Best Armor Set Bonuses & Combinations in Destiny 2

With over 56 armor sets, there can be over 1,000 possible combinations with the armor set bonuses in Destiny 2, which is why you might be a tad overwhelmed as to what sets you should be grinding for, and why. Below, we'll outline some of our favorite armor set bonuses in Destiny 2 that can be extremely powerful for your builds, whether it's a 4-piece set or a mixture of 2-piece sets.

While we'll be talking about the best armor sets for this guide, you can still check out the compendium below that goes over all 56 Armor Sets, how to get them, and the set bonuses you can get, as you might find one that complements your build.

Nezarec's Nightmare (4 Pieces for Dream-Devourer)

• Nezarec's Nightmare is the armor set that can be obtained from the Root of Nightmares Raid.
  • ​​​​​​​Dream-Devourer: Performing a finisher versus a powerful combatant grants Devour. While you have Devour, gain damage resistance versus combatants.

For Nezarec's Nightmare, your main focus is on acquiring four pieces to use the Dream-Devourer set bonus. With Dream-Devourer, you will be able to get Devour when you perform a finisher, and when you have Devour, you gain damage resistance against combatants.

This damage resistance works from all sources of Devour, so if you have a build (or a weapon) that can proc Devour, then you're basically going to have a permanent 20% damage resistance buff so long as you kill enemies. It's great for survivability, since the damage resist buff is great, kills extend Devour, and grant Health and Grenade Energy.

Atheon's Memory (4 Pieces for Collective Power)

• Atheon's Memory is the armor set acquired from the Vault of Glass Raid.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Collective Power: While you have a subclass buff, dealing sustained damage creates an Orb of Power.

With Atheon's Memory, you can equip 4 pieces for the Collective Power set bonus. When you have a subclass buff, you will generate Orbs of Power when you are dealing sustained damage to an opponent. This is great for boss DPS rotations, as you're more often than not going to have a Well of Radiance Warlock providing you with Solar buffs.

That means you can stand still, shoot the boss, generate Orbs of Power, which grant Armor Charges, which in turn, boost your stats or weapon damage with Surges. It's a free way to get Orbs of Power when you're in an endgame activity with a Fireteam to ensure you're always bringing the most damage (and perhaps even a second Super in the same damage phase).

Sage Protector (4 Pieces for Combat Meditation and Blade Focus)

• The Sage Protector set is acquired from the Equilibrium Dungeon.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Combat Meditation: Sword hits return grenade and class energy. Bonus energy is granted if Blade Focus is active.
  • Blade Focus: Briefly guard with a Sword to ready Blade Focus. While Blade Focus is readied, hitting a target with your sword increases Sword damage and lunge distance for a moderate duration.

Sage Protector is arguably the best set for Sword users, as both its bonuses, Combat Meditation and Blade Focus, rely on Swords as your weapon of choice. Whether it's a Power Sword or something more fun like the Praxic Blade, you can make use of both of these set bonuses to become unstoppable.

With Combat Meditation, Sword hits will return Grenade and Class energy. With Blade Focus, you can briefly guard with a Sword to get Blade Focus, which will increase the damage and lunge distance of your Sword. Combined, you're basically going to spam strike anything that moves, and constantly spam your abilities that regenerate in just a few swings.

Exodus Down (4 Pieces for Repurposed Charge)

• The Exodus Down set is acquired from Nessus activities: Master Lost Sectors and Distortions.
  • Repurposed Charge: Whenever you gain, lose, or spend an Armor Charge, heal and gain damage reduction for a short time. This effect scales with the amount of Armor Charge gained, lost, or spent.

With Exodus Down, you'll want 4 pieces to get the Repurposed Charge bonus. With this bonus, you're going to heal and gain damage resistance modifiers every time you lose or spend an Armor Charge, and this effect stacks for the number of Armor Charges gained, lost, or spent.

Repurposed Charge can be used to basically break damage resistance modifiers, because if you have the max amount of charges, you have 12 seconds of 35% damage resistance, but you can keep that buff indefinitely if you keep generating Orbs of Power to get Armor Charges.

Use the Stacks on Stacks Leg Armor Mod and the Charged Up Chest Armor Mod for even more Orbs!

