Best Destiny 2 Hunter Arc Build for PvE and PvP

Are you a Hunter main and want to take your game to the next level? These are the best Hunter Arc builds in Destiny 2. And by the way, as with all the best Hunter builds, we will guide you every step of the way, including essential Exotics, Mods, and more.

Top Arc Hunter build

--	Name	Class	Area	Subclass	Excels in	Element	Status
	Ghost of Lightning	Hunter	PvE	Arc	Mid to Endgame PvE content	Arc	Best in Class

Best Hunter Arc build for PvE

The Ghost of Lightning

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

Goal of the Build: Stack up Combination Blow and slay out with your 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: x2 Hands-On and Dynamo
  • Arms: x2 Heavy Handed and Impact Induction
  • Chest: Emergency Reinforcement and Concussive Dampener
  • Legs: Surge mods matching your weapons
  • Cloak: x2 Distribution and x1 Bomber

Gameplay Loop

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 immense number of Elemental Wells you generate, you will have your Grenade up very often. Due to Hands-On, you’ll be getting your Super rather quickly, so weaving these into your general gameplay simply takes practice and time with the build.
This build is 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.

Don’t miss our: Best Destiny 2 Hunter Strand Builds for PvE and PvP

Hunter Arc PvP build

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 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.

Subclasses

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

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.’

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."
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."
St0mp-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance. Improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump."

Due to a lack of prerequisites, neutral and more passive Exotics are often favored in PvP. 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, despite the nerfs, is still an excellent pick. It allows you to rotate around the map quicker and also feels brilliant to use, which is always a bonus. People like moving fast regardless of the downside, and Stompees provides this in abundance.

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.

Before you go…

You can find all our favorite builds for Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters here.