Destiny 2 – How to get the Ikelos SMG (Legendary Submachine Gun)
The Ikelos SMG has returned in Season of Arrivals. This is a great submachine gun with the potential of becoming replacements for some of your favourite weapons that are going to be sunset comes the release of Beyond Light. The following is a guide for how to get the Ikelos SMG in Destiny 2.
We first saw the Ikelos weapon set in Destiny 2 year 1 with the release of the Warmind expansion. The Ikelos weapons are potential loot rewards from Escalation Protocol. Back then the shotgun took the headlines for being one of the best shotguns in the game, but the SMG was pretty handy too.
Now the Ikelos SMG has returned to us this season. This is a legendary energy submachine gun that deals arc damage. It’s an aggressive frame SMG, which means high damage and high recoil.
Looking at the stats we have 22 for impact, 54 for range, 39 for stability, 73 for handling and 32 for reload speed. This one is 750 rounds per minute with 30 in the magazine.
The curated roll here comes with Disruption Break were breaking an enemies shield makes them more vulnerable to kinetic damage for a short time and Grave Robber where melee kills reload a portion of this weapons magazine. It also has Seraph Rounds where bullets over-penetrate targets and bounces off hard surfaces and Corkscrew Rifling for a slight increase in range, handling and stability.
Looking at the perks on the weapon there’s plenty of good options as in the final perk slot you can have Vorpal Weapon, Demolitionist, Disruption Break, Surrounded or Tap the Trigger. Surrounded or Disruption Break would be good, but Demolitionist is also a good one for builds. In the 3rd slot, you have Threat Detector, Subsistence, Grave Robber or Dynamic Sway Reduction.
For PVE I would go for something like Disruption Break and Grave Robber as per the curated roll. Vorpal plus Threat Detector would also be good. For PVP Tap The Trigger and Dynamic Sway Reduction would be good. Personally I tend to use this more in PVE than PVP as at the moment many are running around with Gnawing Hunger or picking you off from range with a Sniper and I don’t know if a 750 rpm SMG is going to match the TTK that you’re going to be facing often in Crucible. It’s worth trying out, but I find this one better in PVE – especially with Seraph Rounds as you can spawn Warmind Cells.
To get this weapon you’ll want to get your hands on an Exodus Engram for a chance at a drop. There are 4 weapons in the Exodus Engrams – the Ikelos SMG, Ikelos Sniper, First In, Last Out shotgun and Berenger’s Memory Grenade Launcher. You can get Exodus Engrams by completing steps in the quest for Zavala called Exodus: Preparation.
The first step here is to go and speak to Zavala. He’ll let you know it’s down to us to protect the system now that the Pyramids have arrived and sends us on a quest around the planets that are going to be vaulted in Beyond Light – Titan, Io, Mercury and Mars.
Once you have spoken to Zavala, he’ll then send to you Sloan on Titan. What you have to do here is complete a Weekly Bounty from Sloane. There are 2 on offer and you have a choice of some activities – this might be running a strike, killing a few enemies somewhere specific on the map or running public events. Read the bounty and then get on with those activities.
When you have finished the activity head back to Sloane and you’ll get your Exodus Engram. Then head on over to the Umbral Decoder to decode the engram for a chance at a drop of this weapon. There’s a 1 in 4 chance of getting it.
If you want more Exodus Engrams, then keep on with the Exodus Preparation quest and you’ll visit Asher on Io, Brother Vance on Mercury and Ana on Mars. There’s some great lore available as well as more Exodus Engrams.
Once you have the weapons you can then focus your Umbral Engrams through the Prismatic Recaster to create more Exodus Focused Engrams. Once you have these focusing options you can narrow it down to a 50/50 chance for getting the SMG, so much more of a chance to get the weapon you want.
Let me know what you think of the Ikelos SMG. How does it compare to other SMGs like Death Adder and the Seventh Seraph SMG?
That’s it for this guide for how to get the Ikelos SMG. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out the Shadowkeep Guide or check out the YouTube Channel.