How To Defeat Champions In Destiny 2

Guardian, Champions have risen among enemy forces! You need to know how to defeat them to have any hope of surviving the fight against the Witnesses' forces!

Have you recently encountered a Combatant who healed themselves within an indestructible shield? A Captain who teleported A LOT? An Ogre which effortlessly and relentlessly tore through your Fireteam? That's a Champion.

This guide teaches you everything to know about Champions, like how they heal, the Abilities they use, and how you can Stun and ultimately destroy them.

What Are Champions?

Champions in Destiny 2 are very lethal compared to most other Combatants and have mechanics that allow them to mitigate or ignore your efforts to defeat them, though they aren't unkillable.

• They appear in most PvE content, especially often in harder content.
• The game informs all players when a Champion spawns in, gets stunned, or dies.
• In some Activities - like Nightfalls and Legend or Master Lost Sectors - getting Platinum Rank requires you to defeat all Champions, maximizing loot.

Your best tools in dealing with them are confidence and knowing what tools to bring to the fight. Champions are not a Barrier to your objective, an Unstoppable force, nor Overloaded with untamable power.

Barrier Champions

Barrier Champions form an almost indestructible shield when injured, rapidly recovering their health while reflecting incoming bullets and projectiles. The shield's health, health recovery speed, and Stun duration scale with Activity difficulty tier.

Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier Weapons are able to damage these shields, halting Champion health recovery and Stunning them when destroying the shield. Abilities are generally incapable of Stunning Barrier Champions.

• Certain Exotic Weapons are inherently Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier, like Arbalest, Wish-Ender, and Revision Zero.
  • For all other Weapons, allocating certain Seasonally rotating Artifact Mods grants specific Weapon archetypes Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier capabilities.
• Being Radiant grants Weapons Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier capabilities.
  • Void Weapons have Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier capabilities while you have Volatile Rounds.
  • Strand Weapons have Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier capabilities while you have Unraveling Rounds.
• Barrier Champions can't cast their indestructible shield while Frozen or Suspended, allowing you to defeat them without Stunning them.
• Shield Piercing / Anti-Barrier Weapons inherently over-penetrate targets, similar to Armor-Piercing Rounds. They also bypass the indestructible shields of Cabal and Taken Phalanxes, Vex Hydras, Vex Hobgoblins, and Scorn Lurkers, they also deal increased damage to Guardian-made Constructs like Barricades.

Barrier Champion Combatants

When fighting the Fallen, Barrier Servitors are a threat.

• Though they pose little threat by themselves, they passively make ALL other nearby Combatants immune to damage*.
  • Super Damage still damages these Combatants, and this ability is disabled while the Champion is Stunned, Frozen or Suspended.

• When fighting the Hive, Barrier Knights are a threat. They are armed with either the explosive launching Hive Boomer, or the extremely dangerous in close quarters Splinter Crossbow.
• When fighting the Vex, Barrier Hobgoblins are a threat. They are most commonly armed with their sniper-like Line Rifle which poses extreme threat to Guardians susceptible to being one-shot by it.
• When fighting the Cabal, Barrier Colossi are a threat. They lay down suppressive fire with the energy-based Slug Launcher or the machine-gun-like Slug Thrower.
  • Though these Champions have extremely high damage output, they tend to be quite stationary, making it easy to neutralize them.

Overload Champions

Overload Champions passively regenerate health and rapidly use their abilities, making each type of Overload Champions uniquely dangerous. Passive health regeneration, Stun duration, and time before Stun can be reapplied scale with Activity difficulty tier.

Disruptive / Overload Weapons and certain Elemental Debuffs Stun these Champions, stopping their passive health regeneration and preventing them from using their abilities.

• Certain Exotic Weapons are inherently Disruptive / Overload, like Le Monarque, Thunderlord, and Divinity.
  • For all other Weapons, allocating certain Seasonally rotating Artifact Mods grants specific Weapon archetypes Disruptive / Overload capabilities.
• Applying any amount of Stasis Slow, Suppressing, or dealing Jolt Damage to Overload Champions Stuns them.
  • Chill Clip and Voltshot are excellent for stunning these Champions.
• Disruptive / Overload Weapons inherently debuff targets, reducing Combatant damage output and significantly decreasing enemy Guardian Ability cooldown recovery speed.

Overload Champion Combatants

While fighting the Taken, Overload Taken Hobgoblins are a threat.

• These Champions use their Retaliation Swarm ability when they take damage, making them extremely dangerous when trying to take them out without Stunning them.
  • Avoid dealing damage over time to them!
• Overload Taken Hobgoblins use their sniper-like Line Rifle which poses extreme threat to Guardians susceptible to being one-shot by it, or the almost completely harmless Stasis Boomer.

