Festival of the Lost’s Arcane Embrace ushered in a new archetype for shotguns in Destiny 2, transplanting the Heavy Burst frame to this category. The result is fun and dangerous, especially if you have a god roll.
Luckily for guardians chasing this gun, the new weapon boasts a wealth of good options for a god roll, with a perk pool that brings flavor and efficiency. Of course, it had to have a downside.
Arcane Embrace can carry over 14 rounds in the magazine, so it takes some time to reload it even with Dual Loader. Ammo economy may not be as troublesome as other shotguns depending on what rolls you land, but keep an eye out on your green ammo counter just in case.
Here are our god rolls for Arcane Embrace in Destiny 2. The perks here are listed in the API and accessed through D2Foundry.gg
Destiny 2 — Arcane Embrace PvE god roll and best perks
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel, Arrowhead Brake, or Corkscrew Rifling,
- Mag: Appended Mag, Light Mag, or Flared Magwell
- First perk: Fourth Time’s the Charm, Dual Loader, or Threat Detector
- Honorable mention: Grave Robber, Slideshot
- Second perk: Voltshot, Desperado, or Precision Instrument
- Honorable mention: Surrounded, Trench Barrel
Fourth Time’s the Charm draws from Arcane Embrace’s biggest advantage—the Heavy Burst archetype—to mitigate its biggest weakness: reload speed. This perk refills your magazine if you get four precision shots in quick succession, which is easy to do with this shotgun. The ammo also appears from thin air and not from your reserves, so this perk easily takes the top of our god roll.
All our other choices for PvE also aim to make you spend less time reloading and more time shooting. Dual Loader loads two rounds at a time (with no penalties, thankfully), and Threat Detector boosts multiple stats while you’re close to enemies. Slideshot reloads a chunk of your magazine when you slide and Grave Robber fills the magazine to the brim if you get a melee kill or land a hit with your powered melee. None of them feel as good as Fourth Time’s the Charm, but they’re all better than pumping 10 shells into your weapon.
As usual, the fourth column goes to a perk that either boosts damage or grants utility. Voltshot is probably the most neutral of the bunch, since it grants some extra crowd control and the ability to clear mobs more efficiently.
Desperado works better if you want to burst your opponents, but you also need a kill to trigger its effect. This perk vastly improves fire rate, but you burn through ammo while it’s active. It’s better with Fourth Time’s the Charm, but it works regardless of what you have here. Surrounded also works amazingly with shotguns since you’re usually up close with them. They likely won’t be your choice for bosses, though.
With two shots per pull of the trigger, Precision Instrument stacks quickly with Arcane Embrace, just like how Rapid Hit gets multiple stacks per burst with pulse rifles. This perk builds crit damage pretty quickly, but it only boosts hits on weak spots and missing removes all your stacks. This can be a good pick if you simply want to whittle down a boss’ health bar without worrying that much about setup. Like Desperado, Fourth Time’s the Charm makes this even better.
Trench Barrel is the unlikely candidate here. It doesn’t roll naturally on the weapon, but you get a roll with this perk after the intro quest. Its functioning is slightly broken, as spotted by content creator Cheese Forever, since the perk doesn’t deplete stacks when firing. It’s unclear if this is by design or not, meaning Bungie may change this roll or its effect. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Finally, Appended Mag and Light Mag boost your magazine size, while Flared Magwell gives you a bump to reload speed. We picked Fluted Barrel as a barrel to boost handling, but anything does the trick.
Destiny 2 — Arcane Embrace PvP god roll and best perks
- Barrel: Fluted Barrel, Corkscrew Rifling, or Hammer-Forged Rifling
- Mag: Accurized Rounds or Flared Magwell
- First perk: Lone Wolf or Threat Detector
- Second perk: Closing Time or Tap the Trigger
Arcane Embrace behaves similarly to a slug shotgun, as shown by content creator Rick Kackis, though with a bit more damage. You need to land at least one headshot to kill your enemies outright, but this weapon can rip chunks of your enemies’ health even if you miss.
For PvP, we opted for anything that improves this shotgun’s feel, since it’s deadly enough as it is. Lone Wolf bumps your aim assist, which is handy for hitting mobile guardians, while Threat Detector can also give you some stat boosts in the Crucible. The fourth column also aims to give you more consistency, so we picked Closing Time or Tap the Trigger to make sure those shots connect.
