Destiny 2 Champions: How To Defeat Barrier, Overload, And Unstoppable Champions

When playing many of Destiny 2's high-end PvE activities--such as Legend Lost Sectors, Master Raids, and Nightfall Strikes--you'll encounter special Champion enemies that pose more of a challenge than the average foe. Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable Champions can be found across Destiny 2, and each has its own distinct power and means for defeating them.

In the past, dealing with Champions typically relied solely upon equipping seasonal Artifact mods and then using the corresponding weapon type. With the release of Lightfall, there are now more ways to deal with Champions in Destiny 2. This guide explains the current Champion mods in Season of Defiance, as well as how your subclass abilities and specific Exotic weapons can help you fight these unnerving foes, in addition to weapons dictated by Artifact upgrades.

How to Defeat Champions in Destiny 2 Lightfall

With the release of Destiny 2: Lightfall and Season of Defiance, developer Bungie has kicked off a new way of dealing with Champions. While you can still opt for Champion mods or specific Exotic weapons, you can now make use of specific subclass abilities to deal with them.

How to Defeat Barrier Champions With Subclass Abilities

Barrier Champions won't waste any time in popping an almost-impenetrable shield once you knock their health bars down.

Here are the subclass abilities to take down Barrier Champions in Destiny 2:

• Solar: While radiant, your weapons will pierce Barrier Champion shields and stun them
• Void: While you have volatile rounds, your Void weapons will pierce Barrier Champion shields and stun them
• Strand: While you have unraveling rounds, your Strand weapons will pierce Barrier Champion shields and stun them

How to Defeat Unstoppable Champions With Subclass Abilities

The juggernauts of Destiny 2, Unstoppable Champions can soak up a ridiculous amount of damage, won't flinch when you throw everything that you have at them, and will chase you to the ends of a map.

Here are the subclass abilities to take down Unstoppable Champions in Destiny 2:

• Arc: With Blind, Blinding Unstoppable Champions will stun them
• Solar: With Ignition, Ignition damage will stun Unstoppable Champions
• Stasis: With Shatter, Shatter damage will stun Unstoppable Champions
• Strand: With Suspend, Suspending Unstoppable Champions will stun them

How to Defeat Overload Champions With Subclass Abilities

Tenacious is one family-friendly word that can be used to describe Overload Champions, as these foes can be a nightmare to deal with if you're ill-prepared for them. Constantly regenerating health, teleporting around the battlefield, and unleashing a volley of gunfire at any given time, Overload Champions are an agile menace.

• Arc: With Jolt, Jolt lightning damage will now stun Overload Champions
• Void: With Suppression, suppressing Overload Champions will now stun them
• Stasis: With Slow, Slowing Overload Champions will now stun them

At the moment, there are no Strand-specific abilities to deal with Overload Champions, but this might change in the future.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance Artifact - Champion Mods List

Defeating Champions in Destiny 2 is no longer limited to special armor mods or specific Exotic weapons. But if you already have a specific build that you're running, or just want to opt for using mods either way, here's how it works for this season.

The artifact for Season of Defiance is called Ascendant Scepter, and you'll obtain it while following the Awaken, Queensguard quest. Once you're on Neomuna after the introductory mission, interact with the transmitter close to the vault and post box stations to kickstart it. It's important to note that, with the release of Lightfall, your artifact no longer unlocks mods that need to be equipped on your armor. Instead, any upgrade you unlock will be activated whenever appropriate. As a result, you're limited in the number of upgrades that can be unlocked at the same time, but you can reset your unlocks and choose new upgrades without paying any kind of respec cost.

The Season of Defiance artifact Champion mods are the following:

Barrier Champion Perks

• Anti-Barrier Pulse Rifle
• Piercing Sidearms

Overload Champion Perks

• Overload Bow
• Overloaded Auto/SMG
• Medieval Champion (Swords become strong against Overload Champions)

Unstoppable Champion Perks

• Unstoppable Scout Rifle

• Medieval Champion (Glaives become strong against Unstoppable Champions)

Each mod is designed to combat the special abilities of a specific Champion. Once you have these mods unlocked on your artifact, your weapons will automatically load anti-Champion rounds that can stop these enemies in their tracks. For example, anti-barrier rounds will pierce a Barrier Champion's shields and anti-Overload rounds will prevent these cunning foes from teleporting around you constantly. It's worth noting that Medieval Champion, located in the fifth column of the Artifact, provides anti-Champion effects to two different types of Champions.

Destiny 2 Season of Defiance Anti-Champion Exotics List

There are currently 13 Exotic weapons with intrinsic traits against Champions in Destiny 2 Season of Defiance. If you don't want to change your subclass abilities nor purchase specific artifact upgrades, these weapons can be a good option to deal with Champions.

Exotic Weapons With Stagger for Unstoppable Champions

• Bastion (Exotic Fusion Rifle)
• Devil's Ruin (Exotic Sidearm)
• Leviathan's Breath (Exotic Combat Bow)
• Malfeasance (Exotic Hand Cannon)

Exotic Weapons With Shield Piercing for Barrier Champions

• Revision Zero (Exotic Pulse Rifle)
• Wish Ender (Exotic Combat Bow)
• Arbalest (Exotic Linear Fusion Rifle)
• Eriana's Vow (Exotic Hand Cannon)

Exotic Weapons With Disruption for Overload Champions

• Thunderlord (Exotic Machine Gun)
• Divinity (Exotic Trace Rifle)
• Le Monarque (Exotic Combat Bow)