Best Trace Rifles In Destiny 2

Destiny 2 has an excellent variety of weapons, but not all of them are made equal. The seasonal balance changes and the specifics introduced in the seasonal artifact often change what types of weapons are actually useful in PvE and PvP modes. This hasn’t been different for the Season of the Lost, either, which has seen Fusion Rifles rise to the top, particularly at PVE level.

One type of weaponry that’s often forgotten among players is trace rifles. These weapons are so rare that all of them are in fact Exotic-tier weapons, found through various quests or through random Exotic engram drops. Despite being a bit niche, they are grossly underrated in Destiny 2, and some of them have surprising potential.

Updated on March 26, 2025, by Luke Brown:

Trace rifles have seen a major glow-up in the last few years, becoming staples in double-special ammo load-outs. In Episode Heresy, several artifact perks were added that hugely buff the potential of these laser weapons, at least until the end of the episode. As such, this list has been expanded from its original eight entries to a full 19, adding the eleven newest additions to the weapon family and reassessing the viability of previously ranked entries.

19

Ruinous Effigy

Exotic Void Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Buy at Monument to Lost Lights (125,000 Glimmer and 1 Exotic cipher)

The Ruinous Effigy is a Void trace rifle introduced in Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep DLC, in a quest that is no longer available for players. In order to obtain it, players must craft it themselves using an Exotic cipher. That said, it ranks the lowest among the trace rifles, not exactly making it worth the investment.

The weapon has the ability to shift enemies into Void Transmutation spheres on final blows, and despite decent stats, it compares poorly against other trace rifles. The main issue stems from how it was nerfed around Beyond Light’s release and has since been somewhat of a forgotten weapon. It simply lacks the ‘oomph’ that other, better trace rifles have.

18

Wavesplitter

Exotic Void Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Exotic engrams and random Exotic world drops

Wavesplitter is another lower-end tier trace rifle, with more consistent stats than the Ruinous Effigy, but with debatably good effects. Its Harmonic Laser has three levels of power, which are engaged when the player holds down the trigger. Again, other trace rifles have better effects to offer.

That said, Wavesplitter is simpler to get than the Ruinous Effigy. It can randomly drop as an Exotic engram for the lucky few, and Xûr also has the chance of offering the player one in one of his Exotic engrams of the week. The Supercharged Battery trait is perhaps the best part about this weapon, as it uses Orbs of Power to charge the Wavesplitter to maximum damage and initiates a reload automatically.

17

The Navigator

Exotic Strand Special Ammo Trace Rifle

The Navigator is an interesting weapon, if not underwhelming. While it does fine damage, The Navigator is better used as a utility weapon. Shoot at an ally, provide them Woven Mail, shoot continuously at an enemy, Sever them, and get the catalyst and special reload to produce a Strand grapple tangle.

Other than these specific uses — and its potency in speed running tactics — The Navigator is overshadowed by the majority of its competition and requires the player to be in a team with others to use it to the best of its ability.

16

Hollow Denial

Void Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Lead From Gold and Killing Tally

Introduced in season 17, Hollow Denial is one of the weapons that players can craft as they hunt down Nightmares. Deepsight versions of this trace rifle drop from the Nightmare Containment activity, but after enough unlocks at the Crown of Sorrow vendor, players can also earn one free Deepsight from the seasonal vendor on a weekly basis.

Hollow Denial is a Void trace rifle that gains the Extrovert Origin Trait. Crafting it is the best course of action to gain access to some of the desirable Enhanced perks. Players should look to craft it with Projection Fuse, Light Battery, or Tactical Battery. For the two perks of choice, go for Surplus or Heating Up in the first column, then Killing Tally or Wellspring in the second column. Adaptive Munitions is also a solid choice.

15

Appetence

Stasis Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Demolitionist and Headstone

Appetence is a unique beast, being the only legendary Stasis damage trace rifle in the game. Despite this, it only really has one use, which is bolstering the power of Stasis builds. With Demolitionist refunding grenade energy, this weapon is the perfect option for Warlocks using a Stasis build focused on Stasis turrets.

Pairing this with Headstone further fuels the Stasis build, spreading stasis crystals and freezing across the battlefield, playing into the majority of Stasis aspects and fragments. Other than this specific use case, Appetence doesn’t make much of a name for itself, meaning a majority of players can probably ignore it.

14

Path Of Least Resistance

Arc Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Shoot to Loot and Voltshot

Path of Least Resistance was the first legendary trace rifle to roll with an Arc-specific perk, in the form of Voltshot. This perk allows the weapon to spread Arc jolting effects to enemies if the player reloads after a kill, arcing lightning around the battlefield and dealing large damage to a huge area.

Despite the potency of this weapon, it has fallen out of favor when compared to newer Arc trace rifles, which are able to roll with Jolting Feedback, which has the same effect as Voltshot except it doesn’t require a kill or reload. Therefore, while Path of Least Resistance is a great option for anyone able to craft it (and unable to get a new option), it falls off quickly in comparison to its fellow Arc trace rifles.

