Destiny 2: Best PVP Weapons

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Human Made

Kody is our expert Destiny 2 and shooter genre writer. He lives in Oregon.

A PvP player is really only as good as the weapon they are using. While this may be a troubling sentiment for new PvP players, you don’t have to worry too much. Destiny 2 has plenty of powerful and competitive weapons that you can use while grinding out games in the Crucible. In this article, I’ll list all of the best PVP weapons in Destiny 2 in no particular order, so let’s get right into it with the Exotics!

Exotic Weapons

Ace of Spades

How to Get: Exotic Archive at the Tower

Ace of Spades is the definitive Hand Cannon. It’s a 140 Rounds Per Minute weapon with an impact stat of 84. This weapon’s recoil direction is 100 which makes landing successive headshots much easier.

The Exotic perk for this weapon is called Momento Mori, granting the weapon a few extra damage rounds whenever you reload after getting a kill. This perk also allows the player’s radar to remain active while aiming down sights. Its legendary trait is Firefly, which grants increased reload speed to this weapon whenever you get precision kills with it. Precision kills with this weapon will also cause targets to explode, dealing solar damage to nearby enemies. Both of these traits combine to make one of the deadliest and easiest-to-use weapons in all of PVP.

Crimson

How to Get: Exotic Engrams or Xur

This weapon excels in all the areas that matter – damage, range, stability, and reload speed. Having this weapon heal the user after getting a kill is also completely invaluable. That trait alone allows you to win multiple one-on-one fights back to back if you play your cards right. Once you consider the fact that Crucible is just a series of 1v1s and 1v2s, picking this weapon becomes a no-brainer.

Crimson is a 415 Rounds Per Minute hand canon with an impact stat of 92. All of its other stats are also pretty high as well. Its Exotic Perk is called Banned Weapon. This perk simply makes the weapon fire in three-round bursts. Cruel Remedy is this weapon’s Exotic Trait and heals the wielder each time they get a kill. This trait will also reload the weapon’s magazine whenever you land a precision kill.

No Time to Explain

How to Get: Exotic Engrams or Xur

No Time to Explain is an Exotic pulse rifle that deals non-elemental kinetic damage. This gun’s Exotic Perk is called Rewind Again, which returns ammo to the gun’s magazine when the user lands precision shots or shots against slowed/frozen enemies. This weapon also comes with the Feeding Frenzy trait, which increases the weapon’s reload speed each time you get a rapid kill with it. Its second trait is Time-Slip, which activates at 10 stacks of Rewind Again. This trait summons a portal next to the gun that shoots rounds from an alternate timeline. Precision hits will extend the portal’s duration.

This weapon allows you to do back-to-back firefights in Crucible without needing to reload after every fight. After all, you should be aiming for precision shots against enemy Guardians at all times.

Vigilance Wing

How to Get: Exotic Engrams or Xur

This pulse rifle provides advanced burst fire and a health regeneration perk built for Trials of Osiris. If a fireteam member goes down, you gain health, which can be crucial when coming down to the wire. This is only expanded in larger match sizes, which can turn you invincible for a few moments when your team goes down. The main drawback is the lower impact and damage output, making this better suited for tag-teaming than facing down enemies solo. It’s best in Trials of Osiris, where you can make use of the Last Stand perk, which grants you bonuses to weapon performance and recovery. It’s also strong in Iron Banner since there are more players nearby for the Harsh Truths trait, which improves your health regeneration and movement speed when a nearby ally dies.

Legendary Weapons

Matador 64

How to Get: Grasp of Avarice Dungeon
God Roll: Threat Detector + Opening Shot

The Matador is a legendary shotgun that fires Arc energy shells. It has an impact stat of 80, a range stat of 72 (which is fairly high for a shotgun), and a magazine size of 5. This weapon uses the precision frame archetype, which grants the weapon a more oval-shaped spread to its fired pellets. The spread is more in line with a Guardian’s body shape, making it much easier to land every pellet and therefore much easier to secure a kill.

