Table of contents

Elemental Wells are a Combat Style mechanic in Destiny 2. Introduced in Season of the Chosen, these Wells grant ability energy when picked up. They behave similarly to Orbs of Power, and they can be altered through the use of Combat Style mods. These mods range from allowing your grenades to spawn Elemental Wells to granting a damage buff when grabbed.

Related: Destiny 2: A Complete Guide To Combat Style Mods

Today, we'll be looking at how every Elemental Well mod works in Destiny 2, discussing how the mod works and any notable synergies it has. If you aren't familiar with how Elemental Wells work, read our Elemental Well guide. Entries are listed in alphabetical order.

Updated August 3rd, 2022, by Charles Burgar: To help players with buildcrafting, we've updated this guide with updated values and discuss how certain mods synergize (or don't) with certain subclass keywords. Some entries have also seen some slight formatting changes to make the article more consistent and easier to read.

Table Of Contents

Bountiful Wells

Destiny 2 Bountiful Wells

Bountiful Wells: Elemental well mods that cause you to spawn elemental wells can now stack, spawning additional wells for each additional copy of the mod you have equipped.

Affinity

Solar

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Well-generating mods can now stack, spawning an additional Elemental Well per stack.

Unlisted in the mod's description, Bountiful Wells will cause all Well-spawning mods to create two Wells instead of just one, even if you don't have a duplicate mod equipped. When you equip copies of a mod, it'll add an additional Well for each copy, up to a maximum of four additional Wells. Stacking the Bountiful Wells mod does nothing.

How Each Mod Is Affected By Bountiful Wells

Elemental Armaments

Mods

Wells Generated

Elemental Armaments

1

Armaments + Bountiful

2

Armaments x2 + Bountiful

3

Armaments x3 + Bountiful

4

Armaments x4 + Bountiful

5

Wellmaker Mods

Mods

Wells Generated

Wellmaker

1

Wellmaker + Bountiful

2

Wellmaker x2 + Bountiful

3

Wellmaker x3 + Bountiful

4

Wellmaker x4 + Bountiful

4

Supreme Wellmaker

Mods

Wells Generated

Supreme Wellmaker

3

Supreme + Bountiful

4

Supreme x2 + Bountiful

5

Supreme x3 + Bountiful

6

Supreme x4 + Bountiful

6

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Elemental Armaments

Destiny 2 Elemental Armaments

Elemental Armaments: Weapon takedowns with a damage type that matches your subclass element have an escalating chance to spawn an elemental well.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Matching elemental weapon kills can spawn Elemental Wells. Wells have a 10% chance to spawn per kill that stacks until a Well is formed.

Elemental Armaments behaves similarly to Charge Harvester. Every kill has an escalating chance to spawn an Elemental Well. It takes around eight kills on average to spawn a Well, tougher enemies granting more progress. You'll need to use a weapon that matches your subclass element. Stasis users should consider using Kinetic weapons with Osmosis to expand their options.

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Elemental Charge

Destiny 2 Elemental Charge

Elemental Charge: Become Charged with Light by picking up an elemental well. If the elemental well's element type matches your subclass element, you gain 2 stacks of Charged with Light.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Elemental Wells grant Charged with Light stacks. Wells that match your subclass grant double the stacks.

If you have the Stacks on Stacks mod equipped, a matching Elemental Well grants four Charged with Light stacks, not three. Grabbing a non-matching Well will only grant two Charged with Light stacks. You can use this mod combination to maintain effects like High-Energy Fire much more easily.

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Elemental Light

Destiny 2 Elemental Light

Elemental Light: Defeating a combatant with your Super spawns an elemental well that matches your subclass energy type.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

1 Energy

Effect

Super kills spawn Elemental Wells

As with other Well-generating mods, Elemental Light can only make one Elemental Well every couple of seconds. Your Super needs to be able to damage enemies to generate Wells.

