Heat weapons are an entirely new weapon subfamily introduced in the Renegades expansion. These guns draw heavy inspiration from Star Wars blasters, and they operate on a fundamentally different system than any other gear in Destiny 2. Instead of traditional ammunition and reloading, Heat weapons use a heat management mechanic that rewards skilled timing and strategic play.
This guide covers everything you need to know about Heat weapons, from basic mechanics to advanced techniques, along with a full breakdown of every Heat weapon available in Renegades.
Core Mechanics
Heat weapons replace the traditional magazine system with Heatsinks. Rather than loading rounds into a magazine, these weapons fire ammunition directly from your reserves while generating heat with each shot. The core gameplay loop involves managing your weapon's heat level through manual venting (the equivalent of reloading) or allowing passive cooling to occur.
The Heat Meter Interface
When you equip a Heat weapon, you'll notice some big changes to your weapon's UI. Instead of displaying an ammo count, the weapon shows a percentage meter indicating how much heat has built up while firing. This percentage climbs with each shot and needs to be managed for best performance.
A horizontal line appears in the middle of the heat meter, marking the "sweet spot" for executing a perfect vent. Hitting this threshold with proper timing results in dramatically faster cooling, letting you return to firing almost immediately.
Three Core Heat Statistics
Every Heat weapon features three unique stats that govern how the heat system behaves:
Manual Venting vs. Forced Overheat
You can press the reload button at any time to manually vent heat from your weapon, reducing the heat percentage back toward zero. This gives you control over when to clear heat, letting you time vents strategically around combat flow and perk activation.
Heat Weapon Archetypes
Heat weapons come in two distinct archetypes, each offering a completely different playstyle and approach to heat management. Understanding which archetype suits your preferences and build matters for getting the most out of these weapons.
Dynamic Heat Weapons
Dynamic Heat weapons prioritize damage output at the cost of higher heat management demands. These weapons feature:
- Higher base damage compared to standard weapons of the same type. For example, a 140 RPM sniper rifle normally has 55 impact, but a Dynamic Heat version has 58 impact, providing a meaningful damage increase.
- High heat generated per shot, requiring careful attention to heat levels during combat.
- Press reload to vent heat from the weapon at any time.
- Overheating forces a sustained vent, penalizing poor heat management.
- Weapons cool down more rapidly between shots, rewarding paced firing.
Dynamic Heat weapons work best in scenarios where you can control engagement tempo, like sniping lanes or methodical add clear.
Balanced Heat Weapons
Balanced Heat weapons take the opposite approach, emphasizing sustained fire capability and rewarding precise vent timing:
- Very low heat generated per shot, allowing for extended firing periods before venting becomes necessary.
- Press reload to vent heat from the weapon.
- Overheating forces a sustained vent.
- Manually venting at very high heat greatly increases venting speed, creating a "perfect vent" mechanic.
The perfect vent mechanic sits at the heart of Balanced Heat weapon gameplay. When you manually vent at approximately 93-94% heat or above (right after hearing the warning audio cue), you trigger a perfect vent notification. This dramatically accelerates the venting process, dropping heat back to zero almost instantly. The speed boost appears to function similarly to Outlaw, but built directly into the heat system when executed correctly.
Intrinsic Damage Bonus
All Primary ammo Heat weapons have an intrinsic damage bonus against powerful combatants. This built-in benefit makes Heat primaries particularly viable choices for endgame content where dealing with Majors, Ultras, and Champions efficiently matters. You don't need a specific perk or mod to access this bonus; it applies automatically to any Primary Heat weapon.
Heat-Specific Perks and Batteries
Renegades introduces several new perks designed specifically around the heat system, along with battery options in the magazine column that modify heat-related stats.
New Heat Perks
| Perk Name | Effect | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling Baubles | Collecting an elemental pickup or Orb of Power reduces weapon heat | Ability-focused builds |
| Delicate Tuning | While at low heat, the weapon gains improved range, handling, and accuracy | Controlled firing playstyle |
| Thermal Atomization | While at high heat, the weapon deals ~15% increased damage and causes targets to explode when defeated | Aggressive add clear |
These perks can create powerful combinations. A weapon with both Delicate Tuning and Thermal Atomization gives you stat bonuses at low heat during initial shots, then transitions to increased damage and explosions as heat builds. Combined with good cooling efficiency, you can cycle between these bonus states repeatedly.
Battery Options
Heat weapons feature batteries in the magazine column rather than traditional magazine perks. These batteries modify vent speed, heat generation, and other heat-related stats, letting you tune the weapon's heat behavior to match your playstyle.
Reload Perk Synergies
An important interaction to understand: traditional reload-activated perks work with Heat weapons because venting functions as the Heat weapon equivalent of reloading. Perks like Heal Clip, Kill Clip, and similar reload-triggered effects activate when you vent your weapon.
Complete Heat Weapons List
Renegades introduces 11 Heat weapons across two sources: the Renegades destination and the Equilibrium dungeon. Equilibrium dungeon weapons aren't immediately available at launch.
Renegades Destination Heat Weapons
These weapons drop from activities in the Renegades destination and are available immediately.
