Sniper Rifles
High-Impact
Her Fury – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – Can kill most Supered Enemies and Revive Snipe with 1 crit shot.
- Cons – Low Range. Below average Stability and Reload Speed. Average Aim Assist.
- Time-to-Kill: 0.83s (2 body shots)
- Rate of Fire: 19
- Impact: 31 (417 damage per crit shot, 167 per body shot)
- Range: 66
- Stability: 42
- Reload Speed: 60
- Mag Size: 4
- Aim Assist: 54
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – ShortGaze SLH10/LongView SLR10, Ambush SLH25, ViewTac SLH20
- Column 2 – Army of One, Grenadier, Eye of the Storm, Life Support
- Column 3 – Hand-laid Stock, Injection Mold, Quickdraw, Snapshot, Rifled Barrel, Reinforced Barrel
- Column 4 – Hidden Hand, Unflinching, Mulligan, Hot Swap, Firefly
Her Fury is basically a poor man’s 1000-Yard Stare, so I only recommend using it if you don’t have a better rolled sniper from the same archetype. ShortGaze and LongView both provide long-zoom scopes with good Aim Assist numbers, exactly what you want for PvP. Any one of the perks listed in column 2 will be good to use, but none are necessary for a God Roll. In column 3 we get to the part where playstyle dictates which perks you’re going to want.
If you’re a high level player who loves quickscoping and aggressive movement with the sniper, Quickdraw is going to be your God Roll perk, with Snapshot behind that. If you’re more of a long distance type of sniper, then you want more Range, and Rifled Barrel is your God Roll option, and Reinforced Barrel is the back up. If you want Stability on your snipers, Hand-laid Stock is the first choice, and Injection Mold is the second option.
In column 4, the obvious choice is Hidden Hand, but Unflinching is a solid perk as well, only below Hidden Hand because of the low base AA of Her Fury. Mulligan actually activates quite often, so don’t sleep on it, and Hot Swap and Firefly can be enjoyable in certain situations.
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Shotguns
Very High-Impact
Her Champion – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – High Range. Above average Stability.
- Cons – Below average Reload Speed. Low Aim Assist. Average Mag Size.
- Time-to-Kill: 1.33s (two shots)
- Rate of Fire: 5
- Impact: 67 (22 damage per pellet, 264 damage total)
- Range: 17
- Stability: 41
- Reload Speed: 29
- Mag Size: 5
- Aim Assist: 35
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – Linear Compensator/Accurized Ballistics/Field Choke, Smooth Ballistics
- Column 2 – Rangefinder
- Column 3 – Reinforced Barrel/Rifled Barrel
- Column 4 – Final Round, Performance Bonus, Underdog, Replenish
Her Champion is a slightly better version of the Conspiracy Theory-D, so if you can get a roll that mimics the Questline version, you’re basically golden. Rangefinder, Reinforced or Rifled Barrel, and either Final Round or Performance Bonus will make this gun a monster, albeit with a slightly lower RoF than a perfectly rolled Party Crasher. Any of the barrel perks that increase Impact and Range are good to use, and if you can’t get thoose, Smooth Ballistics will increase just Range.
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Sidearms
Low-Impact
Queen’s Choice – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – Highest Range. 15 round Mag Size. High Stability. Very high Reload Speed.
- Cons – Average Aim Assist. Not hitscan.
- Time-to-Kill: 0.60s (4 crit shots), 0.60s (4 body shots)
- Rate of Fire: 100
- Impact: 5 (63 damage per crit shot, 50 damage per body shot)
- Range: 41
- Stability: 85
- Reload Speed: 96
- Mag Size: 15
- Aim Assist: 80
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – Linear Compensator
- Column 2 – Rangefinder/Zen Moment, Crowd Control, Reactive Reload
- Column 3 – High Caliber Rounds, Quickdraw, Hand Loaded, Snapshot
- Column 4 – Hot Swap, Battle Runner, Feeding Frenzy
Basically the closest you are going to get to a Year 2 Vestian Dynasty, it’s not quite as dominant due to a different recoil pattern, but it’s still very good among sidearms. The only issue it has is not being hitscan, but you can learn to play with that with just a bit of practice. Linear Compensator ups both the Impact and Range, and the cost of a little Stability, but it’s worth it to push the 4 body shot kill distance out as far as possible.
Rangefinder and Zen Moment are both tier 1 perks for this weapon in column 2. In column 3, you can choose between any of these perks and see good effects. I personally love High Caliber Rounds for the flinch they cause, but some people swear by Quickdraw and Snapshot. If you got Rangefinder, Hand Loaded isn’t needed here, but it can help if you get Zen Moment instead. Hot Swap is the best perk of a rather poor batch in the last column, but Battle Runner is always fun too.
