[toc] You obviously want your Guardian to look great while being powerful enough to tackle the game’s tougher challenges. There’s a lot to take into account here, including your Exotic of choice, the build around it, and the way it all comes together to look good.
This all can seem daunting early on, but trust me, it’s pretty easy to get started. This guide will help every step of the way and help you choose an Exotic, find great-looking armor sets, and finally, put it all together to create some dope Hunter fashion.
Best Hunter Exotics
We reviewed and ranked every single Hunter exotic here. But today, we focus only on the absolute best Exotics for PvE and PvP, and more precisely, the Exotics we consider to be S-tier. As you can only equip one Exotic at a time, your choice of what Exotic armor to use matters greatly, as it can take an entire build and/or subclass to new heights. These are the top-tier Hunter Exotics we recommend:
Name | Type | Rank | Excels | Subclass | Source | Requirements | Armor | Tier rank | Subclass? | Final Verdict |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Star-Eater Scales | Legs | S › Best | PvE | Neutral | Lost Sectors | Beyond Light | ![]() Star-Eater Scales | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE | ![]() Neutral | Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors 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." ► Star-Eater Scales is a beast. It focuses entirely on your super and can buff Hunters' supers to the highest DPS levels in the game. When using Star-Eater Scales, all subclasses get the highest DPS supers in the game, making Star-Eater Scales an excellent pick everywhere, no matter the difficulty. |
Omnioculus | Chest | S › Best | PvE + PvP | Void | Lost Sectors | Beyond Light | ![]() Omnioculus | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE + PvP | ![]() Void | Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors 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." ► Omnioculus is a ridiculously strong exotic. Granting an extra smoke bomb charge and giving melee energy when you make allies invisible is already excellent. However, giving your team damage resistance on demand takes Omnioculus to another level in both PvP and PvE. |
Aeon Swift | Arms | S › Best | PvE | Neutral | Exotic Engrams | Free-to-Play | ![]() Aeon Swift | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE | ![]() Neutral | Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Aeon Exotics have an additional mod socket which is used for Aeon Cult mods." ► The Aeon sets are a must-have for anyone looking to take endgame PvE seriously. They are an excellent pick for Grandmaster Nightfalls and often a necessity for some boss encounters in Day 1 Raids. They eliminate the RNG that comes with ammo drops and help your team enormously. |
Assassin's Cowl | Helm | S › Best | PvE | Neutral | Exotic Engrams | Shadowkeep | ![]() Assassin's Cowl | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE | ![]() Neutral | Source: Exotic Engrams 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." ► The Assassin's Cowl is the perfect Solo exotic. Both Gunslinger and Arcstrider can use this exotic brilliantly with the correct setup, allowing you to basically stay invisible forever. You can find a detailed build on how to synergize Radiant and Assassin's Cowl here. |
St0mp-EE5 | Legs | S › Best | PvP | Neutral | Exotic Engrams | Free-to-Play | ![]() St0mp-EE5 | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvP | ![]() Neutral | Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance. Improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump." ► St0mp-EE5, despite their airborne effectiveness nerf, remains a big favorite among PvP Hunter mains. The quality of life that Stompees provide and the ability to outmaneuver your opponents are rightfully valued highly and can take your movement to another level. |
Wormhusk Crown | Helm | S › Best | PvE + PvP | Neutral | Exotic Engrams | Free-to-Play | ![]() Wormhusk Crown | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE + PvP | ![]() Neutral | Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "We strive to know infinity, and sharpen our minds on the whetstone of the impossible." ► Wormhusk Crown is a ridiculously easy to use exotic which provides an incredible benefit. While there are some other means of healing, notably Healing Grenade on Solar, Wormhusk remains as a pick that is good no matter what you are playing in the game. |
Renewal Grasps | Arms | S › Best | PvE | Stasis | Lost Sectors | The Witch Queen | ![]() Renewal Grasps | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE | ![]() Stasis | Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors 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." ► Renewal Grasps took a big (and deserved) nerf in PvP. Its damage resistance was reduced, and the cooldown was massively increased. Despite this, Renewal Grasps retained their PvE damage resist, making them an incredible option for players looking to be more defensive. We have a build using these on our Hunter Builds guide. |
Caliban's Hand | Arms | S › Best | PvE | Solar | Lost Sectors | The Witch Queen | ![]() Caliban's Hand | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE | ![]() Solar | Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors 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." ► Caliban's Hand turns your Explosive Knives into Ignition proccing machines. Simply getting a kill with your Explosive knife will cause an Ignition. We have an excellent build using the Caliban's Hand here. Caliban's Hand can turn your knives into add clearing machines with the right setup. |
Gyrfalcon's Hauberk | Chest | S › Best | PvE + PvP | Void | Lost Sectors | The Witch Queen | ![]() Gyrfalcon's Hauberk | Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE + PvP | ![]() Void | Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors 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." ► Gyrfalcon's Hauberk plays into the 'striking from the shadows' fantasy that Nightstalker brings. In PvP, you have a 15% damage buff, and in PvE, you have a whopping 35% damage buff. Any invisibility sources will activate Gyrfalcon's Hauberk, so exotics like Rat King or Heartshadow can make for very fun combos. |
For the record, these are the different Tier levels used for this ranking:
- S Tier – Best: Highest ranking armor.
- A Tier – Strong: Very strong armor, but not on the same level as S Tier Choices.
- B Tier – Average: Decent choices that can be lethal in the hands of a skilled player.
- C Tier – Weak: The middle of the pack, somewhat mediocre.
- D Tier – Worst: Lagging behind the competition, these don’t have much to offer.
💠 Find the complete Exotic tier list in our Hunter Exotics: Ranked guide.
How to farm Exotic armor
Farming specific Exotic armor pieces used to be impossible, but nowadays, you can run Legend or Master Lost Sectors solo to farm Exotics. Plus, all of the newest Exotic armor pieces can only be found in Legend/Master Lost Sectors.
PS: Do you main another class? Titans, Warlocks, we’ve got you covered too!
Best Hunter armor sets
Once you have found and Masterworked your Exotic of choice, you’ll want to combine it with some top-tier legendary armor pieces.
Looks are subjective, of course, but when it comes to the best-looking armor sets in Destiny 2, you’ll generally find them within endgame content (as it should be). Endgame content being the most difficult, it’s only natural it rewards players with the best gear there is. Did I mention endgame armor also comes with some of the highest stats out there? These are, therefore, perfect to supplement a lethal Hunter build.
Hunter endgame armor can be resumed to the Raid, Dungeon, and Trials of Osiris armor sets:
Hunter Raid & Dungeon armor sets
HunterTrials Of Osiris armor sets
💠 Find full set images of every Armor set (Titan, Hunter, and Warlock) in our Destiny 2 Armor Collection.
Best Hunter Fashion
This is where it all comes together. Properly combining your Exotic with some top-tier armor is what leads to a great-looking Guardian. To help you find some inspiration, these are some of the best Hunter fashion we’ve spotted on contests and community round-ups these past few months:

Ishiku Hunter fashion, Destiny 2

Ishiku, Hunter fashion

OX, Hunter fashion

Bugsydestroyer, Hunter fashion

xaane143, Hunter fashion

Jcm_unlimited, Hunter fashion
💠 Find more top-tier Hunter fashion examples in our Destiny 2 Fashion hub.
Your turn
You now know everything there is to know about Hunter armor in Destiny 2, including Legendary and Exotic pieces.
So what’s your favorite Hunter armor piece in the game right now? I’m a sucker for the Deep Stone Crypt raid armor set…
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