As you start to get serious with the game and you decide that it’s time to tackle more difficult content, one of the first questions you’ll have is: What is the best Class in Destiny 2 right now?
This is a difficult question to tackle, and the answer will vary depending on whether you’re talking about PvE, PvP, endgame, casual content, etc. Still, with the combined experience of the entire team, we go over the best classes and subclasses for PvE and PvP this season.
Updated as of Season of the Witch (S22).
Best Class in Destiny 2 for PvE
We recently reviewed and ranked all the Subclasses for Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks. When combining all the different reviews, these are, according to the entire BlueberriesGG team, the best classes/subclasses for PvE ahead of Lightfall:
| -- | Subclass | Element | Tier | Trend | Area | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dawnblade |  Solar | Best ❘ S |  | PvE | S › Best |
 | Arcstrider |  Arc | Best ❘ S | | PvE | S › Best |
 | Sunbreaker | Solar | Best ❘ S | - | PvE | S › Best |
1. Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier (best in class for team-based content)
A subclass primarily used for support, Dawnblade fills its lack of ad clear and boss damage with some of the most powerful buffs in the game. Radiant provides a whopping 25% increase to damage, and Restoration provides continuous health regeneration even through damage.
While these buffs are inherently powerful, Dawnblade lost much of its power through the Starfire Protocol nerf that came with Season of the Deep. Other Exotics like Boots of the Assembler and Sunbracers have filled the role nicely, but nothing quite matches the absurdity of pre-nerf Starfire.
All that said, Dawnblade is still excellent at what it does. Well of Radiance continues to be the best PvE Super in the game, while the potent buffs Solar offers have kept Dawnblade popular through its decline.
Preferred Exotic: Now that Starfire Protocol was nerfed into the ground, we’d recommend Sunbracers, Boots of the Assembler, or Lunafaction Boots.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Boots of the Assembler | Warlock | Legs | Beyond Light | Lost Sectors | Season 14 |  Beyond Light | Exotic Perk: "Standing in a healing rift creates Noble Seekers that seek out allies that are not in a rift and heal them. Noble Seekers from Empowering rift grant both you and your ally a damage bonus. Each time a Noble Seeker finds one of your allies, the duration of your rift is briefly extended." |
 Lunafaction Boots | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 |  Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Your Rifts gain the additional ability to increase weapon reload speeds. Empowering Rift makes weapons effective over longer ranges." |
 Sunbracers | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: All three Dawnblade Aspects have heavy pros and cons that come with them. However, Touch of Flame and Heat Rises are generally the most useful.
- Fragments: Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Solace, Ember of Ashes, Ember of Torches.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
- Abilities: Well of Radiance is arguably the strongest Super in the entire game, so running it is a no-brainer. Fusion Grenades, Solar Grenades, and Celestial Fire are generally the best picks beyond the Super.
2. Berserker (Strand)
- Ranking: S Tier – Best
The new kid on the block, Berserker Titan, has quickly become one of the most dominant PVE subclasses. Capable of easy Woven Mail generation for great damage resist combined with some of the best ad-clear in the game, Berserker is an S Tier subclass for all PVE activities.
Preferred Exotic: Berserker is all about a fast-paced, in-your-face playstyle and exotics that fit this playstyle or build on the powerful Strand mechanics work best. These include Abeyant Leap, Synthoceps, and Heart of Inmost Light.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abeyant Leap | Titan | Legs | Lightfall | Lost Sectors | Season 20 |  Lightfall | Exotic Perk: "Drengr's Lash spawns two additional projectiles, tracks targets more aggressively, and travels farther. Gain Woven Mail when suspending targets." |
 Heart of Inmost Light | Titan | Chest | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 4 |  Forsaken Pack | Exotic Perk: "Using an ability (grenade, melee, or Barricade) empowers the other two abilities. Empowered means abilities have faster regen, melees and grenades do more damage, and Barricades have more hit points." |
 Synthoceps | Titan | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee and Super damage when you're surrounded." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Drengr’s Lash and Banner of War are the most used aspects for Strand builds. The easy crowd-control Drengr’s Lash provides makes it the base of most Strand builds, while Banner of War’s insane damage buff, health bumps, and support potential make it a must-have for any activity. Flechette Storm is a fun, melee-centered aspect that is great for lower-end content. Into the Fray is also a good alternative for tougher high-end content.
- Fragments: Thread of Mind, Thread of Continuity, Thread of Generation, Thread of Ascent.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Resilience, Discipline, Strength.
- Abilities: Currently, Berserker only has 1 option for both the Melee and Super, Frenzied Blade, and Bladefury, respectively. Thankfully both of these are strong, especially with the additional charges Frenzied Blade has. Shackle Grenade is the best option to due how seamlessly it fits into the suspended gameplay loop that Berserker is best at. Grapple Grenade can be fun to use for mobility.
