[Top 10] Destiny 2 Best Machine Guns That Wreck Hard!

Updated:

20 Oct 2022

Machine Guns have had their fair share of ups and downs throughout the history of the Destiny franchise. With the launch of Season of the Plunder, Machine Guns are in an opportune time. All machine guns are capable of stunning overload champions due to the Overload Machine Gun artifact mod and they have received some pretty substantial buffs over the last few seasons. As such, it's a great time to hunt down some weapons to decimate your enemies.

*Side Note - Machine Guns all perform about the same in PvP, and are generally outclassed by more instant kill weapons such as rocket launchers. This list will mainly be talking about machine gun effectiveness in PvE as a result.

10: Chain of Command

Destiny 2: Chain of Command

See Chain of Command in action:

Starting off our list, we have the Chain of Command. The Chain of Command is a relatively average machine gun, but benefits from its ease of access to get. This weapon was the playlist reward weapon from last season and is now available to purchase from the Monument of Lost Lights Exotic Archive in the tower. This weapon doesn’t have random rolls, but it does have a pretty nice selection of perks to choose from. The chain of command mainly focuses on grenade play. Its main perks are Adrenaline Junkie, Demolitionist, and Osmosis, (this is the only machine gun in the game that can roll with Osmosis by the way) all of which affect grenades. Overall, it is a perfectly fine weapon, but there are more powerful options.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 41
Range - 43
Stability - 37
Handling - 56
Reload Speed - 46
Aim Assistance - 61
Inventory Size - 54
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 10
Recoil - 74
Rounds Per Minute - 450
Magazine - 52
Frame - Adaptive

What makes Chain of Command Awesome

Versatile perk options for PVE Content - Osmosis changes the element of the weapon to match your subclass, and Adaptive Munitions increases weapon damage against shield types that don’t match the weapon. This means that this machine gun can be adjusted on the fly to mow through a wide variety of enemies.
Grenades Galore - Demolitionist grants grenade energy on weapon kills, and Adrenaline Junkie increases weapon damage after grenade kills. The two perks feed into each other, granting high uptime on both the damage buff and grenade cooldown.

How to Get Chain of Command

Head to the tower
Stop at the Monuments to Lost Light Exotic Archive next to the vaults
Purchase the weapon with the required materials.

Chain of Command Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/3105930175/chain-of-command/

9: Planck’s Stride

Destiny 2: Planck’s Stride

See Planck’s Stride in Action:

Planck’s Stride is a new, rapid-fire machine gun that comes from the Season of the Plunder. This machine gun can be acquired from either the new Ketchcrash or Treasure expedition activities. It can also be focused at the Starchart once you acquire the necessary upgrade. It is also the first machine gun on our list that can be crafted. This weapon synergizes well with the newly released Arc 3.0 due to it being an arc weapon. Some notable perks include Mulligan, which is very helpful on a rapid-fire weapon since you’re likely to miss at least a few of your shots. It also has the new perk Pugilist, which generates melee energy on weapon kills (think Demolitisionist but for melee). Much like Chain of Command, this is a great weapon to acquire early in the game but is somewhat outclassed by stronger options in higher-level content.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 25
Range - 26
Stability - 48
Handling - 47
Reload Speed - 72
Aim Assistance - 63
Inventory Size - 36
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 9
Recoil - 56
Bounce Intensity - 44
Rounds Per Minute - 900
Magazine - 75
Frame - Rapid Fire

What makes Planck’s Stride Awesome:

Melee build go brrr - Combining perks like Grave Robber (which reloads the weapon after a melee kill) with either Pugilist (increased melee energy on weapon kills) or Swashbuckler (Increased melee damage on weapon kills) creates a constant flow of increased weapon and ability damage without having to reload.
New Origin Trait - The new Right Hook Origin trait boosts range and target acquisition after melee damage (Not kills, just damage)

How to get Planck’s Stride:

Complete Ketchcrash or Treasure Expeditions - Both playlists are found in the H.E.L.M. tab of the Director
Earn rank-up rewards from the Starchart - Each engram has a chance to drop Planck’s Stride
Unlock the Focused Weapon Spoils upgrade at the Starchart - Allows for umbral engrams to focus into Season of the Plunder weapons.

