The Best Auto Rifles For PvE In Destiny 2

Auto Rifles have seen dozens of changes throughout Destiny’s history. Arguably the strongest weapon archetype for the first year of the original game, they have seen many balance changes to give other weapons a chance to shine.

Most Auto Rifles fire quickly, deal solid damage per shot, and cover medium distances. They’re a jack of all trades in Destiny’s sandbox, perfect for new players and veterans alike. They do great when a player can land all of their shots, but they could potentially be top-tier with the right rolls. Here are the best Auto Rifles you should own in Destiny 2.

Updated February 28, 2025, by Charles Burgar: We’ve updated this list to include a Support Frame AR, the new Adamantite from Episode: Heresy. This weapon is fantastic for healing allies without compromising on add clear.

10

VS Pyroelectric Propellant

How to obtain: Vesper’s Host dungeon.

The VS Pyroelectric Propellant is a fantastic workhorse weapon for most PvE activities, scaling well into endgame content with the right perks. Eddy Current and Jolting Feedback is a strong combination here, giving you Jolting rounds on sustained damage. If you have any Arc abilities in your build, this will make it easy to gain Amplified, buffing Eddy Current’s reload scalar.

If you want a more versatile PvE roll, look no further than Attrition Orbs and Onslaught. Kills will ramp up the gun’s fire rate, reload speed, and generate Orbs of Power for your squad. Don’t underestimate Onslaught on 600 Autos. Once ramped up, you’ll chew through red bars and even majors in most content.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Eddy Current, Attrition Orbs
• Column Two: Onslaught, Jolting Feedback

9

The Summoner

How to obtain: Trials of Osiris matches and Engrams.

If you don’t mind farming a difficult PvP activity for an Auto Rifle, the Summoner is absolutely worth chasing. This gun is currently the only Auto Rifle that can roll with Heal Clip and Onslaught, an S-tier combination for all content. Slaying weaker foes will bump the gun’s fire rate and reload speed, making it trivial to proc Heal Clip.

Solar builds can also opt for Incandescent in the second trait column, and since this weapon was reissued in Season of the Lost, you can actually enhance this weapon’s perks. Enhanced Incandescent is absurdly powerful in the right build. Pair it with Heal Clip, and you will have a monstrous Legendary weapon for every occasion.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Heal Clip, Subsistence
• Column Two: Onslaught, Incandescent

8

Quicksilver Storm

How to obtain: Speak to Rahool in the Tower after purchasing the Lightfall expansion.

Quicksilver Storm

received some nerfs since launch, but it’s still a powerhouse in the right hands. It’s a 720 RPM Auto Rifle that occasionally fires heat-seeking homing rockets. When these rockets make contact with a foe, they will load grenades into Quicksilver’s underbarrel grenade launcher. Hold down the reload key to morph the gun into a pump-action grenade launcher.

The default firing state is perfect for killing red bars and clusters of adds from medium distances. But unlike most other Auto Rifles that struggle to kill majors, Quicksilver has a grenade launcher alt-fire that deals solid damage. It’ll chunk majors and can even deal solid damage to Champions in Master-tier activities. Bundle this with Quicksilver’s Catalyst that morphs the gun into a Strand Primary, and you have a dependable Auto Rifle that excels in all PvE content.

7

Adamantite

How to obtain: Episode: Heresy content.

Adamantite is a Support Frame AR that deals Strand damage, causing it to Unravel your allies upon healing them with your hipfire rounds. This doesn’t cause your allies to take any extra damage; it’s strictly a benefit. Enemies that damage your allies will unleash Unravel projectiles that will stick into targets, proliferating a vast array of projectiles in combat.

The perks on this weapon make this playstyle even stronger. Reciprocity will restore a chunk of your HP whenever you heal allies, which plays nicely with Circle of Life’s damage bonus for healing Guardians. If you care solely about utility, you can run Slice to debuff enemy damage and Attrition Orbs to spawn Orbs of Power from healing allies. It’s an amazing AR if you don’t mind the slow projectile speed of this archetype.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Reciprocity, Slice, Demolitionist
• Column Two: Circle of Life, Elemental Honing, Attrition Orbs

6

Lethal Abundance

How to obtain: Iron Banner matches and Engrams.

Lord Saladin has added an absurdly powerful Strand Auto Rifle to the Iron Banner loot pool. Named Lethal Abundance, this 450 RPM Auto Rifle is the first AR to roll with Slice and Onslaught, the ultimate perk combination for general PvE and PvP play.

Kills will increase this weapon’s fire rate and reload speed without any damage penalties, and reloading will infuse your shots with Sever—a Strand keyword that reduces enemy damage by 40%. So long as you can keep killing enemies, Lethal Abundance has enough damage to make most Exotics blush. And thanks to its Strand damage type, it benefits from Unraveling Rounds.

