Destiny 2’s Lightfall expansion introduced a variety of big changes to Bungie’s space-fantasy shooter and looter, but none are as impactful as the arrival of Armor Charge mods. These mods have replaced Destiny 2’s traditional Charged With Light, Elemental Well, and Warmind Cell mods, effectively consolidating many of their effects into a single system.
Armor Charge mods are an important part of the building experience in Lightfall, but the game doesn’t exactly do a great job of explaining them. If you’re confused, this guide will go over everything you need to know, including how Armor Charge mods work, a full list of all mods, and how unlocking them works.
What is Armor Charge in Destiny 2?
Grenade Kickstart is a powerful Armor Charge mod that will significantly improve the uptime of your grenade ability. (Image credit: Windows Central)
In short, Armor Charge is a system that allows you to charge up by picking up Orbs of Power (made with Supers or when using Siphon mods on your helmet), then spend that charge for a positive buff. By default, each Power Orb you collect will give you one armor charge, and you can keep up to three of them.
There are three different types of Armor Charge mods in Destiny 2, all of which are indicated by specific colors. Here’s a look at what these mod types do:
- Green Modes: These alter how you acquire Armor Charge, maintain it, or distribute it to nearby allies.
- Yellow Mods: Mods that allow you to consume your Armor Charge upon performing a specific action, giving you a buff.
- Blue Mods: These provide a passive boost to one of your stats or a specific weapon damage type while you have Armor Charge, but cause your Armor Charge to decay over time.
In general, you want to make sure you equip at least one green mod that improves your ability to gain and maintain armor charge and one yellow or blue mod that consumes that armor charge to provide a buff.
Note that you can equip these mods in any of your armor’s mod slots other than the General Armor Mod socket, which is reserved for mods that improve your armor’s stats. However, certain types of Armor Charge mods are only available for use with specific types of armor pieces. We have listed what types of armor charge mods you can use with each of your armor pieces below.
- Helmet: Mods that share Armor Charge with allies, Intellect boost
- Arms: Regeneration from melee skills and grenades, strength and discipline buffs
- Chest: Damage resistance, increased armor charge capacity, increased resilience
- Legs: Extra armor charge from power orbs, weapon damage buffs, increased mobility
- Class Item: Class Ability Regeneration, slower armor charge decay (when using a blue mod), finisher specific mods, recovery boost
Destiny 2: All Armor Charge Mods List
Stacks on Stacks is one of the best Armor Charge mods as it allows you to get 2 Armor Charge instead of 1 Orbs of Power. (Image credit: Windows Central)
For your convenience, we’ve compiled a full list of all the Armor Charge mods currently available in Destiny 2: Lightfall in the table below. This includes the name of the mod and its effects, as well as how much armor energy it costs to equip and what kind of armor pieces you can place it on.
