An old favorite has returned to Destiny 2’s Nightfall pool. The Buzzard is back, bringing a plethora of new perks up its sleeve. This weapon can do some damage in the Crucible, but it really shines in PvE content thanks to its perk pool and buffs to both sidearms and Kinetic weapons, making this an easy god roll to choose from.
The Buzzard is back as a Nightfall weapon, meaning it’s only available on specific weeks each season. Players who do venture into these activities can definitely find their time worth it, especially since higher difficulties have increased drop rates—and those who venture into Grandmasters can even get an Adept version of the Buzzard for their troubles.
Related: Destiny 2 Weekly Reset: Nightfall, challenges, weekly raid, reset time, and more
Here are the Buzzard god rolls for both PvE and PvP.
Buzzard PvE god roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: Smallbore, Fluted Barrel, or Corkscrew Rifling
- Mag: Appended Mag, High-Caliber Rounds, or Flared Magwell
- First perk: Overflow or Perpetual Motion (Honorable mention: Fourth Time’s the Charm)
- Second perk: Kinetic Tremors, Frenzy, or Multikill Clip (Honorable mentions: Swashbuckler, Vorpal Weapon)
Like some other Nightfall weapons, the Buzzard presents a few different good options. Our god roll for it would feature Overflow and Kinetic Tremors (for novelty’s sake, if nothing else), but that’s hardly the only combination worth chasing. The lack of a reissue in season 21 and this weapon’s performance since then have shown the perk pool can definitely be lethal, especially thanks to some unique additions.
In our experience, Overflow is the best in slot for PvE—and you don’t see many sidearms with it. Overflow overfills your magazine when you pick up special or heavy ammo, which can be a common occurrence. We’re opting for it because it’s a handy perk in general and one that doesn’t really appear often in sidearms. That said, that’s for being the only option.
Perpetual Motion made its way to Destiny 2 in December 2021, and it’s continued to prove itself as a reliable option in most weapon archetypes. While we probably won’t recommend a rocket launcher with Perpetual Motion, it indeed excels in close-range weapons, and your Buzzard will greatly benefit from the free handling, reload speed, and stability.
Fourth Time’s the Charm emerges as an outlier: It’s another rare perk on sidearms, and it adds some flavor to the Buzzard, which lets you keep firing it longer despite its short-ish base magazine size of 15 rounds.
Compulsive Reloader isn’t a bad choice, but odds are you’ll get more benefit from the other perks in this column—and if you’re anything like us, it may be hard to grasp the fact that this perk is actually useful since it’s been buffed. The Buzzard’s reload speed isn’t bad enough to warrant this over the rest of the column, but this perk is far less detrimental than it was on its release in Season of the Risen. The last options, Encore and Pulse Monitor, are more PvP-focused, so odds are they’ll be a dismantle for PvE.
Related: What is the Nightfall weapon this week in Destiny 2?
The fourth column also brings a litany of solid options. Kinetic Tremors has pulled its weight after the initial novelty for it in season 20, continuing to be a good choice. If you’re looking for sheer damage, this sidearm has access to Frenzy, Multikill Clip, and Swashbuckler in column four, offering three great free damage-boosting options.
Vorpal Weapon is a tried-and-true perk if you ever want to take on Champions or Elites and can certainly work in specific weapons or archetypes. In our experience, though, swapping weapons yields the best results unless you need to save ammo. We rank Vorpal below the rest of the perks here for general use on the Buzzard. This means you shouldn’t necessarily dismantle a roll with Vorpal, and it’s certainly a viable option. Given the chance, though, we’d go with other choices in this column.
As far as its parts go, the Buzzard has a solid reload speed on its own, though it doesn’t hurt to spec into that stat a bit more. Flared Magwell or Light Mag help in that regard, but the former has a bigger benefit to reload and provides some stability on the side. High-Caliber Rounds continues to flinch, so it maintains its value, and Appended Mag has the benefit of boosting the extra magazine size from Overflow. The barrel can bring some extra spice in the form of handling (Fluted Barrel) or an all-around boost to stats with Corkscrew or Smallbore.
Buzzard PvP god roll in Destiny 2
- Barrel: Hammer-Forged Rifling, Smallbore, or Fluted Barrel
- Mag: High-Caliber Rounds, Ricochet Rounds, or Armor-Piercing Rounds
- First perk: Perpetual Motion or Encore (Honorable Mention: Pulse Monitor)
- Second perk: Rangefinder (Honorable mention: Multikill Clip)
The Buzzard isn’t as exceptional for PvP as it is for PvE, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Its stocked suite for PvE also has room for a couple of decent PvP options, though you’ll have to play around in the sidearm range for maximum benefits.
As far as parts go, aim for range and stability, with High-Caliber Rounds entering the fray as a competitor due to the increased flinch. Fluted emerges as an alternative if you’re looking for some handling, and the tradeoff in range can easily be worth the extra handling (Fluted drops your range by roughly 0.35m compared to Hammer-Forged, based on data from d2foundry). The difference may not seem like much, but every millimeter counts when your maximum range is as low as a sidearm.
Related: What is the Ascendant Challenge this week in Destiny 2?
For perks, Perpetual Motion will make your Buzzard feel even more well-rounded, with a free boost to stability, handling, and reload as long as you’re moving. Encore is another solid option, giving you stacking buffs to range, stability, and accuracy. The choice depends on playstyle, but Perpetual Motion has an easier trigger.
Likewise, the choice between the two perks in column four is also a matter of benefits. Rangefinder can make a noticeable improvement to this weapon’s range, giving you slightly more wiggle room within the sidearm’s cramped engagement distance. It’s active when ADSing, too, which is an easy trigger.
Multikill Clip, on the other hand, grants you some extra damage if you reload after a kill, which makes it far more forgiving to take down one target after another. Multikill Clip performs better in modes with more enemies, but even then, we recommend Rangefinder as our god roll to make for a more consistent weapon.
This article takes into account the sandbox before the Season of the Deep mid-season patch. We’ll update this article in case of any changes to the meta or the weapon’s perk pool.
