Picking the right gear can be tricky, so we've done it for you.
Our Destiny 2: PVP Loadout guide contains everything you need to know about choosing the right weapons, armour and abilities if you want to dominate the opposition in PVP.
Destiny 2 is all about donning a powerful armour set, shooting enemies with punchy weapons and then grabbing the loot off their corpses. Trouble is, there’s so much loot and so many items that it’s difficult to know which pieces of equipment to pick – especially if you’re jumping back and forth into different situations.
Choosing a good loadout for PVP ensures you’re always thriving in battle, rather than mereloy surviving. Whichever map and mode you’re fighting on you’ll want to equip the best gear to get the job done, and we’ve got your covered on that front. In this guide you’ll find what we believe to be the best combination of weapons, armour and abilities for PVP
Don’t forget to let us know what you think are the best loadouts in the comments section below. We’ll pick out the best and highlight them in the article!
Editor’s Update: It’s worth noting that the first iteration of this article will be based on the equipment that was available during the beta. When the full game launches, we’ll update this guide continuously as we discover better loadouts and overhaul/add further sections for specific activities. What you’re seeing below is a framework for the future using the limited arsenal available to us at the time – stay tuned for more!
PVP Loadout
Here’s our pick of the two best subclasses for PVP, along with the most effective combinations of weapons, armour and abilities.
Warlock Voidwalker
Abilities
- Vortex Grenade
- Healing Rift
- Blink
The Warlock Voidwalker takes our top spot because of its sheer mobility and versatility. Blink enables you to roam the battlefield and completely outmaneuver opponents, while Healing Rift is a solid choice for regenerating lost health and armour in no time. Nova Bomb may be slow, but it’s effective at blowing up multiple enemies at a short range – with very little cast time too!
Weaponry
- Nightshade (Pulse Rifle): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Kill Clip.
- The Showrunner (Submachine gun): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Dynamic Sway Reduction.
- Main Ingredient (Fusion Rifle): Red Dot 2 MOA, Enhanced Battery, Rampage.
Titan Sentinel
Abilities
- Pulse Grenade
- Towering Barricade
- Strafe Glide
If you’re not keen on playing Warlock, Titan Sentinel is your best alternative for dominating the opposition. It’s Super Ability is easily the most versatile in the game at the moment, while Towering Barricade allows you to block and defend points easily.
Weaponry
- Nightshade (Pulse Rifle): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Kill Clip.
- The Showrunner (Submachine gun): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Dynamic Sway Reduction.
- Main Ingredient (Fusion Rifle): Red Dot 2 MOA, Enhanced Battery, Rampage.
- 1. Destiny 2 – Destiny 2 guide
- 2. Inverted Spire – Inverted Spire guide
- 3. Campaign – Campaign guide
- 4. Supers – Super guide
- 5. Crucible – Crucible PVP guide
PVP Loadouts: Weapons
We’ve picked out the best weapons from the beta, and selected what we believe to be the strongest perks to equip. Note that these aren’t hard ranked in any kind of order – they have situational strengths which we’ve outlined for each weapon.
Nightshade (Pulse Rifle): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Kill Clip.
Without a doubt the best gun from the beta, Nightshade is versatile, powerful and fairly easy to use. It’s strong in almost every situation, but thrives in mid-range fights due to its accuracy and stability, even in sustained firefights. There’s a simplicity to how this rifle feels to use that you almost don’t need a secondary weapon.
Nergal PR4 (Pulse Rifle): Torch HS3, Steady Rounds, Full Auto Trigger System.
Both Nightshade and Nergal are very similar, although there’s a part of us that believes the former is a little easier to use. Don’t get us wrong, Nergal’s a strong weapon in the right hands, but it doesn’t do enough to warrant using it over Nightshade.
Black Scorpion-4SR (Scout Rifle): Full Bore, Tactical Mag, Moving Target.
Black Scorpion’s our second pick when it comes to long range fights, perhaps even bettering Nightshade when it comes to the slower-paced Countdown mode. It’s more accurate overall, and hitting headshots simply melts opponents.
