Mod Descriptions

This is the full list of primary, secondary, and stat weapon mods, arranged alphabetically. Refer to the mod lists for more information about exactly which mods can appear on which weapon classes and rarities, and in which mod slot positions.

Accelerated Coils (Fusion Rifle only)

+50 Charge Time.

Provides a huge boost to Charge Time. This is a very strong mod for Precision and Powerful fusion rifles, as they have naturally low base Charge Time. Lightweight rifles usually benefit less, and Rapid very little.

While this won’t let you compete with a shotgun at point-blank range in PvP, it can give you a fighting chance if you’re skilled at feathering the trigger to pre-charge your fusion rifle. In PvE, this is a useful mod if you find yourself fighting in the thick of firefights often. The extra charge time can give you a decent bonus to sustained damage output.

Remember that improving your charge time reduces damage per blast, so you lose some burst damage potential, though the tradeoff is increased damage over time.

In PvP, you may actually want a slower charge time if you are most concerned with one-shot kill potential. If you primarily use your fusion rifle as a finisher, a faster charge time is desirable. In PvE, the increase in overall DPS makes a higher charge time desirable for improved damage output, but be aware that you do burn more ammo over time.

Armor Piercing Rounds

Causes rounds to penetrate targets.

A very useful mod in PvE, this lets your bullets punch through the first enemy you hit, striking anyone behind them. This can significantly boost your damage output in situations where you are fighting large groups of clumped adversaries, or while fighting in narrow hallways.

In PvP, it is less common for opponents to conveniently group up in a straight line for you to shoot, but it does happen, especially around doorways and in narrow halls. Scoring shots on two foes can tilt a fight in your favor.

Cascade

Sets reload speed to 150% of base.

Cascade kicks in after performing melee kills. In PvE, you can use Cascade when facing weak (or weakened) enemies, allowing you to reload incredibly quickly and continue your spree, possibly bolstered by a melee kill ability bonus.

Cascade is a fantastic mod if you make heavy use of melee combat in PvP. You can move into close-range firing, finish your target with a melee strike, and then reload almost instantly, ready for any follow-up targets.

Clown Cartridge

Every reload has a 25% chance of a 20% magazine bonus.

Only appearing on (and particularly nice for) weapons with small magazines to begin with, Clown Cartridge can get you a few extra high-powered shots out of a magazine. This is really nice in PvE for sustained damage over time and added ammo efficiency (say, over the course of an entire Strike), particularly if you happen to reload an extra rocket.

In PvP, this can influence the outcome of a firefight if you are down to your last few shots against a fresh target and have no time to reload.

Cluster Bomb (Rocket Launcher only)

Rocket detonation spawns cluster bombs.

More boom for your buck. This is a straightforward and powerful mod that boosts the damage output of your rockets. Upon impact, your rocket releases four cluster bomblets that deal 50 damage at their blast point with a 2-meter radius. This can easily result in collateral kills, help to briefly suppress an area in PvP, or deal extra damage to a truly heavy target in PvE.

Shot Package (Shotgun only)

Narrows pellet spread while in ADS.

Shot Package is a high-risk, high-reward mod for shotguns. In effect, it tightens your pellet spread, giving you a better chance of landing all of your shotgun’s potential damage on target. The downside is that if you are even slightly off target, you may end up dealing no damage whatsoever.

Shot Package doesn’t directly increase damage output. It simply guarantees that if you are on target with your shot, you are more likely to land the maximum possible damage that your shotgun is capable of.

In PvP, this all but guarantees a one-shot kill at short range. In PvE, this can extend the effective distance of your shotgun slightly while ADS, useful for hitting nearby adversaries while remaining in cover.

Counterbalance

Stabilizes recoil.

Counterbalance provides a 9% bonus to recoil control on top of the weapon’s base Stability stat. Note that on Legendary-quality weapons, Counterbalance only appears on machineguns.

On a machinegun with a Stability value that is already near maximum, Counterbalance can push the weapon’s Stability beyond what is normally possible. Needless to say, a highly stable machinegun is a highly lethal machinegun.

Crowd Control

Bonus damage for a short time after a kill.

Crowd Control provides a significant 15% damage bonus for three seconds after you score a kill. In PvE, Crowd Control is a very nice and very consistent damage boost, as downing a single enemy can start a chain as you drop one target after another.

