Static Perks Explained

After seeing the question asked multiple times on Facebook and Reddit, I thought it was high time for an article on static perks. The easiest way to explain static perks is that they are not randomly generated each time an item is dropped in PvE (or the PvP loot lottery) or sold in the shops. A static perk will be the same type of perk at the same value for that item every time it is obtained by a player. To illustrate this further, the easiest example is to look at the Kira's Basilisk Chest, which drops in Arena Gold. This item has 3 non-static perks and 1 static perk. The static perk is +10% damage with SMGs, and is always in the fourth perk slot. Every single time that a player obtains the Kira's Basilisk Chest, it will always have +10% SMG damage as its fourth perk. Every. Single. Time. It doesn't matter what level you are or what power level you are at. The fourth perk will ALWAYS be +10% damage with SMGs. The other three perks can be any combination of things because they are randomly generated each time (see comprehensive guide to perks for further information). There are other items like the MFG GEN-X auto rifle, which only carry static perks and have no randomly generated ones. This means that everyone that has an MFG GEN-X auto rifle has the same perks because none of the perks were randomly generated. One of the interesting things that the introduction of static perks has done to the game is to increase the maximum total values of certain perks on some weapons. For instance, the Blisster Rocket Launcher, which drops in Arena Gold, always has a static +15% damage perk as its eighth perk. Because this weapon has 4 non=static perks, you can actually drop one with +10% damage as one of the non-static perks, which combines with the 15% static damage perk to boost this weapon's damage by 25%. This is much higher than a weapon without any static perks like the Faraday Accelerator, which can only have a maximum of +10% damage.

I've provided a list of all static perked items below (EDIT: This list does not include the static perked items belonging to the Phantasm set that had certain static perks on them that were released at Nitro's for a certain time period to be purchased with war points, but there was a great pair of double cooldown, 15% crit boots that I see quite a few people use), as well as my thoughts on the usefulness and desirability of each item, but the breakdown of it is this.

Best weapons:

Black Ice, Cerberus, Last Stand MK II, Green Envy, and Xingyun. Note that only the Xingyun is currently available to obtain as all others were released in previous events. The long and short of it is that Black Ice is a virtual god roll True Patriot (particularly against Elite enemies) and the Cerberus is a blend between the AT Vosa II and Heretic ZX-1, so it has ridiculously high DPS. The Last Stand MK II surpassed the Spectrum because of the 11% static damage perk. The Green Envy is a controllable and super fun SMG with a fast fire rate that puts things like the Leizu and Shiva to shame. Xingyun is a melter in PvP that you should definitely grab if you see it with both fire rate and damage on it.

Best armor:

Midnite's Invictus Shoulders (Voltaic Fist), Midnite's Invictus Chest (Arena Gold), Kira's Basilisk Shoulders (Blade Dancer), Kira's Basilisk Boots (Arena Silver)

Midnite's Invictus Shoulders are amazing for PvE, particularly Arena Silver and Arena Gold. Midnite's Invictus Chest has the potential to be the strongest chest piece in the game for PvP if you manage to drop one with high enough HP. Kira's Basilisk Shoulders offer the capability to boost SMG crit by up to 49%, and Kira's Basilisk Boots neutralize those annoying blinkers in PvP.

Overall List of Static Perked Items: