Destiny 2 must-have guns for Season 22

Rory Teale
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep

Here are some of the best primary, special, and heavy weapons to equip your Guardian with to breeze past all of Destiny 2 Season 22’s challenges.

Destiny 2 Season 22 brings a lot of exciting content to the game, like returning Exotic quests (Revision Zero) and an old raid returning – which most rumors tip towards being Destiny 1’s Crotas End.

Here are the best weapons to equip yourself with to be prepared for these challenging raids and quests:

Top 3 PvE Primary Weapons

Osteo Striga

Osteo Striga

The Osteo Striga Exotic SMG was released as a great primary weapons option, and many seasons later it still is.

The gun is easy to use, with players not needing to aim down sights if they don’t want to thanks to the guns tracking rounds. It absolutely melts all minor enemies with its Toxic Overload perk that poisons nearby adds, and can deal some solid sustained damage to majors as well.

Rufus’s Fury

Rufus’s Fury is obtainable through the most recent Root of Nightmares raid. The meta for Destiny 2 PvE primary weapons has never truly favoring auto rifles.

But the new(ish) 720rpm auto rifle Rufus’s Fury is becoming a staple in many people’s builds. The gun has clean sights, a large magazine, and can come with some great rolls.

Get the gun with perks Reconstruction and Target Lock and you will be mowing down enemies with your buffed damage and over 100+ round magazines.

Rapacious Appetite

For solo players who don’t want to raid or spend money on old DLC, Rapacious Appetite is a fantastic option.

The SMG is the same archetype as the old-favorite IKELOS SMG, but can be crafted before Destiny 2 Season 22 without having to use you’re precious Deepsight Harmonizers. You can purchase the SMG at the Season of the Deep Helm station.

The gun has high recoil, but for players who can control it the gun is a great option. A great crafted roll on this weapon would be Enhanced Perpetual Motion and Enhanced Frenzy.

Top 3 PvE Special Weapons

Forbearance

Destiny 2 Forbearance

The arc grenade launcher Forbearance is without a doubt the best special weapon in the game for nearly all activities.

The gun crafted with Enhanced Envious Assassin and Enhanced Chain Reaction feels like it should be an Exotic weapon. These perks allow Guardians to fire this gun at multiple enemies to create a massive arc explosion, taking them all out and granting you an extra grenade on your next reload.

Even without these perks, Forbearance is still amazing in its base form.

Witherhoard

A great non-raider option. To obtain the weapon you will need to own the Destiny 2 Shadowkeep DLC and purchase the weapon in the Exotic Archive.

Witherhoard nearly matches Forbearance in its ability to take out swarms of enemies, but it will take up your Exotic weapon slot. Its Exotic perk Primeval’s Torment spawns a lingering tick-damage area where you fire the gun, or if you hit an enemy directly will spawn one where they die.

An advantage this weapon has over Forbearance comes with its catalyst, giving the weapon a version of an Auto-loading Holster. This allows for some great boss DPS weapon rotations using Witherhoard and your heavy weapon of choice.

Riptide

For free-to-play players, Riptide is a great option. The gun is easy to obtain through either random or focused engrams from crucible vendor Shax.

Unique to stasis weapons it can roll with the perk Chill Clip, which when hitting an enemy with a burst from the top half of the magazine will slow enemies. This is great for controlling high-health major enemies.

Combine this with Auto-loading Holster and you can rotate between slowing enemies, killing them with your primary, then switching back to a fully reloaded Riptide. You’ll clear tough encounters in no time.

Top 3 PvE Power Weapons

Apex Predator

Apex Predator

Apex Predator claims its crown as the best rocket launcher (sorry Cold Comfort). The sleek craftable rocket launcher damage is nearly unmatched for DPS with a unique combination of perks.

Reconstruction reloads the rocket’s magazine capacity up to double capacity while stowed. But Bait and Switch is the star perk on this weapon. Shoot the boss with each of your other weapons to massively boost the rocket’s damage.

This makes the gun great not only for large group activities but also solo players who don’t have to rely on other players for orbs of light needed for the worse high-damage perk Explosive Light.

Briar’s Contempt

Briar’s Contempt is a craftable gun that can be obtained from the Root of Nightmares raid. Briar’s Contempt reigns king of the linear fusion rifles. Rewind Rounds is a must-pick first perk on this weapon.

Any of the following perks make this gun untouchable for burst damage in Destiny 2; Surrounded, Frenzy, and Focused Fury. The perk that you pick from these three should be the one that you feel most comfortable setting up.

For ease of use, Frenzy is most recommended.

Thunderlord

The Exotic arc machine gun is the best heavy weapon for free-to-play players. The gun excels in every area of the game, and is never the wrong choice for any activity in Destiny 2.

The gun in its base can stun overload champions without the need for an artifact. It can clear out massive groups of enemies with lightning strikes that spawn from the Exotic perk Reign Havoc. For boss DPS the machine gun is great thanks to its catalyst that fills the weapon from reserves.

For Destiny 2 Guardians who don’t want to change their loadout depending on the activity, Thunderlord is a no-brainer pick.

Pick a combination of weapons from this list for your build and nothing will be able to stop you. Best of luck out there for Season 22, Guardians.