The Avalanche is an adaptive frame Solar machine gun that comes around once a year during the Dawning event. Last year’s offering wasn’t the best but we did get one good PvE perk, which was Target Lock. The perk then dominated almost all of 2023 when used on the Immortal SMG. Well, this year sees the Avalanche finally getting a perfect pairing perk. And it’s something worth grinding for.
I only used the Avalanche a handful of times during the year. Truth be told, I didn’t like it too much. The 2022 version of the weapon was too focused on crowd control. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But Heavy weapons, at least for me, should serve the purpose of boss-killing. Abilities and primary weapons are more than capable of dealing with mobs. Imagine my excitement when I found out that the Avalanche was getting Rewind Rounds.
How to get Avalanche in Destiny 2
To get the Avalanche, players must take part in the Dawning event. It doesn’t matter if they unlocked the weapon pattern last year. You’ll either have to complete the associated event challenge or decode gifts and hope and pray for the chance of getting a random roll of the machine gun.
Once you have unlocked the weapon in collections, you can then exchange a return gift and 25 Dawning Spirits to focus farm random rolls to choose from. This is a far better system than in years past when we were at the full mercy of two layers of RNG – the weapon itself and the perks on that weapon.
Best Avalanche PvP God Rolls
- 1st Column: Arrowhead Brake
- 2nd Column: Accurized Rounds
- Handling Masterwork
- Quick Access Sling Mod
- Under-Over + Target Lock
- Surplus + Target Lock
The perks I’ve listed are arbitrary at best. I like to have a decent amount of Handling on my guns as well as range. But you can go full if that’s what you want. You don’t see many players bringing a machine gun into the Crucible unless it’s for fun. If you’re serious about PvP, you’ll probably stick to grenade launchers.
Under-Over when paired with Target Lock melts shields and can potentially kill a Guardian in a short time. Surplus is a supporting perk that you’ll see on sniper rifles. It can work on machine guns if intend on using it from a very far range.
Best Avalanche PvE God Rolls
- 1st Column: Fluted Barrel
- 2nd Column: Tactical Mag
- Reload Speed Masterwork
- Backup Mag Mod
- Rewind Rounds + Target Lock
- Subsistence + Incandescent
Rewind Rounds is the missing piece that turns Avalanche into a competent boss-melting machine. When paired with Target Lock, the Avalanche damage output shoots through the roof since you don’t have to think about reloading as long as you’re applying pressure and there are bullets in reserves. Even though the bullets you get back don’t fill the magazine, the fact that you don’t have to reload twice is huge during damage phases. I highly recommend bringing this weapon during Solar surges with increased machine gun damage present.
The Subsistence + Incandescent roll is purely for fun. When the pairing is too good, you’d best believe that I’ll take note of it. It will see little to no use in end-game content but if you’re in charge of crowd control in your fireteam, you may want to consider this one.
How good is the Avalanche?
Avalanche is a sleeper hit that many will overlook. Even if they do see it in action, most players will naturally gravitate towards Incandescent rolls. Yes, Target Lock has been nerfed since last season but it only affects high RPM weapons like SMGs (specifically, the Immortal.) 450 RPM weapons are spared the Target Lock nerf, to the best of my knowledge. I stand behind my pick of Target Lock and Rewind Winds as the best perk pairing in the entire Dawning set.
These are the Avalanche base stats before any perks are applied:
- Impact: 41
- Range: 50
- Stability: 40
- Handling: 40
- Reload Speed: 60
- Zoom: 19
- Rounds Per Minute: 450
- Magazine: 57
The Avalanche’s perk pool is more focused on damage this year around. This is a vast improvement over the scattered perk pool seen from last year’s offering. Sadly, with the loss of Tap The Trigger, it had lost a crucial PvP perk. Then again, you won’t see many machine guns in the Crucible anyway.
3rd Column Perks:
- Auto-Loading Holster
- Subsistence
- Dynamic Sway Reduction
- Surplus
- Stats For All
- Rewind Rounds
- Under-Over
4th Column Perks:
- Adrenaline Junkie
- Incandescent
- Vorpal Weapon
- Cascade Point
- Target Lock
- One For All
And that’s everything I have for this Avalanche god roll guide. Out of all the weapons that have gotten better from the last event, the Avalanche stands as the most improved weapon. It won’t be replacing some of the more meta picks but at least it’s an option for players who don’t like to raid or don’t have access to paid content. Good luck and have fun out there, Guardians.
Check out my full list of Dawning god roll guides: