From bad to great, trace rifles are all over the place. Which one is the best in Destiny 2?
Trace Rifles are a new type of weapon that was added in Destiny 2. These guns shoot out steady blasts of energy that are almost always accurate. Except for one, all of the Trace Rifles are Exotic. This means you’ll have to give up an Exotic spot to see what this class has to offer.
Is the price worth it? It’s not worth it most of the time. Still, the Exotic bonuses on these Trace Rifles can be very useful in some situations, and the Legendary Trace Rifle in Destiny 2 is good for PvE gameplay right now. Most players use this type of weapon in PvE, but some Trace Rifles do fairly well in Gambit and even Crucible. Here is a list of the seven Trace Rifles in Destiny 2 and how they rank from worst to best, from Coldheart to Divinity.
Ruinous Effigy
Finally, Ruinous Effigy is useful again. With the new Volatile Rounds and recent changes to the game’s balance, the Ruinous Effigy can do amazing amounts of damage to low-level enemies. Its Transmutation Orbs can also destroy major enemies, and it uses a lot of ammunition very efficiently.
In contrast to other Trace Rifles, Ruinous Effigy’s main goal is to create guns rather than cause damage.A Transmutation Sphere will appear when you defeat a target. This sphere can be used to attack enemies directly or take their life essence. That drain attack is very strong, and if you have Volatile Rounds on, it can trigger effects like Volatile. This move is especially strong for Nightstalker Hunters because it lets them stay unseen forever while dealing heavy damage to weak enemies. In PvP, the Ruinous Effigy is just bad, but in PvE, it’s great for both buildcrafters and regular players because it can be used to make great weapons.
Coldheart
Coldheart is a Special tool that can be used in many scenarios. Need to kill a lot of bad guys? Kill all of your enemies by sweeping Coldheart’s beam across them. Does a major close the gap? Kill them quickly with Coldheart. What’s wrong with your Heavy weapon? Coldheart can do the job, but it will take a while.
This is the only Exotic Trace Rifle in Destiny 2 that doesn’t use a trick. Instead of dealing damage, it spawns Ionic Traces that boost the energy of your abilities. For good boss damage in PvE and Gambit, and if you don’t miss, it can kill Guardians in an instant. There are other Exotic weapons that are better at killing bosses or regular enemies, but Coldheart can do a few of each. It can do a lot of different things for the Trace Rifle character.
Hollow Denial
When it comes to Legendary Trace Rifles, Hollow Denial might be the worst. Even though this weapon doesn’t have the best set of perks, it does deal Void damage, which means that Void subclasses can use Volatile Rounds with it. When it comes to those perks, this gun mostly offers useful features.
Once you kill Tally, this weapon will do more damage for as long as you have Hollow Denial equipped, or until you reload it. Given that this weapon doesn’t have Overflow or Subsistence that go with it, this perk needs you to use some subclass or exotic auto-reloading effects, which are mostly only available to Hunters.
As for other perks, the only ones that make sense are Adaptive Munitions and Lead from Gold. To get the most damage from the second column, choose Swashbuckler. However, if your build has Volatile Rounds, don’t forget about Repulsor Brace. It will give you a Void Overshield when you kill Volatile targets. The Golden Tricorn and Subsistence mix from Retraced Path is still better, but Volatile Rounds can help you here. This weapon might be useful for grenade builds, but Wavesplitter or Retraced Path are better for most players.
The Navigator
Like the Lumina and Divinity, the Navigator is an Exotic that is used for backing up other cards. This Strand Trace Rifle shoots an energy beam that cuts targets in half, making them deal less damage. That’s not great on its own, but The Navigator’s Exotic perk lets you use this gun to strengthen your friends by giving you and a partner Woven Mail after a few hits. You can get Woven Mail from Severing targets with the Navigator’s hidden perk, and its Catalyst lets you make a Grapple point.
The gun itself isn’t great and doesn’t do a lot of damage, but the fact that any character can get Woven Mail makes it very useful for solo perfect dungeon runs, GM Nightfalls, and Master raids. If your build has an open Exotic spot, the Navigator is a great way to make it much easier to stay alive. Strand users can also improve this weapon by adding Unraveling Rounds, which make it better at clearing adds.
Retraced Path
You can now get the Focus Rifle from Halo: Reach in Destiny 2, and it comes with random rolls. Season of the Plunder brought new perks to its pool this year, giving it an origin trait and more Solar-themed perks to choose from. Just how good is Retraced Path, given that it’s one of three Legendary Trace Rifles in Destiny 2?
It’s wonderful. With the right rolls, this Trace Rifle can really hurt people, and it’s not too hard to use.This weapon’s Subsistence and Golden Tricorn is one of its best features; it gives you a 50% damage boost if you kill someone with it and then use your Solar ability. This gun is so powerful that it melts adds, and if a Solar burn is active, it can really hurt majors. You can clear out adds in a more general way with Incandescent, One for All, and Frenzy. In column one, your best bet for a general add clear is Subsistence. If, on the other hand, you like using Trace Rifles in endgame content, you might like Adaptive Munitions if you use Radiant to improve this weapon and make it quickly break through Barrier Champion armor.