Supers That Don't Work

  • Shadowshot
    • Only direct arrow impacts and explosions caused by deceased tethered enemies will spawn Wells.
  • Well of Radiance
    • Only the sword plunge animation can spawn Wells.
  • Ward of Dawn

Stasis Supers are extremely inconsistent. Most of these Supers kill enemies with shatters instead of Super damage.

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Elemental Ordnance

Destiny 2 Elemental Ordnance

Elemental Ordnance: Defeating a combatant with a grenade spawns an elemental well that matches your subclass energy type.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

3 Energy

Effect

Grenade kills spawn Elemental Wells

Grenades can only spawn an Elemental Well once every couple of seconds. Any grenade that deals persistent damage over an area, such as a Vortex Grenade, works best with Elemental Ordnance.

When paired with Elemental Charge, this gives your abilities a means of generating stacks of Charged with Light, making for powerful synergies with mods like Firepower, Heal Thyself, and Energy Converter. Warlocks, in particular, can take full advantage of this mod with Contraverse Hold or Verity's Brow.

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Elemental Shards

Destiny 2 Elemental Shards

Elemental Shards: Stasis shards count as Stasis elemental wells for you. Does not apply to Crucible, Trials, or Iron Banner.

Affinity

Stasis

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Stasis Shards count as Stasis Elemental Wells. Has a 5-second cooldown between each shard pickup.

While the mod's description makes it sound downright overpowered, there are two things keeping Elemental Shards in check:

  1. It doesn't work in PvP.
  2. There's a 5-second cooldown between each pickup.
    1. Shown in-game as a debuff called "Elemental Shards Cooldown."

In essence, this mod will allow one Stasis Shard you grab to count as a Stasis Well every five seconds. You do not gain additional ability energy from this Shard. Grabbing a Stasis Shard with this mod will only grant 10% melee energy—20% with Whisper of Hunger equipped—and activate any Elemental Well mods on your armor. Seeking Wells does not work with Stasis Shards while this mod is equipped.

Mods That Work With Elemental Shards

  • Elemental Charge
  • Font of Might
  • Font of Wisdom
  • Well of Restoration

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Elemental Time Dilation

Destiny 2 Elemental Time Dilation

Elemental Time Dilation: Elemental Well mods that grant you time-limited benefits can now stack, increasing the duration of the effect for each copy of the mod you have equipped.

Affinity

Stasis

Cost

3 Energy

Effect

You can now stack Elemental Well mods that grant a time-limited buff, increasing the duration of the effect.

Not listed in the mod's description, Elemental Time Dilation extends the duration of time-sensitive buff effects on its own. You can't stack Elemental Time Dilation on itself; you'll need to stack the mod that grants the time-limited buff.

How Each Mod Is Affected By Time Dilation

Font of Might

Mods

Duration

Font of Might

10 seconds

Might + Dilation

13 seconds

Might x2 + Dilation

16 seconds

Might x3 + Dilation

20 seconds

Font of Wisdom

Mods

Duration

Font of Wisdom

30 seconds

Wisdom + Dilation

35 seconds

Wisdom x2 + Dilation

40 seconds

Wisdom x3 + Dilation

45 seconds

Well of Ions

Mods

Duration

Well of Ions

10 seconds

Ions + Dilation

13 seconds

Ions x2 + Dilation

16 seconds

Ions x3 + Dilation

20 seconds

Well of Life

Mods

Duration

Well of Life

10 seconds

Life + Dilation

13 seconds

Life x2 + Dilation

16 seconds

Life x3 + Dilation

20 seconds

Well of Tenacity

Mods

Duration

Well of Tenacity

5 seconds

Tenacity + Dilation

8 seconds

Tenacity x2 + Dilation

11 seconds

Tenacity x2 + Dilation

15 seconds

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Enduring Wells

Destiny 2 Enduring Wells Elemental Well Mod

Enduring Wells: Increases the lifespan of elemental wells you create. Multiple copies of this mod stack, further extending the lifespan.

Affinity

Void

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Your Elemental Wells take longer to expire. This mod stacks.

