Destiny 2 best Exotic weapons for PvE & PvP (Season of the Deep)

Destiny 2 has a vast and ever-expanding weapon arsenal, sometimes leaving players overwhelmed by all of its options. But, amidst all the fodder, there are some clear-cut best exotic weapons in Destiny 2 for PvE & PvP in Season of the Deep.

Destiny’s exotic weapons have always stood out as some of the most coveted items in the looter shotoer, dating back to the original game. These exotic weapons can be collected through questlines by purchasing them from Xur, completing Exotic missions, or even fishing.

Players can only equip one piece of exotic armor and one exotic weapon at a time, so it’s important to know which exotics are best to make the best use of your limited slots. To see what weapons to partner your Exotic with check out our dedicated guides on the best PvE and PvP Weapons in Destiny 2.

Below are our choices for the best exotic weapons in Destiny 2 PvE & PvP, and how to find them for Season of the Deep.

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Contents

• Best Exotic Kinetic Weapons
• Best Exotic Energy Weapons
• Best Exotic Heavy Weapons

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Best Destiny 2 Exotic Kinetic Weapons for PvE & PvP

Arbalest

Best use: PvE

The Arbalest is a truly unique weapon, being a Linear Fusion Rifle that uses Special Ammo while filling the Kinetic slot. Its stand-out feature is its ability to break pretty much any Champion or Boss’ shield in one shot.

It isn’t just limited to being a shield-shattering support weapon though. For a special weapon, the Arbalest has excellent DPS and range. Assuming you have the aim to land consistent precision shots this is a fantastic choice to fill the Exotic slot.

Arbalest can be acquired as a rare random drop from world drop Exotic engrams.

Conditional Finality

Best use: PvE/PvP

The newest raid exotic Conditional Finality has seen plenty of usage since its release with the Root of Nightmares raid. The exotic shotgun deals a mix of both Stasis and Solar damage, igniting and freezing targets.

This makes it particularly useful against champions, as both forms of crowd control are effective in stopping champions in their tracks. It can even be hot-swapped with another shotgun to achieve some truly remarkable DPS.

Conditional Finality can be acquired as a rare drop after completing the Root of Nightmares raid.

Osteo Striga

Best use: PvE

Osteo Striga was introduced in The Witch Queen and was one of the first craftable exotics added to Destiny 2. Osteo Striga shoots sentient tracking rounds at your enemies, which poisons them. When a poisoned enemy dies, they explode into a poisonous mist, dealing damage to other nearby targets.

Osteo Striga is a fantastic workhorse weapon that can be used in almost all content, with great damage and easy usage. It has become a fan favorite thanks to its large magazine, extremely forgiving accuracy, and the fact that SMGs as a whole are really strong in Season of the Deep.

Osteo Striga can be acquired by crafting it after completing The Witch Queen campaign.

Wish-ender

Best use: PvE

Wish-ender has been a powerful option for some time thanks to its impressive damage and intrinsic anti-barrier properties. However, its slow draw rate made it situational and not a top-tier choice for most builds.

That is until Season 21 saw the Oathkeeper Hunter exotic buffed. Once a niche PvP Exotic armor piece, Oathkeeper now offers some of the most impressive burst DPS in Destiny 2. And there’s no bow better to use with it than the Wish-ender.

Wish-ender can be acquired by completing the ‘Wish-ender’ Exotic quest obtained in the Shattered Throne dungeon.

Witherhoard

Best use: PvE/PvP

Witherhoard is one of the best Kinetic weapons in the game, especially when it comes to PvE. It also happens to be arguably the best Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2. There’s even an argument to be made that it is the very best weapon in the whole game due to its sheer versatility.

Witherhoard is a single-shot Grenade Launcher that specializes in AOE damage. It’s one of the best tools for clearing out crowds and can deal serious damage to bosses, especially once its catalyst is unlocked which gives it intrinsic Auto-Loading Holster.

The Witherhoard can be acquired by purchasing it from the Exotic Archive for x1 Exotic Cipher, x100,000 Glimmer, x200 Legendary Shards, and x1 Ascendant Shard.

Best Destiny 2 Exotic Energy Weapons for PvE & PvP

Cloudstrike

Best use: PvP

The Cloudstrike is an iconic Exotic sniper rifle introduced in Season 12. It offers a lot that Crucible players would want including consistent one shot kills, good handling, and the potential for some crazy montage clips.

Its unique trait, Mortal Polarity creates lightning whenever you land a precision final blow. This combines with Stormbringer to spread that lightning to nearby enemies, giving the Cloudstrike AOE capabilities. Even better, its catalyst gives it intrinsic Triple Tap making it easy to keep its magazine topped up.

The Cloudstrike can be acquired as a rare drop from completing higher-difficulty Empire Hunts obtained from Varik on Europa.

Divinity

Best use: PvE

Divinity has always been a strong choice as it’s one of the very few guns in Destiny 2 that can debuff bosses, making them take more damage. More specifically, all targets take enveloped by Divinity take 15% more damage. That includes regular enemies, champions, and even bosses.

What makes Divinity even better in Season of the Deep is the addition of Cenotaph Mask. The new Exotic helmet reloads the Divinity from reserves, gives it the ability to mark targets, and will cause enemies to spit out ammo for your team to stay topped up with.

Divinity can be acquired by completing the ‘Divinity’ Exotic quest which requires a run-through of the Garden of Salvation raid.

Graviton Lance

Best use: PvE/PvP

For the longest time, the go to Pulse Rifle in The Crucible was No Time To Explain. While it’s still a great choice, the Season 21 buffs to the Graviton Lance have seen it overtake the competition and become the best Pulse Rifle in Destiny 2 PvP.