Recommend Traits

5

Ros Arago IV

How to obtain: Legendary world Engrams.

Ros Arago IV has taken Funnelweb’s place as the ultimate PvE bullet hose Primary for Void builds. This 600 RPM Auto Rifle is the first Adaptive Frame

to roll with Onslaught, increasing the gun’s fire rate to 822 RPM at max stacks. To keep the carnage going, you can pair this with Rewind Rounds or Subsistence to constantly refill the magazine.

Defeat three enemies, and you have what’s effectively a Primary version of Retrofit Escapade in your hands. But that’s not even the best part. Since this weapon is Void, it benefits from Volatile Rounds. Throw on Echo of Instability

or Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk

to make your bullets explode. This gives you constant Void Overshield uptime if you run Repulsor Brace. Needless to say, Ros Arago IV is the new king of Legendary Void Primaries.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Rewind Rounds, Repulsor Brace, Subsistence
• Column Two: Onslaught

4

Monte Carlo

How to obtain: Exotic Engrams and Xur.

Builds that focus on melee abilities won’t find a better Exotic than Monte Carlo

. Each round from this weapon will grant a small chunk of melee energy on hit. Kill the enemy, and there’s a small chance that a melee charge will be refilled outright. That makes Monte Carlo excellent for buildcrafting, but the weapon itself is also a workhorse thanks to the Markov Chain

perk and Catalyst.

Markov Chain is effectively a stronger version of Swashbuckler, granting double the damage per stack. At x5 stacks, you’re looking at a massive 65% damage buff that stacks with the Exotic’s 40% damage bonus against red bars. Fodder units melt while Markov Chain is active, but you can take this even further with the gun’s Catalyst. You can exchange Markov Chain stacks to empower the weapon’s bayonet, one-tapping nearly every non-boss unit in the game. This will also max out Markov Chain, allowing you to chain bayonet hits for some absurd damage output.

3

Necrochasm

How to obtain: Crota’s End raid.

Necrochasm

was brought back to Destiny 2 with the reprisal of Crota’s End. Strangely, the buffs this weapon received during Destiny’s Age of Triumph did not carry over, but the gun received some major buffs to its Exotic perk and general stat package. To veteran players, this gun has never felt better to shoot or create explosions with.

Necrochasm is a 720 RPM Kinetic Auto Rifle that creates Cursed Thrall explosions on precision kills. Reloading after landing a precision kill will trigger Desperation

, buffing the gun to fire at 900 RPM for a few seconds. This allows Necrochasm to melt just about every red bar enemy in the game, both in seasonal content and GMs. Throw on the Catalyst, and now you benefit from a constant 35% damage buff.

Landing consistent headshots on an AR that fires so quickly can be difficult, but if you don’t mind managing this weapon’s fairly light recoil, you’ll be rewarded with a fast-firing weapon that can clear hordes of enemies in just a few bullets. Pair this gun with Necrotic Grips to further improve its damage output.

2

Khvostov 7G-0X

How to obtain: Khvostov Exotic Quest

Khvostov is the first weapon you’ll ever shoot in Destiny, so it’s fitting that The Final Shape expansion has an Exotic variant of this classic Auto Rifle. You’ll need to complete a rather lengthy quest to unlock it, but this variant of Kvhostov is absolutely worth the trouble.

This gun has a monstrous stat package and comes with The Right Choice

, firing an empowered ricocheting projectile every seven shots. This bullet will clear entire groups of enemies for you, and it can even proc Shoot To Loot

, this gun’s other perk. With the intrinsic damage bonus all Exotic Primaries get, Khvostov is nothing short of an S-tier weapon for add clear. It competes with the likes of Sunshot

and Riskrunner

but is far easier to use.

1

Choir Of One

How to obtain: Encore Exotic mission.

Choir of One is effectively a Wyvern cannon retooled as an Auto Rifle. It’s effectively two weapons in one:

• Hipfire: Shoots a cross-shaped pattern of projectiles that detonate on impact, similar to a Wyvern.
• ADS: Morphs into a 225 RPM Auto Rifle with a high damage profile.

Hipfire is functionally a shotgun that fires explosive projectiles, demolishing Champions and other major PvE enemies in a few shots. Aiming with this weapon turns it into a traditional Auto Rifle, but since Choir of One uses Special ammo, each shot hits like an absolute truck. It’s the Rocket Sidearm of Auto Rifles, trading ammo economy for a dramatic boost to your DPS. It’s nothing short of S-tier in endgame PvE content, especially if you pair this gun with Volatile Rounds.

Recommend Trait

• Catalyst: Onslaught (ADS mode), Subsistence (hipfire mode)