The Best Pulse Rifles For PvP In Destiny 2

Destiny 2’s PvP sandbox receives many changes with each season, shifting the meta towards certain weapon archetypes or subclasses. Even during metas that heavily bias CQC engagements, Pulse Rifles remain a reliable option in the hands of a skilled player. These three-round burst weapons are ideal for medium-range engagements, competing with the likes of Hand Cannons and Auto Rifles.

While Hand Cannons can benefit from peak shooting, Pulse Rifles have excellent consistency and perk combinations on their side. Thanks to perks like Headseeker
and Zen Moment
, Pulse Rifles have never been stronger in Destiny 2’s Crucible. Today, we’ll be looking at the best Pulse Rifles available in PvP, including some great Exotic weapons and must-own Legendary alternatives.

Updated December 20, 2024, by Charles Burgar: There have been some strong Pulse Rifles that have released in Episode: Revenant. We’ve updated this list to include the reissue of Stay Frosty from this year’s Dawning and updated a few entries tor reflect recent sandbox changes.

10

Stay Frost

How to obtain: The Dawning event.

Stay Frosty returns in this year’s Dawning, and it remains one of the best Lightweight Pulse Rifles in the Crucible. It has a surprisngly good stat package for an event weapon, featuring great base rnage and aim assist for its archetype. But once you start talking about perks, this weapon quickly turns into a 6v6 monster.

450 Pusle Rifles rely on TTK perks to remain competitive, but fortunately for Stay Frosty, it can get either Kill Clip or Desperado in the final column. Kill Clip is our personal recommendation, dropping your TTK to a quick two-burst kill while active. You can pair this with a range perk like Killing Wind or Encore to drastically increase the weapon’s effective dueling range, allowing you to map enemies from 40+ meters away after a kill.

Use Omolon Fluid Dynamics as your Origin Trait for an inverse version of Under Pressure.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Killing Wind, Encore, Lone Wolf
• Column Two: Kill Clip, Desperado

9

Relentless

How to obtain: Prophecy dungeon.

Prophecy’s loot pool was refreshed in the mid-season update for Season of the Wish, bringing the return of certain fan-favorite Trials of the Nine weapons. Relentless is one such weapon, a 340 RPM Strand Pulse Rifle that has some excellent perks to choose from. Keep Away and Headseeker make for an S-tier dueling combination, and you can replace Headseeker with Zen Moment or Desperado depending on your playstyle.

Paired with its range-boosting origin trait, Relentless is a fantastic Pulse Rifle for 1v1 duels. The main issue is its base stats. Compared to its main competition, The Messenger and Elsie’s Rifle, Relentless simply doesn’t have the stats to compete. Enhanced perks certainly help, but it’s not quite enough to dethrone Messenger, at least not in the current sandbox.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Keep Away
• Column Two: Headseeker, Zen Moment, Desperado

8

Revision Zero

How to obtain: Operation: Seraph’s Shield

Revision Zero
is a fully modular Exotic Pulse Rifle. This weapon can be modified to behave like an Aggressive Frame or a unique two-round burst rifle, both of which feature similar TTK values. Landing multiple headshots will charge a Sniper Rifle alt-fire mode, one-tapping Guardians to the head. In a sandbox with such limited Special ammo, having a pocket Sniper Rifle at all times is nothing to scoff at.

Beyond the gun’s unique alt-fire, the real reason to use Revision Zero is its absurd stats. With the right perks and a fully upgraded intrinsic, you can achieve close to 100 range and stability on Revision Zero for an incredibly consistent Pulse Rifle. You can further boost this consistency with Elemental Capacitor and an Arc subclass, maxing the gun’s handling stat to make it incredibly snappy. Pair that with Outlaw
for snappy reloads or Under Pressure for increased accuracy.

As great as these pros are, Revision Zero has one massive flaw: it’s an Exotic, one that resides in the Kinetic slot. You’ll need to forgo Conditional Finality
, Forerunner
, and similar meta Kinetic slot weapons. If that isn’t a problem for you, then Revision Zero will likely become your new favorite Pulse Rifle.

