Destiny 2 Ikelos SMG god roll and drop location
How to build one of the best PVE SMGs
The Ikelos SMG is a legendary submachine gun in Destiny 2 that returned with Season of the Seraph.
It’s the weapon’s second reprisal, last seen in Destiny 2's Season of Arrivals when it was first reintroduced with random perk rolls.
This time, it’s back with a new perk set to hunt – including the fan-favourite Voltshot – and this page will detail how to get the Ikelos SMG, and which Ikelos SMG god roll you should be hunting.
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How to get IKELOS SMG in Destiny 2
During Season of the Seraph, there's only a couple of methods for acquisition, however post-Lightfall – going by past seasonal weapons – Xûr will likely rotate through various seasonal gear weekly, including the Ikelos SMG.
If playing following the launch of Lightfall, keep an eye on Xûr's wares – and read about the god roll you'll want to keep an eye out for – but if playing during Season of the Seraph, the following explainer will detail what you need to do.
Before you can begin the true farm to re-acquire multiple copies of the Ikelos_SMG_V1.0.3 during Season of the Seraph, you need to acquire Resonate Stems by completing various activities and opening Seraph Chests during Season of the Seraph.
You'll be using these to focus Umbral Engrams requiring you have the 'Ikelos Weapon Focusing' vendor upgrade, but if you've not yet unlocked the Ikelos SMG, you'll instead need to use the Resonate Stems in combination with the Enhanced Resonance Amp in your inventory to create a key that opens a Warmind Node – these are where the Ikelos weapons drop, and you'll need to get the SMG from here first before being able to focus it.
Once you’ve discovered and unlocked all of the Warmind Nodes, you’ll no longer need to use the Resonance Amp, and it will give a prompt as seen in the image below. This means you can jump straight into focusing Umbral Engrams.
You’ll instead spend excess Resonate Stems at the Exo Frame vendor in the HELM to focus the contents of Umbral Engrams if you want to continue hunting for drops of the Ikelos SMG – or any of the other three Ikelos weapons.
Keep in mind, to do this, you’ll need the Ikelos Weapon Focusing seasonal upgrade from the Exo Frame, as well as the following currencies:
- 1x Umbral Engram
- 50x Legendary Shards
- 30x Seraphic Umbral Energy
- 4x Resonate Stems
You can also focus an Umbral Engram to grant a random Ikelos weapon without the need for the seasonal upgrade and a reduced cost, but it’s a 1-in-4 chance rather than a guarantee.
Whilst you can continue to farm the Ikelos SMG by racking up the resources to focus one back to back, this weapon can also be crafted – and for the remainder of the season until Lightfall launches, you can focus one weapon per seasonal vendor each day and be guaranteed a 'red border' Deepsight version of a gun.
This means that, with one focus a day, you can net yourself a crafted version of the Ikelos SMG in a maximum of five days – or less if you’ve already made progress.
Crafting is of course our recommendation here since it’ll allow you to level up and tweak the weapon specifically to your liking, provide freedom in customisation so you can test out different combinations whenever you feel like switching it up, and lets you socket enhanced versions of each perk.
Plus, there’s yet to be any mention of what will happen to these reward sources, but signs point to crafting being the only way to retain such access to these weapons in such a flexibly customisable and re-roll-able manner – so it’s a no-brainer really!
Speaking of, let’s dive into our recommendation for the perks you should be looking for – or socketing in, if you’re going the crafting route.
IKELOS SMG god roll recommendation
Making this version of the Ikelos SMG different from its predecessors isn’t just its updated and renewed perk set, but also the 'Rasputin’s Arsenal' origin trait found on all four Ikelos weapons reprised for Season of the Seraph.
This origin trait partially reloads the weapon’s magazine when breaking a target’s shield – a perk that’s not going to lead to pure domination in itself, but a nice bonus that’ll work synergistically with any Arc-shielded combatants thanks to this weapon’s damage type.
