The Final Shape is bringing the fight to the Witness, and guardians will need as much firepower as possible to take down this foe. To prepare for the ultimate standoff, players are farming the best weapons before the expansion—either because they’re going away or they’re just that good.
The Final Shape will have a Legendary difficulty, as has been the case with its predecessors. The added challenge comes with more rewards, though. Between that and an early raid launch, Destiny 2 has multiple weapons worth getting ahead of the new season. Here are our picks for the best weapons you should farm before The Final Shape to put those extra 100 vault slots to good use.
Best weapons you should get before The Final Shape in Destiny 2
This shortlist encompasses some of the weapons Destiny 2 guardians should have at their disposal for The Final Shape, listed in no particular order. We’ve added substitutes or complementary choices when applicable. We’ll add more entries to our list before the expansion releases.
- The Mountaintop (single-target damage)
- Indebted Kindness (all-rounder)
- Edge Transit, Cataphract GL3 (heavy grenade launchers)
- Apex Predator and/or Cold Comfort (rocket launchers)
- Forbearance (add-clear)
- Scatter Signal, Riptide, and/or Deliverance (fusion rifles)
- Zaouli’s Bane or Luna’s Howl (Solar hand cannons)
- Rufus’ Fury or Perpetualis (Strand auto rifle)
- Commemoration or Hammerhead (Void machine gun)
- Blast Furnace (and other pulse rifles)
- Breakneck (and other auto rifles)
- The entire BRAVE Arsenal
The Mountaintop
- Source: Onslaught
- DLC required: None
Mountaintop’s days as the top of Destiny 2 haven’t ended. This grenade launcher made a triumphant return with Into the Light, and it’s a game changer—and easily one of the best weapons to farm before The Final Shape.
Thanks to its Micro-Missile Frame, Mountaintop has the potential for great single-target damage, and it becomes more devastating with its god roll. The predictable trajectory doesn’t hurt, either. This is a great weapon for taking down chunks of health from Champions and sturdier enemies, especially if you pair it with something high-powered in your heavy slot.
Indebted Kindness
- Source: Warlord’s Ruin
- DLC required: Lightfall dungeon key
Indebted Kindness made its name for being a special-ammo sidearm. Sidearms being the only Anti-Barrier mod this season helped guardians awake to its potential, but this versatile gun works as an excellent all-rounder weapon for taking down adds and slightly chunkier enemies. It may not delete bosses or Champions with one shot, but it’s versatile enough that it can always come in handy.
Edge Transit
- Source: Onslaught
- DLC required: None
From meme to must-have, this grenade launcher emerged with a powerful perk pool and came out on top as a great damage option. Envious Assassin paired with Bait and Switch and a series of grenade launcher buffs over the years have made this weapon steadily climb as a viable—if not outright lethal—damage option. Aim for Envious Assassin and Bait and Switch.
The Holy Grail of this chase is a Shiny with both Envious and Cascade Point in column three so you can fill up Envious and switch to Cascade to unleash your ammo a bit faster. And while that does grant you some extra damage, it’s probably not worth going after it when there are so many other weapons in the BRAVE Arsenal.
Cataphract GL3 operates in the same space, but with a Strand element. The colossal catch here is this weapon is available from Trials of Osiris, so you must brave the Crucible’s finest opponents to have a shot at a god-rolled Cataphract. If you do, make sure to bring two more guardians, since you get far more rewards on a full fire team of three.
Apex Predator, Cold Comfort
- Source: Last Wish raid (Apex)/Ghosts of the Deep (Cold Comfort)
- DLC required: Forsaken Pack/Lightfall dungeon key
Two of Destiny 2‘s best rocket launchers can come in handy for The Final Shape. Both Apex Predator and Cold Comfort have Bait and Switch, which is an excellent perk for damage. This duo can also pair it with self-reloading perks such as Reconstruction and Envious Assassin, respectively. Lastly, their pool also brings alternatives if you can’t get exactly what you want—and Apex is craftable if you want to beat RNG. Apex Predator is available from Riven’s Wishes quests alongside the suite of Last Wish weapons.
