Destiny 2’s move to a free-to-play scheme has made it even more relevant by bringing lots of new players into the fold. Which isn’t surprising considering just how fun a PVE raid can be, and how intense Crucible matches can get. Considering a good chunk of this class-based shooter is focused entirely on grinding for better weapons and finding the very best equipment you can, it’s important to know which guns are worth snagging. So let’s take a look at some of the better Pulse Rifles in the game, for those of you who like precise weaponry in your battles.
20. Adhortative
How to get: The Adhortative used to be obtained from a quest involving Ikora Rey and the Vex Offensive during the Season of the Undying. This Legendary Pulse Rifle is a bit of an obscure weapon. Which is a bit surprising considering how much it can help you slay in the Crucible. Among other things, this Solar-damaging rifle shines for its stability and minuscule recoil thanks to its Adaptative Frame. The ideal roll will have the Multikill Clip trait, which empowers the gun each time you reload based on how many enemies you downed with that clip. And Feeding Frenzy, which increases reload speed.
19. Horror’s Least
How to get: Get this from the Nightfall version of The Corrupted, a strike in the Dreaming City. Another great Legendary weapon is this Arc-damaging beast. Its Rapid-Fire Frame gives it deeper mags, and it’ll reload a bit faster if you reload once your mags are empty too. Considering it fires a massive 540 rounds per minute, getting a trait like Extended Mags to further expand ammo reserves seems like a good idea. Other than that, this dark horse of PVP weapons benefits a lot from stability-increasing traits like the Smallbore barrel, and Zen Moment is a must on console.
18. Go Figure
How to get: The Go Figure is a random world drop from any Legendary Engram. Almost everyone has at least one of these lying around, most likely with a nice roll! The Go Figure gets slept on by a lot of players due to its ubiquity. But this Legendary Kinetic rifle is a shredder thanks to its great stats and aggressive archetype. Like many Pulse Rifles, this strap benefits quite a lot from the Kill Clip trait. Another great option would be Rampage, which briefly grants increased damage after a kill, making this four-round-burst rifle a real threat in the Crucible.
17. Right Side of Wrong
How to get: Earn this strangely-named weapon by farming it in Ancient’s Haunt on Nessus, or the Ma’adim Subterrane on Mars. Looking gorgeous in its default red color scheme, this Legendary Solar rifle can be devastating in the Crucible if you get the right roll. If you’re a precise shooter, an Outlaw/Kill Clip combo can go a long way to keep your damage ramping up fast with each kill. I’d greatly recommend that you give this weapon a try in PVP. But it can also be a nice option in raids with a lot of minor enemies to kill.
16. Bayesian MSu
How to get: As a Rare weapon, the Bayesian MSu can be found in any Encrypted Engram. It may come as a surprise to find such a common rifle in the ranking. But this Rare Kinetic weapon deserves credit for being the best rare Pulse Rifle. Thanks to its stable Adaptive Frame, this weapon can make use of its Full-Auto Trigger System to great effect. It’s especially viable if you get it with the Red Dot ORS1 scope, which greatly increases its effective range, and makes it even easier to handle.
15. Nightshade
How to get: Earn this by turning in Vanguard Tactician Tokens to Commander Zavala and ranking up. This Legendary Kinetic weapon has a Lightweight Frame that grants superb handling. And you’ll move faster with it equipped, in contrast to other pulse rifles. While this weapon can easily melt through enemies with the classic Outlaw/Kill Clip trait combo, anything providing additional range is key for the Nightshade to truly shine.
14. Outlast
How to get: The Outlast can be acquired by completing bounties in Gambit Prime, or by clearing Tier 3 of The Reckoning and defeating the Likeness of Oryx. This Legendary Solar weapon was introduced in the Season of the Drifter and has been noticed by some proficient Guardians thanks to its excellent performance in PVP. Thanks to its Rapid-Fire Frame, you don’t have to worry about running out of bullets while trying to bring down an opponent’s orange shield. It also makes a great combination with both Kill Clip and Feeding Frenzy. But a roll with either Rampage or Full-Auto Trigger System is fine too.
13. Jian 7 Rifle
How to get: The Jian 7 Rifle is currently a world drop, so you can get it from any Legendary Engram. This amazing legendary arc rifle isn’t talked about as much, since it only became viable in recent seasons. Its Adaptive Frame makes it stable enough, so focus on getting traits like the Full-Auto Trigger System that benefit from other features. The Jian 7 Rifle also has access to the SRO-52 Ocular scope which greatly increases range and makes it terrifying at long distances. Plus it’s got a modern psychedelic-looking design. Quite rad.
12. Redrix’s Broadsword
How to get: Redrix’s Broadsword can be earned from Crucible Engrams and rank-up packages from Lord Shaxx. Not every Guardian knows of this Legendary Kinetic weapon’s great destructive potential. A consequence of its high-impact frame which trades firing rate for damage. However, others swear by it. Some even call it the best pulse rifle available for PVP today. This is mainly due to Desperado, which increases your rate of fire whenever you reload your weapon with Outlaw active. If you’re skilled enough then you can keep your rate of fire ramping up and turn Redrix’s Broadsword into a hyper-destructive laser. Crazy stuff.
