Destiny 2 Season of the Risen Artifact: All mods & how to level up the Synaptic Spear fast

Lloyd Coombes
Destiny 2 Seasonal Artifact "Synaptic Spear" key art

Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion is here, and Season of the Risen has begun. Here’s how to level up your Destiny 2 Season of the Risen Artifact, the Synaptic Spear.

Destiny 2 The Witch Queen has finally arrived, and it’s also kicked off the Season of the Risen content for players to enjoy once they’ve finished the new legendary campaign.

Alongside the new Season Pass and brand new exotics, there’s also a new artifact to level up. Doing so will unlock additional mods to equip throughout the season, and it’ll be key to taking on Champions and other tougher accounts.

Here’s everything included in the Destiny 2 Season of the Risen Artifact, and how to earn mods more quickly.


Content


Destiny 2 Season of the Risen key art showing the Synaptic Spear
You can see the Synaptic Spear being held by a Guardian in the season’s key art.

What is the Season of the Risen Artifact?

The Season of the Risen Artifact is The Synaptic Spear. Here’s Bungie’s description, as per a press release:

“Powered by Caital’s technology, utilize the Spear’s Light-suppressing technology to enter the minds of the Witch Queen’s Hive Guardians and destroy their connection to the Light. Level up the spear to access powerful new mods and customize your playstyle.”

This item is leveled up through XP, unlocking mods that can be socketed into your gear, and its level will also increase your overall power in most activities.

All Season of the Risen Mods

Here is the full list of mods, with Champion mods in bold:

Column 1

  • Anti-barrier Scout Rifle (Cost 1)
  • Overload rounds (Auto and SMG) (Cost 1)
  • Unstoppable Hand Cannon (Cost 1)
  • Piercing bowstring (Cost 1)
    • Bows gain shield-piercing arrows, which bypass combatant defenses.
  • Unstoppable Pulse Rifle (Cost 1)

Column 2 (Requires 2 mods)

  • Glaive Dexterity (Cost 1)
    • Faster ready and stow speed for Glaives.
  • Rocket Launcher Scavenger (Cost 1)
    • Rocket launchers get bonus reserves when picking up Heavy ammo.
  • Psionic Forging I (Cost 1)
    • Increases the duration of the Psychohack Origin Trait and the effect of the Suros Synergy Origin Trait.
  • Melee Wellmaker (Cost 1)
    • Powered melee combatant final blows spawn elemental well matching your subclass energy type.
  • Hand Cannon Targeting (Cost 1)
    • Improved target acquisition, accuracy, and aim-down-sights speed for Hand Cannons.

Column 3 (Requires 5 mods)

  • Glaive Scavenger (Cost 1)
    • Glaives get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that Glaive.
  • Thermoshock Plating (Cost 2)
    • Reduces incoming Solar damage from combatants/Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants.
  • Auto Rifle Loader (Cost 1)
    • Increases reload speed of Auto Rifles.
  • Font of Might (Cost 1)
    • Picking up an elemental well that matches your subclass energy type grants a temporary bonus to weapon damage of that same elemental type.
  • Psionic Forging I (Cost 1)
    • Increases the duration of the Land Tank Origin Origin Trait and the effect of the Hakke Breach Armaments Origin Trait.

Column 4 (Requires 9 mods)

  • Unstoppable Glaive (Cost 5)
  • Lucent Finisher (Cost 6)
    • Defeating a Lucent Hive Lightbearer or Champion with your finisher spawns Heavy ammo for you and your allies.
  • Suppressing Glaive (Cost 4)
    • Damaging combatants with your Glaive suppresses them, preventing them from using abilities for a short time.
  • Overload Grenades (Cost 1)
    • Void grenades disrupt combatants, stunning them, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions.
  • Inferno Whip (Cost 1)
    • Solar melee abilities stun unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions.

Column 5 (Requires 14 mods)

  • Suppression Mastery (Cost 3)
    • Suppression effects you create have increased duration.
  • Devouring Depths (Cost 3)
    • Casting your Void Super while you are critically wounded or benefitting from Devour increases your damage with that Super.
  • Volatile Flow (Cost 2)
    • Picking up a Void elemental well grants your Void weapons Volatile rounds.
  • Energy Vampirism (Cost 3)
    • Gain energy for your least-charged ability when you suppress a target.
  • Suppressive Darkness (Cost 7)
    • Whenever you suppress a combatant, you also weaken them, causing them to take additional damage for a short time.

For more on the new Glaive weapon type, be sure to check out our guide. We’ll update this list with the rest of the mods as soon as we find out what they are.

How to level up the Destiny 2 Season of the Risen Artifact fast

While playing Season of Risen, there are a few different methods you can utilize to increase XP gains and earn those mods faster.

Equip an XP mod

If you equip XP mods to your ghost, you can eke out an additional 10% on top of all XP earned.

Complete Bounties and Challenges

Destiny 2’s vendors offer rotating bounties every day, so head to the Tower and stock up. Each one will give a chunk of XP, and turning in a few at a time will see your XP skyrocket.

There are also Seasonal Challenges. These roll out weekly alongside the reset, offering huge XP bonuses as well as occasional weapons and Bright Dust increments.

Play regularly

Every reset, Guardians get a buff called “well-rested” that earns additional XP for the first five levels you earn each week. That helps players that log in regularly to unlock more Artifact mods.


So, there you have it – that’s everything you need to know about the Artifact for Destiny 2 Season of the Risen.

For more on Destiny 2, be sure to check out some of our other guides at Dexerto.

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About The Author

Lloyd was formerly Dexerto's Games Editor. He can regularly be found playing Destiny 2 or any game that involves shiny loot.