A Guardian's weapons are the most important part of their loadout, and by necessity, most of them will be Legendary. So which are the best ones to use in endgame content?
While (most of) the flashiest weapons in Destiny 2 are exotics, you’re unfortunately limited to one of them per loadout. So while all of us would love to be running Sweet Business 24/7, unfortunately, the exotic slot is often relegated to holding your Izanagi’s Burden or Anarchy. However, that doesn’t mean you’re limited to using bad weapons in your other slots by any means. To help you fill out your loadout without breaking your build, here’s a list of the best Legendary weapons in Destiny 2 Season of Dawn.
10. Steelfeather Repeater: Rapid Fire Assault Rifle
https://youtu.be/anp5VBGfhmI (gameplay)
Received early on in the quest to help Osiris fix the timeline, this assault rifle packs a punch despite being easy to acquire.
Why Steelfeather Repeater is good:
- Feeding frenzy allows you to rock and roll in PVE against low tier enemies.
- High range perks let you engage at long distances in PVP as well.
Stats:
- Impact: 18
- Range: 32
- Stability: 38
- Handling: 44
- Reload Speed: 55
- Rounds Per Minute: 720
- Magazine: 49
How to get it :
- Simply go to Mercury and progress the Osiris seasonal quest.
- Choose the Steelfeather Repeater when offered a reward.
- Level up the Tangled Shore obelisk to grind additional rolls of this weapon.
https://youtu.be/26DeA2kpmfg
9. Blast Furnace: Aggressive Pulse Rifle
https://youtu.be/6LgPOrOBYWg (gameplay)
Why Blast Furnace is good:
- A high damage burst lets you mow through enemies despite the changes to health overall in Shadowkeep.
- Its extreme range stat lets you reach out and kill enemies both in PVP and PVE farther than almost any other weapon in its class.
- While its absurd range isn’t as amazing as it once was in PVP, Blast Furnace is still one of the punchiest pulse rifles available for general use.
Stats:
- Impact: 35
- Range: 81
- Stability: 68
- Handling: 32
- Reload Speed: 42
- Rounds Per Minute: 450
- Magazine: 39
How to get it:
- Complete the Black Armory questline if you haven’t already (just follow Ada-1’s instructions, it’s not particularly hard.)
- Acquire a pulse rifle frame from Ada-1 and complete the steps, then run a forge.
https://youtu.be/isbB1lfX8BU
8. 21% Delirium: Rapid Fire Light Machine Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDPCjXpEoQ (gameplay)
Why 21% Delirium is good:
- It’s mixture of Killing Tally and decent damage make 21% Delirium essentially unmatched as far as machine guns go.
Stats:
- Impact: 25
- Range: 50
- Stability: 52
- Handling: 39
- Reload Speed: 61
- Rounds Per Minute: 900
- Magazine: 81
How to get it:
- Talk to Drifter and pick up the “By Your Bootstraps” quest.
- Get ready to play a lot of gambit prime to complete the “Notorious Hustle” triumph.
- Return to Drifter once you have and claim the weapon.
https://youtu.be/1o2jeiZlhWc
7: Midnight Coup: Lightweight Handcannon
https://youtu.be/jKdLYf5p9-w (gameplay))
One of the first gifts we received from Emperor Calus, despite being a vanilla year one weapon, the humble Midnight Coup is still the go-to hand cannon for general use.
Why Midnight Coup is good:
- It’s one of the easiest weapons to get on this list as it’s a static roll available either from a random drop in the Leviathan raid and its associated raid lairs or from turning in imperial tokens.
- Its perk combination of outlaw/rampage is a classic and works amazingly as an add-clear weapon against weaker enemies.
Stats:
- Impact: 80
- Range: 37
- Stability: 46
- Handling: 64
- Reload Speed: 60
- Rounds Per Minute: 150
- Magazine: 12
How to get it:
- Simply play the Leviathan raid or either of the two raid lairs that occur on Calus’s massive ship.
- Either receive the weapon as a random drop or turn in the tokens you receive from beating each encounter to receive it.
https://youtu.be/TKigCoEhxsc
6. Bygones: Adaptive Pulse Rifle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiBB6Ht1c_k (gameplay)
One of the original Gambit weapons released, Bygones has remained a good choice in both PVP and PVE since it was added to the game in Forsaken.
Why Bygones is good:
- A high rate of fire and forgiving burst damage makes this pulse rifle a good weapon both for beginners and experienced guardians in PVP and PVE.
- The intangible “feel” factor of Bygones is amazing, as the weapon is an absolute pleasure to use.
Stats:
- Impact: 29
- Range: 53
- Stability: 60
- Handling: 51
- Reload Speed: 51
- Rounds Per Minute: 390
- Magazine: 38
How to get it:
- Play Gambit or Reckoning and hope for a drop or farm the quest Osiris gives out when Bygones is an available reward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z22XQ1MGCg
5. Last Man Standing: Aggressive Shotgun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTcJLy9ZY0s (gameplay)
While the ability to combo one-two punch with a Titan shoulder charge and kill almost any non-boss enemy in the game is gone, that doesn’t mean the perk is by any means bad, and as such Last Man Standing remains one of the best weapons in its class.