13

Retraced Path

Solar Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Shoot To Loot or Subsistence and Incandescent

Since it’s not an Exotic and not limited to a set of perks, there are a few rolls players should focus on getting for this Solar trace rifle. For battery, Projection Fuse or Tactical Battery are both great. Then, Shoot to Loot or Subsistence. And finally, for the last slot, Incandescent and Demolitionist are great options. It’s definitely a PVE weapon above all, and even then, it’s unlikely it will see much use given the weak state of trace rifles in the first place.

As of season 18, the Retraced Path trace rifle can also be crafted once enough patterns have been extracted from Deepsights found in Dares of Eternity. It now comes with great Enhanced perks like Incandescent and Focused Fury, on top of some of the perks mentioned above. It pairs well with Solar builds that rely on Incandescent but has a minimal place in season 18’s meta.

12

Prometheus Lens

Exotic Solar Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Exotic engrams and random Exotic world drops

Some might gasp at the fact that the Prometheus Lens ranks this high, given how ‘common’ of an Exotic it seems to be. Just like the Wavesplitter, it can drop randomly as an Exotic engram, or from Xûr’s special weekly Exotic engram. Either way, it’s more accessible than some of the other weapons on this list, which puts it at an average position. Though it has seen some very niche use in PVP, like most trace rifles, it remains very much a useless weapon in difficult PVE and PVP content.

Prometheus Lens is still a pretty underrated weapon. Its Prismatic Inferno feature allows it to deal Solar damage through its beam. Its stats are its weakest point, but its Solar beam bumps it up above the latter few weapons due to its utility. The Flame Refraction trait is particularly useful for Prometheus Lens, as earning kills directly translates to more ammo, which allows players to beam down their enemies for longer.

11

Acasia’s Dejection

Solar Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Reconstruction or Rewind Rounds and Incandescent or Target Lock

Acasia’s Dejection is yet another Solar trace rifle option, available from the Root of Nightmares raid. With the right setup, this weapon feels like a legendary Prometheus Lens, freeing up an exotic slot for something more powerful. While getting this weapon is off the table for some players, it is well worth crafting for those who can raid.

The best perks for this weapon are Reconstruction or Rewind Round, constantly refreshing the ammo capacity of the gun, paired with either Incandescent for Solar explosions and ad-clear, or Target Lock for high single target damage. Any combination of these perks will serve any player well and will tear through enemies of all levels.

10

Incisor

Strand Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Slice or Subsistence and Hatchling or Killing Tally

When this weapon was released, it made waves as the first Strand damage type trace rifle, with perks that allow it to slot well into any Strand build. Slice and Hatchling spreads Sever and Threadlings all over the battlefield, building well into the loop of many Strand builds.

For a more traditional damage roll, Subsistence and Killing Tally allows this weapon to build up a decent damage bonus — and maintain it. While Incisor is a decent weapon, it isn’t the best-in-slot anymore, with another Strand weapon dethroning it in Episode Heresy. However, for those who prefer PvP to PvE, this is a great option to chase.

9

Chronophage

Void Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Repulsor Brace and Destabilizing Rounds

As is the case for many popular Void weapons, Chronophage sports the perfect combo of Repulsor Brace and Destabilizing Rounds. This spreads volatile around the battlefield on kills, feeding into Void subclasses as well as several episodic artifact mods, sweeping through most content with relative ease.

Pairing this with Repulsor Brace gives the player a Void overshield each time they kill a Void-debuffed enemy, making this weapon a monster for tearing through enemies and a great support tool to help stay alive in harder content. There is little to complain about, with this weapon being craftable or obtainable from Episode Echoes activities.

8

Coldheart

Exotic Arc Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Exotic engrams, and Exotic world drops

Players who originally pre-ordered Destiny 2 might recognize Coldheart as one of the pre-order bonus items. Well, now is the time to bust it out, because it’s actually a pretty good weapon. Its stats are balanced, but the real treat is in its intrinsic ability called Cold Fusion.

Its trait Longest Winter bumps its utility and power significantly, since it increases Coldheart’s damage drastically the longer players stay on the same target. This makes Coldheart fantastic for PVE, where lasering down minor bosses is key. One could also argue it works great for PVP, depending on the player’s play style. With all this in mind, however, it’s unlikely Coldheart will see use in any meta until trace rifles overall are improved.

7

Warlord’s Spear

Arc Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Rewind Rounds or High-Impact Reserves and Jolting Feedback or Detonator Beam

Warlord’s Spear is one of the best legendary trace rifles in the game, introduced to the Iron Banner loot pool with Episode Heresy. This Arc trace is essentially Path of Least Resistance but better in every way. With Rewind Rounds constantly refunding ammo, or High-Impact Reserves boosting damage as the magazine gets lower, Warlord’s Spear can burn through its ammo reserves with very few reloads.