3. Sunbreaker (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier – Best
The Sunbreaker Titan has always been a reliable choice since the Red War. Solar 3.0 made Sunbreaker one of the best subclasses for solo content by making your titan almost impossible to kill. Sunbreaker has some of the best access to the Solar 3.0 mechanics, such as restoration and cure, which allow it to survive situations where other subclasses would fail.
Preferred Exotic: Loreley Splendor Helm, The Path of Burning Steps, and Hallowfire Heart are examples of exotics that synergize well with Sunbreaker and Solar 3.0. Synthoceps are another great choice for Throwing Hammer builds and are considered the best overall choice. Plus, the new Pyrogale Gauntlets (we cover how to get the Pyrogale Gauntlets here) can vastly improve most Solar builds.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hallowfire Heart | Titan | Chest | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Solar takedowns while standing in a Sunspot create a Sunspot. Greatly improves recharge rate of your Solar abilities while your Super is charged. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons." |
 Loreley Splendor Helm | Titan | Helm | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 16 |  The Witch Queen | Exotic Perk: "When you have Sun Warrior, your Sunspots heal you. When you are critically wounded, create a Sunspot at your location." |
Synthoceps | Titan | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee and Super damage when you're surrounded." |
 The Path of Burning Steps | Titan | Legs | Beyond Light | Lost Sectors | Season 14 | Beyond Light | Exotic Perk: "Solar final blows periodically grant you an escalating bonus to weapon damage, and Solar grenade final blows grant you the highest bonus. You are harder to slow or freeze with Stasis, and when you break out, you take no damage from doing so, creating a burst of Solar energy around yourself." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Roaring Flames and Sol Invictus are the bread and butter of most Sunbreaker builds. Consecration can be built around but lacks the diversity that the other aspects offer.
- Fragments: Ember of Char, Ember of Eruption, Ember of Solace, Ember of Torches.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Resilience, Discipline, Strength.
- Abilities: Both Hammer of Sol and Burning Maul are solid choices for the super. Throwing Hammer is the better of the two melees. Being able to pick up the hammer and use it at range makes it the best choice. Thermite and Solar Grenades are the best for ad-clear whilst the healing provided by the Healing Grenade makes these the go-to choices.
4. Arcstrider (Arc 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier – Best
Arcstrider went from arguably the worst subclass in the game to a brilliant ad-clearing and damage-dealing subclass with an engaging combat loop. Out of all of the Arc subclasses, Arcstrider has some of the easiest paths to Jolting enemies and becoming Amplified. The synergy of Combination Blow, Lethal Current, and Flow State makes Arcstrider ridiculously potent if you get a nice build going. Arcstrider is so strong that some players have even been able to basically speedrun Grandmaster Nightfalls solo.
What makes Arcstrider truly remarkable, though, is its survivability with an exotic like Assassin’s Cowl with its Invisibility and healing, or even Liar’s Handshake with its health restore on Cross Counter melee. On top of this, Combination Blow also heals you on powered melee kill, making Arcstrider one of the tankiest subclasses in the game.
Gathering Storm is also an excellent burst damage super, only being outmatched by Blade Barrage, and when combined with Star-Eater Scales, Arcstriders can deal outrageous damage.
Preferred Exotic: Liar’s Handshake for more damage (better for easier content), Assassin’s Cowl for more survivability (better for harder content).
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Assassin's Cowl | Hunter | Helm | Shadowkeep | Exotic Engrams | Season 8 |  Shadowkeep | Exotic Perk: "Powered melee final blows grant invisibility and restore a portion of health and shields. Finishers and final blows against more powerful targets increase the duration of the invisibility and the amount of health and shields." |
 Liar's Handshake | Hunter | Arms | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 6 | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Perk: "Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Flow State and Lethal Current.
- Fragments: Spark of Resistence, Spark of Shock, Spark of Ions, and Spark of Feedback
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: 100 Resilience and 100 Mobility are highly recommended
- Abilities: Gathering Storm Super, Pulse Grenade or Storm Grenade, Combination Blow, and Gambler’s Dodge.
Best Class in Destiny 2 for PvP
After performing the same exercise for PvP, these are the strongest Subclasses in the game right now:
| -- | Subclass | Element | Tier | Trend | Area | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawnblade | Solar | Best ❘ S | - | PvP | S › Best |
 | Gunslinger | Solar | Best ❘ S | - | PvP | S › Best |
 | Striker | Arc | Best ❘ S | - | PvP | S › Best |
1. Striker (Arc 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier – Best
After Arc 3.0, it is rare to not come across a Striker inside PVP. There is a good reason for this. It excels in both casual and competitive modes due to its strong neutral game and fast-charging supers. It has access to the best grenades and can empower them to make them even stronger. The new class ability, Thruster, also allows Striker to take on a more aggressive and fast-paced playstyle.
