Destiny 2: Exotics from the Lightfall Expansion, Ranked

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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

Lightfall released in early 2023, and so far there have already been well over 10 new Exotics added to the game! From seasonal Exotics rewarded for progressing in the Season Pass to raid Exotics, there are all kinds of weapons to get this year. In this article, I’ll rank all the Lightfall Exotics released so far, with only season remaining to close off the year.

Note: For any new Exotics that release next season, check back to see where we rank them in a few weeks!

#11 Ex Diris

Ex Diris - Exotic Arc Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

As with many seasonal Exotics, Ex Diris falls into the realm of being more unique than it is useful. In theory, its abilities seem like they could make for a really good weapon. Corrupted Nucleosynthesis causes it to “enrage” when dealing or taking sustained damage, which causes Ex Diris to gain increased fire rate. Then, when you get a kill with it, the Loyal Moths perk spawns a moth that blinds and damages nearby enemies. All of this makes for a decent Grenade Launcher for add-clear that’s a lot of fun to use, but it’s not all that efficient.

When compared to other Grenade Launchers, it’s hard to justify using Ex Diris. For example, if you need an Arc Grenade Launcher for add-clear, why would you use this over Forbearance? And it doesn’t do enough DPS to hold up to others like Witherhoard, so it struggles to find a place in the meta. It’s definitely fun and viable in lower-tier content, but I wouldn’t recommend it above that.

#10 Deterministic Chaos

Deterministic Chaos - Exotic Void Machine Gun in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Deterministic Chaos doesn’t get a lot of attention (nor did it ever), but that’s a shame. I won’t say it’s a “great” weapon, but it’s certainly interesting. Most people who like Determinist Chaos use it as a supporting weapon, utilizing its ability to weaken enemies to help both their own and their team’s damage. Therefore, this weapon mostly gets to shine against high-HP enemies where weakening them matters. Against bosses or high-HP enemies, Deterministic Chaos’ weakening abilities make it worth using.

One reason this weapon doesn’t see as much attention as other debuffing weapons like Divinity is because it isn’t quite as impactful, but it does have the addition of Volatile Rounds to add to it. While Deterministic Chaos might not be the best support weapon, it does more damage than a lot of them do and holds its own against Champions and other miniboss-type enemies better than the average support weapon does.

#9 Winterbite

Winterbite - Exotic Heavy Stasis Glaive in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

If you’re a fan of Glaives, then Winterbite is definitely worth getting. It’s a heavy Glaive with significantly more powerful abilities than the average Glaive, and it’s always nice to see more “experimental” weapons like this one. The downside to this, though, is that they’re often hard to balance. When Winterbite came out, it was insanely overpowered thanks to damage bugs causing it to do way more damage than expected. This led to some nerfs which largely killed off a lot of the excitement around the weapon, but it’s still a solid Stasis weapon for the right builds.

The biggest appeal to using Winterbite (other than it being a heavy Glaive) is its interactions with Stasis. The Exotic perk “Big Frigid Glaive” allows you to fire a Stasis-elemental ball of energy which can freeze targets. Even though Stasis has been pretty weak for a long time, this ability remains helpful and really fun to use. It’s a shame Winterbite isn’t better in terms of meta, but it’s still a pretty good Exotic.

#8 Vexcalibur

Vexcalibur - Exotic Void Glaive in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Vexcalibur is easily the coolest looking Exotic from Lightfall, but it’s also pretty useful as well. It is very specific in what it does, though, so you really need to be using a build that can support it. Vexcalibur doubles as both a support weapon and a high-damage close range weapon. Thanks to the M1R Distribution Matrix perk, you’re able to generate a Void shield just by blocking damage with Vexcalibur. And to make it even better, it also gives this shield to nearby allies as well.

When you have the overshield from Vexcalibur active, you’ll be able to utilize another perk (Perpetual Loophole) to refresh the shield whenever you get a melee kill. It basically gives you a more powerful version of Devour which gives shielding instead of health, and all you have to do is land melee kills. This weapon is perfect for content where you want to delete adds with the Glaive melee, but still get to benefit from giving the rest of your fireteam shields. Against raid bosses or other similar major threats, Vexcalibur is an absolute lifesaver.

#7 The Navigator

The Navigator - Exotic Strand Trace Rifle in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

The Navigator is the Exotic for the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon, and as such, it holds a lot of power. Since it’s a rare drop Exotic, people who get it are going to expect it to be good. And, luckily, it is! Similar to several other weapons this season, The Navigator is mostly a support weapon. It’s a Strand Trace Rifle with two abilities designed around making the fight easier for your teammates. The first is Protective Weave, which grants Woven Mail to both you and your ally when you shoot the weapon at them. It’s the only time (that I know of off the top of my head) that you’ll be able to shoot your friends outside of PVP, so it’s a really fun and unique ability.

Then, there’s also the Weft Cutter perk. All you have to do to use it is deal sustained damage to an enemy to sever them. When an enemy is severed, they do less damage. This is perfect for a weapon already designed to support your team and help them out, so it’s really hard to complain about anything here, as it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

#6 Final Warning

Final Warning - Exotic Strand Sidearm in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Final Warning doesn’t seem like it would be very good, but it actually is! It’s a Strand Sidearm that has two firing modes: hipfire with tracking or manual with bonus velocity and critical damage. Both of these modes work about equally as well in both PVE and PVP, so it’s best to just try it out and get a feel for when to use which. Personally, I think hipfire tends to be better most of the time, but in PVP especially it can be better to go for critical shots when you can.

Another interesting thing about Final Warning is how you shoot it. You’ll load up shots into Final Warning by holding down the trigger, which then fire in a burst form in either the hipfire or aimed mode. This is definitely a weapon that takes some time to get used to, but once you get the timing down it’s incredibly rewarding no matter where you’re using it.

