The Best Hunter Builds For Hard PvE Content

The year of Lightfall in Destiny 2 has been eventful. Not only has the game gone through substantial seasonal model changes, but there’s also a new subclass called Strand, and various balance changes that have come into to tune the difficulty of the game. Much of it has attempted to address the ability spam meta that was born out of the Light subclass 3.0 updates introduced during the year of The Witch Queen.

In Season of the Wish, the final season of Destiny 2 before The Final Shape expansion and the move towards an episodic model, Hunters are making a proper return to amazing PVE builds. Solar Hunters in particular have a ton of great choices during this extraordinarily long season that will span until June following the next expansion’s delay. So, here’s what the strongest PVE Hunter builds are in the current meta. Note that this will likely change with balance patches, and many of these builds are made more effective by the seasonal artifact perks.

Damaging Arc Melee Build

Melee Attacks Heal & Deal Tons Of Damage

The Arc subclass for Hunters is a good place to start off for a good PVE build. Liar’s Handshake is one of the best Exotic armor pieces available for Hunter mains because when players use their melee ability or are hit by an enemy melee, their next melee punch will deal an additional 200% damage. Not just that, the melee punch will heal them, providing sustain in even the most hectic environments, which is something the elusive, glass cannon class desperately needs.

The key ability here is Combination Blow, which pairs wonderfully with Liar’s Handshake, dealing even more damage as each melee kill stacks up to three tiers of damage boost. It’s perfect for environments full of enemies that try to chase after the player or get in close range and works decently in solo content as well due to the high damage and incredible sustainability. The Exotic can also be switched out for Assassin’s Cowl, depending on what’s available for the player and what they prefer.

Mods and weapons are up to preference, but close-range weapons like shotguns with One-Two Punch will pair up nicely with the build and help chip down orange-bars or mini-bosses. Melee mods like Hands On which grants Super energy from melee kills and Heavy-Handed which drops Orbs of Power from melee kills are a must-have for this melee-oriented build.

Weakening Void Build

Apply Weaken Bosses & Groups Of Enemies

Hunters are the best debuffers in the game when it comes to the Void subclass. They are usually the go-to class when a fireteam needs someone to weaken a boss with a Void debuff, which is why having at least one Void hunter in endgame PVE activities is always a good idea. This generalist Void build is centered around Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk, but some players might prefer Orpheus Rig if going for Moebius Quiver for their Super.

Gyrfalcons Hauberk remains among the most powerful Exotics for Hunters. Its Intrinsic perk grants players Volatile Rounds when they get out of Invisibility. While Invisible and when using a finisher, players a granted a boost in damage and any nearby allies will receive a Void overshield and a boost in class ability regeneration. So with that in mind, the build focuses on going in and out of Invisibility and building a Super quickly, either to dump it on a group of enemies to clear the room or to weaken a high-health boss.

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With Arc 3.0 here, Destiny 2 players can pair their Arc builds with some of the best Arc weapons in the game.

For weapons, something fast-firing and close-range like a Void SMG is a good option. The Invisibility is what gives the build tons of survivability, along with Devour from one of the fragments, so players won’t need to worry about dying even when in the thick of things. Mods like Dynamo are incredible for this build, as they boost Super energy charge rate when using class ability near enemies, which this build will definitely do. Power Preservation is also a great one to ensure players are also creating tons of orbs for their fireteam if using their Super to clear a room.

High Solo Survival Solar Build

Receive Healing From Melee Hits

As mentioned earlier, Assassin’s Cowl is a great pick for Arc subclass builds, but it works just as well for Solar builds. In this case, the build focuses on staying alive and surviving for as long as possible, while either playing solo or just playing a very challenging PVE activity with tons of incoming damage. It also favors any seasonal solar-related artifact perks that boost Scorch.

The key here is once again melee final blows. On Solar, not only will players be able to gain Restoration from melee final blows with these fragments, but the Exotic itself will grant a bit of health as well as invisibility. The more powerful the target is, the better the effects are. For example, this build works well if players are finishing up champions in Grandmaster Nightfalls. The fragments also focus and provide great Scorch damage, so any weapons that come with Incandescent are ideal. This season, Polaris Lance and Sunshot are wonderful picks.

The Super here is Blade Barrage thanks to its high damage potential. It can deal single-target damage while also taking out multiple enemies at once, making it far more versatile than Golden Gun in PVE. For mods, go for Solar Siphon since this build requires at least one Solar weapon, Heavy-Handed to create Orbs of Power from knife kills, and Hands On to ensure the knife kills also grant Super energy.

Scorching Solar Build

Gain Super Energy Fast While Scorching Enemies With Throwing Knives

A variant of the build seen above, this one is focused less on survival and more on spamming Blade Barrage over and over again. If players can afford to trade off the survivability from Assassin’s Cowl, this Shards of Galanor variant of the build can work really well even at the endgame level. The goal here is to build Supers fast, which the Exotic allows, as throwing knife final blows lowers the Super’s cooldown. Moreover, any hits Blade Barrage scores will return some Super energy to the player, up to 50% of the Super bar.

To counterbalance the lack of survival, players can go for a Healing Grenade here instead of the stick-on Fusions, although the fragments will ensure that players will be proccing Restoration from their knife kills and Solar weapon final blows. Fragments and mods will mostly focus on enhancing the Scorch from melee knife hits, and ensure that players will constantly be able to cycle their class ability and their powered melee ability seamlessly. Weapons that apply Scorch are once again highly recommended for the build.

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Dynamo is a no-brainer mod pick here, along with Solar Siphon since a Solar weapon will be needed to make this build really shine. For more orb generation, Power Preservation and Heavy Handed are great to earn additional Orbs of Power from the Blade Barrage (when killing groups of enemies) and from melee final blows. Hands On will also further increase the Super recharge rate with melee kills, so make sure to pick it up.

Ultimate Boss DPS Hunter Build

Deal High Precision Damage On Bosses

Finally, the Celestial Nighthawk build has returned in Season of the Wish in a new, reimagined glory. The Celestial Nighthawk changes the Golden Gun Super to only fire a single shot that deals incredibly high damage. If the target happens to be defeated by the shot, players will gain back a bit of Super energy, and the enemy also explodes. However, in most endgame PVE content this isn’t reliable, so the job of this build really is to just provide an instant burst of high damage.

Nighthawk had been modified slightly. Now, precision final blows will reduce the cooldown of the player’s Super, making it far easier to quickly farm up the damage Super in between damage rounds. This build is otherwise quite similar to the previous two in terms of fragments. Since players will want to score precision hits, a Solar precision Exotic with the ability to scorch is key here. A favorite for many has been Sunshot, but Legendary weapons with Incandescent can do just fine.

Players will definitely want to take advantage of Radiant here, so Ember of Torches is a must-pick fragment. On top of that, prioritize any mods that help build up that Super energy quickly, such as Dynamo, which boosts Super recharge rate when dodging near enemies, and Hands On, which grants Super energy from knife kills. In terms of grenades, there are a few options here, but for extra hard content Healing Grenade just might be the best option to stay alive, along with Ember of Empyrean to have knife kills extend the duration of Restoration.

Destiny 2

Platform(s)

PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, Stadia

Released

August 28, 2017

Developer(s)

Bungie

Genre(s)

FPS