Best Destiny 2 Hunter Builds for PvE and PvP

Are you a Hunter main and want to take your game to the next level? These are the best Hunter builds in Destiny 2, including builds for PvE and PvP. Whether you’re into Solar 3.0, Void 3.0, or are still into Stasis, these builds have you covered.

And by the way, as any top-tier Destiny 2 build, these builds will guide you every step of the way, including essential Exotics, Mods, and more.

Top 10 Hunter builds

--	Name	Class	Area	Subclass	Excels in	Element	Status
	Ghost of Lightning	Hunter	PvE	Arc	Endgame	Arc	Best in Class
	Stealthed Gyrfalcon	Hunter	PvE	Void	Endgame	Void	Best in Class
	Radiant Assassin	Hunter	PvE	Solar	Solo Content	Solar	Best in Class
	Veiled Anchor	Hunter	PvE	Void	Grandmaster Content	Void
	Igniting Knifeslinger	Hunter	PvE	Solar	Endgame	Solar
	Diving Suspender	Hunter	PvE	Strand	Grandmaster Content	Strand	Best in Class
	Tricky Tripminer	Hunter	PvE	Solar	Endgame	Solar
	Touch of Duskfield	Hunter	PvE	Stasis	Grandmaster Content	Stasis
	Threaded Maelstrom	Hunter	PvE	Strand	Endgame	Strand
	Flash Freeze	Hunter	PvE	Stasis	Grandmaster Content	Stasis	Best in Class

More Destiny 2 Builds:

• Warlock Builds
• Titan Builds

Best Hunter PvE builds

Updated as of Season of the Witch (S22). See Updates.

Ghost of Lightning

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build: Stack up Combination Blow and slay with your Arc abilities while striking from the shadows.

Mandatory Gear: For the Exotic, you'll definitely need Assassin’s Cowl. There are no "necessary" weapons for this build. However, a 1-2 punch shotgun significantly boosts this build’s effectiveness.

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."

• Aspects: Lethal Current and Flow State are the go-to's for this build.
• Fragments: Spark of Resistance is the perfect pick for this setup; Spark of Feedback and Spark of Shock are both suitable picks too.
• Abilities: Combination Blow and Gambler’s Dodge are both required. Any Grenade works. However, Storm and Pulse Grenades are both strong picks.
• Stats: Maximum Resilience and Discipline are best.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Hands On, Heavy Ammo Finder, Heavy Ammo Scout.
  • Arms: x2 Heavy Handed and Impact Induction.
  • Chest: Resistance Mods.
  • Legs: Surge mods matching your weapons.
  • Cloak: x2 Distribution and x1 Bomber.

Gameplay Loop

This gameplay loop is relatively simple on the surface. However, as you weave more techniques and abilities into the Melee>Dodge>Melee combo, it becomes slightly more complex.

Stacking Combination Blow to x3 is your main goal. Once you do this, you will be able to 1-punch all squishy enemies and will be able to 1-2 Punch Shotgun all other enemies besides bosses.

Due to the insane number of Orbs of Power you will be making, equipping the Hands On mod will help you generate your Super very quickly, allowing you to rip through minor and major enemies alike.

This build is quite tricky to use, especially for a less experienced player in higher-level content. However, mastering it will allow you to take on practically all types of content, regardless of the difficulty. If you want to learn more about this playstyle, check out this excellent Arc 3.0 Hunter Playbook video from Mactics.

 

The Stealthed Gyrfalcon

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build: Chain Invisibility to retain Volatile Rounds and synergize as much as possible with your Void 3.0 kit and weapons.

Mandatory Gear: The Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk Exotic is an essential part of this build. Weapons with Repulsor Brace are best, such as Unforgiven, Veles-X, or The Hero’s Burden; however, weapons without Repulsor Brace can work, too, Funnelweb being a fine example. Collective Obligation is also excellent for this build.

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."

