Destiny 2: Shadowkeep introduced the Gate Lord’s Eye artifact, the very first seasonal artifact. This is a new tool that players can use to tweak their builds, increasing their damage and allowing them to deal with new threats.
How to unlock the Gate Lord’s Eye artifact
The Gate Lord’s Eye seasonal artifact is unlocked at rank 7 of the Season Pass. This is fairly early on in the piece, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to unlock. You’ll likely unlock the artifact part way through the Shadowkeep campaign. If it seems to be taking a while, consider spending some time completing bounties.
All Gate Lord's Eye Artifact mods
The Gate Lords Eye Seasonal Artifact is the first planned artifact to hit Destiny 2. By earning XP, players can earn points to unlock mods.
There are 5 tiers to the Gate Lord’s Eye artifact, with each tier unlocking after a certain amount of artifact mods have been unlocked. There are a total of 12 artifact unlocks, allowing players to use 12 of the 25 available mods.
The first line of mods, Tier 1, can be unlocked immediately, provided you have a point to spend. The second column of mods can only be selected after you’ve unlocked two mods. To gain access to the third column, you must unlock four mods. This continues all the way to the final column, which can only be accessed once you have selected 10 mods.
Tier 1 – Requires 0 Artifact unlocks
Dark Glimmer – Defeating Hive combatants with finishers grants extra Glimmer. Mod does not stack.
Labyrinth Miner –Defeating Vex Minotaurs grants weapon parts. Mod does not stack.
Biomonetizer – Defeating Hive combatants grants extra Glimmer. Mode does not stack.
Circuit Scavenger – Defeating Vex combatants grants extra Glimmer. Mod does not stack.
Dissection Matrix – Defeating Vex Hobgoblins grants destination materials. Mod does not stack.
Tier 2 – Requires 1 Artifact unlocks
Anti-Barrier Rounds – Shield-piercing rounds designed to bypass combatant defenses. Strong against Barrier Champions. Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns only.
Anti-Barrier Rounds – Shield-piercing rounds designed to bypass combatant defenses. Strong against Barrier Champions. Hand Cannons only.
Overload Rounds – Uninterrupted fire grants bullets that cause disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns only.
Overload Arrowheads – Damage by fully drawn arrows causes disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Bows only.
Unstoppable Hand Cannon – Aiming down sights loads a powerful explosive payload that staggers unshielded enemies. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Hand Cannons only.
Tier 3 – Requires 4 Artifact unlocks
Enhanced Hand Cannon Loader – Greatly increases reload speed of Hand Cannons.
Enhanced Bow Loader – Greatly increases the nocking speed of arrows.
Enhanced Fusion Rifle Loader – Greatly increases the reload speed of Fusion Rifles.
Enhanced Auto Rifle Loader – Greatly increases the reload speed of Auto Rifles.
Tier 4 – Requires 7 Artifact unlocks
Breach Refractor – Grants grenade energy on final blows with shield-piercing weapons or when a member of your fireteam shuts down a Barrier Champion’s ability.
Ballistic Combo – Grants melee energy on final blows with shield-piercing weapons or when a member of your fireteam shuts down a Barrier Champion’s ability.
Overload Grenades – Void grenades cause disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions.
Disruptor Spike – Improves the effects of disruption, lowering combatants’ damage output even further.
Heavy Finisher – Finishers generate Heavy ammo. Requires one-half of your Super energy.
Oppressive Darkness – Causing damage with a Void grenade adds a weaken effect to enemies.
Arc Battery – Grants overshield and reduced cooldown during activation of all Arc class abilities.
Thunder Coil – Grants bonus damage for all Arc melee abilities and refunds Super energy on finisher final blows.
From the Depths – Grants bonus Void Super damage if cast while critically wounded. Lasts until the end of the Super activation.
Best Gate Lord’s Eye artifact mods
The Recluse is still one of the best weapons in Destiny 2 and is made even more powerful with Anti-Barrier Rounds.
While there are over two dozen mods to select from the Gate Lord’s Eye, there are a few standout options. Firstly, there are three clear winners when it comes to the three main ways of dealing with the new Champion enemies:
Anti-Barrier Rounds – Auto Rifles / Submachine Guns
Overload Rounds – Auto Rifles / Submachine Guns
Unstoppable Hand Cannon – Hand Cannons
The reason you’ll likely want to opt for the Auto Rifle options instead of the Hand Cannon options, is that they can also be placed on Submachine Guns. It’s never been a better time to unlock the Recluse.
The other reason you would want the Auto Rifle version of the Anti-Barrier Rounds mod is that Hand Cannons rarely do enough continual damage to fully stop a Barrier Champion from regenerating. An Auto Rifle or SMG make light work of shields.
Breach Refractor works well with Anti-Barrier Rounds, especially when using Recluse. Alternatively, couple it with a weapon that has Demolitionist.
If you’re going to be using Anti-Barrier Rounds a lot, it’s definitely worth selecting Breach Refractor. Landing final hits with an Anti-Barrier Round gives you grenade energy, and when you’re killing everything with Recluse, you’ll have your grenades up quite a lot.
Breach Refractor – Grenade energy on shield-piercing final blows
Finally, nearly every build in Destiny 2 should be using Oppressive Darkness. This makes your Void grenades apply a debuff to any enemy target, increasing the amount of damage you can deal. During the Garden of Salvation raid, this grenade mod is invaluable.
Oppressive Darkness – void grenades adds a weaken effect to enemies.
As a sort of postscript, for any Titans out there, consider using Arc Battery and Thunder Coil, especially if you’re using a bottom tree Striker. These two mods synergize extremely well with Arc builds and will make you a nightmare to deal with.
There are a lot of mods to unlock in the Gate Lord’s Eye seasonal artifact. While there’s a lot of room to play around, there are a few must-have mods that will make your life a lot easier. Check out the Shacknews Destiny 2 complete strategy guide for more build suggestions and strategies.