Forbearance
- Source: Onslaught (BRAVE version)/Vow of the Disciple (Original)
- DLC required: None (BRAVE)/The Witch Queen (Original)
Forbearance became the king of crowd control when it released, and it will stay that way at least until The Final Shape. Chain Reaction is bound to see a nerf with the next expansion, but until then, Forbearance can dominate. There are two variants to choose from: the BRAVE version has access to Demolitionist and Chain Reaction, combined with the Indomitability origin trait that gives you grenade or melee energy, depending on your subclass.
Scatter Signal, Riptide, Deliverance
- Source: Season of the Wish (Scatter)/Crucible Engrams (Riptide)
- DLC required: Season of the Wish/None
This spot on our list has three entries, and they serve somewhat different purposes. Scatter Signal is generally more versatile, while Riptide has access to Chill Clip, and Deliverance is a promising competitor to the latter. All of them put in solid work, though, and with Prismatic coming up, they might take up your Kinetic slot.
Season of the Wish brought plenty of gear to chase over its longer lifespan, including Scatter Signal, the new sweetheart of fusion rifles. Scatter Signal has a great perk pool, which gets even better when you craft its god roll. It’s a Strand fusion rifle, and, like Tusk of the Boar before it, it’s a great weapon to fall back on if you’re looking for anything that uses Special on your Kinetic slot.
Even if you don’t bring it into The Final Shape‘s campaign, Scatter Signal is worth farming this season simply because it’s much, much easier to obtain it now. Since gear sources will change with The Final Shape, getting this fusion rifle may be much trickier after June—and the fact that it’s a great weapon doesn’t hurt, either.
Riptide is hardly new, but it’s worth including thanks to its Chill Clip perk. It’s not what it used to be on Riptide, but it still gets the job done, despite taking three bursts to fully freeze enemies instead of the former two.
The catch is it’s a Crucible weapon, so if you’re not fond of PvP (or ritual weapons with 12 traits on columns three and four), taking Vow of the Disciple’s Deliverance may be the most practical chance. It can work as a backup in the meantime, though this fusion rifle is bound to get more of a fighting chance with Bungie’s buff to Chill Clip during The Final Shape—especially since it’s craftable and can roll Demolitionist with Chill Clip, not requiring you to wade through 12 traits on each column to get the roll you want.
Zaouli’s Bane or Luna’s Howl
- Sources: King’s Fall raid (Zaouli’s)/Onslaught (Luna’s)
- DLC required: None
Solar hand cannons have dominated usage rates throughout this season, in part thanks to the plentiful Artifact mods for Solar and the variety of good Solar builds across the board. Zaouli’s Bane has been a strong contender since its release in Destiny 2‘s version of King’s Fall. With the Into the Light update, however, Luna’s Howl returned with a few deadly combinations.
Zaouli’s Bane drops from King’s Fall and is craftable. For the most part, Luna’s beats out its perk pool easily, but the raid hand cannon has an important advantage: Explosive Payload, which greatly improves its damage and consistency, especially in higher-end activities. While Solar builds are bound to opt for Incandescent, Zaouli can also roll One for All for some easily accessible damage buffs.
Luna’s Howl, on the other hand, is a reward from Onslaught and it comes with a more complete suite of all-around perks. Heal Clip with Incandescent drops a good amount of Solar synergy, letting you proc Ember of Benevolence and scorch enemies at the same time, and that’s without mentioning powerful buffs such as its signature Magnificent Howl, plus Desperate Measures and Kill Clip.
Ultimately, choosing between the two is a matter of preference and ease of access. Since we already have a crafted Zaouli’s Bane (and another Harrowed one from Pantheon), we’ll keep both in our vault. Thank the Traveler for the extra vault space.
Rufus’ Fury or Perpetualis
- Sources: Root of Nightmares raid (Rufus), Defiant Battlegrounds (Perpetualis)
- DLC required: Lightfall/Season of Defiance (Perpetualis)
With Prismatic, guardians need to deal both Light and Dark damage to fill up their Transcendence bar. Kinetic weapons will fill both. Because of it, we recommend two workhorse weapons aligned to Strand, just in case your Darkness bar isn’t filling up as fast as it could be. Plus, they’re good options for Strand builds in the pre-Final Shape sandbox—if you’re not using Final Warning or the classic Thorn/Necrotic Grips combo, that is.
