All Exotic Auto Rifle, Ranked

Auto Rifles are a lot of fun in Destiny 2, and with quite the selection of Exotic Auto Rifles featured as of Season 26’s Episode Heresy, it’s worth taking a look at them all to judge their design in terms of visuals and intrinsic traits to see what the best Auto Rifle is in Destiny 2.

There are over 10 Exotic Auto Rifles in Destiny 2, and while each of them offers their own unique perks and traits, not all of them are worthy of taking out the worst that the galaxy has to offer against the forces of Darkness – so what ranks as the best Auto Rifle in Destiny 2?

11

Cerberus+1

Four Gun Barrels Make for an Inaccurate and Bizarre Weapon

• How to Get: Purchased from the Monument to Lost Light kiosk in The Tower in the Forsaken tab.
• Four-Headed Dog: Shoots erratic bullets from all gun barrels at the same time.
• Spread Shot Package: Aiming this weapon reduces the spread of its projectiles.

If players have ever wanted to fire four Auto Rifles at the same time, then look no further than Cerberus+1. This is a weapon that has awful stability and handling since it’s got four barrels to shoot from, and while aiming down sights does reduce the spread of projectiles, it’s still wildly inaccurate and more of a funny gimmick than anything else.

The Exotic Perk itself has players firing out erratic bullets from four gun barrels, all at once, but the damage really doesn’t feel all that great, even with the Catalyst. Cerberus+1 is funny, but also something nobody wants to see in a build during Grandmaster Nightfalls.

10

Hard Light

Swap Energy Damage Types with Ricochet Fire

• How to Get: Random chance from Exotic Engrams
• Volatile Light: Rounds fired from this weapon have reduced damage falloff, overpenetrate targets, and ricochet off hard surfaces. Projectile damage increases after bounce.
• The Fundamentals: Changes this weapon’s damage type, cycling between Void, Arc, and Solar. Grants this weapon temporarily increased damage when you apply or gain an elemental buff or debuff that matches this weapon’s damage type.

Hard Light is fine as an Exotic Auto Rifle, but that’s not really a compliment, because other Exotics out there are truly exceptional in terms of stats and Exotic Perks to make them dominate. However, Destiny 2 does have something interesting to it, since it can be used to change the damage type between Void, Arc, and Solar – something that other weapons lack, making it perfect to counter shields of all varieties.

The weapon itself gains bonus damage upon switching elements, but only if they have applied an elemental buff or debuff at the same time. As for its other strength, a reduction in damage falloff and ricochet rounds provide generous impact, but it’s just a weapon not suited for endgame builds.

9

Tommy’s Matchbook

Increased Damage with Sustained Fire at the Cost of Being Burned

• How to Get: Purchased from the Monument to Lost Light kiosk in The Tower in the Shadowkeep tab.
• Ignition Trigger: Sustained fire with this weapon overheats it, increasing damage but burning the user.
• Heat Sink: Overheat damage is reduced while not aiming down sights. Stats

Tommy’s Matchbook can be a risky weapon to wield, for although it provides nice buffs to Solar builds, it will also damage the wielder who uses it too much. Sustained fire with Tommy’s Matchbook is going to overheat the weapon, providing extra damage, sure, but it’s also going to cause damage to whoever is firing the gun.

With Ignition Triggers from Tommy’s Matchbook, and a Catalyst that provides recovered health on sustained fire and Scorch, Tommy’s Matchbook can be a troublesome weapon wielded by Hunters in PvP and PvE, but it’s a tad too risky and not very viable.

8

Sweet Business

A Kinetic Gatling Gun for Annoying Others

• How to Get: Random chance from Exotic Engrams
• Payday: Larger magazine. Increased accuracy when firing from the hip. Picking up Special or Heavy ammo immediately reloads this weapon.
• Business Time: Sustained fire boosts range and rate of fire.

Sweet Business is used by anyone who loves to be a nuisance, and it’s a weapon built for Titans. The impact is low, but the fire rate can grow to absurd heights with sustained fire, providing a gun that holds 150 bullets in a magazine with the power and intensity of a minigun, all in the palms of one chaos-wielding Guardian’s hands.

Sweet Business isn’t exactly great, but it is fun. It’s a weapon with a large magazine, further complemented by Titans who use Actium War Rig to essentially provide themselves with near-infinite ammo before reloading. While this build can be fun and silly, especially in PvP, it doesn’t serve a great deal of protection and buffs in the endgame.

7

Centrifuse

Movement and Damage Builds Blinding Charges

• How to Get: Purchased from the Monument to Lost Light kiosk in The Tower in the Lightfall tab.
• Overcharge Capacitor: Sprinting, sliding, and firing this weapon builds a temporary electrostatic charge, increasing range and reload speed. Final blows with high charge cause explosions, and maximum charge explosions blind targets.
• Regenerative Motion: Sprinting gradually reloads this weapon.

Centrifuse is an interesting Arc Auto Rifle, but perhaps one that isn’t on top of the meta, and never has been. While Exotic Perks like Regenerative Motion allow players to regain bullets in the magazine by sprinting, it’s not a viable strategy when players can take cover and reload, and the impact and reload speed itself is fairly low when compared to exceptional handling.

A generous ammo capacity does help, but Centrifuse is mainly used to build an electrostatic charge to shoot bullets that cause explosions and blind targets, suppressing the battlefield in debuffs, but at the cost of a fairly slow weapon.

6

SUROS Regime

Bonus Damage and Healing Chance for the Last Few Bullets

• How to Get: Random chance from Exotic Engrams
• SUROS Legacy: The bottom half of each magazine deals bonus damage and has a chance to return health on kill.
• Spinning Up: Holding down the trigger increases rate of fire.

