Dawning 2025 Event Overview
The 2025 Dawning event brings three new legendary weapons to Destiny 2, each offering unique perk combinations and build opportunities. This guide breaks down every weapon added to the Dawning loot pool, analyzes their god rolls for both PvE and PvP, and explains the mechanics behind each combination.
Event Schedule
The Dawning 2025 runs for three weeks and is free to all players. The event activates at weekly reset and stays live until the following reset.
- Start Time: Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at 17:00 UTC (09:00 PST)
- End Time: Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 17:00 UTC (09:00 PST)
New Weapons Available
Three weapons have been added or refreshed for this year's Dawning:
- Permafrost - Stasis Wave Frame Grenade Launcher (Special Ammo)
- Mistral Lift - Void Adaptive Burst Linear Fusion Rifle (Heavy Ammo), refreshed with new perks
- Fimbulwinter Stitch - Arc Precision Frame Sidearm (Primary Ammo)
All Dawning weapons feature the exclusive Veist Stinger origin trait, which randomly triggers to partially reload your magazine during combat.
How to Farm Dawning Weapons
You can obtain Dawning weapons through multiple methods:
- Earn Dawning Engrams from Portal activities
- Trade Dawning Spirit with Eva Levante in the Tower
- Bake cookies using Dawning recipes
- Complete the Event Rank Track for guaranteed holofoil versions
- Purchase directly from the Event Shop
Permafrost: Stasis Wave Frame Grenade Launcher
Why Permafrost Stands Out
Permafrost is easily the most exciting addition to the Dawning 2025 loot pool. As a Stasis wave frame grenade launcher, it can roll with Crystalline Corpsebloom, marking the first time this perk has appeared on a wave frame weapon. This creates exceptional synergy with Stasis crystal builds, particularly for Titans running crystal-focused subclass configurations.
Wave frames are already valued for their ability to one-shot Stasis crystals, making them go-to tools for builds that generate multiple crystals. Permafrost takes this utility further by also creating crystals through its own kills, establishing a powerful feedback loop.
Complete Perk Pool
| Column 1 Perks | Column 2 Perks |
|---|---|
| Attrition Orbs | Desperate Measures |
| Overflow | Crystalline Corpsebloom |
| Blast Distributor | One For All |
| Rimestealer | Reaper's Tithe |
| Demolitionist | Pugilist |
| Wellspring | |
| Adrenaline Junkie |
God Roll #1: Stasis Crystal Synergy Build
Why This Works: This combination delivers peak Stasis build synergy. Crystalline Corpsebloom spawns larger Stasis crystals at victim locations after rapid final blows, something wave frame grenade launchers excel at achieving. The perk was newly introduced this season and has never before appeared on a wave frame weapon.
Rimestealer grants Frost Armor when you destroy a Stasis crystal or defeat a frozen target. Since Permafrost creates its own crystals through Crystalline Corpsebloom, you're constantly generating crystals that you can immediately destroy with your next wave frame shot. Each crystal destruction provides Frost Armor stacks, granting two stacks per detonation.
- Fire wave frame shot to secure double or triple kills
- Crystalline Corpsebloom spawns large Stasis crystals at kill locations
- Next wave frame shot destroys these crystals while damaging enemies
- Rimestealer grants Frost Armor (2x stacks) from crystal destruction
- Repeat process
This build proves especially powerful for Stasis Titans who already generate numerous crystals through their abilities. Wave frames one-shot Stasis crystals, creating massive simultaneous explosions that deal serious damage across an area.
God Roll #2: Ability Energy Focus
Why This Works: Demolitionist provides grenade energy on every final blow and instantly reloads your weapon when you throw a grenade. This creates a powerful loop: fire your wave frame, throw your grenade, instantly reload and fire again without manual reloading. The instant reload after grenade use means you can maintain aggressive uptime while still spawning Stasis crystals through Corpsebloom.