Enduring Wells extends the duration of Elemental Wells you create. For clarity, this mod only affects the duration of the Elemental Well itself, not any buff effects that well grants. Wells last for 20 seconds by default. Enduring Wells extends this duration by ten seconds per Enduring Well mod on your armor.

Enduring Well Duration

Mods

Duration

None

20 seconds

Enduring Wells x1

30 seconds

Enduring Wells x2

40 seconds

Enduring Wells x3

50 seconds

Enduring Wells x4

60 seconds

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Explosive Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Explosive Wellmaker

Explosive Wellmaker: Rapidly defeating combatants with explosive damage spawns a Solar elemental well.

Affinity

Solar

Cost

3 Energy

Effect

AoE multikills can spawn Solar Elemental Wells.

Explosive damage consists of anything that deals damage over an area (known as AoE damage by most).

What Works With Explosive Wellmaker

A few notable sources of explosive damage include:

Weapon

Note

Grenades

Persistent grenades are best for spawning Wells.

Solar Ignites

Any source of Ignite can spawn a Solar Well

Xenophage

Any kill from Xeno spawns Wells.

Sunshot

On-kill explosions count.

Ticuu's Divination

Sacred Flame explosions count.

Graviton Lance

Black Hole kills count.

Grenade Launchers

Any GL works.

Rocket Launchers

Any Rocket Launcher works.

Dragonfly and Firefly

The perk must land the final blow for it to count.

Explosive Exotics

Chromatic Fire, Bombardiers, and Severance Enclosure can all spawn elemental Wells.

The only notable exception to this is Warmind Cells. These do not spawn Solar Elemental Wells at all, regardless of how many enemies they kill.

Related: Destiny 2: An In-Depth Look At Every Warmind Cell Mod

Spawning a Well with this mod seems to be highly dependent on how many enemies you rapidly defeat. The more enemies you kill with Solar AoE damage a short timespan, the more likely a Solar Elemental Well will spawn.

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Font Of Might

Destiny 2 Font of Might

Font of Might: Picking up an elemental well that matches your subclass energy type grants a temporary bonus to weapon damage of that same elemental type.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Gain a 25% damage boost after grabbing a matching Elemental Well. Stacks with other buffs, and lasts for 10 seconds.

Font of Might grants a 25% damage buff for ten seconds whenever you grab an Elemental Well that matches your subclass element type. Similar to Mask of Bakris' Light Shift buff, this damage buff stacks with character buffs like Weapons of Light and High-Energy Fire.

This damage buff is only for elemental damage that matches your subclass type. If you are running a Solar subclass, for example, Font of Might will only boost your Solar weapon damage by 25% while active. Weapons with Osmosis can benefit from Font of Might while the perk is active.

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Font Of Wisdom

Destiny 2 Font of Wisdom

Font of Wisdom: Picking up an elemental well that matches your subclass energy type grants you a temporary significant increase in your Intellect, improving the recharge rate of your Super.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Sets your Intellect to 100 after grabbing an Elemental Well. Lasts 30 seconds.

Font of Wisdom sets your Intellect stat to 100 for 30 seconds after you grab an Elemental Well that matches your subclass element. Grabbing an Elemental Well while Font of Light is active will refresh the buff's timer back to 30 seconds.

As powerful as this sounds on paper, Intellect suffers from extreme diminishing returns. Most of your Super energy comes from dealing and receiving damage in Destiny 2, not from waiting around. Intellect itself doesn't increase Super energy returns from taking or receiving damage. Keep in mind that you'd have to keep this buff active for multiple minutes to see the full cooldown reduction.

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Melee Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Melee Wellmaker

Melee Wellmaker: Powered melee combatant final blows spawn elemental wells matching your subclass energy type.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Powered melee kills spawn an Elemental Well

Similar to other Well-making mods, Melee Wellmaker has an internal cooldown of around a second between each Elemental Well spawn. Only melee abilities can spawn Elemental Wells, excluding Sunbreaker Titans. If Roaring Flames is active, your uncharged melee kills can spawn Wells.