All or Nothing stands out as a versatile addition that performs well in both PvE and PvP. Beyond solid god roll options, the weapon offers significant perk variety for customizing to specific builds or leaning into Strand synergies.
The M-17 Fast Talker is a strong all-rounder for both PvE and PvP. The Balanced Heat archetype lets it put out sustained fire with low heat buildup, setting it apart from other SMGs. This one deserves a spot in any Guardian's arsenal.
Uncivil Discourse has strong synergy with certain Exotic armor pieces in PvE and puts in solid work in PvP too. The Star Wars-inspired blaster aesthetic adds visual appeal, and hopefully this weapon type sees continued support in future releases.
The Modified B-7 Pistol may not stack up against its contemporaries in PvP, but it's a blast to use in PvE. The potential for a double AoE roll transforms any room into an explosion fest, making add clear immensely satisfying.
Compact Defender packs devastating effectiveness into a small package. Access to Destabilizing Rounds in column 3 makes this weapon a dream for Void builds or sidearm enthusiasts. The main drawback is relatively high heat per shot, requiring more careful heat management than other options.
Equilibrium Dungeon Heat Weapons
These weapons drop from the Equilibrium dungeon and become available when the dungeon releases. Information on these weapons is limited since they weren't fully accessible during preview periods.
| Weapon | Type | Element | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conspiracy Honed | Sniper Rifle (140 RPM) | Stasis | Dynamic Heat |
| Zealous Ideal | Auto Rifle | Solar | Balanced Heat |
| Bitter End | Machine Gun (900 RPM) | Arc | Balanced Heat |
| High Tyrant | Pulse Rifle (540 RPM) | Void | Balanced Heat |
| Voltaic Shade | Scout Rifle (260 RPM) | Arc | Balanced Heat |
Conspiracy Honed is a Dynamic Heat sniper rifle with 58 impact (compared to 55 on standard 140 RPM snipers). The higher base damage combined with rapid cooling between shots lets skilled players maintain consistent precision damage without triggering overheats.
A strong perk combination pairs Delicate Tuning with Thermal Atomization. At low heat, you gain range, accuracy, and handling bonuses. As heat builds through firing, you transition to increased damage and explosion kills. The weapon's cooling efficiency lets you stow and swap, returning to find it nearly fully cooled.
Zealous Ideal exemplifies the Balanced Heat playstyle with extremely low heat generation that allows extended firing periods. With perks like Heal Clip and Incandescent, you can maintain nearly constant fire, quickly vent after a kill to trigger healing, and immediately return to shooting. The synergy between low heat generation and reload-triggered perks feels exceptionally smooth.
Exotic Heat Weapon
The Heirloom exotic combat bow secretly functions as a Balanced Heat weapon, applying the heat system to bow gameplay.
Advanced Heat Management Strategies
Dynamic Heat Rhythm
With Dynamic Heat weapons, establish a firing rhythm that works with the boosted cooling between shots. Rather than holding the trigger and racing toward overheat, fire in measured bursts that allow partial cooling between shots. With practice, you can maintain indefinite fire without ever triggering a forced overheat, maximizing damage uptime.
Perfect Vent Timing
For Balanced Heat weapons, train yourself to recognize the audio warning cue that signals high heat. Venting immediately after this cue (at approximately 93-94% heat) triggers the perfect vent bonus, dramatically reducing vent time. This timing becomes instinctual with practice and significantly improves how the weapon handles.
Stow and Swap Technique
Weapons with high cooling efficiency benefit from being stowed during weapon swaps. Shoot until heat builds high, swap to another weapon to handle a different situation, then swap back to find your Heat weapon substantially cooled. This mimics Autoloading Holster behavior but operates through the cooling efficiency stat in real time.
Perk Activation Windows
Identify moments when brief vents provide maximum value. After securing a kill that activates a reload-triggered perk, even a quick vent at low heat counts as a reload and grants your perk bonus. This allows near-constant perk uptime with minimal firing interruption on Balanced Heat weapons.
Tier Rankings Explained
Weapons in this guide use the following tier system:
All currently reviewed Renegades destination Heat weapons rank at A Tier, indicating strong performance across the board for this new weapon subfamily.
Summary
Heat weapons bring a fresh mechanical layer to Destiny 2's gunplay through the Renegades expansion. The choice between Dynamic Heat (higher damage, paced firing) and Balanced Heat (sustained fire, perfect vent rewards) archetypes provides distinct playstyle options. Combined with intrinsic bonus damage against powerful combatants on Primary variants and synergies with both new heat-specific perks and traditional reload perks, Heat weapons offer compelling choices for all types of players.
- Higher base damage output
- Fast cooling between shots
- Excellent for weapon juggling
- Great burst damage potential
- Sustained fire capability
- Perfect vent rewards
- Smooth reload perk synergies
- Lower heat management stress
Mastering heat management opens up real skill expression opportunities. If you prefer the rhythmic pacing of Dynamic weapons or the sustained pressure of Balanced weapons, investing time in learning these mechanics pays off in combat effectiveness across all Destiny 2 activities.