What’s even crazier is that the mid-season buffs for Graviton Lance have also seen it emerge as a top-tier PvE gun. For Void builds, this is one of the best Primary weapons to use across all modes and all difficulties of content. It is truly a spectacular weapon that is everything an Exotic gun should be.

Graviton Lance can be acquired as a rare random drop from world drop Exotic engrams.

Le Monarque

Best use: PvE/PvP

Le Monarque is a versatile Energy slot Exotic bow that can be used with just about any build. It offers great damage and AOE capabilities thanks to its Intrinsic Trait, Poison Arrows.

A bow with good add clear isn’t overly common but that isn’t the only reason Le Monarque is strong. It also has intrinsic Overload stun making it a great weapon for dealing with champions. As an added bonus it’s one of the best options to use with the massively buffed Oathkeeper Exotic armor piece.

The Le Monarque can be acquired from the Exotic Archive for x1 Exotic Cipher, x125,000 Glimmer, x200 Legendary Shards, and x1 Ascendant Shard.

Trinity Ghoul

Best use: PvE

If Le Monarque doesn’t suit your needs then Trinity Ghoul is another excellent Exotic Combat Bow. This Arc bow offers arguably the best add clear of any weapon in Destiny 2, thanks to its unique perk, Lightning Rod.

Throw in its catalyst which lets Lightning Rod trigger on any Arc final blow and you are left with an extraordinarily reliable Primary weapon that can wipe out a large group of enemies in seconds. It isn’t all-purpose by any means but it is comfortably the best weapon at its specific job.

The Trinity Ghoul can be acquired as a rare random drop from world drop Exotic engrams.

Best Destiny 2 Exotic Power Weapons for PvE & PvP

Gjallarhorn

Best use: PvE

A true legend in the Destiny franchise, Gjallarhorn returned as part of the 30th Anniversary Pack’s set of weapons. It fires Wolfpack Rounds that split into smaller explosives after an initial detonation. New in D2, though, it’ll also share these rounds with non-exotic Rocket Launchers that your fireteam is using.

The Gjallarhorn’s greatest strength is its lack of weaknesses. It deals great damage, fires tracking missiles, has insane add clear potential, and can even generate a lot of Orbs of Power when its catalyst is unlocked. It’s a jack of all trades Exotic that works well when you’re not sure what to use.

Gjallarhorn can be acquired by completing the ‘And Out Fly the Wolves’ Exotic quest obtained from Xur in Eternity.

Legend of Acrius

Best use: PvE

Sometimes all a gun needs to be meta is for it to pump out an absurd amount of damage. The Legend of Acrius isn’t a versatile weapon and it doesn’t have much range. However, barrel-stuffing this Exotic shotgun into an enemy is bound to kill them quicker than just about everything else.

It was always a good albeit situational choice but a damage range buff in Season 21 combined with the reworked No Backup Plans makes this shottie an absolute monster.

Legend of Acrius can be acquired from the Exotic Archive for x1 Exotic Cipher, x150,000 Glimmer,  x2 Ascendant Shard, and x240 Spoils of Conquest.

Sleeper Simulant

Best Use: PvE

A gun doesn’t necessarily have to be well-rounded to be worth using. No weapon proves that more than the Sleeper Simulant, an Exotic Linear Fusion Rifle that excels at one thing and one thing only. It deals a ton of damage to bosses by hitting precision hits over and over.

This exotic is essentially just a Linear Fusion Rifle taken to the next level. It hits very hard, it’s easy to use, it has a fast fire rate, and it even pairs well with certain Solar 3.0 builds. If you’ve got the aim to hit shots consistently the Sleeper Simulant is one of the best damage dealers in Destiny 2.

Sleeper Simulant can be acquired from the Exotic Archive for x1 Exotic Cipher, x125,000 Glimmer, x200 Legendary Shards, and x1 Ascendant Shard.

Thunderlord

Best use: PvE/PvP

Ah, the Thunderlord. This is the first Exotic ever shown off in Destiny 1, so it has a place in history as an important weapon.  However, it was pretty useless for most of Destiny’s history. Then Machine Guns got buffed in Season 20 and it somehow became the single most dominant PvE Exotic in Destiny 2.

The selling point of the Thunderlord is that it’s a Machine Gun that reloads itself as you shoot. In practice, this results in you being able to fire off hundreds of rounds without ever reloading. Couple that with the Thunderlord’s high DPS and you’re left with an obvious contender for the best gun in Destiny 2.

The Thunderlord can be acquired as a rare random drop from world drop Exotic engrams.

Tractor Cannon

Best Use: PvE/PvP

Using your Heavy slot on a utility shotgun of all things may sound questionable but the reality is that Tractor Cannon is one of the best guns in Destiny 2. Why? Because it can inflict a debuff onto enemies that make them take 30% more damage from all sources.

In large teams, this is an incredible debuff that will drastically speed up how fast you can clear bosses. Plus it’s a surprisingly good PvP weapon too with its generous spread easily one-shotting most enemies that get too close.

Tractor Cannon can be acquired as a rare random drop from world drop Exotic engrams or opening Maeve’s Stash on the Cosmodrone.

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So, there you have it – that’s everything you need to know about the best weapons in Destiny 2. Be sure to check out more of our guide content on Dexerto:

Deepsight Harmonizers: How to farm, use, and what weapons to convert | Best PvP Weapons | Best PvE Weapons | Season of the Deep Season Pass: Rewards & ranks | Best Titan Builds | Best Warlock Builds | Best Arc 3.0 Builds | Best Solar 3.0 Builds | Best Stasis Builds | Best Void 3.0 Builds