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	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 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 (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: Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk and a Void weapon. Weapons with Repulsor Brace are recommended (Collective Obligation is also excellent here).

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
	Unforgiven	Submachine Gun	Primary	Void	Duality Dungeon

• 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 Priority: Max Resilience 🡒 Mobility 🡒 Discipline.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Void Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, and Heavy Ammo Scout.
  • Arms: Firepower, Harmonic Reloader, Bolstering Detonation.
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resistance Mods based on your enemies.
  • Legs: Weapon Surge Mod matching your equipped weapons.
  • Class Item: Reaper, Bomber, 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: Omnioculus. Void weapons are recommended.

Name: Omnioculus

Class: Hunter Slot: Chest

Source: Lost Sectors Requires: 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.

	Hollow Denial	Trace Rifle	Special	Void	Presage
	Unforgiven	Submachine Gun	Primary	Void	Duality Dungeon

• 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: Moebius Quiver, Gambler’s Dodge, Snare Bomb, and Vortex Grenade.
• Stats Priority: Max Mobility 🡒 Resilience 🡒 Discipline.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: x2 Heavy Ammo Finder and Heavy Ammo Scout.
  • Arms: x2 Momentum Transfer and Bolstering Detonation.
  • Chest: Concussive Dampener and Resistance Mods based on your enemies.
  • Legs: Weapon Surge Mods matching your weapons.
  • Class Item: 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.

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	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."

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.