Model
Three jobsDPS · clear · support
The weapon system guide is the rulebook — tiers, perks, Champion frames in the abstract. This is the PvE application: the job each gun does against a health bar and a timer, the concrete good guns and god rolls by role, and the swap rotation that turns a damage perk into a burst window. The PvP weapons page is the Crucible mirror of this one. Built on the Monument baseline, Destiny 2's final content sandbox.
Forget "what's the single best gun." A PvE loadout answers three questions at once: how do I delete the boss, how do I clear the room, and how do I multiply the team? Build one DPS option + one add-clear + a debuff/utility piece and you've covered the damage check. A run that feels bad is usually a loadout missing one of the three jobs, not a bad gun.
The damage-phase deleter. Your big, metered burst for an immune-shield window — heavy rockets/GLs and swords, plus swap-special snipers. Highest damage in the shortest window; you ration ammo for the phase.
Room control and uptime. The gun that keeps the floor clear so you can do everything else — chaining exotic primaries and wave-frame GLs. Feeds your ability economy; never runs dry.
The multiplier. Weaken, a crit cage, or Wolfpack Rounds — it raises the whole team's damage for a few seconds. Cheap to apply, huge payoff before a burst.
What you actually hold most of the time. A comfortable primary that survives between phases — Champion frames, ammo economy, and consistency matter more than peak numbers. Reliability over ceiling.
The durable layer under the meta churn: each archetype has an evergreen PvE job. Tags: Primary Special Heavy.
Job: the current burst-DPS king at range. Reserve-loading damage perks (Envious Arsenal) feed back-to-back Bait-and-Switch shots for the highest legendary ranged burst in the game right now.
Job: rocket-class burst with splash. Wave/area frames clear; single-shot heavy GLs roll the same swap perks and rival rockets for boss damage.
Job: precision sustained DPS at range. The historical benchmark; still strong, but no longer the top burst pick in the 9.7.0 sandbox.
Job: melee-range sustained DPS with a guard. Best when you can stand on the boss; the classic Relentless Strikes + Whirlwind Blade roll refunds ammo and stacks a damage buff as you swing.
Job: the swap-special damage stick. Honed-Edge snipers and reserve-loading legendaries fill the gap between heavy bursts in a DPS rotation.
Job: special-slot add-clear and sustain. Chain-Reaction wave GLs delete rooms; glaives add a survivable melee option.
Job: never-dry room control. Explosive/chaining exotics (Sunshot, Graviton, Osteo) clear adds and feed your subclass economy without burning special.
Job: the consistent flex pick. Explosive Payload + a damage perk (Incandescent, One for All) gives ranged clear and Champion frames you hold between phases.
Job: the team multiplier. Divinity's crit cage, Tractor's Weaken, Gjallarhorn's Wolfpack Rounds — apply, then everyone bursts.
Concrete examples for each job — Exotics need no roll; for legendaries the god roll is the two damage-relevant columns (the rest is comfort). These are Monument-baseline callouts, not an eternal ranking: the roles above don't expire.