This roll works particularly well for builds that emphasize grenade usage, letting you maintain constant pressure with both your weapon and abilities.
God Roll #3: Sustained Damage Build
Why This Works: Reaper's Tithe provides stacking damage buffs after "multiple simultaneous final blows," precisely what wave frame grenade launchers specialize in delivering. The buff's effectiveness is clear: base damage of 352 increases to 422 with just two stacks (roughly 20% increase). The buff lasts 15 seconds and refreshes with each subsequent kill.
What makes this special: Reaper's Tithe is extremely easy to stack and maintain on a wave frame weapon. Every double kill instantly grants stacks, and the 15-second duration means the buff rarely falls off during active combat.
Alternative Strong Combinations
One For All Build:
- Perks: Overflow + One For All
- Explanation: One For All requires hitting three enemies with damage (not kills) to activate its 35% damage buff. Wave frames easily damage multiple enemies simultaneously, making this perk effortless to trigger. Overflow doubles your magazine when picking up ammo, giving you multiple shots to work with.
Lead from Gold Utility:
- Perks: Lead from Gold + Crystalline Corpsebloom
- Explanation: Picking up ammo directly loads special ammo into your magazine, maintaining uptime without manual reloading while still spawning crystals.
Adrenaline Junkie Build:
- Perks: Demolitionist + Adrenaline Junkie
- Explanation: Classic damage-boosting combination where grenade damage buffs your weapon, and weapon kills grant grenade energy.
Build Recommendations by Playstyle
- Rimestealer + Crystalline Corpsebloom
- Directly complements crystal-generating abilities
- Provides constant Frost Armor uptime
- Demolitionist + Adrenaline Junkie
- Strong ability-weapon synergy
- Works with any subclass
Overall Permafrost Assessment
Permafrost stands out as potentially the strongest weapon in the Dawning 2025 lineup. The ability to roll Crystalline Corpsebloom on a wave frame creates unprecedented Stasis build opportunities, while traditional perks like Demolitionist, Overflow, and One For All ensure the weapon remains strong even without specialized builds. The Veist Stinger origin trait adds extra utility by randomly reloading your magazine mid-combat, further reducing downtime.
Mistral Lift: Void Adaptive Burst Linear Fusion Rifle
Understanding Adaptive Burst Linear Fusions
Mistral Lift fires a three-round burst rather than a single bolt, distinguishing it from precision frame linears. This archetype faces challenges in the current meta, as adaptive burst linears aren't particularly strong compared to other heavy weapon options. That said, Mistral Lift features an exceptional perk pool that would make it extremely powerful if linear fusion rifles receive future buffs.
Complete Perk Pool
| Column 1 Perks | Column 2 Perks |
|---|---|
| Built to Blast | Butterfly |
| Envious Arsenal | Bait and Switch |
| Firefly | Dragonfly |
| Reconstruction | Precision Instrument |
| No Distractions | Rewind Rounds |
| Withering Gaze | Reservoir Burst |
| Overflow |
God Roll #1: Traditional DPS Build
Why This Works: This is the most straightforward god roll for boss damage. Envious Arsenal reloads your weapon from reserves when you pick up ammo, while Bait and Switch provides a significant damage buff (35% for 10 seconds) after damaging with your other weapons and then swapping back.
- Damage enemy with kinetic and special weapons
- Swap to Mistral Lift (activates Bait and Switch)
- Fire magazine while buff is active
- When magazine runs low, pick up ammo to trigger Envious Arsenal
- Immediately continue firing without manual reload
- Reproc Bait and Switch by swapping weapons again
This combination provides strong sustained DPS with minimal downtime, making it solid for raid boss encounters or high-health targets.
