Moon’s haunted. Leviathan’s haunted. Weapon’s haunted. Armor’s haunted. It’s Season of the Haunted in Destiny 2, and all of these hauntings mean lots of nightmares. This season’s artifact is called the Nightmare Harvester and comes with 25 time-limited seasonal mods for you to take advantage of. In this guide, we explain what they are, how they work, and what buffs they provide.
How to Unlock and Rank Up the Nightmare Harvester
You unlock the Nightmare Harvester in the first quest of the season’s story. You literally can’t miss it considering the game drops you straight onto the Leviathan when you log in. If you do manage to get booted to orbit, just select the mission again. After completing it, head to the new wing of the HELM and talk to the Crown of Sorrow to get your seasonal artifact.
Once you’ve unlocked it, you’ll need some time to actually upgrade the artifact itself. The artifact has an infinite number of levels that can advance your Power Level to above 1570. Artifact levels will cost more and more XP as you increase their power. If you’ve spent a bunch of time upgrading last season’s artifact, those levels have vanished and you’ll need to start the process again.
As a reminder, Bungie has removed the cap on the number of seasonal mods you can unlock. If you grind enough artifact levels, you can feasibly unlock all 25 seasonal mods.
Best Season of the Haunted Mods
- Column 1: Grab whatever you need for defeating Champions, like Piercing Sidearms, Overload Rounds (even though everyone hates Overload Auto Rifle and SMG), and Unstoppable Glaive.
- Column 2: Nightmarish Opulence can be great if you’re running weapons with those Origin Traits. Otherwise, these are mostly nice to have rather than required, so spend the unlocks on Column 1 mods instead.
- Column 3: Armor of the Dying Star is efficient and Unquenchable Thirst is useful if you’re using that specific type of gun.
- Column 4: We recommend Withering Heat and Revitalizing Blast.
- Column 5: You have a lot of options here. If you’re running an Elemental Wells build and a Solar Exotic like Sunshot, Flame Harvesting is a great idea. Personally, I’m a fan of Radiant Orbs for gaining the radiant effect. Solar Fulmination or Rays of Precision are great if you already have a means of becoming radiant, however.
Season of the Haunted Mods
Long before you hit the hard level cap, you’ll unlock each of the different mod tiers. In total, you’ll be able to select up to 25 artifact mods.
Column 1 Weapon Mods – Requires 0 Previous Unlocks
- Piercing Sidearms (1-Cost, Arms): Sidearms gain shield-piercing rounds, which bypass combatant defenses. Strong against Barrier Champions.
- Overload Rounds (1-Cost, Arms): Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Auto Rifles and Submachine Guns grants bullets that stun combatants, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions.
- Unstoppable Scout Rifle (1-Cost, Arms): Aiming down sights for a short time causes Scout Rifles you wield to fire a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions.
- Unstoppable Glaive (3-Cost, Arms): Glaives you wield fire a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions.
- Anti-Barrier Pulse Rifle (1-Cost, Arms): Pulse Rifles you are wielding fire shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. Pulse Rifles deal bonus damage against Barrier Champions.
Column 2 Armor Mods – Requires 2 Previous Unlocks
- Shotgun Holster (1-Cost, Legs): Gradually reloads your stowed Shotguns over time. Multiple copies of this perk stack to reduce the time taken to fully reload.
- Trace Rifle Ammo Finder (1-Cost, Helmet): Increases your chance of finding Special ammo while you have a Trace Rifle equipped.
- Nightmarish Opulence (1-Cost, Helmet): Increases the duration of the Psychohack Origin Trait and the effect of the Extrovert Origin Trait.
- Pulse Rifle Targeting (1-Cost, Helmet): Improved target acquisition, accuracy, and aim-down-sights speed for Pulse Rifles.
- Sidearm Holster (1-Cost, Legs): Gradually reloads your stowed Sidearms over time. Multiple copies of this perk stack to reduce the time taken to fully reload.
Column 3 General Armor Mods – Requires 5 Previous Unlocks
- Shotgun Dexterity (1-Cost, Arms): Faster ready and stow speed for Shotguns.
- Trace Rifle Reserves (1-Cost, Chest): Increases the amount of Trace Rifle ammo you can carry.
- Unquenchable Thirst (1-Cost, Helmet): Increases the buff effect of the To Excess Origin Trait and the healing effect of the Souldrinker Origin Trait.
- Armor of the Dying Star (2-Cost, Chest): Reduces incoming Solar and Void damage from combatants.
- Sidearm Dexterity (1-Cost, Arms): Faster ready and stow speed for Sidearms.
Column 4 Chest Armor Mods – Requires 9 Previous Unlocks
Now is where things usually get interesting. These mods usually provide a good power boost and will be the meat and potatoes of your build.
- Overload Trace Rifles (3-Cost, Arms): Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Trace Rifles causes the beam to stun combatants, delaying ability regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions.
- Revitalizing Blast (4-Cost, Class Item): Stunning a Champion causes it to ignite and clears your shield stun.
- Withering Heat (6-Cost, Class Item): Causing damage with a Solar ability weakens Champions for a short duration.
- Molten Overload (2-Cost, Class Item): Solar grenades cause disruption, delaying ability regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions.
- Glaive of Dreams (2-Cost, Arms): While you have a Glaive equipped, the Unstable Essence buff gained by picking up objects dropped by Nightmares has double its normal duration.
Column 5 Class Item Mods – Requires 14 Previous Unlocks
Here are all of the cool new Solar class mods. Time to empower your fire abilities, Guardians!
- Classy Restoration (6-Cost, Class Item): Activating your Solar class abilities grants you restoration.
- Radiant Orbs (5-Cost, Class Item): Picking up an Orb of Power makes you radiant.
- Rays of Precision (6-Cost, Class Item): While radiant, Solar precision final blows cause combatants to ignite.
- Flame Harvesting (5-Cost, Class Item): Solar Exotic final blows create Solar elemental wells.
- Solar Fulmination (3-Cost, Class Item): Your ignitions do increased damage in an increased radius.
It’s worth noting that the Nightmare Harvester expires at the end of this season, taking all of your power bonus and seasonal mods with it. Thankfully, artifact progress is shared across all of your characters. At the very least, you won’t have to rank it up multiple times in the same season.
If you’re looking for more help, we have guides covering how to unlock the Solar 3.0 fragments and grenades, how to get the new Jotunn catalyst, how to farm Vestiges of Dread and Opulent Umbral Energy, all Exotics, new weapon Patterns, seasonal mods, and Season of the Haunted triumphs. In addition, we’re covering all patch notes, bugs and top issues, Bound in Sorrow quest steps, and Calus Bobbleheads. We’ve covered how to get Opulent Keys, Bound Presence in Containment, Crown of Sorrow H.E.L.M. upgrades, Iron Banner Seal Triumphs, and the Trespasser Catalyst. And lastly, we’ve written on how to find a Loyalist Commander for Battles Lines Triumph and the Cek’ik Boss.