Combined with Jolting Feedback, Warlord’s Spear becomes a powerhouse for all levels of content. It can also utilize Detonator Beam, which is another decent ad-clear perk if a player needs an alternative. However, there is very little reason not to pick up one with Jolting Feedback.

6

Keraunios

Arc Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Recycled Battery or Overflow and Jolting Feedback or Rolling Storm

Keraunios is the latest addition to the Guardian Games weapon roster, making it a difficult-to-obtain choice, yet one that is a potential replacement for Warlord’s Spear for those who despise Iron Banner. With a roll like Recycled Battery and Rolling Storm, this weapon is a useful utility tool for buffing ability cooldown and activating Bolt Charge.

For a more applicable roll to general use, Overflow and Jolting Feedback emulate the feeling of Warlord’s Spear’s best roll, spreading Arc damage all over the battlefield and overflowing the magazine.

5

Ager’s Scepter

Exotic Stasis Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Buy at Monument to Lost Lights (125,000 Glimmer and 1 Exotic Cipher)

Introduced in the Season of the Lost as the Awoken’s hidden weapon that Mara Sov wanted players to fetch, Ager’s Scepter quickly climbed to the top of weapon tier lists as one of the best new additions in the game. Since the content in which Ager’s Scepter originally dropped has been vaulted, players are now able to obtain it by buying it from the exotic kiosk in The Tower. Its catalyst drops from playlist activities.

What makes Ager’s Scepter unique is that it’s actually a Kinetic weapon, while all other trace rifles are considered Energy weapons. Its stats are excellent all around, and its perk Ager’s Call explodes targets and deals damage in a small area of effect, making it great against multiple targets. Its catalyst has proven to be quite powerful: players can sacrifice Super energy to charge the Scepter, which will now also freeze and slow down targets, much like stasis. Ager’s Scepter works well with Stasis builds, even if trace rifles have somewhat of a niche role in the meta.

4

Lodestar

Exotic Arc Primary Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Available from the Episode Heresy season pass

Lodestar is a unique weapon, being the only trace rifle in the game that uses primary ammo. On top of this, Lodestar also functions like a pulse rifle when aiming down sights, firing in short bursts. As the player does damage with Lodestar, it builds up a charge meter, which, when full, can be consumed to give the weapon a duration in which it Jolts enemies on hit.

With the catalyst, Lodestar gains increased reload speed, aim assist, and movement speed when aiming while amplified, simply making the weapon feel that much better. It isn’t the strongest weapon on this list, but it is one of the most entertaining, unique, and, overall, a great option that all players can utilize for free.

3

Divinity

Exotic Arc Special Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Secret quest in Shadowkeep DLC and Garden of Salvation raid.

The king of all trace rifles is without a doubt Divinity. The stats are fantastic for this weapon, as they should be, given it unlocks from one of the raids of Destiny 2, included in the Shadowkeep DLC: Garden of Salvation. Its intrinsic perk, Judgment, is a timeless one. Targets affected by it will become weak, as Divinity creates a field around them that creates a disruption. Combine this with the Penance trait, and these targets will also take extra damage while inside the field of disruption.

As such, it’s truly one of the best trace rifles on this list. In order to get it, however, players will need to head to the Vex portal found on the moon, fight the Vex boss that comes out of it, and follow several leads throughout Nessus before completing the raid again. Within the raid, several six-man puzzles will need to be done for the Divinity to unlock at the final chest.

2

Microcosm

Exotic Kinetic Heavy Ammo Trace Rifle

• How To Get: Found through an exotic quest in The Pale Heart

Microcosm is another one-of-one weapon, being the only trace rifle in the game to utilize heavy ammo, harkening back to the original ammo economy of the base game of Destiny 2. Microcosm is an incredibly powerful weapon, dealing huge damage to bosses and regular enemies alike.

Microcosm has an exotic trait that allows it to grant super energy on final blows as well as deal increased damage for a time after the player’s super expires. Combined with the artifact perks available in Episode Heresy, Microcosm has become a mainstay in many players’ loadouts — and a great choice for many endgame boss encounters.

1

Unsworn

Strand Adaptive Frame Trace Rifle

• Best Roll: Rewind Rounds or Tear and Detonator Beam or Hatchling

Since its release with the Sundered Doctrine dungeon, Unsworn has quickly shot to the top of many players’ lists of trace rifles for several very notable reasons. First of all, it is one of only two legendary Strand trace rifles. Secondly, its origin trait makes it the only trace rifle in the game able to utilize explosive rounds, as well as exhausting more powerful targets. Finally, it has two very potent rolls for two specific use-cases.

The first roll is Rewind Rounds and Detonator Beam, which makes Unsworn a multi-tool, potent in almost all content and for almost any scenario, from single target damage to big group ad-clear. The other roll is Tear and Hatchling, which fits a similar role to that of Incisor in fitting into Strand builds. Whichever roll a player chooses to hunt for, this trace rifle is a must-have.