Many Primary weapons exist in the Destiny universe to take down the enemies of Humanity. Ranging from Hand Cannons to Bows, there's a weapon type for everyone. Pulse Rifles are in a fantastic spot in Destiny 2, capable of matching SMGs and Hand Cannons for raw add-slaying power.
Pulse Rifles are burst-fire weapons that combine the precision of a Scout Rifle with the rapid damage output of an Auto Rifle. With a wide selection of perks for each weapon, it's easy to see why they are so sought after in PvE activities. No matter the playstyle, here are ten Pulse Rifles any player needs to use in Destiny 2.
Updated July 20, 2023, by Charles Burgar: The mid-season patch for Season of the Deep has given Graviton Lance arguably the largest buff we've seen to an Exotic Primary, increasing its damage by 67%. Paired with the other buffs Graviton Lance received over the past few months, this gun is easily the strongest Pulse Rifle for PvE content now. We've updated this list to include Graviton Lance, explaining why the recent buffs and its Cosmology perk take this gun to meta territory.
10 Different Times
How to obtain: Season of the Deep activities; craftable at the Enclave.
Different Times is a Taken variant of the Outlast Pulse Rifle, obtained from Salvage and Deep Dive activities. This corrupted variant features the same 540 RPM as its older cousin but deals Strand damage, making this the first Strand Pulse Rifle in Destiny 2. Strand users can use this gun as a method of spawning Tangles or Unraveling projectiles, but relegating Different Times to just that role would be selling this gun short.
The real standout perk here is Golden Tricorn, providing a 15% damage buff when you land a kill with Different Times. Follow that up with a Strand ability kill—including a Grapple melee—and you'll gain a whopping 50% damage buff.You'll now be dishing out more damage than an Exotic Pulse Rifle, but the gun's stat package is still below par. Thankfully, you can get Stats for All in the third column to fix this. Sweep your gun over a group of adds to greatly buff this gun's stats, greatly improving its handling and reload speed. This turns Different Times into a great workhorse gun already, but you can take this even further with Strand.
If you combine these perks with Unraveling Rounds, this gun effectively turns into a Legendary version of Outbreak Perfected, releasing a flurry of Strand projectiles with each burst that can shred through weaker foes. And if you want to double-down on Strand synergies, replace Golden Tricorn with Hatchling to create explosive Threadlings with every precision kill—perfect for Broodweavers using Swarmers. It might lack the utility of its Exotic competition, but as far as Legendary weapons go, Different Times is nothing short of impressive.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Stats for All
- Column Two: Golden Tricorn, Hatchling
9 Revision Zero
How to obtain: Currently unobtainable; craftable at the Enclave.
We try to avoid recommending unobtainable weapons in our lists, but Revision Zero is such a versatile gun that it deserves mention. Originally obtained from the Seraph's Shield Exotic mission, Revision Zero is a fully modular Exotic Pulse Rifle. Every part of this gun can be adjusted through crafting, right down to the gun's base archetype.
Here's a brief list on everything this gun can do:
- It can switch from two-round bursts or four-round bursts through its origin traits.
- Landing headshots charges a Sniper Rifle alt-fire, granting up to four shots.
- Revision Zero has Anti-Barrier Rounds, countering Barrier Champions.
- It has six selectable perks and four Exotic Catalysts , the first of its kind.
For PvE, this gun can counter Barrier Champions, shred through adds thanks to its Exotic 40% damage bonus, and annihilate majors from a distance through its Sniper Rifle alt-fire. You can focus on buffing this alt-fire through Vorpal Weapon and Fourth Time's the Charm to land six back-to-back sniper shots, dealing serious damage to stunned Champions. It doesn't have the raw DPS of Outbreak Perfected or top-tier Legendary Pulse Rifles, but if you value utility above all else, Revision Zero is nothing short of a powerhouse. Keep an eye out for this gun when Seraph's Shield returns in a future season.
Recommended Traits:
- Core Trait: Vorpal Weapon
- Catalyst Trait: Fourth Time's the Charm, Outlaw
8 Insidious
How to obtain: Vow of the Disciple raid; craftable at the Enclave.
Insidious feels like the spiritual successor to the iconic Blast Furnace Pulse Rifle from Black Armory. Both weapons are Aggressive Frame Pulse Rifles, feature clean sights, and have excellent stat packages. Unlike Blast Furnace, however, Insidious is fully craftable and features some of the strongest perk combinations you'll find on a Pulse Rifle.
