Destiny 2: Attributes - character development Destiny 2 Guide
Last update: 24 March 2021
In this chapter of our game guide you will find out what character attributes you can find in the Destiny 2 and how they affect the gameplay.
By developing your character in Destiny 2, you will not only increase the hero's Gear Score, but also increase the level of particular attributes such as Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect and Strength. Depending on which character build you want to use you will have to decide which attributes are most suitable to your playing style. To make this decision a little easier, we briefly explain all the attributes available in Destiny 2 and discuss how they affect certain skills.
Attributes - general information
In Destiny 2 there are 6 different character attributes: Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect and Strength. Each piece of armor that you acquire has a certain number of points which are being randomly distributed between specific attributes. Each 10 points of a particular attribute increases its Tier by 1, up to the maximum level, that is, Tier 10. While developing your character in Destiny 2, you have to pay attention to a number of factors, namely:
- The attribute points acquired between the different Tiers are actually wasted. For example, 47 Resilience points will work exactly the same as 40 Resilience points. You can't allow to a situation where attribute points are just going to be wasted because you can simply distribute and use them for boosting up other statistics;
- When you change the usual Legendary item to Masterwork, you get a bonus of +2 points for each attribute. This means that by having the complete Masterwork set you can gain a total of +10 points for each attribute;
- Before you upgrade your equipment to Masterwork and install mods in your gear, pay attention to how much they actually cost. For example, Intellect attribute mod costs as much as 5 energy points, and Strength mod just 3 points.
If you're just leveling up your character and trying to reach the 1050 Gear Score level, you don't have to worry too much about wasted attribute points because you change your equipment quite often. Once you reach the maximum level of the character, you will need to select proper items, modify them with mods and upgrade them to the Masterwork variant in order to achieve a satisfactory level of attributes you are interested in.
Mobility
The Mobility attribute in Destiny 2 is responsible for increasing the character's movement speed and affects the height and length of hero's jumps. Most importantly, the Mobility attribute also reduces the cooldown of the Hunter's class skill. The table below shows how a specific Tier of Mobility attribute affects character's movement speed and the cooldown of Hunter's skill.
Tier (attribute level) | Movement speed bonus in % | Cooldown of Hunter's class-specific skill in seconds |
0 | 0% | 0:28 seconds |
1 | 4% | 0:26 seconds |
2 | 8% | 0:25 seconds |
3 | 12% | 0:24 seconds |
4 | 16% | 0:22 seconds |
5 | 20% | 0:20 seconds |
6 | 24% | 0:18 seconds |
7 | 28% | 0:16 seconds |
8 | 32% | 0:13 seconds |
9 | 36% | 0:11 seconds |
10 | 40% | 0:09 seconds |
Dodge skill is the special Hunter's class-specific ability which is very useful during PvP gameplay, but it also comes in handy during PvE combat. If you care about the character's considerable mobility and ability to avoid getting injured, then the Mobility attribute in Hunter's case is undoubtedly a very good choice.
Resilience
The Resilience attribute in Destiny 2 is responsible for increasing the survival of the character, that is, it increases the health pool of your hero. Crucially, the Resilience attribute also reduces the cooldown of Titan's class skill. The table below shows how a specific Tier of Resilience attribute affects character's health in % and how it changes the cooldown of Titan's class skill.
Tier (attribute level) | Health Bonus in % | Cooldown time of Titan's class skill in minutes |
0 | 0% | 0:52 seconds |
1 | 1% | 0:46 seconds |
2 | 2% | 0:41 seconds |
3 | 3% | 0:37 seconds |
4 | 4% | 0:33 seconds |
5 | 5% | 0:30 seconds |
6 | 6% | 0:28 seconds |
7 | 8% | 0:25 seconds |
8 | 10% | 0:21 seconds |
9 | 12% | 0:17 seconds |
10 | 13% | 0:14 seconds |
Titan's special class ability greatly enhances her defensive capabilities and enables her to effectively support the team. If you care about high survivability and also want to have the skills to support allies in combat, then the Resilience attribute of Titan is undoubtedly a very good choice.
Recovery
The Recovery attribute in Destiny 2 determines how quickly character will begin to recover lost health points while remaining out of combat. Importantly, the Recovery attribute also reduces the cooldown time of Warlock's class skill. The table below shows how a specific Tier of Recovery attribute increases character's health regeneration in % and how it changes the cooldown of Warlock's class skill.
