Destiny 2: Best Heavy Weapons for PVP

Image: Bungie via HGG

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love racing games, MMOs, and shooters, but I'll play just about anything.

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

Heavy weapons are the most powerful weapons in Destiny 2. Unfortunately, you’ll only get the chance to use them in PVP when you’re lucky enough to pick up the heavy ammo crate. To help you take advantage of these opportunities, we’ve put together this ranking of the best heavy weapons for Destiny 2 PVP. We’ll also take a look at the best ways to consistently get the heavy ammo so you can put these weapons to good use.

Destiny 2 | Best Heavy Weapons for PVP, Ranked

With that introduction in mind, let’s get right into our ranking for the best heavy weapons for PVP in Destiny 2!

Legendary Machine Guns

Best Heavy Weapons for PVP in Destiny 2 | Commemoration — Image: Bungie via HGG / Brett Moss

This entry covers a fairly wide group — Legendary machine guns. It’s hard to pick just one to feature on this list, since there are a bunch of strong ones, but none really stand out over the others. Heavy machine guns have a major advantage in PVP since you only need a couple rounds to defeat opponents, so you can pick up more kills total than with most heavy weapons. While rocket launchers and heavy grenade launchers typically give you only one or two shots, heavy machine guns let you continue roaming the map while picking up tons of kills (if you get lucky).

The strongest heavy machine guns for PVP include Commemoration, Corrective Measure, Quillum’s Terminus, and Unwavering Duty. You can do really well with any of those, as long as you get a roll that works in PVP. You’ll want perks that help with stability and range, not ones that help with reload speed. Just be aware of your perks and the various options you have on each, and you’ll be on your way to the Lighthouse.

The Other Half

The Other Half isn’t a traditional PVP weapon, but its unique perks give it a reason to stand out above all the other swords out there. The Eager Edge perk allows you to move much faster than normal, letting you fly all the way over to any enemies you want to take out. Oftentimes, when you use Eager Edge to approach enemies, they won’t have enough time to react. From there, it’s easy to get multiple kills and maybe even wipe a team in 3v3 game modes like Competitive and Trials of Osiris.

Since swords can be very difficult to master in PVP, be sure to guard whenever possible. You won’t want to eat up all your ammo, but knowing how to guard well makes a huge difference in PVP. You’ll need to be especially aware of your surroundings, and try to avoid large open areas where you can be easily sniped. Close quarters areas and maps with lots of them are perfect for The Other Half. For example, on Anomaly, you can easily catch groups off guard with your faster-than-normal lunge. If you’re out in the open or on a long-ranged map like Bannerfall, you might run into some problems.

Thunderlord

The strength of Thunderlord lies in the lightning strikes it spawns every time you get a kill. We mentioned earlier in the section on Legendary machine guns that they’re strong because of how much ammo you get, but Thunderlord takes advantage of that even better. You still get a ton of ammo (far more than you’d need to take out several enemies), but the lightning strikes take out some of the enemies for you.

In game modes where the lightning strikes are easier to get kills with, Thunderlord truly excels. While it’s not at all a bad pick for 3v3 game modes, it’s much better in larger 6v6 ones. Since it’s very common to find a bunch of Guardians standing around on a capture point or near a Rift in 6v6, it’s the perfect place to mow down everyone in sight. It’s also one of the more stable machine guns, so you won’t have to fight a massive recoil to get your kills.

Gjallarhorn

If you like blowing people up without needing to be all that accurate, Gjallarhorn is the way to go. The best thing about Gjallarhorn in PVP is the Wolfpack Rounds, which split off from the initial rocket explosion and track enemies. The tracking isn’t strong enough to follow someone across the map, but it’s definitely enough to pick up a few extra kills.

For competitive play, Gjallarhorn has gotten better recently thanks to the abundance of objective-based game modes. Since people are using Titan Bubbles and Well of Radiance to help grab objectives easier, a single Gjallarhorn shot is nothing to mess around with. You can also use Gjallarhorn to effectively counter just about any roaming or stationary super, with only the more direct ones able to beat it. You won’t beat a Nova Bomb or Chaos Reach with Gjallarhorn, but some Guardians standing around in a Well or someone running around with Silkstrike doesn’t stand a chance.

As with all rocket launchers, the only real downside to using Gjallarhorn is that you only get one shot. If you miss that shot or if the enemy Guardian somehow survives it (which would only be possible if they’re using a super with something else to keep them alive), you’re out of luck. But the odds of not getting a kill with Gjallarhorn are pretty low, as long as your opponents are anywhere near where you shot the rocket.

Typhon GL5

The Typhon GL5 is our pick for the best heavy weapon in Destiny 2 PVP right now. It might not seem like the best weapon at first, but once you use it, you’ll quickly see why. Getting kills with heavy grenade launchers is incredibly easy, as the blast radius is wide enough that you don’t have to be all that accurate. You also get several shots, so there’s potential for more kills than with a rocket launcher. This is especially true since you can get multi-kills easily with every single shot.

For Typhon GL5, you’ll want a roll with Impulse Amplifier and Wellspring. Impulse Amplifier is the main perk to worry about, as it drastically improves your efficiency. It gives a 35% increased projectile velocity, which is perfect for making sure your shots aren’t too slow. It’s not uncommon for grenade launchers to fire slow-moving grenades, but this helps counter that. Sometimes enemies can get out of the way before the grenade lands (especially if they’re Amplified), but Impulse Amplifier makes this far less common.

Wellspring is the only perk in the second slot that does anything relevant in PVP, but Wellspring is actually quite good. It grants energy to your uncharged abilities, and it shouldn’t be too hard to rack up at least a few kills with it. You’ll get 8% of your ability energy back, but remember that it will be split between all of your uncharged ones. That’ll help you get right back into the fight with more ability power once you run out of heavy ammo! And that’s always nice.

Best Ways to Secure the Heavy Ammo in PVP

Best Way to Get Heavy Ammo in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie via HGG / Brett Moss

Getting the heavy ammo drop in PVP can be really difficult. When the ammo spawns, pretty much every Guardian on the map will take notice. Usually there’s a massive gunfight over the ammo, and it’s common for Supers to start getting spammed as soon as it’s available. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some fairly consistent strats to make sure you have a good shot at getting it every game.

The main way to secure the heavy ammo is fairly obvious — save your Super. If you have your Super available when there’s a heavy ammo drop, you’ll be far more likely to get it. Especially with a Super that covers a large area. Nova Bomb is probably the best, but it largely depends on how you want to secure it. If you don’t mind letting your teammates grab it while you cover them, Golden Gun or Arc Staff can be a good way to clean up the area and keep it clear.

Supers are the best way to secure heavy ammo for you or your team, but a lot of the times you won’t have it up. Especially in Trials or Competitive, where you’re extremely unlikely to have that much energy by the time it spawns. For those situations, your best bet is to get to the ammo drop before it’s about to spawn and hold the area. It sounds obvious, we know, but an effective sniper or other long-range weapon user can easily pick off others who come running in once it’s about to spawn. You can’t guarantee anything, but just being aware of where and when the ammo will spawn is essential. With that awareness, you’ll be far more likely to get that heavy ammo and sweep their team with it.

Join the High Ground!

Thanks for checking out this article on the best heavy weapons for PVP in Destiny 2! While you might not get to use them often thanks to the limited ammo economy, having the right heavy weapon is essential for when you do get the ammo. Hopefully this article will help you in both casual and competitive play.

Happy gaming!

Destiny 2: Best Heavy Weapons for PVP