Took a break from Destiny 2 and looking to get back into the swing of things? Yeah, I’ve been there, it sucks. Figuring out what’s good these days can be a bit of a culture shock. For example, what would you say if I told you that fusion rifles are now the best weapon type that D2 has ever seen? Yeah, I know.
You’re out of the loop. So, before you boot back up the game and start looking through LFGs, have a look below at all the Destiny 2 Season 15 PvE meta weapons that people are using right now. After all, you don’t want to go back to getting kicked from fireteams because you’re doing no damage, do you?
Destiny 2 Season of the Lost PvE Meta Weapon Archetypes
There are three archetypes this season that you need to be aware of: auto rifles, bows, and fusion rifles.
The only reason these three are popular right now is artifact mods. Auto rifles are the only Anti-Barrier option. Full stop. Bows and swords both get an Overload mod, but using swords in end-game content is a big no-no, as is also the case with sidearms and pulse rifles.
Lastly, fusion rifles are this season’s Unstoppable weapon type. Fusion rifles are also Season 15’s featured weapon type. The entire meta right now revolves around an artifact mod called ‘Particle Deconstruction’. Particle Deconstruction is a debuff that you can apply to enemies. Each shot from a fusion rifle adds one stack, up to five. At max stacks, your fusion rifles are dealing approximately 40% more damage to that target. You don’t need me to tell you why that’s good, especially as non-linear fusion rifles can apply max stacks with one shot.
That’s your TLDR for the meta right now; fusion rifles are king, and make sure you’ve got a bow and auto rifles, but if you’re looking for specific weapons that are dominating the scene, I’ve listed some of the most powerful and popular choices down below.
Auto Rifles
Don’t expect auto rifles to stick around once they lose anti-barrier; don’t spend too long grinding out a perfect god roll AR.
Last Breath
Last Breath is my personal auto rifle of choice because it rolls with Osmosis. It also has a Demolitionist and Adrenaline Junkie roll that can be really powerful. It’s a great auto rifle for specific builds, but not so much for plug-and-play usage.
Scathelocke
Scathelocke is a bit more friendly for general use, although that’s strictly because it can roll with Subsistence and Rampage/Kill Clip. These god-rolls have also been sold quite a few times, so you can expect to run into players using them often enough.
Chroma Rush
Chroma Rush is the best accessible auto rifle right now. It’s easy to get a good roll from Umbral Engram focusing, and its massive 50+ round magazine means you’ve got plenty of bullets to get through all those Barrier Champion shields. If you don’t care about builds or farming for specific rolls, this is the AR you want to be running.
Bows
Bows are a little bit more useful in the PvE sandbox than ARs. Many legendary options will drop out of the top 10 once the artifact mods rotate, but the exotic ones will still be tier-S options in all end-game content.
Accrued Redemption
Accrued Redemption is one of a handful of kinetic bows that are available to us right now. If you have any of the others, you can easily swap this out for them. All that matters is that your Overload weapon isn’t taking up your energy slot. Having a kinetic legendary bow opens up your loadout to a lot more versatility, so make getting one of them a priority. If you need quick access to one, Varik’s gives you Biting Winds during the post-game quest for the Beyond Light DLC.
Ticuu’s Divination
Ticuu’s Divination isn’t all that in regular content. It gets outclassed for ad-clear by things like Trinity Ghoul. For Master and Grandmaster content, though, it’s considered one of the best weapons in the game. Being able to prime ads from behind cover keeps you safe in GMs, and those primed explosions do a ridiculous amount of damage.
Trinity Ghoul
Trinity Ghoul is the polar opposite of Ticuu’s: useless in GMs and Master content, but arguably the best weapon in the game for everything else. It’s worth noting that Trinity needs its catalyst to actually do any real work. Once you have the catalyst active, you’ll never need to aim at a red bar ever again.
