The yearly Halloween event, the Festival of the Lost, is back in Destiny 2, and with it comes a slate of guns you can only earn during the event. This year’s Festival sees the return of an old Halloween favorite called Horror Story, but the auto rifle has gotten a serious refresh in 2023 that can make it great for new Stasis loadouts.
There are a lot of possible combinations for Horror Story, but it works best when you can take advantage of some of its great new perks and put it to work in a synergistic build. Here’s what you should look for when farming Horror Story and looking for a god roll.
Horror Story PvE God Roll
Horror Story is a primary weapon, but with its 2023 refresh, it now carries the Stasis element. That brings new perks for the gun, like Headstone, that can add great synergy with your Stasis character builds. It also sports high accuracy thanks to its Precision frame, so you’re going to want to focus on racking up headshots with it no matter what roll you go with.
When building a PvE god roll for Horror Story, it’s important to think about what you intend to use it for. This is an auto rifle that packs a ton of damage-boost perks that can make it effective at just laying down fire regardless of your build. If you want something more Stasis-centric, there are a couple of perks you’ll want to focus on grabbing.
Barrel: Arrowhead Break
Accuracy is a big part of using Horror Story effectively no matter what activity you’re in, so while other barrel perks will extend range or stability, aim for Arrowhead Break. It’ll stabilize the gun’s recoil to be more vertical, making it easy to keep your crosshairs on your enemy’s dome.
Magazine: Accurized Rounds
Grab the range boost from Accurized Rounds to make Horror Story more precise and lessen its damage falloff at longer distances.
Third Column Perk: Demolitionist
There are a few viable options in this column depending on your play style, but Demolitionist is generally the most useful. Especially if you’re using Horror Story to amp a Stasis build, you’ll appreciate the grenade energy generation from your primary gun.
Fourth Column Perk: Headstone/Target Lock
You’ve actually got a lot of options in Column 4 for boosting Horror Story’s damage, so don’t feel locked in on a specific “god roll” if you have a perk you like or which works better for you. Generally, though, there are two choices, depending on your main use for the gun.
Go with Headstone if you’re hoping to slot Horror Story into a synergistic Stasis build. You’ll be racking up precision kills with the gun, and Headstone will generate Stasis crystals that you can then blow up to kill more enemies. With the right build, you can use Horror Story kills to generate grenade energy for your Stasis grenades and Stasis Shards to provide melee energy.
If you want something that’s better for general damage-dealing without the emphasis on Stasis synergy, Target Lock is a good pick. It boosts Horror Story’s damage as you land successively more full-auto shots, which is what you’ll be trying to do anyway. If you’re not loving the reliance on aim to boost your damage, though, Frenzy is an easy-to-activate alternative. Many of the perks in this column can be useful, though, depending on how you play, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
Masterwork: Range/Reload Speed
Range is always handy with an auto rifle, but in PvE it’s a lot less necessary than in PvP. Spend a little time using Horror Story and see where it’s lacking when you choose your Masterwork. Reload Speed can be a good alternative here if you wish you were getting more rounds in the magazine faster.
Horror Story PvP God Roll
The PvP version of Horror Story is pretty much the same as its PvE counterpart, without the emphasis on Stasis synergy. You want as much damage as you can get from the gun, with as much range as you can manage, and any help you can get from perks in landing as many headshots as possible.
Barrel: Arrowhead Break
Once again, the benefit of predictable, straight-vertical recoil is going to be a major benefit in hitting critical shots on your opponent in duels.
Magazine: Accurized Rounds
Range is huge in PvP because it gives you the opportunity to do more damage from further away, and that boost can be the difference in long-range engagements.
Third Column Perk: Dynamic Sway Reduction
If you’re not someone who expects to slay out constantly, Demolitionist probably won’t give you the returns you’re hoping for in grenade energy generation. Dynamic Sway Reduction, on the other hand, helps keep Horror Story as accurate as possible as you hold down the trigger, which can help you win more duels.
Fourth Column Perk: Target Lock/Frenzy
You’re looking to pair accuracy with as much as damage as possible, so Target Lock is your go-to god roll perk. It increases the gun’s damage as you land shots, making it easy to activate and constantly increasing your ability to finish a battle as you fight it. However, Target Lock penalizes you for missing, so if you want a damage increase that’s easier to activate and maintain, Frenzy is a good alternative. It gives you a boost to damage, handling, and reload speed simply for being in combat. The big drawback, however, is that it takes around 12 seconds in combat to activate, so Target Lock is usually the better option.
Masterwork: Range
As usual with PvP guns, Range is your best bet for a Masterwork to make Horror Story as strong as possible from as far away as possible. Alternatively, Stability is always useful for an auto rifle that depends on precision hits for its maximum effectiveness.
How To Get Horror Story
You can earn one guaranteed Horror Story through the Festival of the Lost event card. Advance the Classic Carving quest line with Eva Levante until the card Triumphs are fully available, then complete the Automatic Transmission Triumph. It requires you to rack up 300 auto rifle kills in PvE, with bonus progression for auto rifle kills in PvP.
Horror Story is not craftable, which means you’ll need to earn random drops in order to find a god roll. The primary way to earn Horror Story is just by playing Haunted Lost Sectors as part of the Festival of the Lost event. It can drop randomly from chests at the end of events, but you’ll generally need to grind for specific rolls and likely dump a lot of less-than-perfect guns along the way.
Finally, you can get Horror Story from Eerie Engrams earned in Haunted Lost Sectors, which Eva Levante can focus into Horror Story for a guaranteed try at a roll. Horror Story is also one of the weapons that can drop from Epic Mystery Grab Bags you can purchase from Eva, which cost 300 Candies each.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
