Best Destiny 2 PvP weapons: Meta weapons for Competitive and Trials of Osiris
❘ Published: 2022-09-22T10:14:00
❘ Updated: 2022-09-22T10:15:12
Destiny 2’s Season of Plunder is here, and that means it’s time to check out the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons for Crucible, Competitive and Trials of Osiris.
One of the things that keep many Destiny 2 players engaged with the hit looter-shooter is obtaining powerful gear, and then taking their hard-earned armaments into the Crucible to test them out against other Guardians.
With hundreds of weapons on offer, the Destiny 2 meta is constantly evolving, and that’s continued in Season of Plunder. Between seasonal artifact mods, new weapon releases, and sandbox changes courtesy of Bungie, there seems to always be something new and exciting to try out in PvP.
Now, with the help of the tried-and-true community tool Destiny Tracker, we’ve compiled a list of the most popular weapons across all of Destiny 2’s competitive PvP modes — including Trials of Osiris.
Bungie
Whether you’re sweating it out in Trials or jumping into Control for some fun, we’ve got you covered on all the weapons you should be using.
Destiny 2 best PvP weapons: Top 10 Competitive guns
10. Without Remorse
Of the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons, one shotgun reigns supreme right now.
Without Remorse is fairly easy to earn since being added in Season of the Haunted, and players can craft it, too. That means you can grind to get a great roll, with the Incandescent perk ideal for Solar 3.0 players.
9. Le Monarque
Bungie
Le Monarque is about the only bow you’ll want in Trials.
It’s not often that you’ll want to take a bow into competitive PvP, but for those that can use them effectively, Le Monarque is up there with the best.
It’s quick to aim thanks to its Snapshot Sights perk, and it fires poison arrows if you nail a perfect draw.
Hunters running with the Oathkeepers exotic guarantees a perfect draw, meaning you can poison enemies regularly.
8. Riiswalker
Bungie
Riiswalker is great, if you have the right perks.
Another Legendary Shotgun, the Riiswalker sits in the Kinetic Slot and is earned through Iron Banner.
With the right roll, it can be a great tool at a decent range, while Accurized Rounds and Quickdraw can put enemies down that get too close, too.
7. Ace of Spades
Bungie
The Ace of Spades can absolutely dominate primary weapon engagements.
The Ace of Spades continues to hold onto a spot in the Trials meta. A deadly combination of perks in High-Caliber Rounds, Firefly, and Momento Mori make this one of the best dueling options in Destiny 2, able to outplay almost any other primary weapon.
6. Piece of Mind
Bungie
The Piece of Mind has dropped a bit since Season of the Risen
The Piece of Mind is a great Legendary Pulse Rifle introduced in Season of the Risen, but its powers have faded thanks to rebalancing and new weapons.
With the right perks, it offers impressive range and accuracy, as well as excellent stability, making it feel almost surgical — and that’s why it’s one of the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons right now.
5. The Jade Rabbit
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Jade Rabbit is an old favorite.
The Jade Rabbit has been around for a long time, but the Season of Plunder scout rifle buff makes it well worth digging out of your vault.
Its exotic perk, “The Fate of All Fools”, means that chaining body shots will let you deal bonus damage on your next precision shot.
That means peppering an opponent or two in PvP can see you tear them to shreds in no time.
4. Austringer
A hand cannon that can go toe-to-toe with The Last Word and Ace of Spades, but won’t take up an exotic slot? Count us in.
Austringer is a craftable weapon that’s a great mix of power, precision, range, and ease of use. Get Eye of the Storm and Rangefinder, add a Range masterwork, and you can deal huge damage over long distances — making it one of Destiny 2’s best PvP weapons.
3. Beloved
Beloved has seen a few versions over the years, but the Season of the Haunted version sees the lethal sniper rifle back in a big way.
With perks like Snapshot Sights and Moving Target available, players can get a big chunk of extra range and aim assistance to make it lethal.
2.
BxR-55 Battler
Bungie
This Halo crossover weapon is incredible.
Halo fans will feel right at home with this Solar pulse rifle, modeled on Master Chief’s iconic Battle Rifle.