In terms of the elements of the weapon that can be changed whether via random rolls or crafting however, here is our recommended Ikelos SMG roll in Destiny 2:
- Barrel: Smallbore OR Hammer-Forged Rifling
- Mag: Seraph Rounds
- Perk 1: Feeding Frenzy (PVE) / Dynamic Sway Reduction (PVP)
- Perk 2: Voltshot OR Frenzy (PVE) / Tap the Trigger or Rangefinder (PVP)
If you’re looking for an all-round barrel choice for PVE, we’re going with Smallbore, an option that is somewhat balanced when it comes to range, stability and handling increases. Stability and recoil are worth keeping an eye on when it comes to SMGs in general, but thanks to this weapon’s lower rate of fire at 750 rounds per minute, it can be relatively easy to control under sustained fire.
In terms of PVP, Hammer-Forged Rifling is a good barrel pick – if transitioning to this from Smallbore, the Ikelos SMG’s range will go up by 3 and stability down by 7, so choose whichever you feel suits your playstyle best.
As for the mag, whilst preference is of course still a factor to consider, there’s an option here that’s not only unique to the Ikelos weapons, but is also a strong pick to consider.
Seraph Rounds provide multiple bonuses that are typically individually scattered on other mag selections, including over-penetrating and ricochet rounds, on top of a range and stability boost.
Whilst you do lose out on a small mag size or reload speed bump with this mag choice, that can easily be rectified with your perk choices.
Additionally, you can always boost a specific stat whether through socketing a +10 boost or by masterworking the weapon, depending on if you’re crafting the weapon or relying on random rolls respectively.
When looking at perks, there’s actually a lot of great perks to choose from for both PVE and PVP.
In the first column, we’re recommending Feeding Frenzy for PVE, increasing your reload speed with each rapid kill, especially effective on weaker enemies that can be eliminated quickly.
As for PVP, you’re going to want consistency in performance, and Dynamic Sway Reduction is the one to pick here thanks to the buffs it gives to accuracy and recoil gained as you hold down the trigger.
Alternatively, Perpetual Motion is a good pick if you’re looking for more ways to boost weapon handling, stability and reload speed, and Killing Wind – increasing your mobility, weapon range and handling for a short duration following a kill – is also a good shout.
Both are good picks for PVP, but also worth considering for PVE, especially in higher difficulty content where getting multiple kills with a primary weapon back-to-back is less common.
When it comes to the second perk column, there are yet even more heavy hitters for both PVE and PVP.
For PVE, if it’s general weapon effectiveness you’re looking for, Frenzy is the way to go, granting permanent boosts to weapon damage, handling and reload speed after being in combat for a short time.
Alternatively, the fan-favourite Voltshot returns here, overcharging your weapon following a reload-after-kill, causing your next hit with the weapon to 'jolt' a target – this can have some great synergy with Arc subclasses and builds and is quite powerful in itself.
As for PVP, Tap the Trigger grants a short period of increased stability and accuracy on the initial trigger pull – a time extended with the perk’s enhanced variant – and this will work in tandem if you have Dynamic Sway Reduction in the first column, providing greater consistency and overall performance to the weapon in each combat engagement.
Alternatively, Rangerfinder is a good choice too and can be a boost in range, or a way to balance out the weapon’s performance depending on your stat choices.
Truth be told, we’re only really scratching the surface with the above recommendations because the Ikelos SMG has so many top-tier perks for both PVE and PVP – it’s one of the most loaded you can get, so we heavily recommend aiming to unlock it for crafting so that you can mess about with all its different intricacies.
In fact, a perk roll you have access to when crafting it for the first time is a combination of both Feeding Frenzy and Frenzy in the first and second perk columns respectively, so right from the get go you get what is effectively a god roll!
As a reminder, be sure to take advantage of the daily Deepsight drops via focusing Umbral Engrams – available until Lightfall launches – so that you can craft this weapon and customise it freely whenever you desire.
This is especially vital as right now, there’s no concrete confirmation on if and when this weapon might return as a drop in this form, though it’s not out of the question since weapons do periodically get featured and sold by Xur – that said, crafting is still your best bet and well-worth pursuing whilst there's still time.
If you’re on the lookout for more god rolls to forge and collect before Lightfall launches, be sure to check our god roll guides on weapons like the Revision Zero Exotic pulse rifle, Militia’s Birthright grenade launcher, High Albedo sidearm, and more, as well as an explainer on how to complete the More Than A Weapon questline, handy for snagging a few Seraphic Umbral Energy which will help you focus further copies of the Ikelos SMG.