• While fighting the Fallen, Overload Captains are a threat. They rapidly and unpredictably teleport around, making them hard to Stun. They're extremely dangerous when paired with their shotgun-like Shrapnel Launcher and persistent when paired with their Shock Rifle which fires homing projectiles.
• While fighting the Vex, Overload Minotaurs are a threat. Highly aggressive, they rapidly teleport to close in on targets. Most commonly paired with the explosive launching Torch Hammer, these Champions easily overwhelm compromised Guardians.
• While fighting the Scorn, Overload Chieftains are a threat. Outside of the elemental Totems that they rapidly use, they pose little threat.
  • Void Totems make ALL nearby Combatants immune to damage. Destroy these as quickly as possible!
  • Solar Totems deal heavy damage in a small area around them, but they're easy to avoid.
  • Arc Totems tether onto players, making it difficult but not impossible to leave the Totem's area of influence.

Unstoppable Champions

Unstoppable Champions take significantly reduced damage when not Stunned, are immune to Flinch, extremely aggressive, and extremely lethal. Their melee Abilities are especially deadly. Stun duration and time before Stun can be reapplied scale with Activity difficulty tier.

Staggering / Unstoppable Weapons and certain Elemental Debuffs Stun these Champions, removing their damage resistance.

• Certain Exotic Weapons are inherently Staggering / Unstoppable, like Devil's Ruin, Leviathan's Breath, and Malfeasance.
  • For all other Weapons, allocating certain Seasonally rotating Artifact Mods grants specific Weapon archetypes Staggering / Unstoppable capabilities.
• Applying Arc Blind, Suspend, or dealing Shatter and Ignition damage Stuns them.
  • Conditional Finality and Scorching or Slowing Exotic Weapons like Polaris Lance, Dragon's Breath, and Wicked Implement are excellent for Stunning these Champions.

Unstoppable Champion Combatants

While fighting the Hive, Unstoppable Ogres are a significant threat.

• They recklessly charge towards Guardians while firing their excessively lethal Eye Beams.
  • Their Slam melee Ability is also excessively lethal.
• Stun and destroy these Champions immediately.

• While fighting the Cabal, Unstoppable Incendiors are a threat. They recklessly charge towards Guardians while firing their unimpactful Magma Launchers. Their Compression Blast melee Ability applies high knockback and a dangerous Burning debuff in a large area in front of the Champion.
  • Destroying an Unstoppable Incendior's magma-backpack causes them to detonate, dealing cataclysmic amounts of damage to nearby Guardians that all but guarantees death. Mind your Fireteam's positioning before killing these Champions!
• While fighting the Taken, Unstoppable Taken Phalanxes are a threat. They recklessly charge towards Guardians while firing one of their unimpactful Weapons. Their Shield Blast melee Ability applies excessively high knockback and potent damage in a large area in front of the Champion.
• While fighting the Scorn, Unstoppable Abominations are a threat. They recklessly charge towards Guardians while casting precise and dangerous bolts of Arc energy, even from long ranges. Their Slam melee Ability is also excessively lethal.

Bringing The Right Loadouts

It's immensely important to bring a loadout capable of dealing with Champions whenever entering an Activity that has them. It's equally important to not over prepare for them, making the rest of your build worse as you dedicate more components of it into taking out Champions.

When assembling your Loadout, keep in mind the various Elemental Buffs or Debuffs you have reliable access to.

• Reliably becoming Radiant, getting Volatile Rounds with Void Weapons, or Unraveling Rounds with Strand Weapons? You're covered for Barrier Champions.
• Playing a Stasis, Arc, or Prismatic Build? You probably have easy access to Slow or Jolt, which are excellent counters to Overload Champions. Having Chill Clip or Voltshot on any of your Weapons also does the trick.
• Often causing incendiary or frigid explosions? Damage from Ignitions and Shattering is more than enough to stop the Unstoppables.
  • More so than the other Champion Types, having a Staggering / Unstoppable Primary Weapon is a good idea. Unstoppable Champions are significantly more threatening than almost anything else you'd find in combat, you need to Stun them quickly to survive.

Summary

• Champions in Destiny 2 are very lethal compared to most other Combatants, they have mechanics that let them heal or mitigate the damage you deal to them.
• All Champions are Stunnable through a variety of means. They lose their special abilities temporarily once Stunned.
  • Weapons influenced by Seasonally rotating Artifact Mods and Exotic Weapons' Anti-Champion Intrinsics allow you to Stun Champions.
  • Various Elemental Debuffs also Stun Champions.
  • Suspend and Freeze neutralize any Champion for a short duration.
• Barrier Champions form an almost indestructible shield when injured, rapidly recovering their health while reflecting incoming bullets and projectiles.
• Overload Champions passively regenerate health and rapidly use their abilities, making each type of Overload Champion uniquely dangerous.
• Unstoppable Champions take significantly reduced damage when not Stunned, are immune to Flinch, extremely aggressive, and extremely lethal.
• It's extremely important to bring a loadout capable of dealing with Champions whenever entering an Activity that has them.

Credits

Written by: Xtra37

Reviewed by: Byrdman, Tenkiei