Tier (attribute level) | Health regeneration rate bonus in % | Cooldown time of Warlock's class skill in minutes |
0 | 0% | - |
1 | 3% | 1:43 min |
2 | 6% | 1:31 min |
3 | 9% | 1:22 min |
4 | 11% | 1:15 min |
5 | 14% | 1:08 min |
6 | 17% | 1:03 min |
7 | 23% | 0:59 seconds |
8 | 29% | 0: 51 seconds |
9 | 34% | 0:46 seconds |
10 | 43% | 0:41 seconds |
Warlock's special ability greatly increases the survival of the entire team, as it works as an AoE healing spell. If you care about high survivability and also want to have the skills to buff and support allies in combat, then the Recovery attribute in case of Warlock is undoubtedly a very good choice.
Discipline
The Discipline attribute in Destiny 2 shortens the cooldown of grenade skill, that is, grenade reloading times. Thus, it allows you to use this ability more often. Depending on your character's build you can (but you don't have to) allocate a lot of points to Discipline. The table below shows how a specific Tier of Discipline attribute reduces the cooldown of grenade skill and what types of bonuses are granted after reaching higher Tiers.
Tier (attribute level) | Grenade skill cooldown | Bonuses granted for reaching a higher Tier in seconds |
0 | 1:43 minutes | - |
1 | 1:33 minutes | 0:10 seconds |
2 | 1:25 minutes | 0:08 seconds |
3 | 1:22 minutes | 0:03 seconds |
4 | 1:08 minutes | 0:14 seconds |
5 | 0:59 seconds | 0:09 seconds |
6 | 0:51 seconds | 0:08 seconds |
7 | 0:45 seconds | 0:06 seconds |
8 | 0:41 seconds | 0:04 seconds |
9 | 0:37 seconds | 0:04 seconds |
10 | 0:32 seconds | 0:05 seconds |
Taking into account the cooldown of the grenade skill you should invest at least 20 points in the Discipline attribute to experience any meaningful difference. You will get the highest boost on Tier 4, because it grants you as much as 35 seconds of cooldown reduction. If your character's build is not based on using grenades you can raise the value of this attribute to Tier 2 or Tier 4 depending on your preference.
Intellect
The Intellect attribute in Destiny 2 shortens the renewal time of each super ability of every character. Thus, it will allow you to use the super skill more often. Super Ability is a skill that is always worth having at hand. Therefore, it pays off to invest some attribute points in Intellect. The table below shows how a specific Tier of Intellect attribute reduces the cooldown of the super skill and what types of bonuses are granted for reaching higher Tiers.
Tier (attribute level) | Super skill cooldown time in seconds | Bonuses granted for reaching a higher Tier in seconds |
0 | 7:12 seconds | - |
1 | 6:22 seconds | 0:50 seconds |
2 | 5:43 seconds | 0:39 seconds |
3 | 5:00 seconds | 0:43 seconds |
4 | 4:45 seconds | 0:15 seconds |
5 | 4:31 seconds | 0:14 seconds |
6 | 4:18 seconds | 0:13 seconds |
7 | 4:07 seconds | 0:11 seconds |
8 | 4:00 seconds | 0:07 seconds |
9 | 3:52 seconds | 0:08 seconds |
10 | 3:48 seconds | 0:04 seconds |
The table above indicates that it is worth achieving at least Tier 3 of the Intellect attribute in order to reduce the cooldown time of character's super skill from 7:12 to just 5 minutes.
Strength
The Strength attribute in Destiny 2 reduces the cooldown of melee punches which allows you to use this melee attacks much more often. Depending on whether your character's build is based on using a melee attack you can (but you don't have to) allocate a lot of points to the Strength attribute.
Tier (attribute level) | Cooldown of melee attack ability in seconds | Bonuses granted for reaching a higher Tier in seconds |
0 | 1:43 minutes | - |
1 | 1:33 minutes | 0:10 seconds |
2 | 1:25 minutes | 0:08 seconds |
3 | 1:22 minutes | 0:03 seconds |
4 | 1:08 minutes | 0:14 seconds |
5 | 0:59 seconds | 0:09 seconds |
6 | 0:51 seconds | 0:08 seconds |
7 | 0:45 seconds | 0:06 seconds |
8 | 0:41 seconds | 0:04 seconds |
9 | 0:37 seconds | 0:04 seconds |
10 | 0:32 seconds | 0:05 seconds |
By taking into account the cooldown of melee attack ability you should invest at least 20 points in Strength attribute in order to experience any noticeable difference. You will get the highest boost on Tier 4, because it grants you as much as 35 seconds of cooldown reduction. If your character build doesn't rely on melee attacks and punches, you can raise the value of this attribute to Tier 2 or Tier 4, depending on your preference.