The Swarm of the Raven is a refurbished Iron Banner heavy grenade launcher from seasons past. It is a Void rapid-fire frame GL with a couple of interesting rolls that some might like. The Season 21 version of the weapon comes with some new perks but it will be the old reliable ones that you’ll want to keep an eye out for.
Unfortunately, It is most likely to be overlooked in most PvP content despite having an Origin Trait that activates after defeating another Guardian. The case is very much different in PvE, however. The Swarm of the Raven can roll with Cascade Point, a great perk for a rapid-fire grenade launcher with a deep ammo reserve.
How to get the Swarm of the Raven in Destiny 2?
The only way to get Swarm of the Raven is to play rounds of Iron Banner until you rank up Lord Saladin’s reward track and get an instance of the weapon. This also means that you won’t be able to focus decode it or acquire it from random drops after a match.
Once you have an instance of the weapon in your inventory, you are able to focus craft it from Lord Saladin at the cost of:
- 1 Iron Engram
- 25 Legendary Shards
- 20,000 Glimmer
If you have enough resources to get multiple copies of the weapon, you can go after multiple rolls at once until you get the 5/5 god roll for either PvP or PvE.
This is the roll that Lord Saladin gives you when you reach a high enough level. It’s not the best when it comes to either PvP or PvE. But at least you can leverage Genesis in your favor in certain situations. Sadly, Slickdraw is not something we like to use.
Best Swarm of the Raven PvP God Roll
- 1st Column: Quick Launch
- 2nd Column: High-Explosive Ordnance
- Velocity Masterwork
- Icarus Grip Mod (Cause why not?)
- Impulse Amplifier + Adagio (This combination allows you to get a quick follow-up pick with the help of Adagio’s damage buff. You’ll have 7 seconds to find another target to one shot to oblivion. With only 3 shots per heavy pickup, you may want to be careful where you land those next two shots.)
- Impulse Amplifier + Disruption Break (This is a more forgiving combination. Should you happen to land the find blow with one of the grenades, there’s an almost guaranteed chance that your opponent’s shield is broken. Allowing to clean up with a kinetic weapon.)
Impulse Amplifier is the go-to perk for this kind of weapon. The faster those grenades go, the more likely you’ll be able to secure the kill. You also won’t have to lead your shots if the grenades take no time to reach their target. If the situation calls for it, you have the option to rapidly fire all three grenades into a group of opponents.
PvP Tip:
From our experiences with this particular roll, we can confidently say that this is the roll you want to bring into a 6v6 game mode like Iron Banner. There will be times when spamming grenade rounds into a group of enemies is the only option. Should any of them survive the onslaught, they won’t likely survive the follow-up attacks.
Best Swarm of the Raven PvE God Roll
- 1st Column: Volatile Launch
- 2nd Column: Spike Grenades
- Velocity Masterwork
- Backup Mag Mod
- Demolitionist + Cascade Point (This is the boss killing roll you want to have if ever Lord Saladin deems you worthy. Cascade Point shoots the grenades at high speed. When the drum is empty, throw a grenade to continue the barrage.)
- Demolitionist + Genesis (This roll is intended more on crowd control and near-endless shooting. Breaking an opponent’s shields will load rounds into the drum from reserves. Should you run out, simply throw your grenade to immediately reload the drum. Getting kills with this weapon will also net you additional grenade energy.)
Demolitionist will be your priority in PvE content followed closely by Cascade Point. We’re not kidding when we say that this combination melts major targets. We’ve seen some crazy outcomes using Cascade Point but there’s nothing quite like spamming grenades and watching that health drop down to nothing.
An interesting roll we want to try out is Clown Cartridge and Destabilizing Rounds. It sounds good on paper but we’re afraid that Destabilizing Rounds will continue to be underwhelming. Hopefully, Clown Cartridge can do something to beef up its damage potential.
How good is the Swarm of the Raven Grenade Launcher?
The Swarm of the Raven is fun to use when you have Cascade Point equipped. But not many PvP players will give it a second look especially if they have a god roll Memory Interdict. Of course, if you don’t want to go through the trouble of grinding for a Memory Interdict, you can always have the Swarm of the Raven as a decent alternative.
There are the Swarm of the Raven base stats before any perks are applied:
- Blast Radius: 20
- Velocity: 49
- Stability: 21
- Handling: 18
- Reload Speed: 21
- Zoom: 13
- Rounds Per Minute: 150
- Magazine: 5
There are a few stand-out traits here worth considering. The only thing that kind of bums us out is the fact that Envious Assassin and Cascade Point are in the same column. This would have been a killer combination in PvE but alas it was not meant to be.
3rd column perks
- Clown Cartridge
- Demolitionist
- Pulse Monitor
- Field Prep
- Auto-Loading Holster
- Slickdraw
- Impulse Amplifier
4th column perks
- Destabilizing Rounds
- Envious Assassin
- Cascade Point
- Adagio
- Full Court
- Disruption Break
- Genesis
And that’s everything we have right now for this Swarm of the Raven god roll guide. Sometimes, it’s not about what’s meta. If the Swarm of the Raven feels right in your hands, it’s going to be part of your weapon rotation. If we find any more interesting rolls during our time in Iron Banner, we will update this article. Good luck and have fun out there, Guardians!
Check out our other related guides:
Iron Banner God Rolls (Season 21)
- Destiny 2 Pressurized Precision God Roll: Best PvP & PvE Perks
- Destiny 2 Swarm of the Raven God Roll: Best PvP & PvE Perks
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep is out now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles. The season will run from May 23, 2023, to August 22, 2023.