This weapon, paired with perks like Accurized Rounds and Kill Clip, is a demon in the Crucible. The Perpetual Motion perk means it’s lethal without needing to ADS, too.
1. No Time To Explain
Not bad for a pre-order bonus, eh?
It may have been made available as part of the Beyond Light Deluxe Edition, but if you have No Time To Explain you’ll know that this time-bending pulse rifle is well worth it.
Able to fire at full auto, its exotic perk, ‘Rewind Again’, returns shots to the magazine if they’re precision shots or hit enemies affected by Stasis.
Destiny 2 Best PvP weapons: Most popular Destiny 2 PvP weapons (by usage %)
As per Destiny Tracker:
- No Time To Explain (4.
31%) - BxR-55 Battler (3.29%)
- Beloved (2.44%)
- Austringer (2.32%)
- The Jade Rabbit (2.25%)
- Piece of Mind (2.24%)
- Ace of Spades (1.98%)
- Riiswalker (1.75%)
- Le Monarque (1.71%)
- Without Remorse (1.61%)
And there you have it: the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons. Keep an eye on this page to make sure you’re up-to-date on Destiny 2’s best PVP weapons, and check out some other helpful content here:
Best PvP weapons | Destiny 2 Promo Codes | Destiny 2 Prime Gaming Rewards | Infamy Ranks Guide | Glory Ranks Guide | Current Trials of Osiris map | Iron Banner countdown
The two sides of Destiny 2 are eating each other
Since the launch of Destiny 2, Bungie has struggled to maintain the balance between its PvE and PvP communities. The two camps have argued for years about whether Destiny should just be a PvE game or if it truly has room for competitive offerings.
In the process, every player has lost out. Every time Bungie tries to make a new addition to the cooperative game, it’s hamstrung by multiplayer balancing — and vice versa.
Bungie’s devotion to both sides of the Destiny coin, while admirable, has resulted in an identity crisis. The studio likely won’t ever separate its PvP Crucible from its PvE cooperative activities. But if anything is clear, it’s that current attempts toward harmony aren’t working.
The history of the clash
Guardians fighting on the Moon in ShadowkeepImage: Bungie
The original Destiny’s PvP was somewhat of a mess, with players mostly abusing a stable of one-shot-kill weapons, like shotguns, instead of primary weapons like auto rifles or hand cannons. But it was beloved by a certain group of players. Many who finished all of Destiny’s PvE content saw the Crucible as a way to extend their playtime. Some of Destiny 2’s most prolific content creators cut their teeth on the original game’s multiplayer, and they’ve carried that knowledge and experience into the sequel.
The transition from the original Destiny to Destiny 2 didn’t come without its changes. For Destiny 2’s release, Bungie made a major change to help curb some frustration in PvP. Instead of carrying forward the series’ traditional weapon slots of one primary weapon with nearly unlimited ammo, one secondary weapon with limited ammo, and one heavy weapon with rare ammo, the studio eliminated the secondary weapon altogether.
Players could now equip two primary weapons — one of which did elemental damage — and a heavy weapon. Previous special weapons like shotguns and the series-unique fusion rifle were now in the limited-ammo heavy weapon pool, just like rocket launchers and swords. This “double primary” time period of Destiny 2 resulted in some genuinely enjoyable PvP. Opponents were able to develop more of a cat-and-mouse game since they weren’t able to kill each other as quickly as before — as shotgun and sniper rifle ammo was rare. For all of the newfound joy in PvP, however, Destiny’s PvE game suffered from the change.
Those one-shot weapons Bungie made less accessible to improve the Crucible were the same weapons that were essential to taking down high-level PvE enemies.
Then came the Forsaken expansion, which brought its own changes to Destiny 2’s loadout system. As was the case at Destiny 2’s launch, players could still use double primaries. But they could also customize their loadouts with two special weapons — a shotgun paired with a sniper, for instance — or a combination of both special and primary weapons, a la the original Destiny. This freedom gave PvE players more room to experiment with unique loadouts. But the change also took PvP back to the one-shot hellscape that it had been in the original.