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Fusion Rifles
Mid-Impact (80-89)
Techeun Rage – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – Very high Aim Assist. Above average Charge Rate. High Mag Size.
- Cons – Low Range, Impact, and Reload Speed. Average Stability.
- Charge Rate: 26
- Impact: 80? (45 damage per bolt, 5 bolts to kill)
- Range: 35
- Stability: 42
- Reload Speed: 56
- Mag Size: 7
- Aim Assist: 80
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – SureShot IS/Reflex
- Column 2 – Hidden Hand, Battle Runner
- Column 3 – Braced Frame, Hand-laid Stock,
- Column 4 – Rangefinder, Hot Swap, Replenish, Eye of the Storm, Life Support, Grenadier, Army of One
Although on paper it looks absolutely terrible, it’s actually a victim of Bungie’s inaccurate stats. It actually has an Impact somewhere close to the Susanoo, which means it can kill in 5 bolts, and is pretty decent in the Crucible. Although it’s not going to be quite as good as a God Roll Thesan, Vacancy, or Hitchhiker, it will have the advantage of a faster Charge Rate, which some players prefer over the higher Range and Impact.
SureShot and Reflex both add Aim Assist, and Hidden Hand boosts that even higher. Braced Frame helps to keep the bolt spread at a minimal, and Rangefinder can keep that damage drop off from happening too soon. Hot Swap is also a great alternative if you’re a run and gun style player who wants that small boost to accuracy right after switching weapons.
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Rocket Launchers
Very Low-RoF
The Nightmare – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – Very high Blast Radius.
- Cons – Very low RoF. Average Velocity. Below average Reload Speed.
- Rate of Fire: 4
- Blast Radius: 96
- Velocity: 63
- Reload Speed: 60
- Mag Size: 2
- Inventory: 20
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – Warhead Verniers/Hard Launch, Soft Launch, Linear Compensator, Aggressive Launch
- Column 2 – Tripod
- Column 3 – Field Scout, Javelin, Heavy Payload, Flared Magwell
- Column 4 – Grenades and Horseshoes
If you missed out on that perfect Tormod’s Bellows from a couple Iron Banners ago, fear not, The Nightmare is basically it’s inverse twin. With high Blast Radius and middle of the road Velocity (compared to Tormod’s high Velocity and lower Blast Radius), as well as the Inventory of 20, it benefits from all the same perks, and has the ability to get 3 rockets per brick in PvP if it can roll with Tripod and Field Scout.
Without Field Scout, but with Tripod, a chest piece should get you there. Without Tripod or Field Scout, you’ll need a heavy ammo chest and rocket launcher boots, so I would suggest only keeping it if it has at least Tripod and G&H.
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Machine Guns
Very High-Impact – Barrel Perks do not affect either crit or body TtK.
Bane of the Taken – Available from the Prison of Elders.
- Pros – Very high Range.
- Cons – Very low Mag Size. Low Stability. Average Reload Speed. Low Aim Assist.
- Time-to-Kill: 0.40s (3 crit shots), 0.60s (4 body shots)
- Rate of Fire: 59
- Impact: 61 (73 damage per crit shot, 58 damage per body shot)
- Range: 30
- Stability: 22
- Reload Speed: 31
- Mag Size: 23
- Aim Assist: 29
Recommended Perks:
- Column 1 – Smooth Ballistics, Soft Ballistics
- Column 2 – Counterbalance, Eye of the Storm, Life Support
- Column 3 – Perfect Balance, Speed Reload
- Column 4 – Hidden Hand, Rangefinder, Feeding Frenzy, Grenadier, Army of One
The only very high-Impact MG currently available in year 2, the Bane of the Taken has the wonderful ability to kill in 2 crit and 1 body shots, faster than any other MG. I actually like the Aim Assist increasing Barrel perks for this machine gun, because no Impact increase or decrease will change either the optimal or body shot Times-to-Kill (Smooth Ballistics adds +5, and Soft adds +10 to AA).
Counterbalance and Perfect Balance combine to make the gun have basically no recoil, and you end up with a laser usable at all ranges. It’s actually so easy to use that you can replace Perfect Balance with Speed Reload in the third column and still have an easy to control killing machine. Hidden Hand is the best perk in the last column, to help make up for the low base Aim Assist, but Rangefinder can also be very useful. Feeding Frenzy is a close third, because you will be reloading a lot, and it does take forever.