• Aspects: Stylish Executioner is necessary. Vanishing Step is best for the additional fragment slot, but Trapper’s Ambush can work.
• Fragments: Echo of Starvation, Echo of Persistence, Echo of Remnants, and Echo of Obscurity.
• Abilities: Moebius Quiver for your Super, Vortex Grenades, and either Dodge can work.
• Stats: Maximum Resilience and high Mobility and Discipline.
• Mods: This build is unique in the way that it functions completely on its own through the exotic and requires practically no mods.
  • Helmet: Void Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, and Heavy Ammo Scout
  • Arms: Firepower and Bolstering Detonation
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and resistance mods matching your enemy’s damage
  • Legs: Surge mods matching your weapons
  • Cloak: Reaper and Time Dilation

Gameplay Loop

Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk does practically everything. Essentially, the goal is to go Invisible through your dodge, exit Invisibility, gain Volatile Rounds, kill a Volatile enemy, and thus, re-enter Invisibility through Stylish Executioner and continue the cycle of exiting Invis, getting a kill on a Volatile enemy and repeating.

Adding in Devour grants you both Healing and Invisibility on kill. Then, once you add a Repulsor Brace weapon on top of this (which provides an overshield when defeating a Void-debuffed target), you become practically unkillable, weaving in and out of Invisibility with a tanky overshield and full health on kill.

 

The Veiled Anchor

Excels in: Grandmaster Content

Goal of the Build: Protect your Fireteam with constant Invisibility and damage resistance, and be the ‘anchor’ of the team.

Mandatory Gear: Void weapons such as Unforgiven, Funnelweb, or Hollow Denial, will do the trick. For the Exotic, you'll definitely need Omnioculus:

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
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."

• Aspects: Trapper’s Ambush and Vanishing Step (Pro tip: Trapper’s Ambush’s ‘dive’ effect grants you increased invisibility duration and debuffs enemies for a longer period of time compared to the base smoke bomb, so always dive if possible).
• Fragments: Echo of Persistence, Echo of Obscurity, and Echo of Remnants.
• Abilities: Gambler’s Dodge, Vortex Grenade, Trapper’s Ambush Snare Bomb, and Moebius Quiver.
• Stats: Maximum Mobility is strongly recommended to be able to have optimal invisibility rotations. High Resilience and Discipline are also recommended.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: x2 Heavy Ammo Finder and Heavy Ammo Scout
  • Arms: x2 Momentum Transfer and Bolstering Detonation
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resist mods matching enemy damage.
  • Legs: Surge mods matching your weapons
  • Cloak: Special Finisher, Distribution and Bomber

Gameplay Loop

The Omnioculus build is one of the most versatile builds in the game. This gives it a plethora of gameplay loops and combat rotations. However, the most important loop to learn is the ‘Dive>Dodge>Repeat’ combo, as Mactics puts it. To be able to repeat the loop, you need to push your invisibility to the absolute limit. To do this, you must alternate between your Trapper's Ambush smoke bomb and your Vanishing Step dodge while only having a second to spare.

Learning this basic combo will allow you to incorporate more advanced skills into your gameplay.

Another gameplay loop that is critical to the ‘support’ nature of Omnioculus is the ‘Rez>Dive’ combo. Mastering this Combo allows you to pick up allies from anywhere on the field, no matter the danger. To pull this off, you should activate your ‘Shadowdive’ when you are around 80% through your teammate's revive. This will grant them invisibility as soon as they spawn, allowing the both of you to retreat to safety.

This build is heavily inspired by Mactic's guide. If you want to learn how to truly master the Omnioculus playstyle with detailed strategies and combat rotations, check out his video.

 

Igniting Knifeslinger

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build: Chain Proximity Knives back to back with constant Radiant while causing Ignitions to clear waves of enemies.

Mandatory Gear: No specific weapons are required. However, guns that roll with Swashbuckler can synergize well with the constant melee kills you will be getting. For the Exotic, you'll definitely need Caliban’s Hand:

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."

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down is necessary. The second aspect is up to you. Gunpowder Gamble can provide solid add clear, while On Your Mark grants another Fragment slot.
• Fragments: Ember of Torches is required, and Ember of Empyrean is excellent. The other Fragments are up to personal preference, but Ember of Eruption is good.
• Abilities: Proximity Knife is required. Healing Grenade is best for constant Restoration through Ember of Empyrean.
• Stats: Maximum Mobility and Resilience are recommended, and high Discipline is also helpful.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Hands-On, Heavy Ammo Finder, Heavy Ammo Scout.
  • Arms: Heavy Handed, Impact Induction, and Focusing Strike.
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and resistance mods matching your enemy’s damage.
  • Legs: Surge Mods matching your weapons.
  • Cloak: Time Dilation and x2 Outreach.