In PvP, it won’t help you in 1v1 situations, but it can absolutely make the difference in a high-intensity firefight. Crowd Control can also help you score those elusive multi-kills more often.

Custom Optics

+0.5x zoom.

A simple zoom modifier only available on scout and sniper rifles at the Legendary tier, this provides you with a little extra zoom.

You can combine Custom Optics with your choice of scope to adjust your overall zoom. Depending on the weapon in question and the scopes available to you, this might give you exactly the zoom level you’re looking for. And if you really, really want the longest-range weapon in the game, a sniper rifle with the most powerful scope and this mod is it.

Damage Types

Arc, Kinetic, Solar, Void.

Not a mod in the traditional sense, every weapon only has one of these damage types. Oh, and if you look long enough and hard enough, you just might find a primary weapon with an element…

Damage types are vital in PvE combat, where you must hit enemy shields with the same element to inflict bonus damage. On Mythic difficulty, hitting a shielded adversary with the wrong element suffers a 50% damage penalty. Bring the correct tools for the mission you’re tackling!

In PvP, your damage type does not matter, so feel free to use weapons that have stats and mods that suit your preference, without regard to their element.

Shoot to Loot

Shoot ammo to pick it up!

A fun and occasionally very useful mod, Shoot to Loot lets you “pick up” ammo from long range by shooting it with your weapon. This is particularly effective when you’re fighting at long range, and it can be very useful for special or heavy ammo.

With Shoot to Loot, you can lay siege to an enemy group from long distance and keep your weapons stocked without breaking from cover or closing to engage your foes at short range. Shoot to Loot is generally more useful in PvE than PvP, but stealing a heavy ammo pickup from the opposing team at long range is a sweet move.

Double Down

Boosts ammo available when you spawn.

Useful on higher-difficulty missions where ammo efficiency can be a concern, Double Down is also nice if you heavily favor your special weapon in PvP.

Enhanced Battery

+100 Magazine, -30 Reload.

Enhanced Battery gives you the maximum possible magazine size for any fusion rifle. However, the greater weight also reduces your reload speed, with a hefty penalty to your Reload stat. This mod is still quite nice on Lightweight and Powerful archetype fusion rifles, as they have naturally small magazine sizes.

Explosive Rounds

Bullets detonate on impact.

A very unusual mod, Explosive Rounds gives your bullets a 2-meter explosion on impact. Note that this does not increase your damage directly against a single target. However, against multiple targets near each other, it can raise your damage output because the blast will hit the nearby enemies.

This is typically far more effective in PvE, especially against adversaries that love to swarm (say, Hive Thralls in narrow hallways). But there are still situations in PvP where you can inflict extra damage to a group of unwisely clumped opponents.

Remember that all blast damage in Destiny falls off from the center of the impact point, so when you’re talking about single bullet damage spread out over 2 meters, you’re not going to cause heavy damage at the outer edges of the explosion. That aside, this is a potential boost to AoE DPS, which matters in a good number of PvE encounters.

Extended Mag

+30 Magazine.

A significant boost to your weapon’s Magazine stat, this is particularly useful for any archetypes with a naturally small magazine.

Field Scout

+100 Magazine, +80 Inventory.

Only available on Legendary weapons, this powerful mod maximizes magazine size and almost always maximizes inventory ammo! This is a great mod to score on weapons with low magazine sizes, giving you an indirect boost to your sustained DPS output. It is also helpful for lengthy PvE missions due to the inventory boost.

Firefly

Precision kills cause a Solar explosion.

Firefly causes enemies killed with precision damage to explode as a 50 damage Solar blast with a 5-meter radius. Only appearing on Legendary scout and sniper rifles, Firefly is a very nice mod in PvE, as it essentially gives you free bonus damage on nearby enemies when you score precision kills.

As a very fringe benefit, you may occasionally be able to damage an enemy with a Solar Shield with the blast, but certainly don’t rely on this as a serious source of Solar damage in higher-difficulty missions.

In PvP, it’s less likely for opponents to be clumped up close enough for the explosion to routinely influence the outcome of a fight (though everyone’s looking forward to multi-kill videos of exactly that). There are generally more consistently useful mods for boosting your damage potential.