Recommended Traits

• Main Trait: Elemental Capacitor,
  Moving Target

• Exotic Catalyst: Outlaw, Under Pressure

7

BXR-55 Battler

How to obtain: Xur’s Treasure Hoard; craftable at the Enclave.

The BxR-55 Battler is Destiny’s take on the Halo 2 Battle Rifle, featuring the accurate hip-fire accuracy and iconic scope from Bungie’s Halo titles. As far as its performance is concerned, this gun is a stat monster. Above-average stats in every category, a whopping 85 aim assist, and the ability to reach 100 recoil direction with Arrowhead Brake
align the BXR closer to Exotics than your typical Legendary weapon.

Arguably the best perk combination on this gun for PvP is Killing Wind
and Kill Clip. A single kill will grant +20 range, +40 handling, drastically increased strafe speed, and a blazing fast 0.53s TTK. And thanks to the gun’s base frame, your hip-fire accuracy is so good that the BXR can hang in close quarters and mid-range duels.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Killing Wind
• Column Two: Kill Clip, Eye of the Storm

6

Phyllotactic Spiral

How to obtain: Neomuna activities and Engrams; craftable at the Enclave.

Phyllotactic Spiral is the gold standard for PvP Pulse Rifles. It’s a High-Impact Frame that’s craftable, has a clean scope, and features an amazing origin trait that releases a low-damage missile after landing multiple bursts, which is perfect for 1v2 duels. Those facts are reason enough to give this gun a try, but the real power of Phyllotactic Spiral comes from its perks.

Keep Away and Headseeker give this weapon some serious juice in the Crucible, especially when they’re both enhanced. Keep Away greatly improves the weapon’s reload speed, range, and buffs its base accuracy. This is perfect when paired with Headseeker‘s increased aim assist and precision bonus. If you find yourself facing multiple Warlocks or Void Titans, don’t sleep on Under Over in the first trait column.

The only real downside of this gun is its sluggish handling, but you can fix that with Fluted Barrel
and a Handling Masterwork. Throw on a Counterbalance Stock to achieve 95 recoil direction, and you have yourself an incredible dueling weapon.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Keep Away, Under Over
• Column Two: Headseeker

5

No Time To Explain

How to obtain: Complete the Beyond Light campaign and speak to the Exo Stranger.

It doesn’t matter how many times Bungie nerfs this gun, No Time to Explain
remains a powerhouse inside the Crucible. The Exo Stranger’s signature Pulse Rifle is a High-Impact Frame Kinetic with excellent base stats, featuring 80 range and 60 stability. A clean projected sight and great sound design make this weapon a dream to shoot, but it’s the Exotic perk that turns No Time to Explain into a PvP menace.

Landing ten precision hits with this weapon will create a time portal for a short duration, acting as a second gun that automatically shoots targets. In essence, this gun summons a much stronger, hitscan version of the Warlock’s Arc Soul. The best part is that you only need to land headshots, not precision kills. So long as you can land consistent headshots, No Time to Explain is an S-tier Primary for all Crucible game types.

4

Belisarius-D

How to obtain: Crucible Competitive Playlist.

Belisarius-D is Competitive PvP’s latest reward, a Strand 450RPM Pulse Rifle. Aggressive Frames are quite powerful in PvP thanks to their high base range, but Belisarius takes this to a whole new level. This gun has 77 base range, no barrels or magazine perks needed. And with the right perks, it’s fairly easy to hit 100 range.

It’s difficult to give perk recommendations for this weapon because nearly every perk is worth considering. Rapid Hit
and Kill Clip is a great roll for skilled PvPers who can consistently land kills. If you want to replace your god roll Disparity, Eye of the Storm and Headseeker is an outright unfair combination with just how much accuracy this weapon gets.