| Weapon | Type | Why it works · god roll |
|---|---|---|
| Hezen Vengeance Legendary | Rocket · Heavy · Solar | The burst-meta legendary rocket: Envious Arsenal auto-loads from reserves so you fire Bait-and-Switch (~30%) shots back to back.god roll · Envious Arsenal + Bait and Switch |
| VS Chill Inhibitor Legendary | Heavy GL · Stasis | Rolls the same swap god-roll as the top rockets and frees your exotic slot — effectively interchangeable in a DPS rotation.god roll · Envious Arsenal + Bait and Switch |
| Fafnir Exotic · New | Linear Fusion · Heavy · Void | The best new Monument exotic for a damage-and-debuff heavy: delayed-detonation Void damage plus Quantum Nova, which consumes reserves to Weaken the boss — the more reserves spent, the longer the Weaken lasts. One slot covers damage and debuff, though it leans utility rather than topping the raw-DPS charts. |
| Falling Guillotine Legendary | Sword · Heavy · Void | A default Vortex-frame sword for fights where you can stand in melee; Relentless Strikes refunds ammo on light-attack hits and Whirlwind Blade stacks a damage buff across all your sword damage.god roll · Relentless Strikes + Whirlwind Blade |
| Cataclysmic Legendary | Linear Fusion · Heavy · Solar | The long-standing LFR benchmark for ranged sustained damage. Still strong, but linear fusions aren't the current burst meta — bring it for range, not for the top phase number.god roll · Fourth Time the Charm + Bait and Switch |
| Still Hunt Exotic | Sniper · Special · Solar | Grants a Golden Gun on the weapon for any class; on Hunters it pairs with Celestial Nighthawk for two Golden-Gun nukes a phase — the definitive Hunter boss-burst package. Known issue: a teammate's Lumina can override your Radiant when you cast your Golden Gun super, stripping its damage buff — have them hold their noble round during your Nighthawk nuke (Still Hunt's own weapon shot is unaffected). |
| Weapon | Type | Why it works · god roll |
|---|---|---|
| Zaouli's Bane Legendary | Hand Cannon · Primary · Solar | Frequently called the best legendary primary in the game: kills spread scorch and chain ignitions across a Solar build.god roll · Explosive Payload + Incandescent |
| Forbearance Legendary | Wave GL · Special · Arc | The benchmark wave-frame special: Chain Reaction makes each kill cascade across the room; Ambitious Assassin overflows the tube in groups.god roll · Ambitious Assassin + Chain Reaction |
| Sunshot Exotic | Hand Cannon · Primary · Solar | Explosive rounds detonate on kill and trigger Solar ignitions — premier ignition-build add-clear. |
| Graviton Lance Exotic | Pulse · Primary · Void | Post-buff and endgame-viable: kills spawn seeking Void explosions that chain whole waves in Volatile/Weaken builds. |
| Osteo Striga Exotic | SMG · Primary · Kinetic | Poison spreads between enemies on kill; with Necrotic Grip it clears entire rooms. A premier close-range clear primary. |
| Trinity Ghoul Exotic | Bow · Primary · Arc | With its catalyst, any Arc final blow triggers a chain-lightning shot across packs — one of the best Arc add-clear tools, and it benefits from the Monument bow buffs. |
| Weapon | Type | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Divinity Exotic | Trace · Special · Arc | Creates a cage that makes all fireteam shots count as precision and applies a ~15% debuff — the standard "crit bubble" for coordinated DPS. |
| Tractor Cannon Exotic | Shotgun · Heavy · Void | Applies a ~30% Weaken to the target for the whole fireteam — the cheapest, fastest team damage amp before a burst phase. |
| Gjallarhorn Exotic | Rocket · Heavy · Solar | Wolfpack Rounds buff nearby Guardians' legendary rockets with tracking submunitions — a force multiplier in 3- and 6-player content. |
| Fafnir Exotic · New | Linear Fusion · Heavy · Void | Doubles as a debuff stick: Quantum Nova applies a strong Weaken — spend more reserves for a longer Weaken — while still dealing linear-fusion damage. |
| Cull's Shadow Exotic · New | Fusion · Special · Kinetic (Sorrow) | The last exotic added (Oblation chain). A Weapon of Sorrow with an intrinsic Unstoppable stun and a Soulfire loop — defeated corrupted enemies leave Soulfire crystals that detonate when you shoot them. Niche but strong add-pressure; hardest of the new three to earn. |
| Weapon | Type | Why it works · god roll |
|---|---|---|
| Witherhoard Exotic | Breech GL · Special · Kinetic | The most versatile special in PvE: blight pools tick persistent damage so you fire-and-swap — chip DPS and area denial in one. |
| Izanagi's Burden Exotic | Sniper · Special · Kinetic | Honed Edge consolidates the mag into one huge shot — the canonical swap-DPS special between heavy bursts. |
| Conditional Finality Exotic | Shotgun · Special · Stasis+Solar | Its two barrels alternate — the first shot fires freezing Stasis pellets, the second igniting Solar pellets — high single-target burst into champions plus crowd control. |