Fitted Stock

+25 Stability.

A powerful Stability mod, Fitted Stock can push a low-stability weapon to the midranges, or a midrange all the way to cap. On weapons with naturally high Stability, some of the bonus is likely to be lost due to hitting your Stability cap.

Note that Fitted Stock only appears on scout rifles at the Legendary tier. As one of the few high-strength Stability mods with no downside, this gives scout rifles a slight edge in long-range stability among Legendary primaries.

Flared Magwell

+100 Reload, -10 Stability.

A massively powerful Reload mod, Flared Magwell instantly maximizes the reload speed of any weapon, albeit at a cost to Stability. This mod is ideal for weapon archetypes with naturally low Reload and high Stability values.

Keep in mind that there are a fair number of reload speed boosts in Class abilities and other mods that can push you past the Reload cap, so you can reach lightning-fast reload speeds with Flared Magwell equipped.

Hip Fire

Increased accuracy when hipfiring.

A strong mod if you favor aggressive mobile combat and melee, Hip Fire cuts your “bloom” circle by 33%. This enables you to fire more accurately while closing the distance for a lethal melee strike, or while moving in the open from cover to cover.

Note that weapons with a high Range stat have smaller bloom circles, and combining that with Hip Fire can give you the best possible hipfire accuracy. At the Legendary tier, Hip Fire only appears on fusion rifles, hand cannons, machineguns, and pulse rifles.

Full Auto

Converts weapon into full auto fire.

Only found on shotguns and pulse rifles, Full Auto simply converts the weapon from semi-auto to fully automatic. Full auto shotgun fire tends to be wildly inaccurate unless you’re shooting into a massive horde of enemies (or a single incredibly tough enemy). For the pulse rifle, think of it as a way to score pulse rifle-specific mods on an auto rifle.

Glass Half Full

Bottom half of magazine does more damage.

One of the few damage-boosting mods that can be easily triggered, Glass Half Full is only found on auto and pulse rifles. Glass Half Full gives a scaling damage bonus that begins with a tiny boost to damage at half magazine, smoothly increasing to a 6% damage bonus at the bottom of the magazine as you empty it. Because the effect is so small, you’re looking at a slight increase to your sustained DPS output, not so much a huge jump in burst DPS.

In PvE, be wary that this can encourage a more wasteful style of play when it comes to ammo management, which can be an issue on higher-difficulty missions. But that aside, as long as you don’t waste rounds, this mod is a solid sustained damage boost in PvE.

In PvP, this mod can reliably give a slight bonus to your damage output, particularly in situations where you transition from a first target to a second (or even third). But be careful: trying to take full advantage of Glass Half Full by running around with a half-empty mag is asking for trouble.

Pair this mod with Reactive Reload for damage bonuses at the start and end of your mag!

Grenades and Horseshoes (Rocket Launcher only)

Rockets gain a proximity trigger.

There are two things in life where a near-miss counts (if you were wondering). Grenades and Horseshoes causes rockets to detonate when they come within 2 meters of a target, instead of when they impact a surface (or enemy).

Note that this can potentially reduce your damage output in some situations, such as a perfectly aimed shot into the heart of a large cluster of foes. Because the proximity fuse triggers the blast early, rather than when it hits ground zero in the middle of the group, it can change the shape (and damage falloff) of the blast. But that aside, a proximity trigger gives you leave to perform some stunts that you can’t pull off with a normal rocket, such as firing over or beside cover to trigger an explosion when the rocket passes a target hiding in hard cover.

This is applicable in both PvE and PvP, and it can be particularly nasty against opponents trying to hide from you in an elevated position. Rockets are usually best from high ground, so proximity detonation flips that truism on its head.

Grenadier

Kills add 10% to grenade energy.

A simple and useful mod, effective in PvP and very useful in PvE. If your build is focused around spamming grenades, keep an eye out for this mod, especially for PvE builds.

Outlaw

Extremely fast reload after a precision kill.

The ranged equivalent of Cascade, granting you 150% of your base reload speed after a precision kill. Outlaw is a powerful mod in PvE, where chaining precision kills can give you almost no downtime between reloads. In PvP, a steady hand and sharp eye are rewarded with near-instant reloads, sometimes fast enough to get you a multi-kill instead of disengaging after one kill.