#5 Necrochasm

Necrochasm - Exotic Kinetic Auto Rifle in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Necrochasm is the Exotic weapon from the Crota’s End raid, which was just brought into Destiny 2 for the first time this summer. The most notable thing about Necrochasm is that its perk, Cursebringer, causes it to spawn Cursed Thrall explosions every time you land a precision final blow. For clearing out big groups of enemies, a Cursed Thrall explosion is just as effective as it is at taking you out right at the end of a Grandmaster Strike. I have to say, it is nice to be able to use those explosions for our own benefit for once.

What makes Necrochasm even better, though, is the increased RPM that the Desperation perk gives. Thanks to Desperation, Necrochasm gets boosted up to 900 RPM, which makes a huge difference. In terms of raid weapons, Necrochasm is the perfect balance of cool factor and usefullness.

#4 Verglas Curve

Verglas Curve - Exotic Stasis Bow in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Verglas Curve is another very niche Exotic for Stasis users. And while that hasn’t meant much for the majority of Lightfall’s existence since Stasis has been weak for so long, the Season 23 Stasis buffs seem promising for this weapon. What makes Verglas Curve so good is that it provides the most consistent way in the game to generate Stasis Crystals. These Crystals are an essential part of many Stasis builds, and since this is the best way to make them, this weapon will always have a place in those specific builds. All you have to do to gain an arrow which can make a Crystal is get a final blow, which is very, very easy in most PVE content.

For Stasis users, Verglas Curve is about as essential as they come. Even if you already have other Stasis weapons for your builds, you should at least get Verglas Curve and its Exotic catalyst for when it inevitably becomes a top meta weapon.

#3 Centrifuse

Centrifuse - Exotic Arc Auto Rifle in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

Without a doubt, Centrifuse is my personal favorite new Exotic from Lightfall. This Arc weapon is by far the most fun of the year, as it rewards you for sprinting constantly by giving you increased range and blinding explosions on precision kills after charging the weapon up. All you have to do to charge its meter is sprint or do damage with the weapon, so it’s incredibly easy to do.

Centrifuse is great for Arc builds since it has so many interactions thanks to the AOE explosions and high elemental damage, and it works really well with the Amplified mechanic. With the catalyst completed, Centrifuse constantly recharges its meter whenever you’re Amplified, which makes it much easier to do just about everything.

#2 Conditional Finality

Conditional Finality - Exotic Stasis Shotgun in Destiny 2 — Brett Moss / Bungie

If you’re a fan of Shotguns, this weapon is the pinnacle of Destiny 2 Exotics. It’s a double barrel Shotgun with each barrel firing a different elemental round (the first one Stasis, the second Solar). Each shot you fire will give a different bonus if you land most of the pellets thanks to the Paracausal Pellets perk. The first shot (Stasis) will do a Stasis AOE burst which can freeze enemies near the one you shot. Then the second one (Solar) will ignite enemies and do another solid AOE damage burst.

Unlocking Conditional Finality can be annoying since it’s a raid Exotic, but it’s absolutely worth it. For both PVE and PVP, there isn’t any other Exotic Shotgun that holds up to how powerful this one is. Plus, it has one of the coolest visual effects thanks to the dual Stasis and Solar barrels.

#1 Quicksilver Storm

Quicksilver Storm - Exotic Strand/Kinetic Auto Rifle in Destiny 2 (element type changes depending on if you have the catalyst completed or not) — Brett Moss / Bungie

Quicksilver Storm is just about as close to perfect as any weapon in Destiny 2 could be. It doesn’t feel horribly overpowered, it isn’t so good that it’s required, and it remains fun and unique despite being efficient. Being able to switch between the standard Auto Rifle mode to a Grenade Launcher mode for higher damage turns this from a great, consistent weapon into one of the most impactful in the game. The grenades are perfect for everything from one-shotting Anti-Barrier shields to chunking bosses, making this the perfect PVE weapon for really hard content.

Strand has been heavily featured all year, ever since its introduction at the beginning of the Lightfall expansion. This weapon makes perfect use of what Strand is capable of, without overshadowing anything. It’s really hard to justify ever not using Quicksilver Storm, so I guess the only downside is that it makes other Exotics look worse.

Destiny 2: Exotics from the Lightfall Expansion, Ranked

The Lightfall expansion in Destiny 2 is coming to its conclusion soon. Time to rank all the new Exotics we've gotten so far this year.

#11 Ex Diris

#10 Deterministic Chaos

#9 Winterbite

#8 Vexcalibur

#7 The Navigator

#6 Final Warning

#5 Necrochasm

#4 Verglas Curve

#3 Centrifuse

#2 Conditional Finality

#1 Quicksilver Storm

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Destiny 2: Exotics from the Lightfall Expansion, Ranked

The Lightfall expansion in Destiny 2 is coming to its conclusion soon. Time to rank all the new Exotics we've gotten so far this year.

#11 Ex Diris

#10 Deterministic Chaos

#9 Winterbite

#8 Vexcalibur

#7 The Navigator

#6 Final Warning

#5 Necrochasm

#4 Verglas Curve

#3 Centrifuse

#2 Conditional Finality

#1 Quicksilver Storm

Destiny 2 Navigation

Visit the HGG Shop, Traveler?

Join the Discussion

4 Best Warlock Exotic Class Item God Rolls in Destiny 2

4 Best Hunter Exotic Class Item God Rolls in Destiny 2

4 Best Titan Exotic Class Item God Rolls in Destiny 2

Destiny 2: Best Prismatic Warlock Builds (PVE)

3 Best Prismatic Titan PvE Builds In Destiny 2 | 2024 Guide

Destiny 2: The Final Shape Salvation’s Edge Raid – Weapons Guide