Why Last Man Standing is good:
- In all honesty, any shotgun with one-two punch could fill this slot, however, Last Man Standing is my shotgun of choice.
- One-two punch lets you put out an extreme amount of burst damage against orange and yellow bar enemies, helping you clear out high tier activities before you’re overwhelmed by high tier foes.
Stats:
- Impact: 80
- Range: 33
- Stability: 27
- Handling: 33
- Reload Speed: 38
- Rounds Per Minute: 55
- Magazine: 4
How to get it:
- Killing five blockers in a game of Gambit Prime gives a higher chance of it dropping after each match.
- Play the reckoning Tier Two on a week where the bosses are the Knights with swords to get a chance to receive it as a random drop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6rRMgRtN_Q
4. Hammerhead: Adaptive Light Machine Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loarkSGYikk (gameplay)
The first non-exotic machine gun added to Destiny 2 back in Black Armory, Hammerhead has been through a few rounds of nerfs in PVP but is still a capable weapon to build around in PVP and PVE.
Why Hammerhead is good:
- A long-range and good damage gives you the lethality of a heavy weapon and the precision of a scout rifle combined.
- While it’s not by default better than 21% Delirium, the ability to farm for specific rolls gives it greater versatility.
Stats:
- Impact: 80
- Range: 33
- Stability: 27
- Handling: 33
- Reload Speed: 38
- Rounds Per Minute: 55
- Magazine: 4
How to get it:
- Complete the Black Armory questline if you haven’t already (just follow Ada-1’s instructions, it’s not particularly hard.)
- Acquire a machine gun frame from Ada-1 and complete the steps, then run a forge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxkjKa2B8fE
3. Mountaintop: Lightweight Grenade Launcher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8aBchs44A (gameplay
Though it’s not a damage hose like it was before the changes to auto-reload buffs, The Mountaintop is an exceptionally powerful utility weapon, allowing you to deal area and burst damage to high tier enemies from a distance without needing to deal with the drop of a traditional grenade launcher.
Why Mountaintop is good:
- Not only is firing a miniature rocket out of your special weapon cool, but it’s also extremely useful for clearing out distant enemies.
- The ability to one-hit enemy guardians in PVP with a decent amount of splash damage is very powerful.
Stats:
- Stability: 31
- Handling: 72
- Reload Speed: 67
- Velocity: 78
- Blast Radius: 55
- Rounds Per Minute: 90
- Magazine: 1
How to get it:
- Acquire the quest “The Ascent” from Lord Shaxx.
- Make sure you’re glory rank brave, complete the triumph “In Pursuit of Honor,” then reach glory rank fabled.
- Return to Lord Shaxx to receive your weapon and reflect on the ungodly amount of time and grenade kills it took to get you here (believe it or not it used to be much harder to receive this weapon.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2znvz2UO8M4
2. Wendigo-GL3: Adaptive Grenade Launcher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMilbWfqP0A (gameplay)
A stark contrast to the joke of a weapon Oxygen-SR3, the last Vanguard unique pinnacle weapon smoothly made the transition to a post-Shadowkeep DPS world with its unique ability making it an excellent complement for Izanagi’s burden.
Why Wingidgo-GL3 is good:
- Likely unintentionally given it was designed sometime before Izanagi's Burden was the meta, Wendigo synergizes almost perfectly with Izanagi's, letting you fire off a magazine, then stow the launcher and use all your Izanagi's ammo, then pull out Wendigo once more and use your new fully loaded magazine to cram in that little bit more DPS.
- The flashbang grenades also stun any enemies unlucky enough to be caught in Wendigo's blast, giving it utility as a crowd control option as well.
Stats:
- Stability: 44
- Handling: 47
- Reload Speed: 51
- Velocity: 36
- Blast Radius: 30
- Rounds Per Minute: 120
- Magazine: 6
How to get it:
- Retrieve the quest "A Gift for the Worthy" from Zavala in the tower.
- Get several hundred kills with grenade launchers in the Vanguard Strike playlist. If you already got Mountaintop, then this shouldn't be too bad in comparison.
- Return to Zavala and retrieve the weapon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hmRnM4gMo
1. Recluse: Lightweight Submachine Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOWolonlDEU&t=2s (gameplay
Nerfed or not, the Recluse is still the number one legendary weapon in Destiny just because of how far ahead of the competition it is.
Why Recluse is good:
- If you land your headshots, after the first kill you'll constantly be doing an order of magnitude more damage than any other weapon without a perk like Rampage maxed out.
- With the changes to competitive matchmaking, it's never been easier to get Recluse.
Stats:
- Impact: 15
- Range: 41
- Stability: 52
- Handling: 67
- Reload Speed: 35
- Rounds Per Minute: 900
- Magazine: 36
How to get it:
- Acquire the quest "From the Mouth of Babes" from Lord Shaxx.
- Complete the associated triumph, "The Stuff of Myth" by reaching Fabled rank and winning thirty-fifty games of the crucible.
- Return to Shaxx to pick up the weapon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4e-qkD7qMk
Here are some other articles you may enjoy:
- https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/top-10-destiny-2-best-pvp-weapons
- https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/top-7-destiny-2-best-fusion-rifle-2020-edition
- https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/destiny-2-best-class-destiny-2-class-tier-list