Outlaw is generally more effective in PvP if your playstyle (or the map) gets you into close- to medium-range scraps often. At long range, quick reloads are less vital.

Hair Trigger

Fires the instant trigger pressure is detected.

Hair Trigger is an unusual mod that affects how your weapon fires. Instead of requiring any significant depression on the trigger, Hair Trigger causes your gun to shoot immediately when any pressure is detected.

Hammer Forged

+40 Range, -10 Reload.

A powerful Range mod, Hammer Forged can easily peg the Range stat on several archetypes, or push an otherwise short-ranged weapon out to medium or long range. Hammer Forged is less useful for the archetypes with the best Range values, as some of the boost may be wasted.

You pay for this significant increase in long-distance performance with a penalty to reload speed. This is generally not a major issue if you’re keeping your fights at arm’s reach, but be mindful of the loss at short range.

In general, this mod is best on weapons that have naturally good accuracy and stability because you get the most benefit in damage output if you can actually land the shots at a distance. If you find yourself fighting at short range frequently, there are other more suitable mods!

Hand Loaded

+20 Range.

Only found on Rare-quality weapons, Hand Loaded is the “baby” version of Hammer Forged. It is still a very significant Range increase, and until you find a Legendary weapon to replace your Rare, it can serve you extremely well on a weapon with a poor or average Range stat. For some specific guns, it can even push your Range out to near maximum, with no Reload penalty.

Headseeker (Pulse Rifle only)

Bonus precision damage on third hit of a burst.

This is a tricky mod to use well. Exclusive to pulse rifles, it provides you with a 25% extra precision damage boost if you can keep your crosshairs on target for the entirety of the burst or get them on target when the last bullet lands.

A quality pulse rifle with a high Stability value is a good choice for making effective use of this mod, giving you more control and margin of error for keeping your crosshairs glued to your target’s weak point.

In PvE, this often results in a large sustained damage increase, particularly on tough targets where it matters most. In PvP, it can increase your lethality and time to kill if you’re good enough to score consistent headshots.

Heavy Payload

+40 Blast Radius, -10 Velocity.

Slightly slower but much larger rocket blasts. Heavy Payload gives your rockets a devastating extra punch, and on rocket launcher archetypes with poor Blast Radius, this can bump them up to a medium range. On medium- to high-strength archetypes, you can often cap your blast size.

Heavy Payload’s Velocity penalty generally isn’t a major issue, either, as you aren’t significantly affected if an already slow rocket launcher gets slightly slower. On fast-moving rockets, the penalty is minor.

High Caliber Rounds

Boosts flinch effect of your shots.

High Caliber Rounds do not increase damage, but they do increase the amount that your shots cause your target’s view to flinch. In PvE, this can cause a literal flinch: it makes your rounds hit enemies harder, even though the rounds aren’t doing more damage. In PvP, the effects of this mod are difficult to feel because your opponent is going to be feeling the mod—literally.

As a rule of thumb, don’t expect HCRs to save you in a firefight against an equally skilled opponent at short ranges. However, as the distance increases, they can absolutely give you the edge in a firefight.

If you prefer to stay at medium to long range in PvP, High Caliber Rounds can improve your chances in almost every engagement. High Caliber Rounds only appear on scout rifles and hand cannons at the Legendary tier. Keep in mind that scout rifles and hand cannons already have naturally high Flinch values, but High Caliber Rounds push them even higher.

Final Round

Bonus damage at end of the magazine.

This mod gives you a 100% chance of dealing 33% more damage with the last shot in your magazine. In PvP, the last shot of a hand cannon, shotgun, or sniper rifle can inflict some serious damage. This mod is less useful on a scout rifle, as emptying your entire magazine and scoring a kill with the final round’s damage boost isn’t a common occurrence.

In PvE, this provides a very slight boost to overall damage output, as long as you remember to always dump your magazine. Don’t get in the habit of wasting shots and ammo, but do accurately burn your whole mag on hostile targets.

You can also “prime” your shotgun or (especially) your sniper rifle by leaving a single round remaining and using it to deal a heavy hit when you begin an engagement.

Javelin

+40 Velocity, -10 Stability.

