The beloved King’s Fall Raid from the original Destiny has returned in Destiny 2, and by slaying the Taken King and his subordinates, players will be awarded reprised versions of several of the original King’s Fall Raid weapons. Complete with excellent perk options and one of the best Origin Traits available, these have instantly become popular choices in Destiny 2’s metagame. But which of the original King’s Fall weapons have come back, and what are the best weapon perks and god rolls you should chase for PvE and PvP? And how do you get your hands on the Raid’s exclusive Exotic weapon, the Touch of Malice?
In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the Raid weapons from King’s Fall. This includes a loot table that shows which weapons can drop from each encounter, an overview of the best perks and god rolls for each individual weapon, and details on how to obtain the Touch of Malice.
Destiny 2 King’s Fall: Loot table
Like other Raids in Destiny 2, King’s Fall splits up its available rewards across each of its encounters. This means that if you’re planning on hunting a specific weapon, there are a few specific encounters in the Raid that you’ll want to complete each week on each of your characters.
Below is a loot table that shows which weapons can drop from each King’s Fall encounter. Keep in mind that since pieces of Raid armor can also drop from the encounters, you may not always get one of these weapons as a reward.
Note that once you get a weapon to drop at least once, you can also buy more of them at the loot chest that spawns after defeating Oryx as long as you have enough Spoils of Conquest. Spoils of Conquest drop from completed Raid encounters, and each weapon you buy at the end of King’s Fall will cost you 20 of them. This is a great way to get some extra chances at a god roll each week.
| Opening (Portal) | First Encounter (Totems) | Second Encounter (Warpriest) | Third Encounter (Golgoroth) | Fourth Encounter (Daughters) | Final Encounter (Oryx) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doom of Chelchis (Scout Rifle) | Doom of Chelchis (Scout Rifle) | Smite of Merain (Pulse Rifle) | Qullim’s Terminus (Machine Gun) | Smite of Merain (Pulse Rifle) | All weapons from previous encounters |
| Qullim’s Terminus (Machine Gun) | Defiance of Yasmin (Sniper Rifle) | Midha’s Reckoning (Fusion Rifle) | Defiance of Yasmin (Sniper Rifle) | ||
| Zaouli’s Bane (Hand Cannon) | Zaouli’s Bane (Hand Cannon) |
Destiny 2 King’s Fall: Weapon perks and god rolls
While Raid weapons in general usually offer strong and/or unique perk combinations, King’s Fall takes things to a whole new level. Each weapon in the Raid is capable of rolling fantastic perks, and they all come with the phenomenal Runneth Over Origin Trait. This overflows the weapon’s magazine whenever you reload near allies, which substantially reduces the amount of time you have to spend reloading as long as you’re sticking with your teammates.
Ultimately, while some of these weapons are better for PvE than PvP and vice-versa, all of them are worth hunting down. Here’s an overview and analysis of each weapon’s top perks, as well as the god rolls you should look out for.
Doom of Chelchis perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: Precision Frame 180 RPM Scout Rifle (Void)
- PvE God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Firefly/Explosive Payload, Dragonfly/Focused Fury/One for All
- PvP God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Explosive Payload, Eye of the Storm
We’re starting things off with a bang with the Doom of Chelchis, which is arguably the best weapon from King’s Fall for endgame PvE content. Arrowhead Brake gives you a perfect 100 recoil direction for easy control, while Tactical Mag offers a general boost to reload speed, stability, and magazine size.
Both trait columns feature a wide variety of top-tier PvE perks, with our favorite combo being Firefly and Dragonfly — something that no other weapon in the game can roll. Both Firefly and Dragonfly cause large explosions that can clear out trash mobs rapidly when you kill a foe with a headshot, and since the presence of both means two explosions, nothing other than the beefiest of yellow bar targets will survive them. Some other excellent combinations include Firefly/Focused Fury, Firefly/One for All, and Explosive Payload/One for All.
There are fewer options for PvP, though a roll with Explosive Payload and Eye of the Storm will serve you incredibly well. The former removes damage falloff and provides a slight damage boost, while the latter improves your accuracy as you take damage, helping you secure kills in duels with precise critical hits.
Qullim’s Terminus perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: High-Impact Frame 360 RPM Machine Gun (Stasis)
- PvE God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Ensemble/Heating Up, Killing Tally/Firefly/Headstone
- PvP God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Steady Rounds, Dynamic Sway Reduction, Eye of the Storm/Killing Tally
While Machine Guns aren’t exactly the meta right now, the Qullim’s Terminus is nevertheless a beastly one you shouldn’t ignore. Arrowhead Brake and Tactical Mag provide some valuable general stat buffs and make the recoil easy to control, while Ensemble provides a huge reload speed boost when near teammates. Heating Up is also an excellent choice for the first trait column, as it buffs stability and accuracy whenever you get a kill. This allows you to keep up the pressure against ads without any issues.