| Defiance of Yasmin Legendary | Sniper · Special · Kinetic | The default fireteam raid sniper: Firing Line gives a ~20% precision bonus near two-plus allies — cheap, accessible champion/add damage.god roll · Lead from Gold + Firing Line |
| Khvostov 7G-0X Exotic | Auto · Primary · Kinetic | Every 7th shot deals bonus damage and ricochets to nearby targets — the most comfortable sustained kinetic primary. |
| Doom of Chelchis Legendary | Scout · Primary · Void | Excellent ranged Void primary in debuff builds — One for All grants ~35% after tagging three targets.god roll · Explosive Payload + One for All |
| Your build | Best artifact | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Arc — Amplified / Jolt / Bolt Charge | NPA Repulsion Regulator · Tablet of Ruin | NPA drives Amplified uptime and Jolt add-clear; Tablet of Ruin adds the Bolt Charge loop for Arc DPS and ability economy. |
| Void — Volatile / Weaken / Breach | Tablet of Ruin · NPA Repulsion Regulator | Tablet of Ruin drives Volatile → Weaken chains; NPA adds the Void Breach → overshield engine that shields the team. |
| Solar — Radiant / Ignite + Rockets & GLs | Queensfoil Censer | Radiant ignition chains plus a Rocket / Grenade-Launcher Armor-Charge DPS economy. |
| Prismatic / Sniper DPS | Hunter's Journal | Sniper's Meditation stacks sniper damage, plus Transcendence support for Prismatic burst. |
| Stasis — Frost Armor / shatter + GLs | Apothecary Satchel | Frost Armor and crystal-shatter chains with Grenade-Launcher and Void Devour survivability. |
| Frost Armor + Scouts / Sidearms | Implement of Curiosity | Frost Armor sustain plus Elemental Overdrive — elemental pickups and Strand Tangles stack weapon damage on precision primaries. A Solar/Stasis/Strand hybrid, not a single-element artifact. |
| Swords / Kinetic weapons | Encrypted Data Disk | Sword guard-and-combo perks plus a Kinetic-weapon ammo economy. |
A PvE roll chases a damage check, not a duel — so the order is the opposite of the PvP priority. Get the damage perk first, then whatever enables it (reserves, reload, mag), and only then comfort stats.
The whole point of the roll. Bait and Switch, One for All, Incandescent, Vorpal, Firing Line — this column is your DPS multiplier. Everything else serves it.
What lets you actually use the damage perk. Envious Arsenal loads the stowed heavy from reserves; Fourth Time's the Charm refills its own mag as you land crits; Ambitious Assassin overflows the tube. The pairing is the god roll.
How many shots the phase gets. More reserves and a bigger mag mean more damage windows before you run dry — high value on heavies.
Tightens the rotation. Faster reload and swap speed shave dead time between shots — meaningful on a long boss, minor on a one-shot.
Consistency under fire. Keeps crits landing on a moving boss or at a distance. Comfort that protects your damage, not a multiplier itself.
The reason two damage perks make a god roll is the swap rotation: most top burst comes from chaining a heavy and a special so each reloads the other "for free." Internalize the loop and any new meta weapon just slots into it.
PvE chase weapons come from four durable sources on the Monument baseline. Route by what you want and prefer craftable patterns — a crafted god roll beats farming for a random one.
| If you want… | Source | How it works / what to chase |
|---|---|---|
| A guaranteed god roll | Craftable patterns | Raid, dungeon, and Pinnacle Ops weapons with red-border/Deepsight unlock a craftable pattern — shape the exact two-perk roll instead of farming RNG. Always the best route when a weapon is craftable. |
| Top DPS legendaries | Raids & dungeons | The Envious/Bait swap rolls and benchmark heavies drop from endgame activities (and their crafting patterns). Run the encounter that drops your target, or buy the pattern with red borders. |
| Exotic primaries & missions | Pinnacle Ops · Exotic missions | Whisper of the Worm, Outbreak Perfected, Choir of One and more come from Pinnacle Ops exotic missions — first clear gives a Deepsight copy to craft, repeats give catalysts/upgrades. |
| Ritual & world fallback | Vanguard / Nightfall focusing | Strike, Nightfall, and seasonal focusing cover a usable roll when you can't run endgame. Focus the damage perk you need; not the best per-run rate, but always on. |
The whole model on one figure: three jobs, one loadout. Schematic only — no real weapon stats, just the shape of a complete PvE kit.
This page owns the guns and the rotation. The rulebook owns archetypes and Champion frames; buildcrafting owns the loop that keeps you firing.
No paywall, no login. If a guide saved you a wipe, the videos and the people who watch them are what keep this site going.