A powerful boost to rocket speed, this can aid in landing a rocket on target against enemies at medium range, but you suffer a bit of extra recoil. In general, firing at distant adversaries with a rocket is a waste of ammo, but with high enough Velocity, you can more reliably land devastating shots in PvE or PvP. Avoid wasting Javelin’s boost on rocket launcher archetypes that have naturally high Velocity stats.

Unflinching

Heavily reduces Flinch.

A subtle mod, Unflinching reduces the effect of incoming damage on your accuracy—that is, you flinch less when shot. The overall effect is a 33% reduction on incoming “flinch damage.” This has a positive effect on your accuracy, though the exact benefit can vary considerably depending on the weapon you are using, how much incoming damage you’re taking, and how difficult of a shot you are taking.

In PvE, there are generally better mods for boosting your damage output and accuracy. In PvP, where you are very frequently in a heads-up firefight against another player, minimizing Flinch can absolutely win battles, particularly at medium to long range.

Make a point of securing Uncommon or Rare weapons of different classes and the same name with and without this mod while you level. Test them out in combat, and decide for yourself how much Unflinching helps you.

Feeding Frenzy

Boosts reload speed to 120% of base after a kill.

This instantly sets your Reload stat to 120% of base for a short time after scoring any kill. As a result, it is one of the easiest Reload mods to activate.

As with the others, Feeding Frenzy provides a slight boost to sustained damage output in PvE, and it is more frequently available in PvP, as there are no specific conditions on the kill to trigger it. The boost is a little smaller than the more demanding variants, but the ease in triggering it is generally worth the slight reload speed loss, unless your build and playstyle perfectly suit one of the other options.

Feeding Frenzy appears on auto rifles and machineguns at the Legendary tier.

Kneepads

Enables long slide while equipped.

Specific to shotguns and fusion rifles, this mod gives you a faster and longer-range slide while equipped. This is particularly nasty for corner-sliding attacks in PvP. While sliding is usually less important in PvE, this mod can help you slide to cover from a longer range. Note that this mod does not stack with a Hunter’s longer slide ability.

Life Support

Restore 50% of magazine and reload 150% faster after a near-death kill.

An unusual mod, Life Support refills your magazine and boosts your reload speed to 150% of base if you drop below 20% of your max health and manage to kill the enemy you are fighting. (Earning yourself a Close Call medal triggers this mod.)

In PvP, this can give you a surge of ammo to follow up on a second nearby foe and a faster reload right after, but if you are that badly wounded in a fight, pulling off the follow-up is difficult at best. In PvE, this can result in some “free” ammo gained over the course of a mission. However, given the very specific (and dangerous) condition for triggering this, there are safer mods out there to improve ammo efficiency.

Lightweight

+2 Agility when weapon is equipped.

A simple and very useful mod, Lightweight raises your Agility slightly, giving you a boost to movement and jump speed. If you favor Agility as a Class stat, this can push you up to and beyond your normal Agility limit. However, don’t expect the slight boost to pull you past sluggish if you totally abandon Agility abilities as a Titan or Warlock.

A quick tip for Hunters: the speed gains are sharper past 10 points of Agility, so max Agility Hunters can get a nice overall speed boost from capping Agility and taking Lightweight.

Luck in the Chamber

33% bonus damage on one round in the magazine.

Feel lucky? If you are, in fact, lucky enough to score the bonus damage when you land a headshot (especially with a slow-firing, high-impact weapon), this can be a decisive kill shot in PvP.

Given the hand cannon and shotgun’s normally small magazine sizes, this can be a powerful (if somewhat erratic) damage mod in PvP combat. There’s a decent chance you’ll get the damage bonus during a fight, sometimes even in a 1v1 fight, and it can tip the odds in your favor. Scout rifles don’t benefit quite as much, though a low-magazine, high-damage scout rifle can still land some solid damage with precision shots at long range. And, if you’re at long range, you have more time to empty a magazine fully while staying safe.

In PvE, this is a guaranteed damage bonus as long as you drain the magazine, but it is a small one similar to Final Round. There are generally other more effective mods to boost your damage output.

Metal Detector (Fusion Rifle only)

Increased chance for ammo drops.

Only found on Uncommon fusion rifles, Metal Detector simply increases your chances of finding more special ammo. This is a useful mod to find on a fusion rifle while leveling, though you are likely to replace it once you start finding Rare and Legendary weapons.

