These two Destiny 2 Ikelos SMG god rolls are a mixed bag. On one hand, I think this weapon could be a contender for the best SMG in Destiny 2‘s PvE META right now. On the other, I think it’s one of the worst Crucible weapons we’ve gotten this season. I’m going to break these Ikelos SMG god rolls down in detail so you can see why I’ve drawn that conclusion.
I’ll be going over both god rolls perk-by-perk, explaining my decisions and offering up what I consider to be viable alternatives. Remember, these are my takes on the weapon. You might think my god rolls are trash, and that’s okay. I mean, you’re wrong, but you’re allowed to be.
Destiny 2 Ikelos SMG God Rolls
Ikelos SMG God Roll for PvE
- Arrowhead Break
- Seraph Rounds
- Feeding Frenzy
- Voltshot
As far as I’m concerned, this Ikelos SMG PvE god roll is the Voltshot weapon in Destiny 2 right now. Sub-Machine Guns have always been strong AD-clear weapons, so getting access to Voltshot on one really changes the game for Arc mains and non-Arc users alike.
In terms of your barrel, you can never go wrong with Arrowhead Break. It’s a reliable perk that will make your weapon much easier to control, but it’s not vital to any particular god roll. Use it if you want, but it’s not the end of the world if you opt for something that gives you a bit of range.
The same thing applies to your ammo perk. Traditionally, you would want something like Accurized Rounds in here, and that roll would be just as good as this one. However, I’m eager to see how Seraph Rounds performs after its recent change. It’s a good perk on paper, which is why I’m including it in this god roll. If you don’t like Seraph Rounds, or it turns out to be sub-par after some extensive testing, then feel free to swap this one out.
Column three is where things get interesting. Overall, the Ikelos SMG has a terrible perk pool. It has no Outlaw, Subsistence, or any other mainstream ammo-economy perk that you would want to see here on an SMG. However, it has one perk combination that turns this weapon from being trash into a viable META contender. That combination is Feeding Frenzy/Voltshot.
Feeding Frenzy is typically not the best ammo-economy perk in the world. It buffs your reload speed based on the number of rapid kills you make before reloading, up to a multiplier of 0.8 after five kills. That’s pretty bad on most weapons, but this gun has something other SMGs don’t – Voltshot.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Voltshot is the Arc-equivalent of Incandescent or Headstone. With Voltshot, reloading after a kill causes your next shot to Jolt its target. If you hit an enemy in a group of red bars with this Jolt, you can be sure that it’s going to kill pretty much everything. It’s a top-tier AD-clear perk that up until now hasn’t had an S-tier weapon to shine with.
When you put Feeding Frenzy and Voltshot together, you’ll realize that getting multikills increase your reload speed, and reloading after that multikill gives you a Jolted shot that will almost always result in a multikill. That synergy speaks for itself.
The Ikelos SMG is something to keep an eye on in the PvE META over the coming weeks and months. I have a sneaky suspicion you’ll be seeing a lot more of it.
Ikelos SMG God Roll for PvP
- Arrowhead Break
- Seraph Rounds
- Threat Detector
- Rangefinder
We’ve already been given access to one great PvP SMG this season in the form of Prolonged Engagement. Unfortunately, the Ikelos SMG doesn’t have a PvP god roll even remotely good enough to compete with that. I would argue this is an exclusively PvE weapon with little value in the Crucible. Still, some of you might be eager to try it out, in which case this is the roll I would go with.
Arrowhead Break is a staple for me on pretty much any automatic weapon – this included. Again, if you want more range, then feel free to slap something like Hammer-Forged Rifling onto here. However, I don’t particularly think you need it, but that’s up to you to decide.
The same thing goes for your ammo perk. In this case, Accurized Rounds probably is the better choice over Seraph Rounds. That being said, I’m still optimistic about where Seraph Rounds will end up in the META, so I would recommend playing around with it on your crafted roll before committing to one or the other.
Beyond that, we don’t really have much to work with. The Ikelos SMG already has a fairly limited perk pool, and that isn’t helped by the fact that there are almost no S-tier perks in here to choose from – especially for PvE. I’ve opted for Threat Detector in column as it’ll provide you with a near-constant buff given that you want to be getting in close with an SMG. However, Perpetual Motion, as well as pretty much any other perk here can be made work in some capacity.
Gutshot Straight is a viable column four option, but I would never recommend that perk. You should not reward yourself for avoiding headshots. Frenzy and Surrounded are both quite good in PvE, but drop off massively in PvP. Voltshot also isn’t all that in the Crucible.
That leaves Tap the Trigger, Pugilist, and Rangefinder. I’ve opted for Rangefinder, but any of those three will at least do something worthwhile in PvP.
Rangefinder has been around for a while now, so you should know what to expect from it. It’s going to give you more zoom and better aim assist. That’s consistent and reliable, but it’s not nearly enough to make this Ikelos SMG PvP god roll a META option.
As I said, this thing is going to do wonders in PvE. In PvP, though, it’s not worth its weight in Glimmer. At least, it’s not in my opinion.