Ultimately, though, the true star of the show is Killing Tally, which is a unique perk that hasn’t been seen on Machine Guns since the now-sunset 21% Delirium was added all the way back in 2019’s Season of the Drifter. It’s essentially a more potent version of Rampage, as it buffs your damage by 10% each time you kill an enemy up to a maximum of 30%, then remains active until you stow the weapon or reload it. Paired with Ensemble or Heating Up, this perk will allow you to single-handedly clear out entire armies of trash mobs without much effort.
If you’re looking for a PvP roll, we recommend the combo of Dynamic Sway Reduction and Eye of the Storm (though you could use Killing Tally here too if you want to try to rampage through the enemy team with the damage buff). These perks make it easy to achieve laser-precise accuracy, and since you won’t get more than one magazine of heavy ammo in the Crucible anyway, you shouldn’t care about using Ensemble for reloading. It’s also a good idea to swap out Tactical Mag for Steady Rounds for maximum stability.
Smite of Merain perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: Adaptive Frame 390 RPM Pulse Rifle (Kinetic)
- PvE God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Stats for All/Focused Fury/Ensemble/Demolitionist, One for All/Firefly/Vorpal Weapon/Adrenaline Junkie
- PvP God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Ensemble/Moving Target, Eye of the Storm
Like the Doom of Chelchis, the Smite of Merain is capable of rolling with multiple phenomenal perk combos. The best overall roll is arguably Stats for All/One for All since the former boosts your range, stability, reload speed, and handling and the latter gives you a big 30% damage buff whenever you rapidly hit three separate targets. However, there are multiple other specialized god rolls to chase, too, including Focused Fury/Vorpal Weapon for excellent anti-Champion crit damage, Focused Fury/Firefly for a deadly damage buff and area-of-effect explosion combo, Ensemble/One for All for rapid reloading, and Demolitionist/Adrenaline Junkie for the best Destiny 2 builds that focus on grenades. As usual, we’re going with Arrowhead Brake for our barrel and Tactical Mag for our magazine perk.
Note that if you’re a big fan of melee combat, you can also roll the Smite of Merain with both Pugilist and Swashbuckler. We’re not the biggest fans of this setup since Pulse Rifles aren’t the ideal weapon to take into close-quarters combat, but the looping combo of Pugilist giving you melee ability energy whenever you get kills and Swashbuckler giving you a 33.3% damage buff with the weapon whenever you score a melee kill is undeniably powerful.
On the PvP side of things, Ensemble with Eye of the Storm is our top pick, as the quick reloads near allies and improved accuracy when you take damage will make your ability to team-shoot much better. Alternatively, you could trade Ensemble for Moving Target to enjoy better target acquisition while moving.
Defiance of Yasmin perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: Adaptive Frame 90 RPM Sniper Rifle (Kinetic)
- PvE God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Extended Mag/Alloy Magazine, Ensemble/No Distractions, Firing Line/Vorpal Weapon
- PvP God Roll: Extended Barrel, Accurized Rounds, Snapshot Sights/No Distractions, Opening Shot/Moving Target
The Defiance of Yasmin is capable of rolling with some great perks for both PvE and PvP, making it one of the most versatile weapons from the King’s Fall Raid. For group PvE, we recommend Arrowhead Brake, Extended Mag, Ensemble, and Firing Line. Arrowhead Brake keeps recoil manageable, Extended Mag gives you an extra round in the magazine (five instead of four), Ensemble offsets the reload speed penalty of Extended Mag as long as you’re close to your allies, and Firing Line gives you a huge 20% damage when near two teammates. This makes it an effective boss DPS sniper to pair with something like an Auto-Loading Holster Rocket Launcher.
If you’re playing solo PvE, it’s better to go with Alloy Magazine, No Distractions, and Vorpal Weapon instead. Alloy Magazine boosts your reload speed when your magazine is empty, while No Distractions reduces incoming flinch and makes it easier to land critical hits. Vorpal Weapon only provides a 15% damage buff to bosses and Champions compared to Firing Line’s 20, but you don’t need to be near allies for it to proc.
Defiance of Yasmin is also an excellent sniper for PvP. The best roll for the Crucible is Extended Barrel, Accurized Rounds, Snapshot Sights, and Opening Shot. The former two perks boost your range, which in turn increases your aim assist and makes it easier for you to “stick” your reticle on an enemy player’s head. Snapshot Sights and Opening Shot, meanwhile, allow you to quickly aim down your sights and boost the first round in your magazine with improved accuracy, respectively. Alternatively, you could swap out Snapshot Sights for No Distractions or Opening Shot with Moving Target if you want to cancel out flinch from incoming fire or stay as accurate as possible while strafing.
