At its heart,Destiny 2is, and always will be a looter shooter. Some ofDestiny’smost enjoyable gameplay is through its varied and satisfying gunplay, and that hasn’t changed in the game’s most recent season, Season of the Haunted.
That being said, not all guns are made equal and some are definitely more worth the chase than others. The meta changes with every season, and it’s important for players to keep up to date on the best guns to keep on hand. Here are the best weapons that every Guardian should have inDestiny 2’sSeason of the Haunted.
Calus Mini-Tool
The Calus Mini-Tool is good for one reason and one reason only:Incandescent,which single-handedly turns this gun from an okay Submachine gun into the best AD clearing weapon around.Incandescent adds stacks of Scorched to targets hit and causes them to explode when they die,which then spreads Scorch stacks to nearby targets too. Incandescent is by far one of the best perks to be released in a recent season and definitely works best on Calus Mini-Tool. Itshigh rate of fire and damagemakes scorching and igniting targets an absolute breeze. On top of that, it has great synergy with thenewly released Solar 3.0
Calus Mini-Tool works great with aspects likeGunpowder Gamble or Roaring Flames,which require solar final blows or ignitions (gained from Scorch stacks). It should be any Guardian’s go-to weapon for any solar-based builds.
Getting Calus Mini-Tool is simple enough. It can be found doing the seasonal activity, or can be focused in the H.E.L.M via the Crown of Sorrows. For those looking to chase the best roll,it’s also craftableonce players have completed five red frames of Calus Mini-Tools.
Funnelweb
Funnelweb’s Origin Perk, Veist Stinger, makes reloading a thing of the past.Veist Stinger has a chance to reload part of the magazine when killing an enemy.Combine this with the perk Subsistence, which also partially refills the mag when killing an enemy, and it makes the weapon an absolute must-have.
Most Guardians run a Funnelweb that hasFrenzyas well, as it synergizes with what Funnelweb is trying to do: clear out low-tier ADs quickly. Funnelweb is a great alternative to Calus Mini-Tool, and being Void, it works well with any Void 3.0 build. It may not clear ADs quite as fast as Calus Mini-Tool, but it never needs to be reloaded, which makes it great alternative.
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The only real difficulty with Funnelweb is getting a god roll. Unlike Calus Mini-Tool, Funnelweb is a world drop, which puts it into a pool that’s much more diluted with other potential weapons and armor to gain. Funnelweb alsocan’t be focused with Umbral engrams,making the way it to obtain it based purely on RNG alone.
Arbalest
Arbalest is an exotic that is ridiculously brokenin higher-end content. In higher-level content, a modifier called Match Game requires players to take down enemy shields via their matching damage type.Arbalest negates shields entirelydue to its intrinsic exotic perk, which deals massively increased damages to all shields.This means regardless of shield type, an Arbalest shot will almost always break any shield on an enemy. On top of this, Arbalest can break enemy Barrier champion shields with a single shot.
Arblaest is unfortunately an exotic, which means not only does it take up an exotic slot, but it’s also relatively difficult to find. Arbalest isn’t available in the exotic kiosk in the tower, andcan only bebought from Xurwhen it’s in his inventory. Aside from that, players will have to rely on RNG to get Arbalest to drop for them.
Witherhoard
Witherhoard is by far one of the bestexotics in all ofDestiny 2. Not only is it great at clearing ADs, but it also works as a fantastic DPS weapon. Witherhoard fires projectiles that leave a taken-like pool on the ground, damaging all enemies caught inside it. Its damage is no joke either; just a few ticks of Witherhoard’s damage pool is enough to easily kill a red bar enemy. It’s best used forkilling multiple ADs at once,as the damage pool is quite large. Placed strategically, it can nullify any large group of enemies. For example, at enemy spawn locations, it essentially blocks any enemies from pushing out of their spawn as they die on the impact of the Witherhoard pool.
Witherhoard is also great to use against bosses.A direct hit on a target deals the DoT, and leaves the pool on the ground only after the enemy dies from the DoT.This works fantastically against bosses, as players can launch a Witherhoard shot, then swap and deal damage with their other abilities or weapons, and swap back. Witherhoard’s catalyst alsoallows the gun to automatically reloadwhile holstered, which reduces the need for reloading the weapon while DPSing.
