Since its shift to a seasonal model, Destiny 2 has been offering players new activities and new gear regularly. With four seasons a year, there are plenty of weapons and armor introduced in Destiny 2 roughly every three months, giving players a ton of gear to chase—and since the addition of crafting, a few Patterns to hunt down each season.
With a steady stream of seasonal weapons, not all of them will be the best of the bunch. Some may be almost revolutionary, while others may be one of those weapons to keep in your vault in case they receive a buff or just unlock their Pattern and craft in the event of an emergency.
With each season, though, some weapons draw the attention of players and become the flavor of the month for some time—and even long after their season ends. This is particularly true for weapons released during The Witch Queen due to the addition of 3.0-related verbs and perks, including Voltshot and Incandescent.
Here are the best seasonal weapons from each season this year in Destiny 2, using the seasonal paywall as a criterion. This means we won’t consider weapons available for free, such as Taipan-4FR or Opulent weapons, or gear from Vow of the Disciple or Duality since they have different paywalls.
Best seasonal weapons in Season of the Risen
Piece of Mind
One of the kings of the Crucible when the meta favored pulse rifles, Piece of Mind is a good addition to any guardian’s arsenal. For PvE, Overflow or Perpetual Motion paired with Vorpal Weapon, Focused Fury, or Adrenaline Junkie make this a solid weapon for all-around use, while in PvP, Heating Up and Moving Target or Elemental Capacitor can make this weapon a beast. Piece of Mind is a rapid-fire pulse, however, and it has some stiff competition in other archetypes, especially in PvE. Though you may favor other weapons over it, keeping a Piece of Mind in your vault may not be a bad idea.
Thoughtless
Thoughtless isn’t extraordinary for burst damage, but it delivers amazingly when it comes to consistency. Overflow works tremendously well for a sniper and gives Thoughtless around 10 rounds in the magazine, and pairing Firing Line (for group content) or Focused Fury (for solo) with it makes this a tremendous low-effort weapon for sustained damage against most bosses. Bring a Thoughtless and a good Heavy weapon and you have your Energy slot free for any Exotic you may want, which opens up a good deal of loadout flexibility.
Sweet Sorrow
Related: How to get Sweet Sorrow and its god roll in Destiny 2
Though 720rpm auto rifles were decent-ish at best (and suffering even more from issues with auto rifles as a weapon category), Season of the Splicer’s Chroma Rush gave fans a taste of just how good this archetype can be. Sweet Sorrow drinks from the same well, offering a comfortable weapon with a few good perk choices. Triple Tap and Perpetual Motion help with the weapon’s feel, while One For All offers a hefty damage boost. You can also opt for Demolitionist for extra utility. Sweet Sorrow mixes comfort and damage with a little style of its own to match. Just take care of its recoil direction with an Arrowhead Brake and possibly a Counterbalance Stock mod to mitigate its bad direction.
Explosive Personality
Though Explosive Personality didn’t really shine too much at the start of Risen, the addition of Solar 3.0 in Season of the Haunted gave this weapon a new role in monochromatic builds. It being a Solar weapon means you can benefit from Font of Might and Explosive Wellmaker, making Elemental Wells wherever you go. Golden Tricorn sweetens the pot, giving it an extra 50-percent damage boost if you get a kill with a Solar ability, while Auto-Loading Holster and Feeding Frenzy help mitigate the fact you can only have one round in the barrel (since it doesn’t roll with Ambitious Assassin). If you’re not running Solar, One For All is also a good choice considering the blast radius on Explosive Personality will allow you to hit more than one target per shot.
Best seasonal weapons in Season of the Haunted
Nezarec’s Whisper
Bungie doubled down on glaives when Season of the Haunted dropped, giving players the first Legendary Arc glaive in the game. That alone is enough to put Nezarec’s Whisper in the spotlight, but it also comes with a decent suite of perks and the Haunted aesthetic, which help take it to the next level. Having Impulse Amplifier already gives it an edge over Lubrae’s Ruin and basically makes it an Arc version of The Enigma—which is absolutely not a bad position to be in.
Tears of Contrition
Related: Tears of Contrition god roll and best perks in Destiny 2
Scout rifles will likely stay relevant constantly due to their utility in higher-end content, especially with the right Anti-Champion mods. In that regard, Tears of Contrition isn’t much different than what you’d expect from a scout rifle, but it comes with a few good choices in a really nice package thanks to the Haunted aesthetic. Triple Tap, Auto-Loading Holster, and Perpetual Motion make for great choices for the first perk, and you can pick your poison between Explosive Payload (our favorite), Fourth Time’s the Charm, Vorpal Weapon, and Focused Fury to add a lot more punch to this scout rifle. It may not be exceptional, but it’s reliable—and when it comes to scout rifles, that already goes a long way.
