rifle to a lengthy damage phase, such as Oryx in King’s Fall or Taniks in Deep Stone Crypt, the 11 to 12 seconds that this perk gives you a flat 20 percent damage boost for will be some of the best DPS this weapon is capable of. However, there is an argument to be made in favor of Enhanced High-Impact Reserves in encounters where the window for damage is much shorter, and you wouldn’t be able to output damage for the full duration of Focused Fury.
High-Impact Reserves
A classic perk for Rapid-Fire Frame sniper rifles such as the IKELOS_SR_v1.0.3, it’s still a powerful choice in Season of the Seraph. While it is overshadowed by Focused Fury in many situations, the Enhanced version of the perk still stands tall as an alternative, especially for shorter damage phases.
Incandescent
With few other options available for PvP in this column, Incandescent stands tall as the best choice. It might not be often that the area-of-effect Scorch explosion from kills will hit other players, but it will be valuable in the times that it does. In modes such as Control, where enemy teams will often group up, this perk can be an opportunity to turn a precision weapon like a sniper rifle into an area denial device.
Elemental Capacitor
Elemental Capacitor is a somewhat underrated perk, offering sizeable boosts to a variety of stats based on your subclass, but its place in the second column on the IKELOS sniper rifle hurts its viability. There are very few scenarios where you will want to sacrifice the damage boosts its best perks provide for Elemental Capacitor, especially when the first column already provides options for stat bonuses.
Slickdraw
The significant bonus to handling that Slickdraw provides can be a powerful tool in the right hands, but the nerf that it puts on the sniper rifle’s target acquisition means that the right hands need to be very accurate hands. A potential choice to experiment with in PvP, but otherwise a tough recommendation to make.
Box Breathing
Box Breathing offers an impressive 31 percent damage boost for this weapon, but that damage boost only applies to a single bullet fired after aiming down sights for just over a second. This perk is an ideal tool on many guns, but the IKELOS sniper rifle is not one of them in the face of much better perk combinations available.
Under-Over
Under-Over allows you to do increased damage to overshields and a small amount of increased damage to the shields of combatants. More damage isn’t inherently a bad thing, but ask yourself: how many scenarios are you going to be using an IKELOS sniper rifle against overshields or combatant shields? More than likely, it won’t be often enough to merit using a perk like this.