Fusion Rifles
Fusion rifles are going to be useless once Particle Deconstruction leaves us. Yes, I said it. Unlike auto rifles, though, they are front and center of the Destiny 2 PvE meta right now, so grinding Last Wish for 1K is going to be worth it, as well as working towards some of the god-rolls I list down below.
Cartesian Coordinate
Cartesian Coordinate is currently the highest-DPS energy weapon in the game. It’s also farmable using Season of the Splicer Umbral focusing, so you should probably put in the work to get one. The roll you’re looking for is Vorpal Weapon and literally anything else. Vorpal is mandatory, but you can reasonably use everything from Hip-Fire Grip to Slideways.
Threaded Needle
Threaded Needle actually has the highest sustained DPS in the entire game right now. It’s also farmable from Umbrals, so you have no excuse. Once again, you’re looking for Vorpal Weapon. Once you have that perk, you’ve got a usable gun. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, though, you want a Vorpal roll with either Clown Cartridge or Rapid Hit, as well as Liquid Coils.
One Thousand Voices (1K)
One Thousand Voices, or 1K for short, is the defacto best weapon in the game right now. While it doesn’t have the sustained damage of Threaded, it does have higher burst DPS and ease of use. It automatically applies 5x Particle Deconstruction, something that you have to do with another fusion rifle if you use Threaded, and it blows up pretty much any enemy in any type of content. If you don’t have 1K already, you’re going to need to start running Last Wish every week for a chance to get it from one of the Vault chests at the end of the raid.
Null Composure
Null Composure falls short compared to Cartesian in the boss-damage department. For regular ad killing, though, it’s arguably a better weapon thanks to Reservoir Burst. It’s also an old pursuit weapon making it much easier to get. If you don’t have a Vorpal Cartesian, this is the next best thing.
Reed’s Regret
There is only one roll worth using on Reed’s Regret, and it’s Triple Tap with Vorpal. With those two perks, Liquid Coils, and the right masterwork, it can out-DPS Threaded on a base level. However, Reed’s Regret doesn’t stack with Focusing Lens (a damage-boosting artifact mod), whereas Threaded does. So if you’re in a team looking to min-max damage output, it’s not going to be usable. For non-sweaty teams, though, there’s no harm in running it.
Vex Mythoclast
Vex is far better in PvP than it is in PvE, but that’s not saying much. I mean, isn’t it obvious? It’s an assault rifle disguised as a fusion rifle in a season with a 40% damage buff on each fusion rifle shot. If you’re lucky enough to have a Vex Mythoclast, use it.
Other Weapons
These last three weapons aren’t featured this season and yet are still immensely popular. That should tell you everything you need to know about how strong they are. If you want to spend your time grinding for anything, make it these.
Fatebringer
The Fatebring (Timelost) is my kinetic primary of choice this season. It’s a powerful hand cannon with a lot of prestige throughout Destiny’s history. It can be obtained from the Vault of Glass and has a whole bunch of good rolls. The only mandatory perk you want is Explosive Payload. It allows you to ignore damage drop-off, which is huge for hand cannons. You’re not going to be bringing a Fatebringer into GMs, but you can for pretty much every other activity.
Ignition Code
Ignition Code, on the other hand, can be brought into GMs. Ignition is the only kinetic grenade launcher in the game that can roll with Blinding Grenades. These grenades will suppress any enemies caught in the blast radius, preventing them from shooting at you for a few seconds. In Grandmasters, all it takes is one or two shots from a regular red bar to end you, so being able to stop a whole group of them from shooting at you is incredible. This GL is also farmable from Umbrals and will be relevant for a long time to come. If you’re looking for a weapon that will last you several seasons, this is it.
Wrap Up
There are, of course, a plethora of other great weapons that I haven’t covered in this Destiny 2 Season 15 PvE meta weapons guide, like Witherhoard. There are also all the different armor choices, subclasses, and mods that are popular in the meta right now. Going over all of that would be too much for one day, though.
Knowing what weapons to use is enough to get your foot back in the Destiny door. You’ll learn all the other technicalities as you go, so get yourself into those LFGs.