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ModEnergy CostEffectArmor Piece Radiant Light (Green) 1 Casting your Super causes nearby allies to also increase their current armor charge by 1. Allies that have a different subclass item than you have their armor charge increased by 2. can accumulate. Mighty Friends Helmet (Green) 1 Picking up an Orb of Might causes nearby allies to shrug their current armor charge by 1. Cannot stack. Fountain of Wisdom Helmet (Blue) 3 You gain an Intellect bonus while you have any Armor Charge. Armor charges decay over time. Kickstart Grenade Helmet (Yellow) 3 When your grenade energy is completely spent, you gain grenade energy. Additionally, your armor charge is consumed and you gain additional grenade energy for each armor charge. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Melee Kickstart Arms (Yellow) 3 When your melee energy is completely spent, you gain melee energy. Additionally, your armor charge is consumed and you gain additional melee energy for each armor charge. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Arms Source of Focus (blue) 3 You have a bonus to Discipline while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Arms Source of Vigor (Strength) 3 You have a bonus to Strength while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Arms Charged (Green) 3 Increases the maximum amount of armor charge you can carry by 1. stackable. Emergency Reinforcement Chest (Yellow) 3 When your shields are broken, you gain temporary damage reduction. Consumes 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge, granting increased damage reduction duration for each charge consumed. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Chest Source of Resistance (Blue) 3 You have a bonus to Resilience while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Chest Stacks Upon Stacks (Green) 4 Picking up an Orb of Power grants you 1 additional stack of Armor Charge. It cannot be stacked. Legs Kinetic Weapon Augment (Blue) 3 Your kinetic weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any armor charges. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Bow Weapon Surge (Blue) 3 Your bow weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any armor charges. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Solar Weapon Surge (Blue) 3 Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any armor charges. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Void Weapon Wave (Blue) 3 Your Void weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Stasis Weapon Surge (Blue) 3 Your Stasis weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Strand Weapon Surge (Blue) 3 Your Strand Weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Source of Agility (blue) 3 You have a bonus to Mobility while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. Legs Time Dilation (Green) 3 Your decaying armor charge has a longer duration. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. class item Empowered Finisher (Green) 3 Finisher final blows grant you 1 temporary armor charge when you don’t have any. It can be stacked. class item Utility Kickstart (Yellow) 3 When your class ability energy is fully spent, you gain class ability energy. Additionally, our armor charge is consumed and you gain an additional class ability for each stack of energy. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. class item Source of Restoration (blue) 3 You have a bonus to Recovery while you have any Armor Charge. Your armor charge now decays over time. It can be stacked with diminishing returns. class item Restorative Finisher (Yellow) 1 When you use a finisher, you gain a portion of energy for your least cooled ability. Consumes 2 stacks of Armor Charge. It cannot be stacked. class item Special Finisher (Yellow) 1 Finishers spawn special ammo for the entire team. Consumes 3 stacks of Armor Charge. It cannot be stacked. class item Finisher one-two (yellow) 1 finishers restore melee abilities. Consumes 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge, granting additional energy for each charge consumed. class item Bulwark Finisher (yellow) 1 Finisher final blows generate an Overshield. Consumes 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge, granting additional energy for each charge consumed. class item Healthy Finisher (Yellow) 1 Finishers heal you. Consumes 1 stack of Armor Charge. class item Finisher Snapload (Yellow) 1 Finishers reload all your weapons. Consumes 1 stack of Armor Charge. class item Explosive Finisher (yellow) 1 Finishers restore grenades. Consumes 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge, granting additional energy for each charge consumed. class item Utility Finisher (Yellow) 1 Finishers restore class abilities. Consume 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge, granting additional energy for each charge consumed. class item Benevolent Finisher (yellow) 1 Using a finisher on a combatant generates orbs of power for your allies. Consumes 3 stacks of Armor Charge. class element
Something to note is that depending on the perks available on the current Seasonal Artifact, the cost of these mods may change. For example, with the Season 20 “Authorized Mods: Grenades” perk active, the cost of Grenade Kickstart and other grenade mods will be reduced from 3 to 1 Armor Energy. This makes it possible to create more powerful versions of builds that use stacked mods, although you will only be able to take advantage of them until the end of the current season.
Are all Armor Charge mods unlocked in Destiny 2?
New Destiny 2 players will need to progress through Guardian Ranks to access the Armor Charge mods. (Image credit: Windows Central)
If you played Destiny 2 prior to the release of the Lightfall expansion, you’ll have full access to all currently available Armor Charge mods, as the game automatically grants you Guardian Rank 6. This means you won’t have to do anything to get them. , and you can start building right away. However, if you are a new player, you will need to advance to Guardian Rank 5 before you can start using the Armor Charge mods. This process involves learning the basics of Destiny 2 by following the Guardian Rank objectives.
If additional Armor Charge mods are added in the future, they will likely be unlocked automatically by players who have already reached Guardian Rank 5. However, if this is not the case, we will update this guide with more information.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, and PlayStation systems. In it, you’ll fight Emperor Calus, unlock Strand subclasses and abilities, and more.