Hollow Denial
Killing Tally was the signature perk of the 21% Delirium machine gun from Gambit, but this powerful perk can also roll in Hollow Denial. Killing Tally increases a weapon’s damage with each final blow (up to three stacks) until the weapon is reloaded or stowed, which can go a long way with trace rifles. Even if you don’t get one with Killing Tally, you can also find one with Swashbuckler and even craft one with the enhanced perk to get more uptime. The lack of Legendary trace rifles makes Hollow Denial stand out even more, but it’s a solid weapon on its own.
Best seasonal weapons in Season of Plunder
Brigand’s Law
Season of Plunder was all about Arc 3.0, and its weapons show it. Brigand’s Law was one of the first weapons to roll with Voltshot, a powerful perk for crowd control and with heavy Arc synergy. Not only that, but this 450rpm sidearm also packs a punch thanks to its fire rate. With options for damage and utility and not many competitors in the Arc sidearm category, Brigand’s Law shines as one of the highlights of an otherwise forgettable season.
Tarnished Mettle
Scout rifles are one of the most reliable weapons for ranged engagements, and players who engage in Match Game content found a reliable option for an Arc scout rifle in Tarnished Mettle. The value of this scout rifle comes in more than just what perks it can roll with, but more specifically, what combinations it can roll with—including Demolitionist/Voltshot, Rapid Hit/Explosive Payload, and even go with Focused Fury, Swashbuckler, or Multikill Clip if you’re looking for extra damage.
Sailspy Pitchglass
A linear fusion rifle will always stand out in a PvE meta that favors linear fusion rifles, and because of that, Sailspy Pitchglass shines. Unluckily for this weapon, however, Duality’s Stormchaser shines even more, but Sailspy is a decent choice if you don’t have access to it. Though it won’t hit the full potential of Stormchaser, Clown Cartridge paired with Vorpal Weapon or Focused Fury will allow you to deal a decent chunk of damage, especially in activities with Arc burn.
Best seasonal weapons in Season of the Seraph
Fire and Forget
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If you didn’t get a chance to grab Stormchaser from Duality, Fire and Forget is a good alternative and the only other Aggressive Frame linear fusion rifle in the game as of season 19. While Fire and Forget lacks some incredible perks from Stormchaser (including the unrivaled Auto-Loading Holster/Firing Line combination for group content), Field Prep and either Vorpal Weapon or Focused Fury make for good substitutes. And now that its recoil finally works properly, you can’t go wrong with Fire and Forget in the Seraph damage meta.
Retrofit Escapade
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A new contender arises. Retrofit Escapade benefits highly from its uniqueness, in particular due to a new (and highly promising) combination: Fourth Time’s The Charm and Target Lock. Target Lock gives you a hefty damage boost for keeping the target in your sights, and Fourth Time’s The Charm rewinds two rounds to your magazine after landing four precision shots. In a machine gun that fires 900 rounds per minute, those magazine refunds really add up—and give you tremendous uptime on Target Lock as long as you’re hitting your crits. And if that wasn’t good enough, it’s a Void machine gun. This means Hunters can take advantage of Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk to slap some Volatile Rounds into it, and other classes can proc Volatile Rounds through normal means to make this weapon even more solid.
Disparity
Related: These are the Disparity god rolls and best perks in Destiny 2
Season of the Seraph really leaned into pulse rifles, giving players an Exotic pulse rifle (Revision Zero), two Legendary Stasis pulse rifles (Disparity and the Dawning’s Stay Frosty), and a Legendary Void pulse as a ritual weapon (Veles-X). Disparity might have the lowest barrier of entry now that the Dawning is over, though, and this weapon comes with plenty of options with it. It’s a really good Aggressive pulse with a four-round burst and deadly perk combinations. Aim for Rapid Hit or Outlaw with Desperado for flavor and firepower, Headstone for crowd control, or four other good damage perks in One For All, Kill Clip, Frenzy, or Swashbuckler. There is plenty to work with, and since it’s craftable, you can fine-tune it as much as you want.
Judgment of Kelgorath
Related: Here are the Judgment of Kelgorath god rolls and best perks in Destiny 2
Kelgorath has tried to kill the guardians many times, and he failed again in Season of the Seraph—though this time, he was kind enough to leave his glaive with us. Judgment of Kelgorath opens up an alternative to the Vow of the Disciple-exclusive Lubrae’s Ruin, the only Legendary Solar glaive as of Season of the Seraph. More importantly, it’s an Aggressive Frame, and it brings a suite of new perks and combinations with it. You may already have a tough time choosing between Overflow, Incandescent, and Close to Melee, which are new in glaives, but you can also throw Impulse Amplifier, Surrounded, and Unstoppable Force into the mix for an even more stacked perk pool.