Mulligan

5% chance to reload a round into the magazine per shot.

Let’s try that again… This mod gives you a chance to reload your weapon with another shot instantly, but only when you fire and miss. Don’t expect this to trigger often with a rocket launcher, but when it does, it is a sweet feeling indeed.

This isn’t a bad mod for sustained damage in PvE. It is functionally a percentage bonus to mag size that combines with Magazine stat mods, giving you the longest possible sustained damage output, particularly with a scout rifle. In PvP, it can occasionally save you from a reload in combat against multiple opponents, and you may earn an extra round every now and again with your sniper rifle or rocket launcher. Here, it’s a nice mod.

Perfect Balance

+35 Stability, -20 Range.

A powerful Stability mod with a cost, Perfect Balance gives you a big Stability boost, but you pay for it with a significant Range penalty. Note that when combined with a strong sight, you can still deal full damage out to a good distance, but Perfect Balance isn’t ideal if you prefer using iron sights at a medium distance.

Performance Bonus

25% chance to grant bonus ammo into inventory on a kill.

A simple but useful mod for PvE, Performance Bonus can improve your overall ammo efficiency significantly on lengthy missions with a lot of hostiles. The amount of ammo you gain depends on your specific weapon: 6 for pulse rifles, 3 for scouts, 2 for hand cannons, 5 for fusion rifles, 3 for machineguns, and 1 each for shotguns and sniper rifles.

In PvP, it is generally less useful, although landing this mod on a sniper rifle and getting a bit lucky can make for some nice streaks without stopping to refill. Sadly, this mod does not appear on machineguns at the Legendary level. Sorry about dashing your dreams of endless action-movie heroism.

Private Eye

50% bonus zoom when crouched.

Only appearing on weapons at the Uncommon and Rare level, Private Eye gives you a massive zoom boost while crouching. Private Eye is very useful on precision weapons while you’re leveling in PvE, giving you added zoom only when you want or need it.

Quick Draw

+100 Handling, +10% Ready, +10% Away.

The queen of Handling mods, Quick Draw maximizes your ADS, Ready, and Away time with any weapon, and it also provides a boost to Ready and Away times beyond the normal cap for your weapon.

Because Handling is generally a subtle stat in terms of its effects on performance, Quick Draw doesn’t have the overt power of Range- or Stability-boosting mods. Still, if you find a weapon with this mod on it, you will absolutely find it pleasing to use.

Instantly snappy ADS times and much faster raise/drop times for your weapon make for a smoother gunplay experience all around, help you get on target more quickly, and let you recover from sprinting or switching faster. Quick Draw doesn’t have the maximum potential ADS speed of Snap Shot or the maximum potential Ready/Away times of Single Point Sling, but it does provide an all-in-one Handling package that is extremely powerful.

Rangefinder

10% bonus to Range, 20% bonus to damage falloff distance.

A very nice mod for long-range combat, this mod boosts your weapon’s performance at a distance while in ADS. The increase to damage falloff essentially means that you’ll be dealing 100% of your weapon’s damage 20% farther than you normally would with any other Range-boosting mods, and this is an entirely unique effect.

Because this mod boosts Range while ADS, not your zoom factor, this can improve your long-range damage output without influencing your zoom magnification. This is handy if you have exactly the scope you like, with the level of zoom you prefer. This mod also bears special mention for shotguns, as it is a great mod for extending your single-shot kill range in PvP.

Vacuum

Doubles ammo pick-up radius.

A minor mod that only appears on fusion rifles at the Legendary tier, Vacuum simply doubles the range at which you can grab nearby ammo packs. Although this can occasionally help you snag nearby ammo from cover or save you a few seconds in the open, this is generally a dud compared to the other primary mods options.

Reactive Reload

Reloading after a kill grants 33% bonus damage for three seconds.

A powerful but conditional damage boost, Reactive Reload requires you to both kill a target and reload immediately. Paired with mods that boost reload speed, you have a deadly combination of fast reloads and bonus damage after a kill. However, because reloading after a kill puts a stop to your immediate damage output, this does require some adjustments to your playstyle to take full advantage of the power.

In PvP, if you can score a kill and quickly duck out of sight to reload with another target nearby, you can often use the damage bonus to keep your momentum rolling and score a multi-kill.

