Best Hunter Subclass in Destiny 2: Ranked for PvE and PvP

Destiny 2 is a complex game with buffs, nerfs, and an ever-changing meta. And since Abilities and Supers are so strong, Subclasses are a crucial part of the game. With the right combination of Aspects, Fragments, and Exotics, the right Subclasses can take your game to the next level, allowing you to create some of the most powerful Hunter builds.

Today we review and rank each Hunter subclass for PvE and PvP. More importantly, we cover each subclass’s strengths and weaknesses and tell you how to optimize them. (PS: These are the best Warlock Subclasses).

Updated as of Season of the Seraph (S19).

Best Hunter Subclasses for PvE in Season 19

--	Subclass	Element	Tier	Trend	Area	Rank
	Nightstalker	Void	Best ❘ S		PvE	S › Best
	Arcstrider	Arc	Strong ❘ A		PvE	A › Strong
	Gunslinger	Solar	Strong ❘ A	-	PvE	A › Strong
	Revenant	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	-	PvE	A › Strong

1. Voidwalker (Void 3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier (best in class for endgame content)

Nightstalker has it all. Potent invisibility, powerful aspects, and synergistic fragments, as well as some of the best exotics in the entire game. Options like Omnioculus and Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk are some of the best Hunter exotics around and can really increase Nightstalker’s potential as a subclass. Gyrfalcons can turn you it into an aggressive DPS monster with chained Smoke Bombs, while Omnioculus can turn you into the perfect defensive support with damage resistance and practically permanent invisibility. This is one of the best ‘carry’ subclasses in the game right now for high-level content.

Ignoring exotics, Nightstalker still has a very strong kit. Invisibility is always a powerful tool, and with Smoke Bombs and Supers like Moebius Quiver and Deadfall, you can have high debuff uptime on a target.

Preferred Exotic: Omnioculus is generally the best option; Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk is good for DPS situations.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Gyrfalcon's Hauberk	Hunter	Chest	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 18	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your weapons gain a bonus to damage briefly after you emerge from being invisible. When you are invisible and defeat a combatant using a finisher, you and your nearby allies gain a reserve overshield and improved class ability regen. These reserve overshields can be deployed by using a class ability."
Omnioculus	Hunter	Chest	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 13	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "You gain a second Smoke Bomb charge and have damage resistance while invisible. When you make an ally invisible, they gain damage resistance while invisible and you gain melee energy."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Vanishing Step is by far the best aspect. Stylish Executioner and Trapper’s Ambush can be swapped depending on your needs/playstyle.
• Fragments: Echo of Persistence, Echo of Starvation, Echo of Undermining, and Echo of Instability/Obscurity.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Resilience are highly recommended. High Discipline and Recovery are also good.
• Abilities: Moebius Quiver Super for boss damage, Deadfall Super for ad clear/debuffing, Vortex Grenade, and Gambler’s Dodge.

2. Arcstrider (Arc 3.0)

• Ranking: A Tier

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.

The potency of Arcstrider’s Combination Blow, when combined with exotics, is what makes a lot of the crazy things you can do with the subclass possible. Two of the standout exotics are Liar’s Handshake and Assassin’s Cowl. Liar’s Handshake allows you to deal even more damage than usual with its ‘Cross-Counter’ exotic perk, and Assassin’s Cowl gives you crazy levels of survivability, making Arcstrider the true solo subclass.

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	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams		Free-to-Play	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.

3. Gunslinger (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: A Tier

Gunslinger gained a lot with the release of Solar 3.0. With buffs to Blade Barrage and the ability to easily make yourself and your Fireteam members Radiant, it is no surprise that Gunslinger has risen the ranks. Solar Hunter does quite a lot and has perhaps some of the best synergies with certain Aspects and Fragments out of all of the classes. The combination of Knock ‘Em Down and Ember of Torches is ridiculously potent, as infinite throwing knives are nothing to scoff at.

This, combined with the already powerful Radiant, Restoration, and Cure effects that all Solar Subclasses have, makes Gunslinger quite powerful, even ignoring the Supers and exotic combos.

Since Season of the Haunted, Blade Barrage has been at the top of the pile when it comes to single-target burst damage, and when combined with the likes of Star-Eater Scales, Blade Barrage can delete a massive chunk of a boss’s health bar. Star-Eater Scales also pairs excellently with the Marksman Golden Gun super, and when paired with a few other Gunslingers, say, in a Raid Boss fight, you can infinitely chain Golden Gun after Golden Gun for some crazy damage phases.