This weapon has access to quite a few trait rolls, but the two most popular basic traits are Threat Detector and Opening Shot. Threat Detector increases reload speed, handling, and stability when enemies are in close proximity to one another. The second trait, Opening Shot, improves the weapon’s accuracy and range on the first shot you fire after aiming down sights.

Beloved

How to Get: Xur
God Roll: Snapshot Sights + Moving Target / Quickdraw

Of all the sniper rifles that have been popular in Destiny, Beloved is probably the most fondly remembered. It has incredible base stats, as well as all the best sniper perks you could ever want. Snapshot Sights is great since it lets you ADS much faster, which is extremely important on sniper rifles in particular. Then for the second perk there are two options. Moving Target is better most of the time, as it increases your aim assist while ADS and moving. If you don’t plan on moving much while aiming your shots, you can go with Quickdraw instead. It lets you ready the weapon much faster, so it’s always pretty strong.

Imperial Decree

How to Get: Legendary Engrams or Xur
God Roll: Slideshot + Opening Shot

Imperial Decree is a Legendary kinetic shotgun with an aggressive frame and great perk selection. This shotgun shoots 55 Rounds Per Minute and has an impact stat of 80. It’s one of the last things you want to see in an enemy Guardian’s hands, especially if they’re sliding directly at you.

The roll of Slideshot + Opening Shot is great for allowing you to take out targets while remaining mobile (Slideshot) and from further range than expected (Opening Shot). This is one of the best perk combos for any shotguns in PVP, so it’s more than welcome here. It’s an extremely reliable roll that lets you stay dangerous at any close-ish range, so it’s very strong in everything from standard Control to Trials of Osiris.

Redrix’s Estoc

How to Get: Competitive PVP or Xur
God Roll: Zen Moment / Lone Wolf + Headseeker

Redrix’s Estoc once, and often still, reigns supreme over Trials of Osiris. While it was definitely too dominant when first introduced, it’s found itself in a decent spot in the meta now. Its roll isn’t anything super unique, as it just has the generically best PVP perks for precision. Zen Moment provides several bonuses after causing damage, while Lone Wolf gives its bonuses when you are away from teammates. Zen Moment has more potential, but Lone Wolf is better if you aren’t as confident in landing your shots. Headseeker is always the best second perk in PVP, as it causes your body shots to increase precision damage and aim assist.

Rose

How to Get: Xur
God Roll: Slideshot + Precision Instrument

Rose is a legendary kinetic hand cannon. It has a respectable impact stat of 84 and a range stat of 43. Hand cannons tend to be a rather popular pick for PvP, and Rose is no exception, being one of the most picked hand cannons ever.

This weapon’s archetype is lightweight frame, granting improved handling and allowing you to move faster while the weapon is equipped. This weapon’s two recommended basic traits are Slideshot and Precision Instrument. Slideshot is great on primary ammo weapons since they need to reload more often, allowing you to have its range and stability boosts much more regularly. Then Precision Instrument is perfect since it increases damage so much upon landing precision shots. Rose is easily one of the most consistent hand cannons in Destiny 2, especially out of the lightweight frame ones. The only downside is how hard it is to get these days, so makes sure to watch out for good rolls from Xur.

The Immortal

How to Get: Trials of Osiris
God Roll: Dynamic Sway Reduction / Rangefinder + Target Lock

The Immortal is one of the most popular PvP weapons in the entire history of Destiny 2. This gun is a legendary kinetic SMG gun that fires Strand rounds. The Immortal has the aggressive frame archetype, which grants the weapon higher damage in exchange for higher recoil. This weapon also has some fairly terrifying stats that go really well with its incredible perks. Dynamic Sway Reduction and Rangefinder are both great options for helping with PVP stats, while Target Lock is still the easy pick in the second slot due to how much it improves your time-to-kill.

There really isn’t much else to this one. This thing is simply a weapon with great stats, a powerful archetype, and good perk roll options. It kills quickly and efficiently, and at the end of the day, that’s all a Guardian needs to do well in the Crucible.

Join the High Ground

We hope you found our best PvP weapons in Destiny 2 guide helpful. Did we miss your favorite weapon to use in PvP? Be sure to drop a comment below. Thanks for your support and happy gaming!