In PvE, on a weapon with strong reload mods or Class abilities that boost Reload, you can use Reactive Reload to efficiently string together damage bonuses across multiple targets, boosting your ammo efficiency and burst damage.

Return to Sender

25% chance to add a round to your inventory ammo on a kill.

Somewhat similar to Mulligan, though with less direct combat influence, Return to Sender instead offers you a considerably larger boost to ammo efficiency that effectively stacks with your overall Inventory stat.

A nice boost to ammo efficiency in PvE, Return to Sender can give you extra staying power on longer high-difficulty missions or Strikes. In PvP, there are generally better choices that have a more direct effect on combat outcomes.

Secret Round (Pulse Rifle only)

Missing a shot in a burst grants a fourth round.

Specific to pulse rifles, this mod improves accuracy and ammo efficiency. If one of your rounds in a burst misses, a fourth round is instantly loaded and fired, giving you a free extra shot.

In PvP, aiming for precision shots with this mod gives you a slightly better chance of scoring all three hits. Drilling an enemy with multiple bursts to the head can drop them extremely quickly if you can stay on target. In PvE, Secret Round can boost your effective ammo efficiency, and it’s a slight bonus to your sustained damage output over time.

Send It

+50 Range, -30 Magazine and Inventory.

A powerful Range mod with a significant penalty, Send It only appears on scout rifles, hand cannons, and sniper rifles. The Magazine penalty is particularly harsh on hand cannons and sniper rifles, so be sure you’re getting the maximum benefit from the Range boost. You don’t want to clip most of the bonus on a weapon archetype that already has a good Range value.

The Inventory hit is fairly minor in PvP, but it isn’t kind to you in PvE. Other mods can give you similar performance benefits without the loss of ammo efficiency.

Single Point Sling

+50% Ready and Away, +10% movement speed.

A powerful Handling mod, Single Point Sling provides a percentage-based boost to Ready and Away times (though it does not speed your ADS), as well as a 10% movement speed boost in or out of ADS! The movement speed benefit is entirely unique to the Single Point Sling, and the Ready and Away benefits make for amazingly quick weapon switching and faster recovery for your weapon from sprinting.

To obtain the maximum benefit from Single Point Sling, seek out a weapon archetype that has a strong Handling value to begin with—Single Point Sling’s percentage-based boost can push you well beyond the normal cap. Keep your eye out for a shotgun with a Single Point Sling; fast switching to a shotgun can be quite nice in PvP.

Skip Rounds

Increases bullet ricochet chance.

All regular bullets in Destiny have a chance of bouncing off a surface depending on the material of the surface in question, the angle from which they impact, and a bit of chance. Skip Rounds increase that chance considerably, opening up the possibility for some trick shots that would otherwise be extremely unlikely or impossible.

Skip Rounds is an entirely unique mod. It doesn’t outright improve weapon performance in any quantifiable way, but it can let you get some kills that aren’t normally possible. Oh, and it makes for a damn nice highlight reel in PvP…send in those online submissions!

Snapshot

+30% ADS speed.

Snapshot provides a large bonus to ADS time, potentially allowing your weapon to exceed its normal archetype cap for Handling’s ADS speed. As with Single Point Sling, to get the maximum benefit from Snapshot, seek out a weapon archetype with a naturally high Handling mod. This allows Snapshot to push the ADS time past the normal Handling cap.

Ultra-fast ADS times make a weapon feel incredibly responsive, though the benefit is typically less than that of a more overtly power-boosting mod in PvE. In PvP, it is likewise not an obviously powerful mod, but it can absolutely affect the outcome of a fight (it’s particularly strong on shotguns and sniper rifles for quick-aimed shots).

Snapshot also pairs well with the Rangefinder mod on shotguns. The faster ADS time activates the Range bonus more quickly, giving you a better chance of landing a one-shot kill in PvP.

Speed Reload

+50 Reload.

Sadly only appearing on Rare-quality weapons, Speed Reload works as advertised, giving you a very large bonus to reload speeds. This is essentially the little sister of Flared Magwell, and until you can find a Legendary weapon to replace your favored Rare, this mod functions similarly and effectively, with no downside.

Spray and Play

50% faster base reload when magazine is empty.