Now, with those frustrations back in place, Bungie is once again ping-ponging its balance efforts. In a recent interview on the Firing Range podcast, run by some of Destiny’s top PvP enthusiasts, Bungie developers doubled down on Destiny’s philosophy of a shared “sandbox” (a term used to describe the game’s current balance environment).
For Bungie, it’s key to the Destiny experience that players can pick up a new gun from a raid, bring it into the Crucible for a spin, and have a similar experience with the weapon in both modes. The studio doesn’t want players to practice using an ability against a Fallen Dreg in the Cosmodrome only for that ability to behave differently against actual enemy players.
This attempt at symbiosis has most recently affected Destiny 2 with the new Stasis subclasses added in the Beyond Light expansion. These classes started out strong in PvE content, where freezing enemies with ice powers proved to be a satisfying mechanic.
But the Stasis classes were so powerful in PvP that Bungie quickly nerfed them. While this nerf started to smooth out PvP — even if Stasis remained overpowered for months — it was a major hit to the viability of the subclasses against AI enemies. Bungie recently announced plans to roll back some of the nerfs to help Stasis return to viability in PvE.
Perhaps you’re starting to recognize a pattern? These same changes that will improve Stasis’ viability for PvE players could have a ripple effect on the PvP community. The Pendulum continues to swing. The lack of consistency isn’t in how abilities and weapons behave on a mode-to-mode basis, but on a season-to-season basis throughout the entire game.
So, Is Destiny a PvP or PvE game?
Old-school Guardians battling each other in the double primary days Image: Bungie
Based solely on where Bungie puts its time and resources, it’s hard to argue that Destiny 2 isn’t a PvE-focused game. PvP players, despite their devotion to the shooter, have barely seen any new content. A Reddit post earlier this year pointed out that it’d been more than 600 days since Destiny 2 received a wholly unique PvP map, rather than something ported from the original game. Meanwhile, Bungie updates the game with new PvE content every three months and then drip-feeds that content throughout the following season.
While assistant game director Joe Blackburn has recently revealed plans to add more maps and modes to the Crucible in 2022, many players feel like it’s too little, too late.
Bungie’s biggest dilemma is that, despite a track record of focusing primarily on PvE content in Destiny 2, the studio has cultivated a dedicated PvP community over nearly seven years — longer, if you consider the good will it garnered with Halo’s touchstone multiplayer offerings. It can’t just throw away the players who have gotten so attached to its competitive arena. But, all things considered, it’s undeniable that Bungie’s attempts to balance the Crucible are causing disharmony in its larger PvE landscape.
Some players have floated spinning off PvP into its own game. Others have simply shouted for Bungie to balance the two game modes separately. One of those solutions involves developing another title completely, with more standardized weapons like Halo, since players wouldn’t bring in tools from other activities.
And the other is something the studio is expressly disinterested in, as indicated during the balance conversation on the Firing Range podcast.
So what gives? Bungie has placed itself in an impossible position. Destiny has always thrived on raids, dungeons, and repeatable co-op activities. It’s what I come to the game for, and where I’ve made some incredible friends. But others have the exact same experience from the PvP side of things. Is my experience more valid than theirs? I don’t think so.
But as both sides of the Destiny player base grow increasingly frustrated, that’s a question the developers may have to answer for themselves. In the end, the buck stops with Bungie, who wants to have its multifaceted MMO experience and eat it too.
Destiny 2 No Remorse God Roll for PvE and PvP
I have two rolls for you Destiny 2 No Remorse one for PvE and one for PvP. I warn you, however, as far as the Destiny 2 Shotguns are concerned, this is not very good.
It has some good stuff for PvE, but it’s an incredibly lackluster Crucible weapon.
Nevertheless, this is an interesting gun, which means we need to talk about it. It won’t outperform any META in any way, but you can get a bit of use out of it. It’s unlikely, but who knows?
In this spirit, I’m going to take you through my two scrolls of the god No Remorse. These aren’t the ultimate god rolls for No Remorse, but I’d say they’re the best. If you don’t agree, that’s fine! You can even tell me why in the comments.
So, with all that said, here are the god rolls.