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Overload Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Overload Wellmaker

Overload Wellmaker: Defeating a combatant with a finisher spawns 2 Arc elemental wells.

Affinity

Arc

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Finishers spawn 2 Arc Elemental Wells

Due to how finishers place you next to enemies, you'll usually consume both Elemental Wells when the animation ends. Since finisher animations are rather lengthy, this mod indirectly bypasses the Elemental Well spawn cooldown, allowing you to spawn two Wells with every finisher.

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Reaping Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Reaping Wellmaker

Reaping Wellmaker: After activating your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns a Void elemental well.

Affinity

Void

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Spawn a Void Elemental Well on your next kill after using a class ability.

Reaping Wellmaker's effect lasts until you either kill an enemy or you die. If you use your class ability, wait four minutes, then kill an enemy, they'll still spawn a Void Elemental Well.

Using your class ability multiple times does not spawn additional Void Elemental Wells.

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Seeking Wells

Destiny 2 Seeking Wells

Seeking Wells: Elemental wells you create will move across the ground toward nearby players.

Affinity

Arc

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Elemental Wells you create move towards you and your allies.

While this mod is installed, Elemental Wells you create will slide across the ground toward your location if you're within 20 meters of the Well. In terms of speed, they move a little faster than Stasis Shards affected by Whisper of Conduction. Moving out of range will cause the Elemental Well to stop moving. This mod affects allies too, even if they don't have the mod equipped. Since everyone gets their own instanced amount of Elemental Wells whenever you make them, this is a massive quality of life improvement for every player in your fireteam.

Keep in mind that Elemental Wells cannot ascend or descend, so you'll need to be grounded to pick up your Wells. However, Elemental Wells will gravitate under you if you're in the air, making it fairly easy to pick them up once you're grounded. Wells tend to get stuck in corners and stairs while Seeking Wells is installed. This mod does not affect Stasis Shards if Elemental Shards is installed​​​​​​.

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Shieldcrash Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Shieldcrash Wellmaker

Shieldcrash Wellmaker: Breaking a shield with the matching weapon type creates an elemental well.

Affinity

Universal

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Spawn an Elemental Well after breaking an enemy shield that matches your weapon's damage type.

The Elemental Well is generated under the target that just had their shield destroyed. This mod pairs exceptionally well with Shield-Break Charge.

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Supreme Wellmaker

Destiny 2 Supreme Wellmaker

Supreme Wellmaker: Casting your Super spawns three Stasis elemental wells near you. Does not apply to Crucible, Trials, or Iron Banner.

Affinity

Stasis

Cost

3 Energy

Effect

Spawn three Stasis Wells upon casting your Super. Doesn't work in PvP.

Casting any Super (not just Stasis) will spawn three Stasis Wells beside you right when the Super activates. There's a good chance you'll consume one or two of the Wells while casting your Super. Stacking this mod through Bountiful Wells will only grant one additional Stasis Well per stack.

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Well Of Ions

Destiny 2 Well of Ions

Well of Ions: Picking up an Arc elemental well causes your next melee to deal increased damage.

Affinity

Arc

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Arc Elemental Wells cause your next melee to deal 30% increased damage. Buff expires after 10 seconds or after you melee.

When you grab an Arc Elemental Well, your next melee attack will deal 30% increased damage. The buff will expire after ten seconds or until you use your melee attack. This effect works on melee abilities and uncharged melee attacks. Melee-based Supers and Swords do not count. This mod buffs ranged melee abilities such as Celestial Fire. Grabbing multiple Arc Wells does not refresh the grace period on this buff.

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Related: Destiny 2: The Best Titan Builds For PvP And PvE

Well Of Life

Destiny 2 Well of Life

Well of Life: Picking up a Solar elemental well grants increased regeneration for a short period of time.

Affinity

Solar

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Solar Elemental Wells grant passive HP regen. Lasts 10 seconds.