A useful and easily triggered Reload boost, this mod demands that you fully empty your magazine to gain its benefit. This can encourage wasteful ammo use, but it can also help you reload when you really need it.

In PvE, as long as you’re keeping your shots on target, this can be a boost to sustained damage. Dump your mag, reload more quickly, and repeat. In PvP, this can occasionally save your life if you burn your entire magazine on one opponent, and a second comes seeking revenge while you’re reloading.

The reload speed bonus is not as large as some of the other Reload mods, but it is quite easy to trigger.

Surplus

Doubles amount of ammo gained from each ammo pickup.

Appearing on sniper rifles, machineguns, and rocket launchers at the Legendary tier, Surplus is an awesome mod for boosting your sustained damage output and ammo efficiency in PvE.

In PvP, grabbing extra heavy ammo is extremely powerful and can give you an edge when the heavy ammo spawns. Just be careful not to give your bonus ammo to the enemy team by rushing headlong into a fight and dying.

Persistence

Accuracy improves as you fire.

Persistence is great for your accuracy, though it’s usually not so great for your ammo conservation. Persistence boosts your accuracy by up to 20%, influencing how accurate your shots are as you hold down the trigger, but that value is scaled over the life of your magazine as you shoot. That is, at the beginning of your mag, you’re only getting a small bonus. By the halfway mark, it’s more noticeable, and it increases to the cap as you reach empty.

If you favor very aggressive play, this can be a nice mod in PvP on auto rifles and machineguns with large magazines. Boosting your accuracy as you hose down multiple targets can score you kills. In PvE, you can mitigate the potential ammo consumption problems if you are skilled at controlling recoil, especially if your weapon has good Stability.

Take a Knee

Accuracy improves when firing crouched.

This doubles your accuracy while crouched, making your shots very accurate at long range. While crouching in PvP is usually a bad idea, you can take advantage of the accuracy boost fairly safely when taking shots at distant targets from behind hard cover. In PvE, this is a great mod for sharpshooting (even with a machinegun) because you can turn it on whenever you want and disable it just as easily.

Third Eye

Grants radar while in ADS.

Exclusive to Legendary weapons, Third Eye is a very powerful situational awareness mod. This is of critical importance in PvP matches, where having your Motion Tracker active while ADS can save your life and let you get the jump on someone trying to sneak up on you. Sniper rifles do not normally gain access to this mod, though a few very lucky and persistent Guardians might find an exception to that rule.

In PvE, Third Eye is generally less important, particularly in a Fireteam. However, if you often play solo, it can still be helpful, especially for tougher missions.

Tripod (Rocket Launcher only)

Add an additional rocket to the rocket launcher magazine.

The only thing better than two explosions is three. About as simple and straightforward as you can get, this mod gives you more boom in your boomtube, granting you amazing destructive power in both PvE and PvP.

Tracking

Lock on tracking while zoomed.

Exclusive to rocket launchers, this mod allows you to lock on to a target while aiming in ADS. The rocket is self-guided once you fire it. This mod is amazing for landing a perfect detonation on distant targets. Just be careful that hostiles don’t pick you off while you’re aiming.

Who’s Next

150% faster reloads after a kill.

This mod gives you a lightning-fast reload after you kill an enemy. Given the ease of triggering this mod, this is a strong mod to have in both PvE and PvP, reducing combat downtime. This can also stack with an already high Reload stat, giving you truly amazing reload times.

Who’s Next is a functionally superior version of Feeding Frenzy, but its distribution across weapon rarities and mod slots is a bit different. Who’s Next appears on auto rifles, fusion rifles, machineguns, and rocket launchers at the Legendary tier.

For a truly, hilariously, quickly reloading weapon, track down a Legendary auto rifle equipped with Feeding Frenzy and Who’s Next.

Zen Moment

Stability increased with each hit.

This boosts your Stability by a percentage, capping at 66% after five hits. This is a significant bonus, and while it doesn’t last long, it can ensure that if you’re on a hot streak, you become even more lethal as you score hits. The tricky part with Zen Moment is deciding if it’s worth relying on when you’re using a Legendary hand cannon or scout rifle that has an average or poor Stability value to begin with.

On a weapon with an already strong Stability value, Zen Moment may give you relatively little benefit, but to reap the rewards on a gun with more kick, you need a skilled hand.