SUROS Regime has around 27 bullets in a magazine, which means that the final 13 shots will have increased damage, and kills with that bottom half do have a chance to return health for every kill. This turns SUROS Regime into a weapon to siphon health from ads, but it’s not going to deal the right damage against larger foes.

The recoil is fair, the stability and reload speed is great, and the Catalyst provides further stat buffs along with more of a chance to get health on a kill, providing an ad-clear weapon that allows for players to get some delightful health gains.

5

Necrochasm

Create Explosions That Refill the Magazine

• How to Get: Random reward for defeating Crota in the Crota’s End Raid
• Cursebringer: Precision final blows with this weapon trigger a Cursed Thrall explosion and increase reload speed for a short time. Final blows with Cursed Thrall explosions refill the magazine.
• Desperation: Reloading after a precision final blow or a final blow with a Cursed Thrall explosion increases your rate of fire and improves stability and aim assist. Stats

Necrochasm is an Exotic Auto Rifle that will be provided to the very best, or luckiest of Raid players who venture into Crota’s End. It’s a weapon that becomes a trophy for players to claim, for not everyone dares Raid content with a total of 6 Guardians. Regardless, the weapon itself is a true beast in PvE worth pulling the trigger on.

Thanks to Necrochasm, players will be able to create Cursed Thrall explosions with precision hits, essentially providing the gun with a permanent Firefly perk. However, it’s made even better when these explosions refill the magazine – and with the catalyst, damage, range, and handling is increased after hitting 3 targets to make a perfect ad-control gun.

4

Monte Carlo

Reduce Melee Cooldown with Sustained Damage

• How to Get: Random chance from Exotic Engrams
• Monte Carlo Method: Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.
• Markov Chain: This weapon gains increased damage from melee kills and kills with this weapon. Melee kills grant ammo for this weapon.

Monte Carlo is really for the Sunbracer Warlocks out there, or the Titans with Synthoceps and a Prismatic build so that they can use Consecration to lay waste to the battlefield. Melee attacks are integral to some builds, so why not give them an energy boost so that they never leave? That’s entirely possible with Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo is a Kinetic Auto Rifle that provides players with both increased damage from melee kills, along more ammo. However, it also provides players with extra melee energy upon dealing damage and has a chance to fully charge said melee ability with each kill, providing the brawlers out there with a must-have tool for punching.

3

Quicksilver Storm

A Competent Auto Rifle with Micro-Rockets and Grenades

• How to Get: Purchased from the Monument to Lost Light kiosk in The Tower in the Lightfall tab.
• Rocket Tracers: Landing multiple hits turns your next shot into a homing micro-rocket.
• Grenade Chaser: Landing multiple rockets loads a grenade. [Reload] to switch into Grenade Launcher mode.

Quicksilver Storm comes in strong, as it has done since its release as a Strand Auto Rifle. It’s a decent Auto Rifle that gets the job done thanks to its range, lack of kick, and fire rate, but the damage isn’t as great as other options. However, this is aided by the fact that Quicksilver Storm fires out micro-rockets with consistent fire, providing noticeable chunks of damage to ads and mini-boss enemies.

When players hit enough rockets, they will see further greatness of the weapon, for it can be turned into a Strand grenade launcher for further bursts of damage. It’s a solid and reliable gun that won’t let players down, but it just so happens there are alternative choices.

2

Khvostov 7G-0X

Ricocheting Bullets and Rapid Fire Provides Exceptional Performance

• How to Get: Complete the related quest found by exploring the Pale Heart (The Final Shape)
• The Right Choice: Every seventh bullet from this weapon ricochets to nearby targets.
• Shoot to Loot: Shooting an Orb of Power picks it up. Shooting an ammo brick picks it up and automatically reloads all of your equipped weapons from reserves. Stats

The Khvostov 7G-0X deserves one of the top spots, not only for being a loving homage to an absolute classic weapon but for its incredible exotic perks and traits that make it excel against enemies in both PvE and PvP. Sure, it’s a Kinetic Assault Rifle that doesn’t grant any buffing stacks with other elemental weapons, but the fact that every seventh bullet provides more damage and ricochets between targets and walls means more damage is abundant for ad-dense areas.

The Khvostov 7G-0X excels at killing ads and controlling the battleground in The Crucible, as its generous ammo count, fair recoil, and rapid rate of fire, make the Khvostov 7G-0X a true beast in all situations to provide an Auto Rifle that’s hard to let go of.

1

Choir of One

Control the Fight with Void-Exploding Bullets

• How to Get: Complete the Encore Exotic Mission from Episode: Echoes
• Command Frame: Fires extended-range, heavy-caliber projectiles at a reduced rate of fire. Deals increased precision damage when aiming down sights.
• Fanatical Lance: Rapid final blows cause targets to explode into a pool of radiolarian fluid. Hip firing launches multiple projectiles at once in a slower moving spread pattern. Projectiles detonate on impact.

Choir of One comes from the Episode: Echoes Exotic Mission, and it’s a gun that can be adapted and grown into something even more powerful with its Catalysts and Intrinsics, and the recent buff received to Destabilizing Rounds means that the Choir of One can make players not only explode in a pool of radiolarian fluid, but in a surge of Void energy that topples ads like its nothing.

Being a Special Ammo version of an Auto Rifle can be a tad frustrating with the need for ammo bricks dropped, but that doesn’t stop the Choir of One from excelling as an Auto Rifle that can wipe out hordes of ads and deal great amounts of damage to mini-bosses and other beefy threats.