Destiny 2 Raid sniper will be a Champion-stunning monster in Echoes Act 2

Bungie’s reveal of new content coming to Destiny 2 in Episode: Echoes Act 2 has been a huge win for sniper rifle enthusiasts, with huge buffs on the way.

Outside of absurdly powerful outliers like Still Hunt, snipers have lacked viability in PvE for some time. While their theoretical damage is fantastic for a special ammo weapon, it can often be hard to utilize them due to flinch and the difficulties of dealing consistent precision damage.

Clearly, Bungie had been keenly aware of those poor fortunes, as buffs aplenty are inbound with Echoes Act 2, and one Legendary marksman rifle is already looking like a frontrunner to dominate the PvE meta.

As pointed out by one user on Reddit, Stasis sniper Critical Anomaly – available from The Final Shape‘s Salvation’s Edge Raid – has access to a perk capable of stunning both Unstoppable and Overload Champions.

“Chill Clip will Slow on the first shot, Freeze on the second, and Shatter on the third,” the thread’s author explains. As the Slow debuff stuns Overload Champions and Shatter does the same to Unstoppable Champions. That covers two bases, but what about Barrier Champions?

Cue the addition of three new sniper-centric Artifact mods releasing in Act 2:

• Anti-Barrier Sniper
• Incendiary Rifle Rounds – Precision Solar sniper hits Scorch targets.
• Sniper’s Meditation – Sniper hits grant a stacking bonus to sniper damage, stability, and reload speed.

“Lord have mercy I’m about to bust,” came one excitable response to Critical Anomaly’s predicted meta ascent, while others lamented that they have yet to unlock the ability to craft it, “I still need that Pattern damn it. Was the last I was going to get, too.”

As only Chill Clip is necessary for Critical Anomaly to function as a Champion-killing machine, the fourth perk column is free to be used however you wish. For PvE purposes, it’s recommended to use tried and true damage-boosting options like Bait and Switch or Chaos Reshaped.