Planck’s Stride Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/820890091/plancks-stride/?p=,,,,,c

8: Xenophage

Destiny 2: Xenophage

See Xenophage in action:

The Xenophage is less of a traditional machine gun and more of a high-speed slug launcher. This weapon comes from an exotic quest that will take players all over the moon and eventually into the Pit of Heresy dungeon to finally unlock the weapon. The weapon is incapable of dealing precision damage but receives no damage falloff. This means that while it can’t land crits, it will always do the same amount of damage no matter how far away from the target you are. While this weapon isn’t the top DPS option in the game anymore, it is still a really solid and versatile weapon to have.

*Side note, this weapon works well in the Vault of Glass raid, as one shot from Xenophage will destroy an oracle in any encounter that has them.*

Weapon Stats

Impact - 100
Range - 88
Stability - 27
Handling - 30
Reload Speed - 31
Aim Assistance - 33
Inventory Size - 3
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 12
Recoil - 85
Bounce Intensity - 15
Rounds Per Minute - 120
Magazine - 20

What makes Xenophage Awesome

Unique Slug round launcher - High damage slugs that hit hard from any distance
DPS Machine Gun - Unlike most machine guns the Xenophage is focused on DPS rather than ad clear.

How to Get Xenophage

Purchase the Shadowkeep Expansion - Purchase needed to complete the quest
Complete the Shadowkeep Campaign - Completion needed to obtain the quest
Acquire the Quest from Eris - Many guides exist on youtube

Xenophage Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/1395261499/xenophage/?p=,,,,c

7: Heir Apparent

Destiny 2: Heir Apparent

See the Heir Apparent in Action:

The Heir Apparent is one of two Cabal-themed machine guns. This weapon is modeled after the Colossus LMG and is meant to be the machine gun for tanky players. The Exotic perk grants an Arc damage shield while the weapon is spinning up, which is strong against all other types of damage. This shield can be stacked with other protection benefits, such as a Void over shield, or the shield from the Titan exotic Icefall Mantles, to create some truly ridiculous damage protection. Sadly, the only way to obtain the Heir Apparent is through the Guardian Games event, which sadly won’t return until this Spring.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 39
Range - 65
Stability - 58
Handling - 63
Reload Speed - 50
Aim Assistance - 90
Inventory Size - 50
Zoom - 0
Airborne Effectiveness - 9
Recoil - 95
Bounce Intensity - 5
Rounds Per Minute - 900
Magazine - 115

What Makes Heir Apparent Awesome:

Unique tank playstyle - allows players to become resistant to most damage types.
Good DPS and crowd control - DPS against bosses isn’t what machine guns are known for, but the Heir Apparent does better than most while also being able to mow through rank-and-file enemies.

How to Get Heir Apparent:

Unfortunately, the Heir Apparent only comes around every year during the Guardian games event. As such, it will not be acquirable until the Spring of next year.

Heir Apparent Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/2084878005/heir-apparent/?p=,,,,c

6: Recurrent Impact

Destiny 2: Recurrent Impact

See Recurrent Impact in Action:

The Recurrent Impact is the second Stasis machine gun on this list and is the better option of the two so far due to its ability to roll with Headstone. This perk allows precision kills to create a Stasis crystal on the enemy's body. This works great with Stasis builds and helps with additional ad clear as the crystals can freeze or shatter nearby enemies. The “problem” with recurrent impact is that it is a rapid-fire frame machine gun. Landing precision shots with a high rate of fire weapon can be difficult, so it, unfortunately, doesn’t benefit as much from the headstone perk nearly as much as a future weapon on this list will. Overall though, the weapon is awesome for a fun, spray-and-prey playstyle. This weapon can be crafted, meaning that it can also make use of enhanced perks after leveling it up.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 25
Range - 34
Stability - 49
Handling - 50
Reload Speed - 72
Aim Assistance - 67
Inventory Size - 43
Zoom - 17
Airborne Effectiveness - 10
Recoil - 53
Bounce Intensity - 47
Rounds Per Minute - 900
Magazine -85
Frame - Rapid Fire

What makes Recurrent Impact Awesome

Stasis Weapon - Ability to roll Headstone for Stasis crystal creation
Strong Ad clear weapon - Subsistence (Kills reload portions of the magazine from reserves ) keeps the weapon firing longer, Perpetual motion (stat increases while the wielder is in motion), and Frenzy (damage boost after being in combat for a short period) all grant this weapon great capabilities to clear out a large number of ads without needed to reload or adhere to a specific playstyle.

