Destiny 2 Nightstalker: Best Builds, Exotics & Fragments

Nightstalker is one of the four Hunter subclasses available in Destiny 2. As of Season of the Wish (S23), Nightstalker remains a strong subclass, especially for PvE.

This guide covers the best Nightstalker Hunter builds, Fragments, and Exotics that make Nightstalker such a powerful subclass.

What is Nightstalker in Destiny 2?

Nightstalker is the name of the Void-based subclass available to Hunters in Destiny 2. 

Best Nightstalker Fragments & Exotics

Nightstalker (Void 3.0)

• Ranking: ❘ A Strong

Nightstalker is still quite the all-rounder. Good survivability, decent offensive capabilities, and a couple of strong builds that are quite easy to play with. Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk and Omnioculus are still both brilliant exotics that provide a ton of value by themselves, and Nightstalker Supers still have high value in certain situations. In general, the Nightstalker kit does well in high-level content.

However, Void Hunter does see a turn for the worse in raid settings. While the debuff from tether is very strong, many optimal teams will use Tractor Cannon and instead use a higher damage Super like Golden Gun or Gathering Storm.

Preferred Exotic: Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk is generally the best option, but in Grandmaster Nightfalls, players may prefer Omnioculus for survivability.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Gyrfalcon's Hauberk	Hunter	Chest	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 18	The Witch Queen	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	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 Cessation/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 when using Omnioculus, Marksman’s Dodge when using Gyrfalcon.

Nightstalker Hunter builds for PvE

These are some of the best Destiny 2 Nightstalker builds right now; you can find more excellent Hunter builds here:

Stealthed Gyrfalcon

Excels In: Endgame

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: Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk and a Void weapon. Weapons with Repulsor Brace are recommended (Collective Obligation, Graviton Lance, and The Manticore are acceptable choices).

Name: Gyrfalcon's Hauberk

Class: Hunter Slot: Chest

Source: Lost Sectors Requires: 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.

	Collective Obligation	Pulse Rifle	Primary	Void	Vow of the Disciple Raid	S29 - Updated
	Graviton Lance	Pulse Rifle	Primary	Void	Exotic Engram	Season 1

• Aspects: Stylish Executioner and Vanishing Step.
• Fragments: Echo of Starvation, Echo of Persistence, Echo of Remnants, and Echo of Obscurity.
• Abilities: Moebius Quiver and Vortex Grenades. Either Dodge works.
• Stats: Weapons → Grenade → Class/Super.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Void Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, and Super Font.
  • Arms: Grenade Font, Harmonic Reloader, Bolstering Detonation.
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resistance Mods based on your enemies.
  • Legs: x2 Weapon Font and Void Surge.
  • Class Item: Reaper, Bomber, Powerful Attraction.

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 invisibility, 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.

By investing in our Weapons stat, we can manage ammo easier while also speeding up the loop of this build, as the quicker things die, the faster we go back into invisibility. Grenade is the next choice, as our Vortex Grenade is a good source of AoE damage, and finally, Class or Super is best as a final dump stat.

Temporal Teleporter

Excels In: Grandmaster Content

Goal of the Build: Take advantage of the synergy between Graviton Spike and Mask of Bakris to teleport around the battlefield, dealing high damage with your Primary Weapon.

Mandatory Gear: Mask of Bakris and Graviton Spike.

Name: Mask of Bakris

Class: Hunter Slot: Helm

Source: Lost Sectors Requires: 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.

Graviton Spike

Hand Cannon

Primary

Arc

Exotic Quest

The Edge of Fate

• Aspects: Threaded Spectre + Winter’s Shroud or Ascension.
• Fragments: Facet of Purpose, Facet of Protection, Facet of Dawn, Facet of Balance, and Facet of Blessing.
• Abilities: Silence and Squall, Duskfield Grenade, Threaded Spike, and Gambler’s Dodge.
• Stats: Weapons → Class → Melee.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: x2 Heavy Ammo Finder and Harmonic Siphon.
  • Arms: x2 Momentum Transfer and Heavy Handed.
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resistance Mods based on your enemies.
  • Legs: x2 Weapon Font and Recuperation.
  • Class Item: Reaper, Powerful Attraction, and Bomber.

Gameplay Loop

The gameplay loop of this build is incredibly simple. You will be killing enemies, jumping between forms on Graviton Spike, and activating Light Shift by using your Mask of Bakris dodge. Light Shift also gives you a bonus to your Arc and Stasis damage, and while that buff is present, kills will grant you a large amount of dodge energy, allowing you to continue the loop with ease.

By prioritising the weapons stat, you can ensure that your Graviton Spike is generating plenty of ammo while also dealing a good amount of damage. However, you will want to make sure that you have at least around 80 Class and 80 Melee in order for your dodge and melee to be up as often as possible.

Nightstalker Subclass in PvP (Void 3.0)

Nightstalker (Void 3.0)

• Ranking: ❘ A Strong

Nightstalker isn’t the beast it once was, but that doesn’t mean its a bad Subclass. With Invisibility on demand and potent abilities like your Smoke Bomb and Vortex Grenade make Nightstalker a force to be reckoned with.

In addition, Nightstalker is still great for getting the drop on enemies, as the actual Invisibility effect can be quite difficult to see, especially in areas with poor lighting.

Preferred Exotic: St0mp-EE5 for general play or Wormhusk Crown for incredible survivability.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
St0mp-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	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	We strive to know infinity, and sharpen our minds on the whetstone of the impossible.

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.

Before you go…

We cover all the best Void builds here. If you’re interested in exploring other Hunter Subclasses, don’t miss our Destiny 2 Arcstrider Subclass guide.