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop for this build is very simple. The only condition that you must always meet to keep the engine running is a kill with your Proximity Knife. That is it. The build is entirely dependent on your knives, which is why you are going to want to have your Gambler’s Dodge always ready as a backup option.

With your Fragment choices, you will be able to create constant orbs through Ember of Wonder, and with Ember of Blistering, you can have high uptime on your Grenades, allowing for either more survivability with Healing Grenade or even more burning with Solar Grenade.

Getting the final blow with the knife is key. The additional Scorch damage from the Proximity Knife does not count as a knife kill, thus not causing the Ignition.

 

Tricky Tripminer

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build: Combo your abilities to keep your Tripmine Grenade uptime as high as possible.

Mandatory Gear: Weapons with Incandescent can enhance the build. Typical meta options work well too. For the Exotic, you'll definitely need Young Ahamkara's Spine:

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Young Ahamkara's Spine	Hunter	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases Tripmine Grenade duration and blast radius. Ability damage grants Tripmine Grenade energy."

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down is a must. However, you can choose between Gunpowder Gamble and On Your Mark.
• Fragments: Optimal Fragments are Ember of Solace, Ember of Singeing, and Ember of Torches. Other decent options include Ember of Eruption and Ember of Char.
• Abilities: Blade Barrage, Tripmine Grenade, Knife Trick, and Gambler’s Dodge.
• Stats: High Mobility and Discipline should be specced into. Resilience is a good option too.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Harmonic Siphon, Ashes to Assets, and Heavy Ammo Finder.
  • Arms: x2 Firepower and Impact Induction.
  • Chest: Resistance Mods.
  • Legs: Surge Mods.
  • Cloak: Time Dilation, Distribution, and Bomber.

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop for this build is relatively simple: Tripmine>Knife Trick>Repeat. Throwing your Tripmine Grenade into a cluster of enemies or a beefier target is best for your grenade uptime. Once you have used your Tripmine, getting kills with infinite throwing knives is the way to go. Chaining Throwing Knife kills, and Tripmine explosions allows you to clear out waves of enemies without even firing a bullet.

If done correctly, you can have up to at least 4 Tripmines to use by just cycling your Grenade, Melee and Dodges correctly. Every bit of ability damage (including Ignitions) will grant Grenade energy, so keep track of your rotation, and you will be able to throw grenades constantly.

 

Suspending Dive

Excels in: Grandmaster Content

Goal of the Build: Utilise the Strand keywords, especially Suspend, to take down groups of enemies and crowd-control everything.

Mandatory Gear:  The Exotic The Sixth Coyote is mandatory here. Regarding weapons, Strand weapons such as Rufus’s Fury or The Immortal can work well, but any weapon works.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
The Sixth Coyote	Hunter	Chest	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Engrams	Season 4	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Perk: "Gain a second dodge charge."

• Aspects: Widow’s Silk and Ensnaring Slam are required for this build.
• Fragments: Thread of Continuity, Thread of Generation, and Thread of Warding. The last Fragment is a personal choice. Thread of Isolation is solid for general survivability, but Thread of Wisdom increases your Orb of Power generation.
• Abilities: Shackle Grenade and Threaded Spike. Both Marksman’s and Gambler’s Dodge can work, but Marksman’s is better due to its lower cooldown.
• Stats: Maximum Resilience, Discipline, and Mobility are best for this build. Dumping any leftover stats into Recovery is good for survivability.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Harmonic Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, Heavy Ammo Scout.
  • Arms: Impact Induction, Grenade Kickstart, Fastball.
  • Chest: Charged Up and one damage resistance mod
  • Legs: Resistance Mods.
  • Cloak: Time Dilation and 2x Bomber.

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop of this build is focused on rotating your Grenade and Dodge cooldowns to always have a method of Suspending a target available. Using your Armor Charge stacks with Grenade Kickstart, alongside Thread of Generation, will allow you to have your Shackle Grenade on a low cooldown.

Orbs of Power are also vital as they are your source of Woven Mail, granting 58% damage resistance to all attacks. Players can use this build to crowd-control a large group of weaker enemies or constantly Suspend a tankier enemy, like a Champion in a Nightfall. Having four different avenues to Suspend a target allows for incredible flexibility in your abilities.

Overall, you must keep track of your cooldowns and abuse the duration of Suspend to ensure that your cooldown rotation can fully complete.