Unique to Insidious is the combination of Dragonfly and One for All. Precision kills will cause the target to explode, damaging nearby targets. Each enemy hit by Dragonfly counts for One for All, allowing you to trigger this perk from a single kill for a massive 35% damage buff. If you don't care about Dragonfly, you can replace it with Rapid Hit to gain a major boost to reload speed and stability with every precision hit. Since this gun is a four-round burst Pulse Rifle, a single burst will grant four stacks to nearly cap Rapid Hit's effectiveness.
And if you tend to use abilities, you can't go wrong with Demolitionist and Adrenaline Junkie. Grenade kills will buff your damage while Insidious kills will refund your grenade, creating a smooth gameplay loop of spamming grenades and landing high-damage bursts on targets. If you're able to raid at all, Insidious is well worth farming for.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Dragonfly, Rapid Hit, Demolitionist
- Column Two: One for All, Adrenaline Junkie
7 Phyllotactic Spiral
How to obtain: Neomuna activities and Engrams; craftable at the Enclave.
As a High-Impact Pulse Rifle, Phyllotactic Spiral has some rough competition. While it doesn't have the monstrous stat package of Messenger or other top-tier 340s, the ability to craft this gun more than makes up for this. Once you get five red borders of Phyllotactic Spiral, you'll be able to make the exact roll you desire.
And as far as rolls go, there are some great options here. For PvE, you can't go wrong with Compulsive Reloader or Keep Away paired with Voltshot, a perk seldom seen on Pulse Rifles. Jolt is so powerful that it completely makes up for this Pulse's mediocre damage output in harder content, shredding through adds with chain lightning after you land a reload kill. Frenzy is also a good pick for more general content, although you'll be sacrificing S-tier add clear for slightly better single-target damage.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Keep Away, Compulsive Reloader
- Column Two: Voltshot, Frenzy
6 BXR-55 Battler
How to obtain: Xur's Treasure Trove; craftable at the Enclave.
Nearly every good Pulse Rifle in Destiny 2 is either Exotic or tied to some endgame activity. If you're a newer player that's looking for a good Pulse Rifle, you can't beat the BXR-55 Battler. This gun is a not-so-subtle nod to the Halo 2 Battle Rifle, featuring superb hip-fire accuracy and a great origin trait.
For main perks, Demolitionist and Incandescent is a fantastic pairing for virtually all content. Demolitionist will refill your grenade energy with every kill, and Incandescent will cause targets to explode on death, spreading Scorch to nearby foes. If you spread enough Scorch to a target, they will trigger a massive Ignition explosion that will one-shot red bars in virtually all content.
You can further buff this perk through Enhanced perks since it's craftable and from Solar Fragments. And if you're someone that prefers melee builds, don't sleep on Blunt Execution Rounds, as it grants a massive 500% damage buff to your next burst upon landing a melee hit. The BXR has something for everyone.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Demolitionist
- Column Two: Incandescent, Blunt Execution Rounds
5 Smite Of Merain
How to obtain: King's Fall raid; craftable at the Enclave.
Smite of Merain is nothing short of an elite Pulse Rifle. Almost every perk that rolls on this gun is exceptional and has at least one good pairing. Grenade builds can use Demolitionist and Adrenaline Junkie to create a never-ending loop of grenades and bonus weapon damage. Melee builds can do something similar with Pugilist and Swashbuckler. And for those that just want a good workhorse Primary, Stats for All and One for All is an excellent combination.
But if you care about raw damage output, you can't top Focused Fury and One for All. This combination can't be found on any other Pulse Rifle and makes Smite of Merain an add-slaying machine. Thanks to the gun's origin trait, you can overflow your magazine by reloading near allies, giving you more rounds for proccing Focused Fury. Activate One for All alongside Focused Fury, and now you're dealing 62% more damage—increased to 75% with Minor Spec. The only Pulse Rifle that gets remotely close to that is Chattering Bone, yet another raid weapon. Ability build or not, the Smite of Merain is easily an S-tier Pulse Rifle for PvE.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Focused Fury, Demolitionist, Pugilist
- Column Two: One for All, Adrenaline Junkie, Swashbuckler
4 Collective Obligation
How to obtain: Vow of the Disciple raid.
Unlike most Exotic weapons, Collective Obligation is arguably a subpar gun on its own. This weapon is a 390 RPM Void Pulse Rifle that doesn't have any perks that the gun itself can trigger. Instead, Collective Obligation's power comes from Void keywords. If you or anyone on your fireteam is using a Void subclass, Collective Obligation transforms into one of Destiny 2's strongest Primary weapons.