Contents
- Destiny 2 without remorse God rolls
- God roll PvE No Remorse
- God roll PvP without remorse
Throw God PvE Without Remorse
- Small-barreled
- Assault magazine
- Well rounded
- One-Two Punch
Without remorse is a strange weapon.
It has S-level perks like Incandescent Light and One-Two Strike , but ultimately it’s not such a good weapon. Its third column is especially weak and I’m not too sure if you want to use Incandescent on shotgun when you have Calus Mini-Tool or Drang.
With that in mind, I’ll focus here on the slight synergy that One-Two and Well-Rounded have. and also with some assemblies. Both perks are related to your melee, so any build with instant melee reload will work very well with this shotgun (like Hammer Titans).
However, first I must talk about Smallbore and Assault Mag . The logic behind these two is pretty clear. Projectile spread doesn’t really matter in PvE, so Full Choke is not needed. Instead, I focus on the range of my barrel. I usually add a range dependent ammo perk to this, but I use Assault Magazine instead of .
This is a great perk that should always be a contender when a shotty rolls with it. This increases our rate of fire by a decent chunk, allowing us to deal more damage in tight DPS windows.
Bringing things back to the melee synergy that this God No Remorse roll has, One-Two Hit needs no absolute introduction. This is a broken perk that has been at the top of the META for some time now. For those of you who don’t know what it does, if you hit an enemy with every pellet in your shot, then your next melee attack will deal significantly increased damage. The lowest rate is 200%, and for bosses it is 350%. This number is also affected by other exotics and melee perks, which is why Hammer Titan works so well with it.
To further enhance this melee playstyle, my third column has the perk Comprehensive . This is a lesser known perk that gives you stacks of range, handling, and stability if you hit an enemy with a grenade or charged melee. Again, you will always have a charged Hammer Titan melee.
So the idea behind this throw is that you activate One-Two and hit something with a charged hammer. It works Well rounded , after which you raise your hammer again, activate One-two again and continue this cycle until the object you hit dies. Simple but effective.
PvP god throw without remorse
- Full Choke
- Accurized Rounds
- Hip-Fire Grip
- Fragile focus
My biggest regret about this God’s No Remorse roll in PvP is that I couldn’t increase the weapon’s range to that level. very important bracket 70+. Even with masterful range, I’m missing out because I left Full throttle instead of using something like Smallbore which would give us a range stat of 70+. I think a narrower spread is much more valuable, but if you don’t agree feel free to change the barrel.
To make sure the throw has some sort of range, I choose Accurized Rounds as the ammo bonus. It’s a classic God Roll pick that’s always safe, and an S-tier perk for PvP.
However, this is where the god’s story ends. Despite being a shotgun, Without Remorse doesn’t really have good PvP perks. The 80rpm shotguns aren’t very popular to start with, and the lack of something like Snapshot Sights or Quickdraw really hurts that.
I use Hip-Fire Grip and Fragile Focus instead. Hip Grip The just gives us better aim assist when shooting from the hip, something you’ll often do with a shotgun in the Crucible. Fragile Focus works a little differently. If you haven’t taken damage in the last five seconds, the perk will trigger and give you a range bonus, actually pushing us into the 70+ group, but it’s very situational. You will be able to take advantage of this advantage only if your position in the game is at the highest level.
Any damage you take will deactivate it, so speed in your firefights will be important.
Unfortunately, that’s really all there is to the God’s No Remorse roll in PvP. I think the weapon has some potential in PvE, but not too much. Shotguns are not popular in the endgame so its use case is limited. In PvP, it is superior to other weapons in almost every way. Even the Windrose is better than her. However, if you want to try it yourself feel free to. However, I would not recommend taking this into something serious.
Destiny 2 Zauli Bane God Roll for PvE and PvP
These two throws of God Bane Destiny 2 Zauli speak for themselves. At least in PvE. It’s been a long time since Destiny 2 didn’t have such a powerful AD-resistant PvE weapon. This God Bane Zauli PvE roll is so good, I’d go so far as to say it makes Calus’s mini-tool rubbish. This is the weapon that will put an end to all weapons. everything from Funnelweb to Fatebringer, there’s no reason to use anything instead of Zaouli39;s Bane.
