Best Destiny 2 Scout Rifles for PVE and PVP: Tier list

Scout rifles have come a long way. They went from the worst primary weapons in the entire game to must-have tools for endgame content. In fact, some of them are considered to be among the top weapons in Destiny 2.

But because Scout rifles, in general, aren’t necessarily considered the best weapon type, we’ll be ranking them based on their relative strength to each other.

In this guide, we’ll cover both Exotic and Legendary Scout rifles (including their god rolls) for PVE and PVP, and show you where and how to obtain them.

List updated as of Season of the Splicer (S14).

Destiny 2 Scout Rifles Tier list

These are the different Tier levels used for this ranking:

• S Tier – Best: Highest ranking weapon types.
• A Tier – Strong: Very strong weapon types, 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.

About TTK: Measured in seconds, TTK, or time-to-kill, is critical in PVP, because the lowest the TTK, the faster you can kill your opponent. You can read all about it in our TTK guide.

More Destiny 2 Tier lists:

Best Destiny 2 PVP Scout Rifles

Above was a quick, surface-level pass at all of the Scout Rifles that you can use in all current content where Power Level matters.

Let’s dive deeper into the Top 3 PVP Scout Rifles in Destiny.

 

Night Watch

Weapon Type:	Scout Rifle	Slot:	Kinetic
Ammo:	Primary	Source:	World Loot Pool

Night Watch has the base stats and the perk pool to be a monster at chaining back-to-back kills. One stack of Multikill Clip’s damage boost is enough to 3-tap any Guardian with 7 Resilience or less. That’s one of the fastest TTKs in the game!

Ideally, you want Rapid Hit and Multikill Clip for PVP. Rapid Hit makes landing precision shots easier and reloads faster for proccing Multikill Clip. If you can’t get this roll, the next roll is fantastic too.

Subsistence and Rampage pair beautifully together. Subsistence refills your magazine after each kill and each kill gives you a stack of Rampage. The first kill is a 10% bump, the second kill is a 21% buff and the third kill is a 33% bonus for 3.5 seconds (or 4.5 seconds with Rampage Spec mod). All without needing to reload.

Snapshot and Explosive Payload are excellent general perks to have too. Explosive Payload on a Scout Rifle is a sniper player’s worst nightmare. You can shut them down completely for your entire team with how much flinch you apply to them.

With the Crucible slowing down a lot in Season 15, Scout Rifles will be better positioned for success in PVP.

 

Dead Man’s Tale

Weapon Type:	Scout Rifle	Slot:	Kinetic
Ammo:	Primary	Source:	Exotic Quest

Unquestionably, Dead Man’s Tale (DMT) is the best PVP Scout Rifle in Destiny. The greatest weakness every Scout Rifle (high zoom) suffers from is irrelevant on DMT. The higher the zoom, the worse a weapon is in close to medium range. You know, where 90% of fights happen in the Crucible.

With Dead Man’s Tale’s catalyst, the rate of fire is faster when firing from the hip and all accuracy penalties from hip-fire are removed. Now, DMT is able to compete head-to-head with the best PVP weapons in the game.

Keep in mind, Dead Man’s Tale really thrives in the short-to-mid range. You want to be positioned just outside of shotgun and fusion rifle territory but too far back and you’ll need to aim-down-sights (ADS) for consistent shots.

Dead Man’s Tale is a unique exotic that can roll with a random perk on it. You’ll want to get Killing Wind or Vorpal Weapon. Killing Wind is one of the best perks for PVP, but Vorpal makes shutting down roaming supers easy.

Pass on Snapshot and Moving Target because they only activate when you’re ADS, which you rarely want to do with Dead Man’s Tale.

 

Trustee

Weapon Type:	Scout Rifle	Slot:	Energy
Ammo:	Primary	Source:	Deep Stone Crypt

In PvP, there’s a very niche Trustee roll you can use for some cheeky kills 20% faster than normal. High-Impact Reserves buffs the damage in the last portion of your magazine, so if you fire some shots off, you can 4 tap a Guardian with High-Impact Reserves.