Rufus may be harder to obtain since it’s tied to the Lightfall raid, Root of Nightmares. Perpetualis is much easier to grab: it’s part of the year’s first season, and all seasonal content from Year Six is available for free for all guardians until the next expansion. Add to that a guaranteed daily Deepsight weapon from seasonal activities, and it’s easy to get it.
Commemoration or Hammerhead
- Sources: Deep Stone Crypt raid (Commemoration)/Onslaught (Hammerhead)
- DLC required: Beyond Light/None
Since its reissue (and tons of buffs to machine guns), Commemoration has quickly carved its spot as one of the most reliable weapons in Destiny 2, providing a mix of add clear and single-target damage, even if it’s far more focused on taking down mobs. Reconstruction and Firing Line make it an easy option for boss damage, even though you probably won’t top DPS charts with it, and you can even get Killing Tally on it to take care of adds.
Hammerhead also sits in a good spot after its reissue thanks to a perk pool more focused on taking down multiple foes, but it has a decent option for boss damage. Envious Assassin lets you overflow its magazine by getting kills with other weapons, and you can even pair Rampage and Killing Tally on it for a powerhouse.
Overall, we’ll take Commemoration because of Reconstruction and Firing Line, but Hammerhead can also put in some great work—and it’s much easier to get, too, thanks to Onslaught.
Blast Furnace (and other pulse rifles)
- Source: Onslaught
- DLC required: None
Pulse Rifles aren’t exactly at the top of Season of the Wish’s meta, but The Final Shape is bringing two important buffs to this nearly forgotten weapon class. One is a general buff to their damage, and the other is a buff against red bars specifically—and both stack with each other.
Blast Furnace is easily our top pick because of its tremendous perk pool. As a bonus, it’s a Kinetic weapon, so it can charge both your bars for Transcendence when using Prismatic. If you’re looking to lean further into the Stasis aspects of Prismatic or just make the most out of the buffs, though, Xûr also has a decent Disparity for sale (Pugilist/Headstone).
It can’t hurt to have some elemental pulse rifles in your back pocket, either, especially if you’re looking for some subclass synergy or to fill up the Light part of your Transcendence gauge. Here are some suggestions of weapons that can be obtained before The Final Shape:
- Void: Elsie’s Rifle (Onslaught)
- Solar: Darkest Before (Prophecy) or Adhortative (Season of the Wish/Starcrossed)
- Arc: Phyllotactic Spiral (Neomuna) or Oversoul Edict (Crota’s End)
- Stasis: Disparity (Pugilist/Headstone roll sold by Xûr until June 3)
- Strand: Relentless (Prophecy) or Belisarius-D (Competitive Crucible)
Breakneck (and other auto rifles)
- Source: Gambit
- DLC required: None
Auto rifles are also getting a buff in The Final Shape, though the increase isn’t as astonishing as the one slated for pulse rifles. Still, ARs are one of the most reliable, all-rounder weapon categories in Destiny 2, and the game has a few options to choose from (though Stasis isn’t as gifted in that category).
Breakneck takes the top spot on our list because it’s been one of the highlights of Season of the Wish since it released. It’s also somewhat easy to obtain: it only costs one meager Gambit Engram, and so far into a six-month season, players may already have reset the reputation with the Drifter enough times to get extra perks. It’s also Kinetic, which opens up potential avenues for Prismatic.
Like with pulse rifles, though, we have a selection of Light-based auto rifles to pick if you want some of them before The Final Shape:
- Void: Ros Arago IV (world drop)
- Solar: The Summoner (Trials of Osiris) or Abyss Defiant (Crota’s End)
- Arc: Prosecutor (Prophecy) or Arc Logic (Moon)
The entire BRAVE Arsenal
We’ve featured around half of the BRAVE Arsenal in our list, but most of the other weapons are also good in their own right and within their own space. The overhauled Falling Guillotine, for instance, can work well with the upcoming Overload Sword and Argent Blade mods for episode one. With extra drops of weapons and Trophies of Bravery, plus twice the odds of getting a shiny weapon, the tail end of Season of the Wish can let you finish the collection if you haven’t already.
