Understanding the Status Effect System
Status effects are character modifiers that either boost or hurt your performance in combat. These modifiers work on both your character and enemies, affecting everything from weapon damage output to movement speed.
There's no cap on how many status effects can be active at once. Your character or any enemy can have multiple effects running simultaneously. When you apply a status effect that's already active on a target, the timer resets to full duration instead of stacking.
How Status Effects Change Combat
Status effects modify your combat capabilities in several ways. Some boost your offensive power by increasing damage output. Others improve defense by reducing incoming damage or providing healing. Certain effects impair enemies by disabling their abilities or stopping them from attacking.
These effects come from different sources. Character abilities frequently apply them as part of their core function. Activity modifiers can also introduce status effects that change how encounters play out.
Complete Breakdown of All Status Effects
The game currently has ten distinct status effects that work as universal mechanics. Here's how each one functions.
Being Healed
This status means your character is currently receiving healing. The healing can happen instantly or gradually over time. Both instant healing abilities and passive regeneration effects trigger this status.
Damage Buff
Your weapon damage and ability damage get increased when this status is active. The exact nature of the boost depends on which ability applied it. Some damage buffs increase all damage types, while others specifically boost weapons or abilities. Check the ability description to see what gets buffed.
Damage Resist
This defensive status reduces all incoming damage. The reduction applies to every damage source you encounter. PvP activities typically have lower reduction percentages compared to PvE content for balance reasons.
Scorched
Scorched deals constant Solar damage to affected enemies over time. The damage continues for the duration of the effect. This works differently from Destiny 2's version in one important way: Scorched doesn't trigger Ignitions in Destiny: Rising.
Suppressed
All of your abilities get completely disabled when you're Suppressed. This includes abilities you're currently using when the status applies. You can't use any abilities until the effect wears off.
Blinded
Blinded works differently depending on whether it hits players or PvE enemies. PvE enemies stop attacking entirely when blinded. They won't fire their weapons and become temporarily harmless. In PvP, Blinded covers your screen with a bright white flash that blocks your vision.
Disabled
This status prevents health and shield regeneration. You can't recover health or shields through natural regeneration while Disabled is active. Overshields still work normally even when you're Disabled.
Accelerated
Accelerated increases your movement speed while running on the ground. The speed boost only applies when you're sprinting on solid ground. Airborne movement speed is controlled by mid-air acceleration, which is separate from this effect.
Character-Specific Status Effects
Some characters have unique status effects tied to their kits. These specialized effects appear in specific character abilities and are documented in each character's Relic Tree.
Serenity for Attal and Confined for Gwynn are two examples. To understand how these work, check the character's Relic Tree where the keyword appears. Hovering over or tapping the keyword shows you the full explanation.
Most specialized status effects work similarly to the universal ones despite being unique to specific characters. They follow the same basic rules for application and duration.
Best Status Effects for Different Content
PvE Priorities
For most PvE activities, healing effects and damage bonuses give you the best results. Healing becomes crucial in challenging content or when playing solo since it provides the survivability you need for difficult encounters. Damage bonuses help your entire fireteam by making tough endgame activities more manageable through higher damage output.
If you need both healing and damage buffs at the same time, Tan-2 offers both in a single character.
The Power of Blinded
Blinded is exceptionally powerful when you can apply it consistently. Completely shutting down enemy attacks transforms dangerous encounters into safe ones.
Attal excels at applying Blinded through her Mini Missile passive. When enemies get tagged by your Arc Missile ability, Attal can easily blind them. This makes even tough enemies harmless while the effect lasts.
Defensive Options
For situations where you need more survivability beyond healing, damage resistance effects provide solid protection. Characters like Gwynn and Maat offer damage resist capabilities in their kits. These effects reduce all incoming damage, making them valuable for surviving high-damage encounters or when healing alone isn't enough.
Using Status Effects Strategically
Understanding when and how to apply status effects determines how effective they'll be. Some abilities automatically apply status effects when used, so you just need to activate the ability. Other abilities need specific conditions to trigger their status effects.
Since there's no cap on simultaneous status effects, you can layer multiple beneficial effects. Combine healing, damage buffs, damage resistance, and movement speed at the same time to maximize your effectiveness. You can also apply multiple debilitating effects to enemies to compound their impact.
The duration refresh mechanic means repeatedly applying the same status effect maintains constant uptime instead of wasting applications. Characters with frequent ability usage can keep permanent or near-permanent status effect coverage.
Reading Status Effect Information
The game provides status effect information through ability descriptions and the status effect menu. When you look at an ability, the description tells you which status effects it applies and under what conditions. The status effect menu gives you detailed explanations of each effect's function.
For character-specific status effects in Relic Trees, the keyword system lets you access explanations immediately. You don't need to memorize every unique mechanic since the information is always available.
Building Around Status Effects
Your character choice heavily influences which status effects you can access and apply. When planning your loadout, think about which status effects best address the challenges you expect to face.
For content requiring high survivability, pick characters with healing effects and damage resistance. For content focused on damage output, go with characters offering damage buffs. For content with dangerous enemies that pose serious threats, characters capable of applying Blinded or Suppressed can neutralize those threats.
Characters that offer multiple status effect types give you flexibility for varied content. These characters adapt to different encounter requirements without forcing you to swap your entire loadout.