Trustee also just has so many great perk options to choose from. Surplus buffing handling and stability is always great. Killing Wind is fantastic. Wellspring is very good to have with how powerful abilities are in the Crucible. And Opening Shot makes the first shot you fire almost guaranteed to not miss.

Remember, since Trustee is a Rapid-Fire Frame, it naturally can be fired full-auto or you can tap fire each shot. It also has naturally fast reloads when the magazine is empty, so reload perks like Outlaw aren’t needed.

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Best Destiny 2 PVE Scout Rifles

In PVE, Scout Rifles are the most reliable weapons for the most difficult content in Destiny. When the going gets tough, putting as much distance between you and enemy combatants with a Scout Rifle is the path to success.

 

Vouchsafe

Weapon Type:	ScoutRifle	Slot:	Energy
Ammo:	Primary	Source:	Dreaming City

You’re probably seeing a noticeable theme here. Explosive Payload is just so powerful that Scout Rifles with it are better than Scout Rifles without it.

Vouchsafe is one of only two Void, legendary Scout Rifles that you can use in PVE. And it’s perk options are just so much better than Royal Chase (the other legendary void Scout Rifle). Having a Void primary weapon is important for Void shields in Match Game content.

Even though Vouchsafe is pretty difficult to farm for a great roll, you’re really only looking for Explosive Payload or Vorpal Weapon. Explosive Payload makes taking out enemies from a safe distance easy and Vorpal Weapon chunks down Champions faster. Both of these are crucial in high-end PVE content where you need to use Scout Rifles.

 

Hung Jury SR4

Weapon Type:	Scout Rifle	Slot:	Kinetic
Ammo:	Primary	Source:	Nightfalls

Hung Jury is such a good Scout Rifle that it belongs in the top 3 PVP and PVE Scout Rifles. The caveat for PVE is that when you get an Adept Hung Jury, you can equip the Adept Big Ones mod which is Major and Boss spec rolled into one mod.

With how many powerful enemies there are in challenging PVE content, Hung Jury with Adept Big Ones gets so much value. This Scout Rifle is perfect for Champions and Majors that will ruin your Grandmaster Nightfall Ordeal.

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Are Scout Rifles Meta?

Scout Rifles have been in a bad spot in PVE since the Shadowkeep expansion was released on October 1, 2019. With Season 15 launching on August 24th, Scout Rifles are getting some needed PVE buffs.

They’re already one of the best weapons for Grandmaster Nightfalls and Master Vault of Glass. With Season 15, they’ll feel great to use in any PVE activity.

Unfortunately, they probably won’t be meta in PVP until new Crucible maps are added that promote longer-range engagements.

Primary weapons Meta for PVP

What about PVP? This table summarizes how they rank against each other in PVP:

Primary weapons Meta for PVE

So how good are Swords in PVE? This table summarizes how the several Power weapon types rank against each other in PVE:

Ranking criteria

For the record, as much as we tried to keep this list as objective as possible, it’s still based on our personal experience playing the PC version of the game.

Finally, if you’re wondering what criteria was used to build this Tier list, these are the main factors I took into account:

• Lethality: The higher the effective DPS and usability, the higher the ranking.
• Consistency: Some weapons may not have the highest DPS numbers, but they are so consistent, they more than make up for their lower DPS numbers.
• Ease of use: Similar to the point above, some weapons are very effective because they are easy to use and don’t require too much skill or setup. This is also rewarded with higher rankings.
• PVE/PVP Performance: High lethality in either PVE or  PVP is equally valuable. However, a weapon that is good at both PVE and PVP should rank higher than one that is slightly better on only PVE or PVP.
• Fun factor: Not the most important factor, but it also helps if the weapon is damn fun to shoot with!

If you strongly disagree with some of the rankings here, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. By the way, what is your personal favorite?

This post comes from Legionless. You can follow him on YouTube.