 

 Radiant Assassin

Excels in: Solo Content

Goal of the Build: Have infinite survivability through invisibility and a constant source of healing by having access to unlimited throwing knives.

Mandatory Gear:A Solar primary such as the Calus Mini-Tool and a good close-range Special weapon like Heritage are recommended.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	CALUS Mini-Tool	Submachine Gun	MIDA Synergy	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Beyond Light	Yes	Primary	Solar	Best ❘ S	PvE	Presage		Beyond Light	Season 17	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier	Incandescent
	Heritage	Shotgun	Pinpoint Slug	Legendary	Special	Kinetic	Beyond Light	Yes	Special	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Deep Stone Crypt Raid		Beyond Light	Season 12	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier	Reconstruction

For the Exotic, you'll definitely need Assassin's Cowl:

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."

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down is necessary. The other Aspect is up to you. However, we do recommend On Your Mark for the ability to equip 5 Fragments.
• Fragments: Ember of Torches is mandatory too. For the rest, Ember of Mercy, Ember of Torches, Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Singeing, and Ember of Searing are all suitable.
• Abilities: Gambler’s Dodge, Blade Barrage, Healing Grenade, and Knife Trick.
• Stats: High Mobility and Resilience are recommended for optimal uptime on your Gambler’s Dodge and heightened levels of damage resistance.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Hands-On, Harmonic Siphon, and Powerful Friends
  • Arms: x2 Heavy Handed and Focusing Strike
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resist mods depending on enemy damage
  • Legs: Surge mods matching your weapons
  • Cloak: Time Dilation and x2 Outreach

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop is quite simple with Assassin’s Cowl. The goal is to chain Knife Trick kills together to ensure maximum uptime on your invisibility and to have as much healing as possible. If you miss, Gambler’s Dodge is there to pick up the slack and provide you with another melee. Gambler’s Dodge and your melee will also recharge faster by scorching enemies with your Knife Trick.

You also have options like Healing Grenade if you find yourself out of a dodge and a melee ability. This can help fill in the gaps where you may miss your abilities on a target and need some survivability.

You always want to land the final blow with your knives, so if you can’t outright one-shot an enemy, prime them first with your weapon and finish them with the knife. Constantly getting kills with your knives will spam Orbs of Power for yourself and for your team.

 

The Frostbringer

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build: Utilise the Fr0st-EE5’s to maintain high ability uptime, freezing all enemies on the battlefield from safety.

Mandatory Gear: Due to the lack of damage from the Stasis subclass, high-damage weapons are favored. Wish-Ender is a good pick for those who prefer Primary ammo weapons. Alternatively, using Arbalest and Forbearance makes for an excellent loadout.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Arbalest	Linear Fusion Rifle	Exotic	Exotic	Special	Kinetic	Lightfall	Yes	Special	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvE	Exotic Quest		Lightfall	Season 6	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Wish-Ender	Combat Bow	Exotic	Exotic	Primary	Kinetic	Forsaken Pack	Yes	Primary	Kinetic	Best ❘ S	PvE	Exotic Quest		Forsaken Pack	Season 4	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Forbearance	Grenade Launcher	Wave	Legendary	Special	Arc	The Witch Queen	Yes	Special	Arc	Best ❘ S	PvE	Vow of the Disciple Raid		The Witch Queen	Season 16	Energy	Craftable	Top-tier

For the Exotic armor piece, you'll definitely want FR0ST-EE5:

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Fr0st-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 3	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increased grenade, melee, and dodge regeneration while sprinting. Dodging increases your sprint speed."

• Aspects: Touch of Winter and Grim Harvest.
• Fragments: Whisper of Conduction, Whisper of Rime, Whisper of Shards, Whisper of Durance, and Whisper of Chains.
• Abilities: Gambler’s Dodge is best. Duskfield Grenade is required.
• Stats: Maximum Resilience, Discipline, and Mobility are best.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Siphon Mod matching your weapon and Heavy Ammo Finder.
  • Arms: Impact Induction, Focusing Strike, and Grenade Kickstart.
  • Chest: Damage Resistance Mods.
  • Legs: Recuperation, Innervation, and Invigoration.
  • Cloak: Powerful Attraction, Bomber, and Distribution.

Gameplay Loop

The overall goal of this build is to have a Duskfield Grenade available as often as possible. This is easy through our Grenade-regenerating Fragments, Exotic, and Mod choices.