Midha’s Reckoning perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: High-Impact Frame 960 Charge Time Fusion Rifle (Arc)
- PvE God Roll: Chambered Compensator, Accelerated Coils, Unrelenting/Cornered/Field Prep, Reservoir Burst
- PvP God Roll: Smallbore, Accelerated Coils, Hip-Fire Grip, Tap the Trigger
If you never managed to get a good PLUG ONE.1 with Feeding Frenzy and Reservoir Burst, the Midha’s Reckoning is here to make your day. Our chosen PvE god roll features Chambered Compensator for good stability and recoil control, Accelerated Coils for a faster charge time, Unrelenting for health regeneration after rapid kills, and Reservoir Burst for explosive first shots in the magazine. Notably, the extra rounds that get loaded into your magazine after you proc the Runneth Over Origin Trait all count as your first shot, which means you can fire several explosive Reservoir Burst rounds in a row and do plenty of area-of-effect damage. This makes it extremely easy to proc Unrelenting and regenerate health instantly whenever you’re fighting a large group of ads. You could also trade Unrelenting for Cornered or Field Prep to make your charge time or reload speed faster, respectively.
This Fusion Rifle also has some awesome PvP rolls, including the stable and accurate setup of Smallbore, Accelerated Coils, Hip-Fire Grip, and Tap the Trigger. The first two perks buff your range, stability, and charge time, while Hip-Fire Grip and Tap the Trigger significantly improve your stability and accuracy when firing from the hip and when you begin pulling the trigger.
Zaouli’s Bane perks and god rolls
- Weapon Class: Adaptive Frame 140 RPM Hand Cannon (Solar)
- PvE God Roll: Arrowhead Brake, Accurized Rounds, Explosive Payload, Incandescent/One for All
- PvP God Roll: Hammer-Forged Rifling, Accurized Rounds, Explosive Payload/Opening Shot, Eye of the Storm
Last but certainly not least is the Zaouli’s Bane Hand Cannon. It doesn’t have a large number of great perks like some of the other King’s Fall weapons do, but the best perks it does have are amazing. For PvE, your best bet is to go with Explosive Payload and Incandescent, a newer perk introduced in Season 17 that causes enemies to spread stacks of Solar 3.0 Scorch to other nearby foes when killed, which eventually causes an Ignition that causes them to blow up in a Solar explosion. It’s basically a more potent version of Firefly since it doesn’t require critical kills to proc, and since Explosive Payload slightly buffs bullet damage and removes damage falloff, it’s incredibly easy to rack up plenty of final blows against mobs and get tons of Scorch stacks and Ignitions rolling.
This roll is very similar to the Sunshot Exotic Hand Cannon. However, since the Zaouli’s Bane is a Legendary, you’re getting all of the same ad clear power without having to sacrifice your ability to use a meta Exotic like Witherhoard, Gjallahorn, or Sleeper Simulant.
The best roll for PvP is somewhat “standard,” although it’s still a beast in the Crucible regardless. Hammer-Forged Rifling and Accurized Rounds give you some strong range boosts, while Explosive Payload flinches enemies, does some extra damage, removes falloff, and provides a small range buff as well (Opening Shot works too since it makes your first shot more accurate, though we prefer Explosive Payload overall). Eye of the Storm is the best option in the final column, as improved accuracy whenever you take damage makes it easier to win duels against other players.
Destiny 2 King’s Fall: How to get Touch of Malice
In addition to all of the Legendary Raid weapons discussed above, King’s Fall also gives players the opportunity to earn the Touch of Malice Exotic Scout Rifle. It has quickly become one of the most popular Exotic primary weapons in the game since its unique effect makes the final round in the magazine last forever and deal significantly increased damage by slowly draining your health, which you can offset with healing abilities. Precision hits also charge up a ball of Darkness energy that you can fire at foes with your alternate fire input, blinding and temporarily debuffing them.
This weapon was originally available in the first Destiny game after the completion of King’s Fall and required players to complete a quest. In Destiny 2, though, the process of acquiring the weapon is different. To get the Touch of Malice, you simply need to defeat Oryx in the final encounter of the Raid. However, the weapon only has a small chance to drop from the final chest, and you only get one drop chance per week on each of your characters. This means that you have a maximum of three attempts per week to get the Touch of Malice; if it doesn’t drop for you after the third try, you have to wait until the next weekly reset before you can try again. Note that the drop chance goes up each time you don’t get the weapon, so you will eventually get it.
King’s Fall weapons like the Touch of Malice and all of the other excellent Legendaries discussed in this article are great guns to chase ahead of the launch of the Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion. It’s slated to arrive on Feb. 28, 2023, and will include a brand-new story campaign set on Neptune, a new Raid, tons of new weapons and armors, and more. Destiny 2: Lightfall preorders are available now for $50, and notably, the DLC includes the Season Pass for the first season of Destiny 2 Year Six.
