Destiny 2: The Best Loadouts for Nightfalls (2024)

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Human Made

I've been playing video games pretty much nonstop ever since I got my first 360. I love arena shooters, MMOs, and MOBAs, but I'll pretty much try any kind of game.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Overall, Nightfall Strikes are my favorite game mode. They’re challenging, change every week, and really feel like Destiny the way it’s meant to be played. They also have great rewards, so it’s a win-win. But the hardest thing about Nightfalls is picking a good loadout. In this article, I’ll take a look at two good base loadouts for Nightfalls for each class, which you can then tweak for any weekly modifiers you might have to deal with.

Overall for this Episode

Artifact Champion Perks:

Anti-Barrier Scout Rifle
Overload Submachine Gun
Unstoppable Pulse Rifle
Anti-Barrier Shotgun
Overload Breechloaded Grenade Launcher
Kinetic Impacts mod (allows power Grenade Launchers to stun Unstoppable Champions after sustained damage)

Notable Synergies:

Frost Armor is present in several Artifact upgrades, as well as other Stasis synergies
Grenade Launcher buffs
Arc bonuses prioritizing the blind debuff

As always, knowing the Artifact and all its upgrades is the most important aspect of building a good Nightfall loadout. Since there are Champions all over the place, you’ll have to make sure you have ways to effectively stun and kill them. This can mean changing up your loadout each week depending on what Champion types are active that week, or making builds that can handle all three. All of these builds can switch around the weapons at will to take care of these Champions, and some have several bonus ways to stun them as well.

Warlock

Rime-Coat Raiment + Prismatic Subclass

Rime-Coat Raiment Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Prismatic subclass with Bleak Watcher augment and Song of Flame super.

Rime-Coat Raiment is a new Warlock Exotic that makes an already-amazing Nightfall loadout even better. The core gameplay loop of this build is to throw down Bleak Watcher turrets and stand near them to gain the icicles from this Exotic. Bleak Watcher is a Stasis augment that’s available in both the standard Stasis tree and the Prismatic subclass. For this build I recommend going with the Prismatic subclass, that way you can combine it with the ever-powerful Song of Flame super to keep you and your allies safe. This is the king of long-range builds right now, so I highly recommend pairing it with a Scout Rifle, Pulse, or even Snipers. For any of the harder Nightfalls or Grandmaster Strikes, this build will take you a long way if you’re just patient while using it.

Getaway Artist + Prismatic Subclass

Getaway Artist Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Arc Grenade and Prismatic subclass.

Getaway Artist remains my favorite offensive Exotic for Warlocks right now. When using it, you’re able to consume your Arc Grenade to create a powerful Arc Soul. The Arc Soul shoots nearby enemies with electric energy and largely takes care of any ads that dare to come close to you. The damage is high enough that it even does a significant amount to higher-health enemies as well. The only downside here is that it as you get into higher difficulties, it does get a little less effective. But even at Grandmaster level, Getaway Artist still carries me through a ton of fights. Whether you’re running for your life as the last Guardian standing or hiding from a Scorn Raider you can’t see on the mini-map, I always like this build. Outside of Getaway Artist itself, you’re free to use whatever weapons and other abilities you want, but I do recommend Prismatic over pure Arc since it’s fairly weak in most situations. Plus it allows you to use the Hellion aspect for a “Solar Soul” type of effect at the same time if you want.

Hunter

Omnioculus Invisibility

Omnioculus Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Smoke Bomb, Tether, Prismatic subclass.

In Nightfall Strikes, nothing is as strong as reviving your teammates for free. Hunters’ invisibility makes so many things easier, but most notably reviving allies. Since this is such an important part of Nightfalls (especially Grandmasters) I had to recommend Omnioculus. It gives you a second Smoke Bomb for going invisible and significant resistance boosts while invisible. You also get to give this bonus to allies as well. I can’t count how many Grandmaster runs I’ve had ended because someone died in a stupid place where none of us could revive them. Omnioculus and its improved invisibility gets around these situations and saves runs. It’s not the flashiest or most exciting build, but it is one of the best. This build can also make use of the Prismatic subclass, so you’ll be able to combine it with whatever works best on a given Nightfall. What a blessing these Prismatic subclasses are for buildcrafting.

Star-Eater Scales + Gathering Storm

Star-Eater Scales Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Gathering Storm and Arc subclass.

Here we are at the first non-Prismatic build of the list. Star-Eater Scales empowers your super ability when you “overcharge” your super meter (by picking up Orbs after already being full). For each Orb you pick up after being fully charged, you get a damage boost when you next use your super (and also a healing burst). This is best paired with the Arc subclass super, Gathering Storm (which isn’t available via Prismatic). Gathering Storm outputs an unbelievable amount of damage over time already, but with Star-Eater’s bonus it’s just insane. This is the best super for anyone who just wants to do a ton of damage and absolutely shreds through Nightfall bosses. Since it’s an Arc build, I’d obviously recommend Arc weapons to make use of Arc keywords like Ionic Traces, Jolt, and Blind. You can get some creative Champion-stunning methods with Arc, so you might even be able to avoid relying on weapon mods from the Artifact. Jolt, in particular, is really an easy way to stun Overload Champions.

Titan

Icefall Mantle Frost Armor

Icefall Mantle Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Stasis subclass and Frost Armor Artifact mods.

With all of the Frost Armor synergies in the Artifact this season, I feel like this is the prime time to be using Icefall Mantle. All you have to do to gain Frost Armor is get Stasis final blows, and it also replaces your class ability with a Stasis burst that gives you even more. This is perfect for harder activities like high-level Nightfalls, as you’ll be more tanky and you’ll be able to slow and freeze powerful enemies like crazy. I do recommend going with a full Stasis subclass here instead of Prismatic, but it technically works with both. The Stasis augments are really going to be a big help here, though, so I really don’t see the point in not taking advantage of them. This is a great build for this season, and I feel like it’ll remain powerful even after we lose all these Frost Armor mods in the Artifact.

Ursa’s Furiosa Heavy Defense

Ursa Furiosa Exotic in Destiny 2 — Image: Bungie

Loadout Essentials: Void subclass and Sentinel Shield super.

I’ve always been a fan of Ursa Furiosa in Grandmaster Strikes. While they might be “too safe” for a lot of activities where you’ll want more damage, they’re perfect for GM’s. In these high-stakes strikes, the unbreakable shield from Ursa Furiosa is an essential tool. It allows your allies the chance to stand in the open and shoot, and also grants a ton of super energy back that allows you to quickly work your way toward using it again. In some cases, with a few allies with the same build you can chain supers for days. This Exotic certainly requires patience to use, but it’s beyond worthwhile. For the rest of your build, you’ll get to utilize the Void subclass since Prismatic does not have Sentinel Shield. That means tons of overshields and Void AOE. It’s not really a build you have to overthink, as long as you have the right super equipped.

Destiny 2: The Best Loadouts for Nightfalls (2024)

Nightfall Strikes push you to try new builds weekly.

Overall for this Episode