The addition of weapon crafting and new perks for all of Destiny 2’s Garden of Salvation raid weapons in Episode Revenant has brought many of them back to relevance, including Ancient Gospel.
The 140 RPM Hand Cannon, which already faced stiff competition in PvP thanks to the likes of Rose, Thorn, and Ace of Spades, has carved out space in the PvE sandbox thanks to its unique element and perk combo.
Think of Ancient Gospel as Void’s answer to Arc and Solar’s Nation of Beasts and Zaouli’s Bane respectively, and you’ll be on the right track.
Boasting access to top-tier Void-exclusive perks, Ancient Gospel joins Garden of Salvation’s Prophet of Doom as a meta-defining piece of kit.
Continue reading for a breakdown of the Hand Cannon’s god roll as well as some alternative combos worth testing in the field.
Ancient Gospel god roll – meta analysis
- Barrel: Arrowhead Brake
- Magazine: Alloy Magazine
- Perk 1: Destabilizing Rounds
- Perk 2: Explosive Payload
- Masterwork: Reload Speed
- Mod: Backup Mag
If you’re aiming to build a Guardian specifically around Void, then Destabilizing Rounds and Explosive Payload is the undisputed best pairing. Each round’s ability to inflict Volatile and deal splash damage to surrounding enemies is too good as an add-clear combo to pass up.
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As a 140 RPM archetype, Ancient Gospel’s low range might encourage you to favor a range Masterwork, but don’t fall into that trap. The stat is far less important in PvE compared to PvP – stacking reload speed to eliminate downtime as much as possible is the way to go.
You can bolster your uptime further with a Backup Mag Mod and Alloy Magazine, the latter of which Destiny 2 content creator Aztecross tested extensively and found to provide the best bang for your buck.
Tactical or Extended Mag are usually the go-to on Hand Cannons, but as they only provide one additional round over Alloy Magazine without its built-in stacking reload speed buff, the latter is your best bet.
Sadly, while it’s not awful in PvP, the Rampage + Kill Clip combo, while still powerful, is no longer guaranteed to two-tap Guardians at any Resilience level. With the competitive meta favoring exactly that, Ancient Gospel just can’t compete with other 140 RPM Hand Cannons.
However, that downside excluded, Ancient Gospel is every bit the counterpart to Zaouli’s Bane in PvE and well worth the effort to unlock its Pattern. I’d recommend waiting until Garden of Salvation is the current featured raid to make farming easier. Check out our weekly reset guide to learn more.