How to get Recurrent Impact

Complete PSi-Op Battlegrounds in the Helm - Using psychogenic Intel grants to opportunity for a weapon drop
Obtain War table rewards - Each engram has a chance to drop the weapon
Obtain the Weapon Decoding Clearance upgrade from the War table - This allows Umbral Engrams to be focused into Season of the Risen weapons.

Recurrent Impact Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/1572896086/recurrent-impact/?p=,,,,,c

5: Corrective Measure

Destiny 2: Corrective Measure

See Corrective Measure In Action:

Corrective Measure is the first machine gun that drops from a raid on this list. This can be problematic for a couple of reasons, but also beneficial in others. It's slightly problematic due to the high challenge level of raids. However, the Vault of Glass raid, which this weapon drops from, is free to all players. There are also certain weeks each season where the Vault of Glass is the featured raid, and can be grinded for extra loop drops infinitely during that week. Vault of Glass also has easier mechanics than some other raids and is more accessible as a result. Regardless of the difficulty to obtain the weapon, it is still very worthwhile to do so. The weapon feels great, has a small perk pool of great perks to choose from, and also has an adept variant to make use of adept perks.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 41
Range - 52
Stability - 72
Handling - 64
Reload Speed - 58
Aim Assistance - 72
Inventory Size - 59
Zoom - 15
Airborne Effectiveness - 6
Recoil - 85
Bounce Intensity - 15
Rounds Per Minute - 450
Magazine - 64
Frame - Adaptive

What Makes Corrective Measure Awesome

Vault of Glass Raid Perks - Rewind rounds (Refills the magazine based on the number of hits) and firefly (Enemies explode with precision kills) are rare perks that are mainly found within the Vault of Glass raid.
Very stable weapon - High stability, handling and recoil make for a solid weapon.
How to get Corrective Measure
Complete the Conflux, Templar, and Aethon encounters and hope for a drop

Corrective Measure Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/471518543/corrective-measure/?p=,,,,c

4: Fixed Odds

Destiny 2: Fixed Odds

See the Fixed Odds In Action:

The Fixed Odds is a returning machine gun that drops from the Duality dungeon. Much like the other opulent weapons from Season of the Haunted, this weapon is craftable and comes with some amazing perks. The main perk that single-handedly makes this weapon so useful is Incandescent. This park allows the weapon to spread Scorch stacks to enemies on kills. This synergizes with Solar 3.0 and helps the weapon with even more ad clear potential. As of right now, it is the only machine gun that can drop with this perk and should be sought after as a result. The weapon can be difficult to obtain, especially the crafted version, but is very worth it for any Solar build you may wish to use.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 70
Range - 78
Stability - 28
Handling - 30
Reload Speed - 31
Aim Assistance - 33
Inventory Size - 37
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 16
Recoil - 66
Bounce Intensity - 34
Rounds Per Minute - 360
Magazine - 44
Frame - High impact

What makes the Fixed Odds Awesome

Incandescent - As mentioned before, Incandescent is an amazing perk that synergizes with Solar 3.0 by spreading Scorch stacks to enemies.
Craftable weapon - This weapon can be crafted, which means that enhanced perks are also acquirable.
How to get the Fixed Odds
Purchase the Witch Queen Deluxe edition or Duality dungeon.
Complete the final encounter of the Duality dungeon for a chance to drop.