Witherhoard isavailable from the exotic kiosk in the tower,provided players have the resources to spend on it.
Stormchaser
Linear Fusion Rifles are currently the king of DPS, and Stormchaser is a cut above its brothers. Stormchaser is a highly sought-after weapon due to itsincredibly high damage when landing precision shots.It’s useful in all levels of content due to its sheer damage output, and finds fantastic use in raid content where players are optimizing for DPS against the boss.
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Stormchaser isonly found in the Duality dungeon,which is, unfortunately, paywalled via the Dungeon pass. This means that if players are looking to grab and farm Stormchaser, they’ll have to pay some IRL money.
Austringer
Austringer was one of the best PvP weapons released during Season of Opulence, and is now returning in full force. With arenewed perk pool that’s more suited toward PvP combat,Austringer should be a hand cannon all Guardians have. Not only are its perks great, but it’s also a 140 RPM Hand Cannon, which is currently the favorable archetype for PvP at the moment.
Like Calus Mini-Tool, Austringer is a drop from the seasonal activity. It can also be focused at the Crown of Sorrows at the H.E.L.M. Alongside this, Austringer is craftable provided the player finishes at least five red frames.
Beloved
Similar to Austringer, Beloved takes the cake as one of the best snipers forDestiny 2PvP. Its original rendition could roll withSnapshot Sights and Quickdraw,making it the perfect weapon for the sweaty quick scope montage players. Overall, it’s a very solid sniper rifle that is useful in high level PvP where getting picks are the key to winning.
Beloved can bedropped, focused and craftedthroughout Season of the Haunted.
The Last Word
The Last Wordis an exotic hand cannon that fires full auto. It can be aimed down sight, but is often used more from the hip, as itgains bonus precision damage when landing hip fire shots.The Last Word is one of the favorites of the PvP community for its low time to kill, and it rewards players who can consistently land precision hits against other Guardians. Due to its relatively high skill floor, it’s only used by the most skilled of PvP players, but when executed well, has one of thelowest times to kill of any primary weapon.
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The Last Word can only be bought from theexotic kiosk within the tower,as it was a part of a season that has now since been removed. This does cost a decent amount of resources, so players should be committed to using the gun if they’re paying for it.
No Time To Explain
No Time To Explainis a pulse rifle that was released withBeyond Light, an expansion that came out in 2020. Since then, it hasn’t seen much usage aside from niche builds revolving around one of its perks. No Time To Explain allows the user tocreate a time portal that fires out projectiles toward enemies provided the user is landing precision shots.
While overall a neat exotic, its perk isn’t the most useful and was largely ignored by the community. However, that all changed with Season of the Haunted, as No Time To Explain has become one of themost popular weapons to use in activities like Trials and Competitive Crucible.This is largely due to the Pulse Rifle being a solid mid to long-range option, while also having the bonus perk of summoning a portal to deal bonus damage. No Time To Explain is one of the better Pulse Rifles for PvP, and is one of the most accessible on the market, hence its popularity.
Obtaining No Time To Explain is rather easy: players need tocomplete the Beyond Light campaign.After this, the Exo Stranger will present them with an exotic quest which, after completed, will reward the player with No Time To Explain.
Felwinter’s Lie
Felwinter’s Liehas been a menace to everyDestiny 2player since its release inSeason of the Worthy. Shotguns have always been one of the best secondary options in PvP due to their easy one-hit kill potential provided the player is aggressive. Felwinter’s Lie is no exception. Due to its archetypeShot Package, which fires in a more uniform pellet spread,it is particularly deadly against other Guardians.
Not only is Felwinter’s special the only shotgun of its archetype, but it also comes with some specially built perks for PvP. Players have a choice of Slideshot/ Surplus in the first column and Opening Shot/ Vorpal Weapon in the second. All of these perks are particularly useful in PvP, and allow for Felwinter’s to be customized to the player’s playstyle.
Felwinter’s Lie can only be purchased from the exotic kiosk in the tower, as its quest was part of a season long past.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