The HP regen is slightly less than what Karnstein Armlets provide, regenerating 17 HP per second. Well of Life does not grant the Restoration keyword, although it stacks with other Restoration sources. Spec for damage resistance through Resilience and armor mods to drastically increase your Guardian's survivability.

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Well Of Ordnance

Destiny 2 Well Of Ordnance

Well of Ordnance: Picking up a Solar elemental well grants you additional grenade energy. Multiple copies of this mod increase this effect.

Affinity

Solar

Cost

1 Energy

Effect

Solar Elemental Wells give ~6% additional grenade energy per stack of this mod.

It's hard to give an exact number on the additional energy given by this mod, but it seems to be around 6%. Stacking this mod on your armor will increase the amount of grenade energy received. Keep in mind that matching Elemental Wells already grant 10% grenade energy, stacking with this effect.

Stacking Well Of Ordnance

Stacks

Additional Energy

1

6%

2

12%

3

18%

4

24%

5

30%

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Well Of Restoration

Destiny 2 Well of Restoration

Well of Restoration: Picking up a Stasis elemental well grants you additional energy for your ability that has the lowest energy. Multiple copies of this mod increase this effect.

Affinity

Stasis

Cost

4 Energy

Effect

Stasis Wells grant 15% additional energy to the ability with the lowest energy.

Well of Restoration is significantly stronger than it sounds on paper. Every Stasis Elemental Well will grant an additional 15% ability energy to whichever ability has the lowest energy. This stacks with the default 10% energy you get from grabbing a Well, meaning a single Well of Restoration mod will cause Stasis wells to give 25% ability energy. If you have Elemental Shards equipped, that Stasis shard will also activate this perk before Elemental Shards enters its five-second cooldown.

Stacking Well Of Restoration

Stacks

Additional Energy

1

15%

2

30%

3

45%

4

30%

That is not a typo: x4 Well of Restoration gives as much as x2. It's unknown when this bug will be fixed. Until then, don't use more than three copies of this mod.

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Well Of Striking

Destiny 2 Well Of Striking

Well of Striking: Picking up an Arc elemental well grants you additional melee energy. Multiple copies of this mod increase this effect.

Affinity

Arc

Cost

1 Energy

Effect

Arc Elemental Wells give ~6% additional melee energy per stack of this mod.

Similar to Well of Ordnance, Well of Striking gives around 6% melee energy upon grabbing an Arc Elemental Well. Multiple copies of this mod will stack, allowing you to gain up to 24% melee energy per Arc Well. If your melee charge was just expended when you grab the Well, you'd gain an additional 10%, allowing you to gain a third of your melee charge from a single Well.

Stacking Well Of Striking

Stacks

Additional Energy

1

6%

2

12%

3

18%

4

24%

5

30%

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Well Of Tenacity

Destiny 2 Well of Tenacity

Well of Tenacity: Picking up a Void elemental well reduces the damage you take from combatants for a short period of time.

Affinity

Void

Cost

2 Energy

Effect

Void Elemental Wells grant 40% damage reduction. Lasts 5 seconds.

Upon grabbing a Void Elemental Well, you'll gain the "Resist x3" buff for five seconds. This buff reduces all damage you take by 40%, stacking multiplicatively with damage resistance effects—chest armor mods, Warmind's Protection, etc.

Well of Tenacity no longer extends the duration of other damage resistance sources as of The Witch Queen expansion (source).

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Well Of Utility

Destiny 2 Well Of Utility

Well of Utility: Picking up a Void elemental well grants you additional class ability energy. Multiple copies of this mod increase this effect.

Affinity

Void

Cost

1 Energy

Effect

Void Elemental Wells give ~6% additional class ability energy per stack of this mod.

Grabbing a Void Elemental Well will grant about 6% of your class ability energy. Stacking this mod will enhance this effect. This can be especially useful for Hunters that want to make a build centered around their Dodge ability, utilizing Bombardiers or similar Dodge effects.

Stacking Well Of Utility

Stacks

Additional Energy

1

6%

2

12%

3

18%

4

24%

5

30%

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Next: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Complete Guide And Walkthrough