Damaging a target affected by a Void debuff will leech that effect onto your gun. When charged, holding the reload input will overcharge Collective Obligation, increasing its damage by 20% and causing all bullets to inflict the debuffs you leeched. This means that every shot from Collective Obligation can inflict Suppression, Volatile, and Weaken simultaneously. The best part is you can leech these debuffs when the overcharge state ends, letting you loop this effect infinitely.
When used properly, Collective Obligation is nothing short of a powerhouse. It melts fodder units, counters Overload and Barrier Champions, effectively disables enemy AI with Suppression, and never has to reload if you have Devour active. Collective Obligation is less of a gun and more of a buildcrafting tool. Focus on building around this gun's strengths, and you'll dominate GM Nightfalls and Master raids with an oppressive number of debuffs.
3 Chattering Bone
How to obtain: Last Wish raid.
Chattering Bone received a perk refresh in Season of the Deep, expanding its perk pool while giving all Chattering Bone rolls the Explosive Pact origin trait. While this origin trait is solid for grenade builds, Chattering Bone doesn't have any grenade perks to take advantage of. That's arguably the only issue this gun has, however, because it easily has the best perk pool out of any Pulse Rifle.
The first perk column features some great picks like Rapid Hit and Keep Away for general consistency, but none of those come remotely close to the sheer power of Kill Clip. This is currently the only Pulse Rifle that can roll with Kill Clip in the first column, giving your flexibility to pick a utility or AoE perk in the second column. In Chattering Bone's case, you can pair this with Kinetic Tremors to create devastating explosions by landing two bursts on a target. While the tremors aren't buffed by Kill Clip, the sheer killing potential of this combination cannot be overstated. It destroys red bars and can outright kill majors with minimal effort.
If you don't like Kinetic Tremors and want even more damage, pair Kill Clip with Rampage to achieve a whopping 66% damage buff—comparable to Rampage's effectiveness back in Forsaken. While the Smite of Merain gets close, the Chattering Bone is the hardest-hitting Legendary Pulse Rifle for PvE content.
Recommended Traits:
- Column One: Kill Clip, Rapid Hit
- Column Two: Kinetic Tremors, Rampage
2 Outbreak Perfected
How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 150,000 Glimmer, 250 Legendary Shards, and 2 Ascendant Shards.
If you're looking for a reliable Pulse Rifle to use in Master Lost Sectors or even GM Nightfalls, Outbreak Perfected is for you. This 450 RPM Pulse Rifle is one of Destiny 2's most stable Primary weapons with virtually no recoil and solid aim assist stats for its archetype.
The best part about Outbreak is its Exotic perk, causing damaged targets to spawn SIVA nanites. This ramps up Outbreak's damage tremendously, allowing it to deal triple its usual damage when you spawn enough nanites. And just like Malfeasance, multiple Outbreaks share this nanite ramp-up, allowing your fireteam to dish out some fantastic sustained DPS against tougher foes. It's easy to use, chews through fodder and Champions alike, and it can be purchased at any time from the Exotic Kiosk. If you need a good PvE Pulse Rifle, Outbreak Perfected is up to the task.
1 Graviton Lance
How to obtain: Exotic Engrams.; occasionally sold by Xur.
Graviton Lance is a two-round burst Void Pulse Rifle that packs a serious punch. Thanks to a whopping 67% damage buff it received during Season of the Deep, Graviton Lance has easily become one of Destiny 2's strongest Primary weapons. Its damage is comparable to Collective Obligation while Void Leech is active, capable of melting any red bar with just a couple of bursts on Legend difficulty.
That alone makes Graviton Lance a great pick, but what pushes this weapon into meta territory is its Cosmology perk. When a target dies, they violently explode and create tracking projectiles. These projectiles can trigger Cosmology, leading to a chain reaction of devastating explosions. Pair this gun with Volatile Rounds, and you'll wipe out entire squads with a few shots.
You can take this even further with the gun's Catalyst, giving Graviton Lance Vorpal Weapon and Turnabout. Simply put, Graviton Lance is the strongest Pulse Rifle for slaying adds and tougher majors. Outbreak is still the king of single-target DPS, but Graviton Lance takes the crown for add clear. Only Trinity Ghoul and Machine Guns can match the slaying power of this gun.