Using your Grenade and Melee together is often unnecessary, as your Duskfield alone will freeze a target. Instead, save your melees for either an emergency where you do not have your Grenade, or use the cooldown to regenerate your Grenade through Impact Induction.

Using the Rapid Cooldown Exotic Trait on Frostees is also important. The perk will double your base Grenade and Melee ability regeneration rate, making them come back much faster.

Overall, utilize the Grenade-regenerating parts of your kit to ensure you always have a Duskfield ready for any group of adds.

 

Touch of Duskfield

Excels in: Grandmaster Content

Goal of the Build: Keep areas locked down and protect your Fireteam with infinite Duskfield Grenades.

Mandatory Gear: Headstone weapons such as Disparity or Eyasluna are solid options for even more synergy and increased uptime on your Duskfield Grenades. Demolitionist weapons are also an excellent choice. Options like the Ogma PR6 with Demolitionist and Wellspring can be highly useful.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Disparity	Pulse Rifle	Aggressive Burst	Legendary	Primary	Stasis	The Witch Queen	Yes	Primary	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Operation: Seraph Shield		The Witch Queen	Season 19	Kinetic	Craftable	Top-tier
	Eyasluna	Hand Cannon	Adaptive	Legendary	Primary	Stasis	30th Anniversary	Yes	Primary	Stasis	Best ❘ S	PvE + PvP	Grasp of Avarice Dungeon		30th Anniversary	30th Anniversary event	Kinetic	No	Top-tier
	Ogma PR6	Pulse Rifle	Lightweight	Legendary	Primary	Solar	Free-to-Play	Yes	Primary	Solar	Average ❘ B	PvE	World loot pool		Free-to-Play	Season 16	Energy	No

For the Exotic armor piece, you'll definitely need Renewal Grasps:

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."

• Aspects: Touch of Winter and Grim Harvest are the best Aspect choices. Touch of Winter provides improved Duskfield Grenades, and Grim Harvest synergizes with certain Fragments.
• Fragments: Whisper of Torment, Whisper of Conduction, Whisper of Rime, Whisper of Chains, and Whisper of Shards. These will also allow for more survivability and even more Duskfield Grenades.
• Abilities: Duskfield Grenades and Gambler’s Dodge are the best options for maximum freezing potential.
• Stats: Maximum Discipline and Resilience are highly recommended. High Mobility is also good.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Harmonic Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, and Heavy Ammo Scout
  • Arms: x2 Grenade Kickstart
  • Chest: Charged Up and matching Resist mods to enemy damage
  • Legs: Stacks on Stacks and x2 Innervation
  • Cloak: x2 Bomber and Time Dilation

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop for the Renewal Grasp build can be altered and changed depending on your needs and playstyle. But, despite the versatility, the core ‘needs’ of the build remain the same.

Whisper of Shards is the engine that keeps the train going, granting Grenade energy upon shattering a Stasis crystal. Forming crystals is easy with Headstone weapons or through Touch of Winter Grenades. Making sure you destroy every Stasis crystal you see is paramount to keeping the Duskfield spam going.

Despite saying this, Whisper of Chains also provides damage resistance when near a Stasis crystal, so timing is essential. Try to destroy Stasis crystals when you have gotten good use out of them as they can not only provide damage resistance but also deal solid AoE damage.

Overall, the aim is to lock down large groups of enemies and make them deal less damage while spamming Duskfields. This will help protect you and your Fireteam, regardless of difficulty.

 

The Threaded Maelstrom

Excels in: Endgame (Dungeons, Raids, Legend content)

Goal of the Build:  Utilise your Strand Weapons and Abilities to generate Tangles and weaponize the Maelstroms to add to your DPS or help in add-clear.

Mandatory Gear: Strand weapons are preferred. Quicksilver Storm (with its catalyst), Rufus’s Fury, or even Tessellation paired with a Kinetic Slot Strand Weapon will do great. For the Exotic, you'll definitely need the Sixth Coyote:

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
The Sixth Coyote	Hunter	Chest	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Engrams	Season 4	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Perk: "Gain a second dodge charge."