Preferred Exotic: Star-Eater Scales for boss damage, Assassin’s Cowl for solo content, and Young Ahamkara’s Spine/Caliban’s Hand for general play.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
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."
Star-Eater Scales	Hunter	Legs	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 14	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "You gain additional Super energy from Orbs of Power you pick up. While your Super energy is full, picking up an Orb of Power overcharges your Super, causing you to gain a burst of healing when cast and a bonus to your Super damage. At maximum overcharge, you also gain an overshield."
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."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down and On Your Mark
• Fragments: Ember of Torches, Ember of Solace, and Ember of Empyrean

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Mobility and Resilience.
• Abilities: Blade Barrage or Marksman Super, Healing Grenade or Tripmine Grenade, Knife Trick or Proximity Explosive Knifes, and Gambler’s Dodge

4. Revenant (Stasis)

• Ranking: A Tier

Revenant’s strength comes from the actual Stasis subclass itself. The ability to slow and completely freeze enemies is very powerful and shouldn’t be ignored. The Super is an excellent zoning tool and can deal some ‘one and done’ damage to a boss. It is also the most convenient Super to use the ‘Supreme Wellmaker’ and ‘Font of Might’ Mods on yourself as it has an instant cast time and isn’t a roaming super, meaning you can also deal big damage with weapons like Reed’s Regret.

Revenant also has decent exotic armor. Renewal Grasps are still excellent, regardless of how many other Hunters claim they have been nerfed into the ground. Being able to lock down massive areas safely and effectively with your Duskfield Grenade will always be valuable for team-based gameplay, and Mask of Bakris can be a niche option to maximize your weapon damage.

Preferred Exotic: Renewal Grasps and Mask of Bakris.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Renewal Grasps	Hunter	Arms	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 16	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your Duskfield grenades have a much larger effect radius. Allies inside the Duskfield take reduced damage and targets inside the area deal reduced damage."
Mask of Bakris	Hunter	Helm	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 12	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "Replaces your Stasis subclass Dodge ability with a longer range, faster-moving Shift that partially cloaks you during use. After Shifting, your Arc weapons deal increased damage to combatants for a short time, and you deal increased damage to all slowed or frozen combatants."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Touch of Winter and Grim Harvest.
• Fragments: Whisper of Chains, Whisper of Conduction, Whisper of Shards, Whisper of Torment, and Whisper of Rime.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Mobility and Resilience.
• Abilities: Silence and Squall Super, Duskfield Grenades, Withering Blade melee, Gambler’s Dodge.

Best Hunter Subclasses for PvP in Season 19

--	Subclass	Element	Tier	Trend	Area	Rank
	Nightstalker	Void	Best ❘ S		PvP	S › Best
	Gunslinger	Solar	Strong ❘ A		PvP	A › Strong
	Arcstrider	Arc	Average ❘ B	-	PvP	B › Average
	Revenant	Stasis	Weak ❘ C		PvP	C › Weak

1. Nightstalker (Void3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier

Nightstalker in PvP is an absolute menace. Invisibility, smoke grenades, and exotics like Omnioculus, Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk, and even Khepri’s Sting can be insane under the right conditions.

The ability to disappear off the radar (and become ridiculously hard to spot in certain lighting) is remarkable. This, combined with the ability to deceive players with Smoke Bombs, as smokes appear on the enemy’s radar, make Nightstalker the go-to class for many top players. In fact, according to trials.report, almost half of the players with above a 90% win rate in Trials use Nightstalker. Simply put, Nightstalker is potent, and you should take advantage of it if you want to win.

Exotics like Khepri’s Sting, when combined with a 1-shot long-range special weapon like Arbalest, make for easy, cheesy kills due to the free wallhacks that Khepri’s provide. Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk brings a free damage buff upon exiting invisibility which makes for some blatantly overpowered builds with the likes of Rat King and a Wave Frame Grenade Launcher, and Omnioculus is always a strong option.