Fixed Odds Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/2194955522/fixed-odds/?p=,,,,,c

3: Thunderlord

Destiny 2: Thunderlord

See the Thunderlord in Action:

The Thunderlord. This was the first exotic that was ever showcased in the Destiny franchise and has recently risen to dominance again due to some recent buffs. The weapon has been granted a catalyst that helps to keep it firing fast and calling lighting down upon its opponents. It also has intrinsic overload rounds, which means that it will still be capable of stunning overload champions after the Overload Machine Gun mod leaves the game at the end of Season of the Plunder. If you truly want to wield the power of Arc within Destiny 2, there is no better weapon than the Thunderlord.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 41
Range - 65
Stability - 60
Handling - 60
Reload Speed - 69
Aim Assistance - 90
Inventory Size - 30
Zoom - 15
Airborne Effectiveness - 26
Recoil - 70
Bounce Intensity - 30
Rounds Per Minute - 450
Magazine - 62
What Makes the Thunderlord so Awesome
High damage against bosses and ads - The called lighting strikes can deal significant damage to bosses while also wiping out large groups of ads.
Easy to obtain - Literally every player that logs on during Season of the Plunder can acquire the weapon.

How to Get the Thunderlord

Season of the Plunder - Visit the Gift of the Thunder Gods Chest in the helm.
Hope for an exotic drop in the while or purchase a fated engram from Xur on the weekend for a chance at the Thunderlord.

Thunderlord Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/3325463374/thunderlord/?p=,,,,c

2: Commemoration

Destiny 2: Commemoration

See Commemoration in Action:

Commemoration sits at the number two spot on the list, making it the second of two void machine guns that come from raids. This machine gun is special mainly due to its stellar stats and raid perk options. The Commemoration is an almost carbon copy of, the now sunset, Hammerhead machine gun. The Commemoration keeps the Hammerhead's strong range, stability, and handling, while also adding Deep Stone Crypt Raid perks such as Reconstruction. It is one of the few Machine Guns that I believe is worth using in PvP, and also comes from a raid that can be farmed during specific weeks.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 41
Range - 73
Stability - 50
Handling - 52
Reload Speed - 64
Aim Assistance - 64
Inventory Size - 55
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 6
Recoil - 80
Bounce Intensity - 20
Rounds Per Minute - 450
Magazine - 64
Frame - Adaptive

What Makes Commemoration Awesome

Fond memories - Commemoration is nearly identical to the Hammerhead machine gun, which was the strongest machine gun in the game during its time. If you miss the Hammerhead, be sure to grab the Commemoration
High Stats - As mentioned before, the Commemoration has strong range, stability, and handling stats. These make the gun very fluid and stable to use.

How to get Commemoration

Complete the final encounter of the Deep Stone Crypt raid.

Commemoration Full Details: https://www.light.gg/db/items/4230965989/commemoration/?p=,,,,c

1: Qullium’s Terminus

Destiny 2: Qullium’s Terminus

See Quillum’s Terminus in Action:

Okay, so maybe recency bias is skewing the result here a little, but Qullium’s Terminus just has so many things going for it that it's hard to not place it in the top spot. It is a High-Impact machine gun, which makes it great for picking off ads one by one. It is a Stasis machine gun capable of rolling Headstone (and able to make use of the perk better than Recurrent Impact is). It is craftable. It comes from a free raid, and drops from two encounters within the said raid. It has an adept variant. And finally, its origin trait allows the weapon to overflow the magazine by simply reloading when nearby fellow guardians. Simply put, it is a beast of a machine gun and is the current strongest option for machine guns in PvE.

Weapon Stats

Impact - 70
Range - 73
Stability - 25
Handling - 35
Reload Speed - 16
Aim Assistance - 32
Inventory Size - 46
Zoom - 16
Airborne Effectiveness - 25
Recoil - 80
Bounce Intensity - 20
Rounds Per Minute - 360
Magazine - 57

What Makes Qullium’s Terminus Awesome

Stasis Weapon - able to roll with Headstone for increased ad clear potential
Craftable - Able to be crafted and make use of enhanced perks after obtaining 5 deepsight versions of the weapon.
Killing Tally - The Killing Tally Perk also returns on this machine gun, allowing the gun to increase its damage substantially by just killing targets.

How to Get Quillum’s Terminus