• Aspects: Threaded Specter and Whirling Maelstrom.
• Fragments: Thread of Warding is excellent for survivability and Thread of Transmutation pairs excellently with it. Thread of Generation is good for general Grenade uptime, and the final Fragment is your choice.
• Abilities: Shackle or Grapple Grenades are best. Shackle is better in higher-level content, but Grapple is more fun. Gambler’s Dodge is the best pick for your Dodge ability.
• Stats: Resilience, Mobility, and Discipline.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Siphon mod matching your weapons and Heavy Ammo Finder
  • Arms: Impact Induction, Focusing Strike, and Firepowe
  • Chest: Damage resistance mod
  • Legs: 2x Surge matching your weapons and Recuperation
  • Cloak: Powerful Attraction and Bomber

Gameplay Loop

The most important thing to know with this build is how to create Tangles. If an enemy is debuffed by a Strand effect (Suspend, Unravel, or Sever), they turn into a Tangle upon death. Using your Melee, Grapple Melee, or Shackle Grenade will all affect your enemy with a debuff. Starting the fight, or securing the kill, with one of these abilities is the main step to getting this build going. Shooting or picking up and throwing the Tangle will activate Whirling Maelstrom

Using the Tangle on a boss while you are damaging them with your heavy weapon can add slightly to your damage, or you can throw it at a clump of enemies and have it take care of them while you handle another group.

Using your dodge as a survival tool is important as your Threaded Specter will draw aggro from every enemy around you, but also make sure to use your dodge to recharge your Threaded Spike as this deals solid damage and is a primary method of obtaining Tangles.

 

 

Best Hunter PvP builds

PvP Essentials

Step one to playing Hunter in PvP is understanding that your Dodge is the strongest ability in your kit. Because of this, maximizing Mobility is a very standard choice for the shortest cooldown on your Dodge. Making sure that you have maximum Recovery is also recommended.

Hunters come with the benefit of being able to completely ignore the Strength stat, as using Gambler’s Dodge allows you to completely refund your melee ability when dodging near an enemy. This lets you dump the rest of your stat points into Discipline and Resilience. Personally, I choose to run 100 Mobility, Recovery, and Discipline; however, feel free to adapt some stats to your own preference.

Hunter Subclasses: Ranked

There will always be a ‘meta’ option for PvP, but every Hunter subclass is viable in its own way, with its own set of pros and cons.

Gunslinger

Gunslinger can be set up in numerous ways. You can focus on making your allies Radiant with Acrobat’s Dodge, you can go for maximum explosions with Proximity Knives and Tripmine Grenades, or you can play more passively and utilize your agility to survive combined with Healing Grenades. The choice is entirely yours.

Pros:

• Wide variety of melee options
• Has excellent teamplay with On Your Mark and Acrobat’s Dodge
• Powerful Supers in Golden Gun and Blade Barrage

Cons:

• Only has two truly viable aspects. Gunpowder Gamble is too niche for consistent use.
• Aspects don’t overly alter gameplay in an incredibly potent manner compared to Invisibility on Nightstalker.
• Lack of map control/area control capabilities that Smoke Bomb and Stasis both bring.

Arcstrider

Arcstrider has quite a few unique parts of its kit, built-in damage resistance, blink, and some blinding potential with Disorienting Blow; it makes Arcstrider quite the all-rounder.

Pros:

• Excellent super. Lasts long and can outduel any other melee supers with skill and timing.
• High Jolt potential with Disorienting Blow.
• Solid neutral game with high mobility.

Cons:

• No game-changing qualities that the other 3 subclasses have (Freezing, Invisibility, Radiant, or Restoration)
• Super can be outmaneuvered by ranged supers such as Golden Gun, Dawnblade, or Hammer of Sol.
• The All-rounder kit makes it a bit of a ‘jack of all trades master of none.’

Nightstalker

Nightstalker remains one of the most powerful kits in the game, even despite the nerfs that it has received. Invisibility is still incredible, and the map control and radar manipulation possible is not something to ignore.

Pros:

• Invisibility and Smoke Bombs allow you to fool your opponents and catch them off guard completely.
• It synergizes incredibly well with certain meta-picks such as Omnioculus or Wormhusk Crown.
• Invisibility makes you incredibly hard to see with the changes to Invisibility’s ‘visibility’ that came with Void 3.0.

Cons:

• Weak super choices. Spectral Blades is often outclassed and takes incredibly long to charge, and Tether is too inconsistent to warrant use.
• The kit relies heavily on Invisibility as much of the kit’s strength is placed on Invisibility.
• One-dimensional fragment choices. All grant Invisibility and provide little else, perhaps making the subclass slightly boring to play.