Preferred Exotic: There are a few Arc-based exotics that work well with Striker in PvP, but the best exotics are ones that enhance the already powerful neutral game that Striker offers. These include Dunemarchers, Synthoceps, and One-Eyed Mask.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dunemarchers | Titan | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed. Sprinting builds up a static charge. After melee-attacking an enemy, that charge will chain damage to nearby enemies." |
 One-Eyed Mask | Titan | Helm | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 4 | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Perk: "Highlights the enemy who dares to damage you. Track down and destroy your enemy for an overshield." |
Synthoceps | Titan | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee and Super damage when you're surrounded." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Knockout and Touch of Thunder are the aspects to use for PVP. Knockout is incredibly strong with the increased melee range and damage combined with the health regeneration. Touch of Thunder makes the already strong grenades even more deadly.
- Fragments: Spark of Magnitude, Spark of Feedback, Spark of Recharge, Spark of Momentum.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline, Resilience.
- Abilities: Seismic Strike is the best overall melee. It provides extra movement and is great for shotgun clean-ups. Ballistic Slam can also be great for engaging when paired with exotics like Dunemarchers or Synthoceps but is riskier. Lightning Grenades are the best choice after recent nerfs to Storm Grenades. Touch of Thunder gives you two and allows them to jolt targets which is incredibly potent for PVP. Towering Barricade is the best option for 3v3 competitive modes due to the safe utility it provides. Thruster is a good option for faster-paced game modes like 6v6. Thundercrash is the most used super due to the combination of its short charge time and effectiveness allowing for multiple high-impact supers in a single game.
2. Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier
With unique movement abilities and absurd health regeneration, it’s no wonder Dawnblade is such a menace in PVP.
Icarus Dash and Heat Rises allow you to utilize vertical movement while not bogged down by airborne effectiveness. Movement in Daybreak is similar, allowing you to fly across the map raining death from above.
Dawnblade (and Solar as a whole) also provides excellent support opportunities in the form of Restoration. This buff goes through damage, meaning you’ll restore health while taking damage. Radiant is also an irreplaceable buff in PVP, allowing for significantly more consistent kills.
Dawnblade is simply unmatched in general utility, movement, and support, making it one of the best subclasses for PVP.
Preferred Exotic: Rain of Fire can grant easy reloads and damage increases, while Transversive Steps and Ophidian Aspect are timeless favorites.
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ophidian Aspect | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 2 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons." |
 Rain of Fire | Warlock | Legs | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 17 | The Witch Queen | Exotic Perk: "Air dodge reloads all of your weapons and improves the airborne effectiveness of Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles; final blows with these weapons make you radiant." |
 Transversive Steps | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Heat Rises and Icarus Dash’s movement bonuses are hard to resist, but Touch of Flame could be used in rare situations.
- Fragments: Ember of Solace, Ember of Torches, Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Benevolence.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline.
- Abilities: Daybreak is great for both its movement and killing capabilities, and Celestial Fire’s range and tracking is usually preferred. Solar Grenade is excellent here, but unique grenades like Healing can excel just as much.
3. Gunslinger (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: S Tier – Best
Gunslinger in PvP is in an excellent spot right now as it boasts some of the strongest abilities and ability-altering exotics that can be used right now. Weighted Knife is still quite an easy skill shot to hit, letting you 1-shot anyone if you get a precision hit, and while Young Ahamkara’s Spine has been nerfed, it still does massive damage to enemies.
Athrys’s Embrace is also another cheesy yet powerful option. Being able to make your Weighted Knife even deadlier is not something to ignore, especially when the activation condition is so simple.
Overall, Gunslinger is just solid across the board. Strong Supers, good abilities, and generally fluid gameplay.
Preferred Exotic: Young Ahamkara’s Spine with Tripmine Grenades, Athrys’s Embrace with Weighted Knives, or St0mp-EE5 for overall gameplay
| Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Athrys's Embrace | Hunter | Arms | Beyond Light | Lost Sectors | Season 12 | Beyond Light | Exotic Perk: "Weighted Knife gains a second bounce. Rapid precision hits with your weapons grant Weighted Knife a significant damage bonus, bonus strength, and the ability to stun unshielded combatants for a short time. Empowered Weighted Knife is strong against Unstoppable Champions." |
 Caliban's Hand | Hunter | Arms | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 17 | The Witch Queen | Exotic Perk: "Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions, or ignites targets on a direct hit. After throwing a Proximity Knife, you gain increased melee regeneration until the knife explodes." |
 St0mp-EE5 | Hunter | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance while your dodge energy is full and improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump." |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Knock ‘em Down and On Your Mark.
- Fragments: Ember of Torches, Ember of Combustion with Deadshot, Ember of Solace, Ember of Beams.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Recovery is best.
- Abilities: Deadshot Super, Healing Grenade/Tripmine Grenade/Solar Grenade, Weighted Knife/Proximity Explosive Knife, Gambler’s Dodge.
Before you go…
Keep in mind that choosing at Class and Subclass is only the first step. If you truly want to take your game to the next level, you need to also find the right combination of weapons and armor to create an exceptional build:
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