Per Audacia (4 Pieces for Sublime Transit)

• The Per Audacia set is acquired randomly by completing Competitive Crucible matches (win or lose).
  • Sublime Transit: Increases mobility and grants enhanced sprint speed and slide distance.

The Per Audacia set is for PvP players only, so you're only going to want this set if PvP is something you strive for. The reason this is a great PvP set comes from its 4-piece bonus, Sublime Transit, which increases mobility and enhanced sprint speed, and slide distance.

This set bonus is like an exotic itself, since it doesn't require anything to activate, and it's simply a passive bonus you'll always have. More mobility is great, and enhanced sprint speed and slide distance? You're going to be unstoppable in the Crucible and Trials of Osiris.

Legacy's Oath + Crota's Memory (2 Pieces for Augmented Servos & Cursed Fist)

• Legacy's Oath is the armor set obtained from the Deep Stone Crypt Raid, and Crota's Memory is the armor set from the Crota's End Raid.
  • Augmented Servos: Powered melees release an additional disorienting pulse when used to defeat a target.
  • Cursed Fist: Melee final blows trigger a Cursed Thrall explosion.

If you combine 2 pieces of Legacy's Oath with 2 pieces from Crota's Memory, then you're going to have a melee-specific build that relies on punching things to make them go boom. It really is that simple, as your melees will release disorienting pulses to blind targets, and cause a Cursed Thrall explosion to ensure everyone gets a taste of your knuckle sandwich.

While the bonus from Augmented Servos requires powered melees to disorientate enemies, that won't be an issue when your regular melees are practically killing them anyway with the Cursed Thrall explosion. This is great for builds that rely on melee damage and can get the powered melee ability back quicker.

Oryx's Memory + Pantheos Resplendent (2 Pieces for Iron Sharpens Iron & Well Prepared

• Oryx's Memory can be acquired from the King's Fall Raid, whereas Pantheos Resplendent can be obtained from Pantheon encounters.
  • Iron Sharpens Iron: Final blows on Guardians and powerful combatants generate additional ammo progress.
  • Well Prepared: Picking up ammo grants Armor Charge. Grants a bonus to Health stat per Armor Charge you have.

Combining Oryx's Memory with Pantheos Resplendent will essentially make you an Ammo and Armor Charge-generating farm. With Oryx's Memory, you can have Iron Sharpens Iron, where final blows on anything with a yellow healthbar grants ammo progress, wtih +30% for Special Ammo and +25% for Heavy Ammo (it was nerfed to these values with June 23rd's update).

Since you'll be generating Ammo Bricks faster, you'll want to pick them up with the Well Prepared set bonus from Pantheos Resplendent. This bonus makes it so that when you pick up Ammo, you get an Armor Charge. This is essentially yet another free way of generating Orbs of Power to build into Surge mods for your armor.

Using Special Ammo Scout Mods and Heavy Ammo Scout Mods on your Helmet will help you generate more ammo for your team, which will really help during boss encounters and ad-dense areas.

Promised + Smoke Jumper (Stable Resonance + Ride Together, Die Together)

• Promised is the armor set from the Salvation's Edge Raid, and Smoke Jumper is decoded with Zavala.
  • Stable Resonance: Defeating a powerful combatant generates Stable Resonance, which grants damage resistance and increased weapon damage for the duration.
  • Ride Together, Die Together: When you pick up an Orb of Power, gain a brief period of rapidly decaying damage reduction.

Using 2 pieces of the Promised set gives you Stable Resonance, which is an absolutely amazing set bonus that can be combined with just about any other bonus. With Stable Resonance, defeating an enemy with a yellow health bar will grant Stable Resonance, which provides you with +25% damage resistance and +7% weapon damage for 12 seconds, and is refreshed every time you kill another yellow bar.

While you can combine Stable Resonance with any set of your choosing, I liked using Smoke Jumper for the Ride Together, Die Together perk. This grants decaying damage reduction when you pick up an Orb of Power, and since Orbs of Power are so easy to generate, having one to add +45% (decaying) damage resistance makes you a tank.

There are near-infinite combinations of armor pieces, so why not share what you're running in the comments below for other Guardians to increase their power?