Acasia’s Dejection
There are a lot of cool new Legendary Trace Rifles in Destiny 2, and Acasia’s Dejection is one of them. Bungie gave Acasia’s Dejection a set of bonuses because it’s a raid weapon. These bonuses make it very effective against majors and red bars, but they come at the cost of useful abilities like Shoot to Loot.
There are a lot of magazine perks in the first section.You can choose from Envious Assassin, Reconstruction, or Rewind Rounds. It mostly comes down to personal taste. Target Lock is the real star of the show. If you can keep all of your shots on target for the whole magazine, this weapon does 40% more damage. When paired with buffs like Rewind Rounds or Envious Assassin, this is a powerful tool that can easily kill majors. If you want to make the add clearer, you might want to use Incandescent instead.
Wavesplitter
Wavesplitter is a Void Trace Rifle that causes damage that changes over time. It was first only available on PlayStation during Forsaken. The perk makes it sound like the damage is random, but the Wavesplitter’s damage relies on how much ammo you’ve used. With practice, skilled players can get the most damage out of this weapon.
When The Witch Queen came out, Wavesplitter got a new lease on life. It now does 40% more damage against red bars, can make Orbs of Power to boost its damage, and can really benefit from Volatile Rounds in PvE. Wavesplitter is a great Exotic for Snow Rider 3D players who want to easily destroy red bars and majors, even though it’s not the most ammo-efficient. This is especially true if you’re using Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk as a Hunter. It’s also a good Trace Rifle for PvP. To get the most out of this tool, work on making Orbs of Power.
Path Of Least Resistance
The first Legendary Arc Trace Rifle in Destiny 2 is called Path of Least Resistance. How does Path of Least Resistance stack up against Retraced Path and Hollowed Denial, which are both very strong? Of course. This is the ideal handgun if you need a reliable gun that can also protect you from big threats. Path of Least Resistance might be the best Trace Rifle to take into Nightfalls and other hard PvE content because it has so many great bonuses.
The mix of Voltshot and Shoot to Loot is great here because it gives you a Jolt after reloading and lets you pick up ammunition and Orbs of Power from far away. Trace Rifles are good at killing adds and having a lot of useful items in your loadout. Path of Least Resistance is no different. You could also use Subsistence and One for All together if you just want to add more casual content, but we suggest using Retraced Path instead since it works with Golden Tricorn. Path of Least Resistance isn’t a great choice for PvP because it won’t be able to beat most guns in the current world. A rare Trace Rifle is the best choice for PvP if you really want to use one.
Ager’s Scepter
There is one more Stasis Trace Rifle in Destiny 2 called Ager’s Scepter. This weapon clears adds by sending out a slowing pulse every time it kills something.This pulse stops PvE enemies, which lets you break them apart and do a lot of damage. It might have better add-clear than Prometheus Lens and is much easier to set up.
That makes Ager’s Scepter great on its own, but its Catalyst is what really makes it great. Masterworking Ager’s Scepter lets you use Super energy to fill the weapon, which increases damage by 80% and slows down each hit. When you pair this weapon with Stasis Aspects and Fragments, it can make Stasis Shards and do a lot more damage when it breaks. This weapon, along with the Riskrunner and the Trinity Ghoul, is one of the best at getting rid of adds in PvE.
When it comes to PvP, Ager’s Scepter isn’t great. Its perks mostly need either a kill or Super energy to work. When used by itself, it’s not very good. It doesn’t have the extra damage of Coldheart or the area of effect of Prometheus Lens. Wavesplitter is better for PvP if you want to use a Trace Rifle.
Divinity
This Trace Rifle has everything you could want in a game. This is one of the best Exotic Special guns in Destiny 2 right now. You can get it from the Garden of Salvation raid. Even though it doesn’t do as much damage as Coldheart or clear adds as well as Prometheus Lens, it makes up for it in usefulness.
Divinity’s beam will surround a target with a Vex cage if it hits it for a short time. Anyone who shoots in the cage does precise harm.Even better, the enemy takes 15% more damage when they are in the cage. It can also mess up Overload Champions, which is why Grandmaster Nightfall runs always use it. In peak PvE material, almost every fireteam uses this weapon because it makes your fireteam do a lot more damage. The Nightstalker’s Shadowshot Super or Tractor Cannon might not damage enemies as well, but Divinity’s crit bubble and ease of use make it a great weapon for endgame raids and a good choice for GM Nightfalls.
Divinity can stand strong inside the Crucible, which is a surprise. If you shoot at a Guardian for one second, a cage will appear around them and all damage that comes in will be dealt with pinpoint accuracy. If you compare that to other Exotic Special guns that kill Guardians right away, it might not sound very impressive, but the speed with which critical hits can be very helpful for some builds. Hunter Gunslingers, for instance, can use Divinity to make Line ‘Em Up last longer. You can use Divinity against one enemy to make this’s Exotic perk work for 30 seconds when paired with Athrys’s Embrace. In the end, Divinity can be a useful tool for building in PvP, even if it’s not very common. This gun is only S-tier, though, because it can be used in endgame PvE gameplay.