But our main recommendation is Slice and Zen Moment. This is the only non-sunset Aggressive Pulse that can get Zen Moment
, and this perk greatly improves the strange recoil pattern on this gun. Paired with Slice’s Sever debuff, you will win virtually every gunfight. With so many great perks, it’s hard to find a bad roll on this gun. If you love Pulse Rifles, try to get at least one roll of this gun.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Slice, Keep Away, Eye of the Storm, Rapid Hit
• Column Two: Headseeker, Zen Moment, Kill Clip

3

The Messenger

How to obtain: Trials of Osiris matches and Engrams.

The Messenger shook up the Crucible meta when it was first released in Season of the Chosen. While it’s been reissued multiple times since then, no reissue has buffed the Messenger quite like Season of the Deep’s iteration of this gun. The excellent base stats of the Messenger remain, its great origin traits are still there, but now this weapon has some excellent perk combinations for both 6v6 slaying and 3v3 duels.

The standout perk combination here is Rapid Hit and Headseeker. This is nothing short of an S-tier dueling roll that increases your reload speed, stability, and aim assist with every shot. Headseeker’s bonus precision damage on body shots also eases on the critical hits needed to reach your optimal TTK.

Of course, the Messenger gained its reputation for being the ultimate Pulse Rifle for clutching 1v3s or generally slaying out in 6v6 modes. That’s still possible thanks to the existence of Desperado and Kill Clip in the final perk column. Regardless of your playstyle, the Messenger is nothing short of a PvP monster in the hands of a good player.

Desperado makes the TTK slightly shorter than Kill Clip, yet Kill Clip’s bonus damage helps offset damage falloff at extended ranges. Kill Clip also works after any kill, not just headshots.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Rapid Hit, Moving Target, Perpetual Motion
• Column Two: Headseeker, Kill Clip, Desperado

2

Elsie’s Rifle

How to obtain: Onslaught playlist and Brave Engrams.

Elsie’s Rifle is the definition of powercreep. This weapon has the exact same base stats as No Time to Explain
, an Exotic Pulse Rifle that overshadows Messenger’s base stats in nearly every way. Once you throw perks into the mix, this weapon can achieve stat values that are impossible to find elsewhere. We haven’t even talked about perks yet and this gun is already outperforming most Pulses.

On that front, Elsie’s Rifle is stacked. Crucible players will immediately gravitate towards Zen Moment and Headseeker. So long as you can land your shots, this gun will make you virtually immune to incoming flinch while boosting your aim assist. Landing headshots from 30+ meters becomes trivial.

This weapon’s base recoil direction is abysmal. You can fix this by using Counterbalance Stock or any recoil direction barrel. Chambered Compensator
and Extended Barrel
seem to eliminate the gun’s horizontal recoil completely.

If you prefer to slay out in 6v6 modes, this gun also has you covered. Under Over and Desperado might be the strongest combination for shutting down Warlock Rifts and Titan Overshields. If your opponent thinks they can outlive your TTK, Under Over will prove them wrong. Proc Desperado, and you’ll melt opposing Guardians with a rapid 0.55s TTK.

You take the excellent stat package, sight, origin trait, and combine it with the gun’s great selection of perks, you have the definitive, undisputed king of Legendary Pulse Rifles. Not a single competitor comes close, not even Messenger. If you want a powerhouse for dueling or slaying, you will not find a better gun than this, full stop. It’s powercreep made manifest.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Zen Moment, Under Over, Keep Away
• Column Two: Headseeker, Desperado, Kill Clip

1

Red Death Reformed

How to obtain: Episode: Echoes Season Pass

Red Death has taken the Crucible by storm since The Final Shape. This gun has virtually everything you’d want from a PvP weapon. It’s easy to use, has a competitive 0.67 optimal TTK, and can even heal you through its Exotic perk. Killing an enemy and immediately reloading will heal you and nearby allies. Hits also buff this weapon’s handling and stability, making it a dueling monster.

The Catalyst for this weapon takes things to another level. Landing multiple kills will ramp up Helping Hands, unleashing a healing remnant on your next kill. This grants Restoration to you and nearby allies, making it easier to recover after a gunfight. This gun clicks heads, has tons of anti-flinch baked into its perk, and features innate healing.