Of course, any Destiny 2 Scroll of the god Bane Zauli comes to you through King’s Fall. You will need to complete this raid if you want to get this weapon. In fact, you will have to go through it several times if you want to get the god rolls that I am talking about today. So get on the LFG and stop wasting your time. The sooner your routine starts, the sooner it will end.
Contents
- Destiny 2 Rolls Zaoulis Bane God Rolls
- Bane Zauli PvE God Roll
- Bane Zauli PvP God Roll
Bane Zauli PvE God Roll
- Arrowhead Break
- Accurized Rounds
- Explosive payload
- Sparkling
One look at this list of perks and you should understand why this God Bane Zauli roll is a game-changer. It’s already a 140 rpm hand cannon, which means it’s one of the most popular weapon archetypes in the game. Add to that Explosive Gear and Molten Glass and you’ll get possibly the best weapon ever seen in Destiny 2 .
However, things go further. Moves in is the default trait for all weapons from King’s Fall. However, reloading Zauli’s Bane near allies will cause the magazine to overflow. When you’re dealing with a six-man raiding fireteam, this overflow isn’t an insignificant number. I have seen players get up to 30 ammo in the magazine with proper optimization and seasonal mods. This is one of the few cases where the Origin of a weapon is worth talking about separately from the Veist Stinger, another ammo-related trait.
Ok, moving on to the perks of this Bane Zauli god roll, we have a combination of Arrowhead Break and Accurized Rounds . Traditionally you would want something like Full Bore along with Accurized Rounds on a hand cannon to account for the archetype’s short range. However, with Explosive Payload range becomes meaningless. I choose the Arrowhead Break for the improved recoil and handling and the Accurized .
out of habit. However, you can easily replace them with anything it’s columns three and four that matter in this Bane Zauli god roll.
Speaking of columns three and four, we have Explosive Payload and Incandescent Light Bulb . Oddly enough, one of my teammates during the first run of King’s Fall got just such a throw. I immediately knew this was a game changer and the rest of the community seems to agree. If you are in any way familiar with these two benefits, you can understand why their combination does not work.
Explosive payload is the main PvE element for hand cannons. It causes your bullets to explode, dealing AoE damage on impact. More important, however, is the fact that burst damage has no falloff. This effectively gives your hand cannon infinite range, mitigating one of the archetype’s biggest weaknesses.
Incandescent lamp needs no introduction. If you played during the Season of Haunting, you should be more than familiar with Calus’s mini-tool.
Unlike this weapon, Bane Zauli’s God Throw has T1 perks in both columns, making it a vastly superior weapon.
Incandescent lamp burns enemies whenever you kill someone. This Burn stacks up, eventually setting enemies on fire and causing them to explode. This then leads to more Scorch spreading, more explosions, and the loop continues over and over again. You can destroy waves of ads in seconds. Incandescent Lamp is one of the best perks Destiny has ever gotten, and this weapon is an example of that.
Your bullets will deal explosive damage and anything you kill will cause everything to explode. He also has an origin trait related to saving ammo. This God Bane Zauli Throw is everything you could ever want and more from a PvE AD armored weapon.
Bane Zauli PvP God Roll
- Arrowhead Break
- Accurized Rounds
- Explosive payload
- Firefly
Ironically, the Zaoulis Bane 140 RPM is a hand cannon that is much more suitable for PvE than PvP despite being the most powerful PvP archetype in the game.
Don’t get me wrong, this thing is still a monster in the Crucible. However, he won’t dominate this META like he does in endgame PvE.
The only perk I change between two god rolls is Brilliant . Despite being the most powerful PvE perk we’ve seen in years, it’s pretty useless in PvP activities. Unfortunately, there aren’t many great PvP perks to replace, so I feel like this hand cannon was designed specifically for PvE.
I chose Firefly as a replacement. This is a nice perk to use in team modes like Trails of Osiris. However, this is not my choice of perks for PvP. However, everything else in the column is much better in PvE than in PvP.
The fact that we still have Explosive Payload to experiment with is great. It remains a T1 perk in or out of the Crucible, so you can rely on it to carry this hand cannon during Guardians vs. Guardians.
Swap Arrowhead and Accurized again for whatever you want.