Preferred Exotic: Omnioculus or Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk for general gameplay. Khepri’s Sting for setups with Snipers/Linear Fusion Rifles.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Gyrfalcon's Hauberk	Hunter	Chest	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 18	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your weapons gain a bonus to damage briefly after you emerge from being invisible. When you are invisible and defeat a combatant using a finisher, you and your nearby allies gain a reserve overshield and improved class ability regen. These reserve overshields can be deployed by using a class ability."
Khepri's Sting	Hunter	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams		Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Punching someone with full melee energy will instantly cast Smoke Bomb. Gain Truesight while in your own Smoke Bomb effect. Your smoke bombs deal increased damage."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Vanishing Step and Trapper’s Ambush are the best here.
• Fragments: Echo of Persistence, Echo of Leeching, Echo of Remnants.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility is key. A mix of high Recovery, high Resilience, and high Discipline is recommended.
• Abilities: The Super is up to personal preference; however, we recommend Spectral Blades,  Vortex or Voidwall Grenade, and Gambler’s Dodge.

2. Gunslinger (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: A Tier

Gunslinger’s PvP potency comes from the Solar element itself. Radiant, Restoration, and Cure are excellent and can massively turn the tide of a fight. Being able to give yourself a quick heal or a strong damage buff is unrivaled, and the fact you can also provide your allies with these benefits truly makes Solar Hunter very strong.

Gunslinger also has access to some excellent melee abilities. The Weighted Knife is the only melee ability in the game that can 1-shot without the help of an exotic or subclass perk. Being able to deal 212 precision damage and get your knife refunded (provided you are using Ember of Torches) is amazing and truly adds an enjoyable skill gap to the subclass, as strong Gunslinger players will be able to take full advantage of the 1-shot potential this knife brings.

The Supers are also strong, Deadshot Golden Gun is a potent roaming super, and Blade Barrage is one of the fastest charging Supers in the game, making Gunslinger an all-around, fun, solid subclass that only slightly falls short of the greats.

Preferred Exotic: Young Ahamkara’s Spine with Tripmine Grenades, Caliban’s Hand with Proximity Explosive Knives, Athrys’s Embrace with Weighted Knives or St0mp-EE5 for overall gameplay

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
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."
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 and the ability to stun unshielded combatants for a short time."
St0mp-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams		Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance. 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.

3. Arcstrider (Arc 3.0)

• Ranking: B Tier

Arcstrider can be excellent in the right hands. Amplified, Disorienting, and Arc Staff are strong tools to play with. However, Arcstrider feels like it lacks the X factor that the other Hunter subclasses have, be it invisibility, freezing, or damage buffing.

That said, high-skill players will definitely take advantage of the high movement ceiling and outplay potential that the subclass has with the Disorienting Melee, deflecting Arc Strider, or using the Amplified buff effectively. There are also no exotics that properly synergize with the Arcstrider subclass in PvP. For these reasons, Arcstrider is an unattractive pick, as there are more effective subclasses that require less effort out there.

Preferred Exotic: St0mp-EE5 for higher movement potential.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
St0mp-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams		Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance. Improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: All are viable.
• Fragments: Spark of Resistance, Spark of Shock, Spark of Recharge, Spark of Magnitude, and Spark of Momentum (if not using Lightning, Pulse, or Storm Grenades).

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Recovery are highly recommended
• Abilities: Arc Staff Super, Arcbolt Grenade/Lightning Grenade/Storm Grenade, Disorienting Blow, Gambler’s Dodge.

4. Revenant (Stasis)

• Ranking: C Tier

Revenant is not in a great spot in terms of PvP right now. It lacks mobility, it has a weak Super, and it doesn’t have the kill potential that Shadebinder has with its Penumbral Blast melee ability. It also doesn’t have the best Exotics. Renewal Grasps is not great for PvP, and Mask of Bakris can work, but it has quite a learning curve, and you can simply get more value out of easier-to-use Exotics.

Overall, Revenant is just difficult to make work. It has its niche uses, like easily slowing enemies with Withering Blade, but when you can have access to Invisibility, Smoke Bombs, or 1-shot knives, it can be hard to recommend Revenant.  µThe Subclassis definitely usable, and can be very annoying to play against, but you will probably be better off with another option.

Preferred Exotic:

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Mask of Bakris	Hunter	Helm	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 12	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "Replaces your Stasis subclass Dodge ability with a longer range, faster-moving Shift that partially cloaks you during use. After Shifting, your Arc weapons deal increased damage to combatants for a short time, and you deal increased damage to all slowed or frozen combatants."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Touch of Winter and Winter’s Shroud.
• Fragments: Whisper of Chains, Whisper of Durance, Whisper of Torment.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Recovery is best.
• Abilities: Duskfield Grenades, Withering Blade, Gambler’s Dodge.

Your turn

What is your favorite Hunter Subclass right now? Let us know in the comments below!