Revenant

Despite falling off in use, Revenant is still an excellent option for all hunters, as it can have such an influence on the game by merely throwing your abilities in the general direction of your opponent.

Pros:

• High utility. It can be used to help win gunfights solo or pick targets off with your teammates.
• Slowing enemies can massively help you win a fight, but freezing enemies gives your opponent a free kill.
• Strong Aspects across the board and even stronger Fragments that allow for some potent builds.

Cons:

• Poor super. Cast time is incredibly long, and there are better options if you are looking for a ‘shutdown’ super.
• Very limited kit, with only one Melee option and 3 Grenade options.
• Lack of potent freeze potential when compared to Shadebinder Warlock and lack of high movement compared with Behemoth Titan.

Strand

The brand-new subclass released with Lightfall, Strand provides unprecedented mobility, which can wreak havoc when used right. You can single-handedly initiate plays with your Grapple-Dive combo like no other class can and lead from the front in all game modes.

Pros:

• Super high level of mobility.
• High skill ceiling.
• Grappling into an Ensnaring Slam dive is a combo that, when mastered, is hard to deal with.

Cons:

• Long cooldowns.
• High-skill floor (hard to use effectively and easy to die with).
• Woefully poor super.

Best PvP Hunter Exotics

General Exotics

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Fr0st-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 3	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increased grenade, melee, and dodge regeneration while sprinting. Dodging increases your sprint speed."
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."
Wormhusk Crown	Hunter	Helm	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 3	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "We strive to know infinity, and sharpen our minds on the whetstone of the impossible."

Due to a lack of prerequisites, neutral and more passive Exotics are often favored in PvP. Therefore, Stompees, Wormhusk, and Frostees always find a place in the meta for Hunters as they provide benefits while requiring nothing/very little to receive benefits from.

Stompees are still one of the most enjoyable Hunter exotics for PvP. The nerfs it received have affected viability quite a lot; however, they are still my pick if I’m playing PvP as they are just so fun to use.

Wormhusk Crown has been in the meta since it was released back in the Warmind DLC. Wormhusk provides unmatched instant value as it gives around a third of your health back for simply dodging. This allows you to take riskier engagements and get out with ease. Dodging is already a ‘get out of jail free card’, and Wormhusk takes this to another level.

Frostees are the pick for players who want high-ability uptime but don’t want to commit to a full-on build. By merely sprinting, you can increase your ability recharge rate by 100% and increase your Sprint Speed by 6.25% by simply dodging. Frostees will always serve players well when they want to maybe switch it up from the Stompees, but want to retain some movement speed and have high ability uptime.

Subclass-specific Exotics

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Cyrtarachne's Facade	Hunter	Helm	Lightfall	Lost Sectors	Season 20	Lightfall	Exotic Perk: "Gain Woven Mail when activating grapple. Increased flinch resistance while Woven Mail is active."
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 Stasis and Arc weapons deal increased damage for a short time."

Subclass-specific Exotics normally see less use overall as they have more requirements to satisfy to reach their full potential. However, their raw strength often makes up for it.

Cyrtarachne’s Facade is a powerful option for Threadrunners. Woven Mail is solid damage resistance. Mastering the Threadrunner playstyle with Cyrtarachne’s can make you hyper-mobile and tanky.

Mask of Bakris may be one of the most fun exotics in the game. Replacing your Dodge with an extended ‘Shift’ allows you to get the drop on your opponents and completely break their ankles. Mastering this exotic can help you see incredible success as you can weave in and out of dangerous situations like nobody’s business.

Young Ahamkara’s Spine is very simple on paper. However, this simplicity shouldn’t be seen as a weakness. Ahamkara’s Spine increases Tripmine Grenade damage massively to the point where it will leave your opponent at death’s door, requiring a single shot from any weapon in the game to finish them off. Furthermore, Ahamkara’s Spine also grants Tripmine energy on Ability damage, allowing you to further abuse your explosive power.

There are plenty of other exotics that can find success, such as Athrys’s Embrace or Gemini Jester, and I recommend you experiment and find what build clicks with your playstyle the most.

Before you go…

The new Hunter Exotic is definitely worth chasing this season. We cover how to get the Mothkeeper’s Wraps in Destiny 2 here.