God Roll #2: Maximum Magazine Size Build
Why This Works: Reconstruction automatically reloads your weapon to double the magazine size while holstered. For Mistral Lift, this increases the magazine from six rounds to 12 rounds (each "round" being a three-bolt burst). Combined with Bait and Switch, this lets you:
- Deal sustained damage for longer before reloading
- Maximize Bait and Switch uptime during longer damage phases
- Reduce the number of manual reloads needed
The Veist Stinger origin trait can randomly trigger during your damage phase, partially reloading your magazine and extending your DPS window even further. This can keep you firing through your entire ammo reserves without ever manually reloading.
God Roll #3: Sustained Magazine Build
Why This Works: This combination creates an unusual synergy since Rewind Rounds typically appears in Column 1 but is placed in Column 2 for Mistral Lift. Rewind Rounds returns ammo to your magazine after landing consecutive hits (typically 2 rounds after the final shots in your magazine).
- Reconstruction builds your magazine to 12 rounds while holstered
- Fire all 12 bursts while landing hits
- Rewind Rounds triggers at the last shot, reloading roughly 2 rounds
- Combined with Veist Stinger random procs, you can fire your entire ammo reserves without manually reloading once
This build excels in extended damage phases where you need maximum sustained fire without interruption. You're trading the damage buff from Bait and Switch for the convenience of never needing to reload.
Important Considerations
Overall Mistral Lift Assessment
Mistral Lift features some of the best perk combinations available on any linear fusion rifle. The ability to combine Reconstruction with Bait and Switch, or to use the unusual Reconstruction + Rewind Rounds combination, creates powerful DPS potential. The Veist Stinger origin trait adds meaningful utility by extending damage phases through random reloads. The weapon is held back by its archetype's current weakness in the meta. If adaptive burst linears receive buffs, Mistral Lift will immediately become one of the top heavy weapons in the game.
Fimbulwinter Stitch: Arc Precision Frame Sidearm
Why Fimbulwinter Stitch Struggles
Fimbulwinter Stitch presents a unique disappointment: despite using the visual model of a rocket-assisted frame sidearm, it's actually a precision frame. This archetype choice significantly limits its PvE effectiveness, as precision frame sidearms generally underperform compared to other options. The weapon shows more promise in PvP where precision frames can be competitive, particularly with recent buffs to Rangefinder.
Complete Perk Pool
| Column 1 Perks | Column 2 Perks |
|---|---|
| Rapid Hit | Kill Clip |
| Loose Change | Jolting Feedback |
| Trickle Charge | Rolling Storm |
| Rangefinder | Collective Action |
| Supercharged Magazine | Precision Instrument |
| Collective Pugilism | Voltshot |
| Lone Wolf | Redirection |
PvP God Roll: Maximum Range Build
Why This Works: Rangefinder recently received a +10 range buff, making it more valuable for extending sidearm effective range. Combined with range-enhancing barrel and magazine options plus an enhanced range mod, you can create a surprisingly long-range sidearm for PvP engagements.
Kill Clip provides a damage boost after reloading following a kill, letting you challenge subsequent opponents more effectively. This is the simplest, most effective PvP combination for players who enjoy precision frame sidearms in Crucible.
PvE God Roll: Voltshot Build
Why This Works: Voltshot remains one of the strongest Arc perks for PvE, applying Jolt to targets after getting a kill and reloading. Jolt chains lightning damage between nearby enemies, providing excellent add-clear capability.
With Rapid Hit: Rapid Hit increases reload speed with precision hits. Secure kill, reload quickly (thanks to Rapid Hit stacks), then next shot applies Voltshot.
With Trickle Charge: Trickle Charge loads ammo from reserves when you receive or discharge Ionic Trace. If running Arc builds that generate Ionic Traces, you can automatically reload without manual input. Secure kill, Trickle Charge reloads weapon, trigger Voltshot.
