Top 10 Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Tigerspite

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Note: Our top 10 best auto rifles for Destiny is now updated through Destiny 2: Forsaken.

Tigerspite is by far the best auto rifle that was released during the Destiny 2: Forsaken expansion. If you can land either or both of the following perks: Outlaw and Kill Clip, then you really have a beast on your hands.

Like a lot of the best Destiny 2 auto rifles on this list, it just is all around a great weapon. It has very manageable stability and solid impact. Meaning you shouldn’t have any trouble locking into an enemies’ head and then just letting it rip. Just make sure to reload after precision kills if you have outlaw to keep the DPS up and up!

Scathelocke

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

The Scathelocke is a gun that players fell in love with during Destiny 2’s beta. It’s a well-rounded weapon with decent range, firing speed, reload speed, and handling. It also packs one hell of a punch and is one of the more common auto rifles to start dropping once you hit level 20.

If you throw on a Kinetic Stability mod on one of your armor pieces, that makes the Scathelock a dangerous tool in both PvE and PvP, capable of picking up aliens and fellow guardians alike from a sizable range. Also, since it’s a Kinetic weapon you’ll do more damage on critical hits, though it doesn’t get any bonuses against Crucible opponents that happen to be in their super. Still, if you want a solid, well-balanced auto rifle, this is a great contender. 

 Prosecutor

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Prosecutor is one of the best drops you can hope to receive from Destiny 2’s weekly Trials of the Nine activity. This energy auto rifle has everything going for it. You want great handling? You got it. What about range? Have fun sniping with a fully automatic weapon that shoots 450 rounds per minute. It also has some solid accuracy and stability letting you easily get those critical hits no matter what you happen to be fighting.

We recommend going for the Tap the Trigger Perk. While Slideways reloads part of the weapon’s magazine simply by sliding, Tap the Trigger adds extra accuracy on your trigger pull, letting you really nail your opponent. Plus you have Hip-Fire Grip which makes shooting on sight without having to wait and aim quite rewarding. 

Uriel’s Gift

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Whether you’re looking for something to take into PvE challenges like Nightfall or Destiny 2’s Leviathan raid, or something to wreck your fellow guardians within the Crucible, Uriel’s Gift is a solid option in the auto rifle department. This weapon has high range, high stability, high handling, a decent reload speed, and some okay impact that allows it to shred pretty much anything that steps in front of its business end. If you’ve been killed by this in the Crucible, don’t feel bad. It’s just doing what it’s intended to do.

Like Prosecutor, Uriels’ Gift benefits from having Tap the Trigger as a perk, letting you really hit those shots you’re going for. Couple that with Flash HS5 and Steady Rounds and you have a lean, mean, slaying machine that you can equip a burn to and use to dominate any challenge. 

Origin Story

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

When you first start out in Destiny 2 you’ll pick up a rifle called Origin Story to assist you in your futile attempt to stop Ghaul from taking over the Tower. It’s a decent gun with a perk called Rampage which increases the weapon’s damage with each kill. While you lose the gun right after the mission, you can actually obtain a legendary one as a random reward.

If you toss on the Red Dot Micro and Flared Magwell, you have a powerful weapon that can take out enemies (be they computer controlled or otherwise) from a sizable range with some pretty solid accuracy. Thanks to Rampage, in the Crucible if you happen to get the drop on the enemy team you can efficiently wipe them out thanks to the damage boost off of each kill. 

Ghost Primus

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Ghost Primus is an excellent all around weapon that can be used in any activity in Destiny 2. It drops from the Leviathan raid, so getting it does require a little bit of luck and work, but it’s definitely worth the effort. In specific scenarios, it might get beat out by other weapons such as Uriel’s Gift, especially in PvP but it can be competitive there as well. It has good stability, solid impact, and it’s not that hard to handle. Also, if you’re someone that empties out the entire magazine, High-Impact reserves will kick in to give you some extra damage. It’s range could be better, but it does have options such as Corkscrew Rifling to help with that a tad if you’re willing to make some sacrifices.

Positive Outlook

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Positive Outlook is an incredibly powerful Auto Rifle, and arguably the best in all of Curse of Osiris. It, like other 450 rounds per minute auto rifles, is a slower and steady powerful gun. However, what’s unique and very nice about Positive Outlook, is its kill clip perk which greatly increases your damage when you reload after a kill. While a perk like this is a little tricky to use in PvP (although still doable) it’s especially nice to have in PvE where you’ll have plenty of time and opportunities to bring down an enemy, reload, and benefit from the very noticeable damage boost.

Null Calamity 9

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Null Calamity 9 is one of the Lost Prophecy Weapons (#9), and while not all of the weapons from it are great, Null Calamity is certainly one of the better ones, especially if you like accurate fast-shooting auto rifles. Null Calamity makes up for its less than stellar impact with very solid stability and range. You can relentlessly focus down an enemy, whether its PvP or PvE very easily without worrying about losing track of your target. This is further enhanced by the Zen Moment perk, which increases stability as you do damage. If you value stability and rate of fire over close-quarters damage, Null Calamity is one of the better auto rifles you can select.

Hard Light

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Hard Light is the second exotic Auto Rifle on this list. It overall is a decent weapon that, like many weapons on this list, can succeed decently well in both PvP and PvE, although there are better options to use your exotic weapon slot in PvP. So where Hard Light shines more is in PvE, where you can take advantage of its unique exotic perks. Hard Light rounds all over-penetrate and ricochet, which is extremely helpful for clearing out packs of trash enemies like the Hive, and Vex Goblins. Plus, you can freely change the element of Hard Light. Whether you’re fighting Vex, Cabal, or the Fallen, the Hard Light can easily rip down shields for you. That said, we highly recommend Riskrunner for fighting the Fallen. That gun is a beast.

Valakadyn

Best Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Finally we have Valakadyn. While the higher rate of fire auto rifles are not exactly great for PvP a lot of the time, they do have their uses and Valakadyn is one of the better ones. You have a very sizable magazine to work with and can tweak the Valakadyn to be quite effective a long range, with good stability for a high RPM weapon. Just don’t take this weapon into close-quarters, especially in PvP, otherwise you’re going to have a bad time if you run into someone running Uriel’s Gift or The Prosecutor. Be smart and take advantage of Valakadyn’s strengths, and pair it with other weapons that compliment it well.