11. Chattering Bone
How to get: Get this from encounters in the Last Wish Raid, which takes place in the Dreaming City. The Chattering Bone used to be a very popular rifle. And it remains an amazing choice if you have it today. Not only does its organic design look amazing, but it can pack a punch with Outlaw and either Rampage or Kill Clip. It has superb handling by default thanks in part to its lightweight frame, so a trait like Extended Barrel that increases range and reduces recoil at the cost of handling can be great.
10. Claws of the Wolf
How to get: This incredible rifle can be found in Iron Engrams from the Iron Banner Crucible event. Claws of the Wolf is the first energy rifle on our list that deals Void damage, downing purple shields in seconds. It’s an exceptional gun in mid-range firefights thanks to its insane 540 rpm. But you’ll have to watch out for reload times given it eats ammo fast.
9. Bad Juju
How to get: Getting this weapon isn’t easy, as it requires you to complete a bunch of activities in the Tribute Hall to please the Visage of Calus. Once everything is done you’ll find the Bad Juju in a chest in the middle of the hall. Returning from the first Destiny, this Exotic Kinetic Pulse Rifle is a force to be reckoned with. Especially in PVE thanks to its String of Curses ability. With this equipped, kills refill your magazine and your damage is increased briefly. It’ got some bad juju for anyone on the opposing side of this thing.
8. Premonition
How to get: This drops from encounters in the Pit of Heresy on the Moon. It can also be found in Dreambane Engrams from the Lectern of Enchantment. Like all non-Exotic weapons, this Legendary Void weapon depends on the right rolls to be any good in battle. Ideally you want to roll Kill Clip and Outlaw (no surprises there), but Rangefinder would also go a long way towards maxing range – which makes sense on such a slow-firing, high-impact weapon.
7. Sacred Provenance
How to get: Acquire this as a drop from the Garden of Salvation raid bosses, within the Black Garden. The Sacred Provenance is an aggressive gun with a hard-hitting four-round burst, which goes very well together with some great range and relatively fast rate of fire. Couple this with the tried and true combo of Outlaw and Kill Clip and you’ll be unstoppable. As long as you can keep the precision kills coming. Ricochet Rounds for increased range and stability wouldn’t hurt either.
6. Last Perdition
How to get: Get the ominously-named Last Perdition from Crucible Engrams, obtained by completing different activities in the Crucible. While anything with Kill Clip and Outlaw is always a great roll, this Legendary Void rifle can be employed in a great variety of ways. Its Adaptive Frame gives it a good grip, so it’s pretty stable and easy to handle. Perfect for precise shooting. This can be greatly complemented by the SPO-57 Front Scope as well, which significantly increases range.
5. Graviton Lance
How to get: This menacing Exotic Pulse Rifle is a random drop from Exotic Engrams. It can also be bought from Xûr on certain weeks. Like most other Exotics, the Graviton Lance shines because of its unique traits, Black Hole and Cosmology. Black Hole makes the second shot of each burst much stronger and prevents lost damage from firing at long range. Coupled with insane stability, this weapon will let you pick off enemies at great distances with ease. On the other hand, Cosmology makes enemies burst into target-seeking void-damage projectiles upon death. Which is especially useful in PVE where crowd control is needed. Definitely look into this one if you get the chance.
4. Vigilance Wing
How to get: The Vigilance Wing Pulse Rifle is an extremely rare drop from Exotic Engrams, but can also be bought from Xûr from time to time. This powerful Kinetic weapon with an Egyptian look fires in five-round bursts due to its Harsh Truths ability, so you’ll only need to press the trigger once or twice to down most enemies as long as you’re precise. This trait also provides health regeneration and speed if an ally dies nearby. Which is a nice bonus. Furthermore, if all allies die and you’re the last standing member of your fireteam, your weapon will become considerably more powerful. Vigilance indeed.
3. Outbreak Perfected
How to get: For this futuristic pulse rifle you’ll need to go through a relatively long quest which begins by scanning the Fallen Device in Tidal Anchor, on Titan. While it does have some really solid stats, what takes this Exotic Kinetic weapon to the next level are its traits: The Corruption Spreads and Parasitism. The former generates SIVA nanite swarms whenever you get rapid hits or precision kills. These swarms will damage your opponents and seek out new ones once the target dies. This is pretty good by itself, but it doesn’t end there. These swarms actually stack, even if they’re created by different members of your team. And thanks to Parasitism, the Outbreak Perfected will deal increased damage to enemies swarmed by nanites. The more stacks, the more they suffer. This weapon is unparalleled in PVE.
2. Bygones
How to get: This Legendary Kinetic weapon can be snagged by playing Gambit matches or completing Drifter bounties. The Bygones is one of the most popular and powerful guns in the game, despite looking like a pretty default rifle. This has a lot to do with the fact that it can be farmed with relative ease. Letting you fish for just the right roll also means it’s easy to power up… and it’ll most likely include Kill Clip and Outlaw. If you’re not as good at precision kills then go for Rampage and Full-Auto Trigger System, which can also be devastating.
1. Blast Furnace
How to get: The Blast Furnace is acquired by bringing a Powerful Pulse Frame from Ada-1 and some other items to the Izanami Forge and clearing it. This Legendary Kinetic gun is widely accepted as the most savage pulse rifle in the entire game. Thanks in no small part to its aggressive four-round burst and incredible range. It also has access to Feeding Frenzy which makes reloading faster after kills. This goes well with Kill Clip and Rampage, which as we know, are amazing traits on any weapon. But especially on your Blast Furnace. The Rasmussen ISA Scope is also a great trait for some extra range and amazing handling.