Alternative Arc Build: Synergy Focus
Why This Works: This combination creates perfect Arc synergy. Rolling Storm generates Ionic Traces on kills, while Trickle Charge automatically loads ammo when you receive Ionic Traces. The loop functions as:
- Kill enemy with Fimbulwinter Stitch
- Rolling Storm spawns Ionic Trace
- Collect Ionic Trace
- Trickle Charge automatically reloads weapon from reserves
- Extra Ionic Trace generation provides Amplified benefits
- Repeat process
For Arc builds focused on Ionic Trace generation and Amplification, this self-sustaining loop provides value beyond just the sidearm's damage output.
Build Recommendations by Content
- PvP with Rangefinder + Kill Clip
- Arc builds with Trickle Charge + Voltshot
- Ionic Trace generation with Rolling Storm
- General PvE content (weak archetype)
- High-end PvE activities
- Competing with better primary options
Overall Fimbulwinter Stitch Assessment
Fimbulwinter Stitch ranks as the weakest weapon in the Dawning 2025 lineup. Despite access to strong Arc perks like Voltshot and Rolling Storm, and the newly introduced Supercharged Magazine perk, the precision frame archetype fundamentally limits its effectiveness in PvE. The weapon shows more promise in PvP after Rangefinder buffs, but most players should prioritize farming the other two Dawning weapons instead.
The only compelling reason to farm Fimbulwinter Stitch rolls is for potential future buffs to sidearms or precision frames. Having a Voltshot roll in your vault ensures you're prepared if Bungie significantly buffs the archetype, but this weapon shouldn't be your priority for immediate use.
Weapon Rankings and Priorities
Based on perk quality, archetype strength, and current meta relevance:
Dawning 2025 Weapon Tier List
S-Tier: Must Farm
Permafrost - Exceptional perk combinations, unique Crystalline Corpsebloom on wave frame, strong in current meta, excellent Stasis synergy. This should be your primary farming focus.
B-Tier: Situationally Strong
Mistral Lift - God-tier perk pool held back by weak archetype. Farm a good roll and vault it for when adaptive burst linears receive buffs. Valuable to obtain but not immediately powerful.
C-Tier: Low Priority
Fimbulwinter Stitch - Limited by precision frame archetype in PvE. Only valuable for PvP players or those betting on future sidearm buffs. Skip unless you have excess farming resources.
Farming Priority Order
- Permafrost with Crystalline Corpsebloom - Highest priority, immediately useful
- Permafrost with multiple good rolls - Build variety for different content
- Mistral Lift with Reconstruction + Bait and Switch - Future investment
- Mistral Lift alternative rolls - If resources permit
- Fimbulwinter Stitch PvP roll - Only if you play Crucible regularly
- Fimbulwinter Stitch PvE roll - Lowest priority, only for collection purposes
Key Takeaways
- Most Powerful Weapon: Permafrost dominates due to being the first wave frame with Crystalline Corpsebloom, creating unprecedented Stasis build potential
- Best Future Investment: Mistral Lift has the perk quality to become top-tier if its archetype receives buffs
- Skip Unless Specific Need: Fimbulwinter Stitch offers limited value outside specific PvP builds or future speculation
- Farming Focus: Concentrate on obtaining Permafrost rolls first, particularly combinations involving Crystalline Corpsebloom, Rimestealer, Demolitionist, or Overflow
- Origin Trait: All weapons feature Veist Stinger, which provides meaningful utility by randomly reloading magazines mid-combat
Conclusion
The Dawning 2025 weapon additions present a mixed bag of immediate power and future potential. Permafrost stands out as a legitimately strong weapon that will see immediate use, particularly for Stasis builds. Mistral Lift represents one of the best-rolled linear fusion rifles available but suffers from archetype weakness. Fimbulwinter Stitch remains a niche option with limited current applications.
Focus your farming efforts on Permafrost first, secure at least one strong Mistral Lift roll for future use, and only pursue Fimbulwinter Stitch if you have specific PvP interests or unlimited farming time. With the event running for a limited duration, prioritizing the most impactful weapons ensures you maximize your time investment.