Scathelocke (Auto Rifle): IS 5 Circle, High Caliber Rounds, Under Pressure.
Want a bog-standard assault rifle? The Scathelocke fits the mould perfectly, and doesn’t really offer anything to make it stand out from the crowd both visually and mechanically. Its biggest asset is its familiarity – from the very first pull of the trigger, you know exactly what you’re going to get. It does however, surprise us with its ability to shred targets and deal fast, consistent damage.
The Showrunner (Submachine gun): Red Dot Micro, Tactical Mag, Dynamic Sway Reduction.
Our favourite SMG of the bunch, The Showrunner’s insane fire rate is exactly what makes this thing an absolute beast. It’s recoil is admittedly tricky to handle, but if you’re up close and personal it doesn’t matter that much anyway. We’ve had roaring success switching to this beauty in tight spaces, obliterating targets with ease.
Phosphoros MG4 (Submachine gun): Candle PS, Alloy Magazine, Dynamic Sway Reduction.
If you’re struggling to handle the recoil of The Showrunner, the Phosphorus MG4 is somewhat more forgiving – although not by much. It’s a good all-rounder at close range, and has more than enough stopping power for its size.
Main Ingredient (Fusion Rifle): Red Dot 2 MOA, Enhanced Battery, Rampage.
Why bother using a clunky, chunky Rocket Launcher that’s predictable and slow? With Main Ingredient in the game, there’s no need to use any other Power Weapon in PVP. We’ve tried experimenting with every single one, but nothing equals its stopping power and ease of use. Just charge it up, snap to a target and release the trigger. That’s all it takes to completely melt a target, and it’s often in one shot too.
Retrofuturist (Shotgun): Full Choke, Assault Mag, Auto-Loading Holster.
The Retrofuturist compliments those who want to get stuck in and blast their enemies. It’s a joy to use, with a weighty heft and explosive punch to every shot that’s capable of one-shot killing enemies unfortunate enough to get in its way. Trouble is, you’ve got to get close enough in the first place, and most of the time that’s a difficult task.
PVP Loadouts: Armour
You might be wondering why we haven’t included anything here yet, and that’s because all of the armour sets in the beta offer the same stats! Once the final game gets underway we’ll update this guide with level based armour loadouts and more.
TBD
PVP Loadouts: Abilities
Below you’ll find the best abilities and skills for each subclass. They’re all available to tinker with in-game if you want to make some changes, but we reckon these are your best bet when it comes to taking down your opposition with ease.
Hunter
Arcstrider
- Scatter Grenade
- Gambler’s Dodge
- Triple Jump
Gunslinger
- Scatter Grenade
- Gambler’s Dodge
- Triple Jump
We’re huge fans of the aerial control Triple Jump gives you, as well as the height if you’re looking to get the drop on an enemy. In terms of explosives, we’ve found Scatter Grenade’s homing bombs to offer the easiest and most potent damage potential of the lot. Finally, Gambler’s Dodge gets our vote because it’s fairly effective at dashing out of gunfire and into cover.
Titan
Striker
- Pulse Grenade
- Towering Barricade
- Strafe Glide
Sentinel
- Pulse Grenade
- Towering Barricade
- Strafe Glide
We’ve chosen Towering Barricade as it offers guaranteed protection, and is large enough to cover an entire chokepoint. Catch enemies with Pulse Grenade and they’ll melt, while Strafe Glide gives you an extra element of control needed to get in and out of the action quickly.
Warlock
Voidwalker
- Vortex Grenade
- Healing Rift
- Blink
Dawnblade
- Vortex Grenade
- Healing Rift
- Burst Glide
We’re advocates of the Healing Rift over Empowering Rift, as the damage bonus from the latter simply isn’t enough to warrant choosing it over the former’s insane health regeneration buff. Burst Glide gave us the best control, and Blink offers the best mobility of the bunch when it comes to confusing and outmaneuvering opponents. Lastly, Vortex Grenade took our fancy thanks to its surprisingly potent AOE damage.
