Top 10 Auto Rifles in Destiny 2

Auto Rifles are one of the most popular archetypes of weapon in Destiny 2, second to hand cannons. They are rapid-fire weapons that can hose enemies with bullets, and whether you enjoy PVP or PVE content, you’ll find an auto rifle that’s good for the job. Today I’m going to go through the top 10 auto rifles, plus let you know how to get them, so you can be well equipped to take down your enemies quickly and in style in Destiny 2.

Without further delay, let’s dive into the list of top 10 auto rifles.

Firefright

Firefright is a Legendary Kinetic Auto Rifle with a Precision Frame meaning the weapon’s recoil pattern is more predictably vertical. Looking at the stats we have Impact 29, Range 58, Stability 41, Handling 41, Reload Speed 44, Rounds Per Minute 450 and Magazine 34.

For PVP Hammer-Forged Rifling, Ricochet Rounds, Fragile Focus and Elemental Capacitor would be a decent roll.

Hammer-Forged Rifling – Increases range
Ricochet Rounds – Increases stability, Slightly increases range
Fragile Focus – This weapon gains bonus range until the wielder takes damage. The bonus returns when no damage is taken for a short duration.
Elemental Capacitor – Increased stats based on the currently equipped subclass. Solar increases your reload speed, Arc increases handling, Void increases stability, Stasis moderately controls recoil and increases movement speed when aiming down sights.

To get this one you can run the Presage mission when it’s featured in the Exotic Mission rotator.

SUROS Regime

SUROS Regime is an Exotic Kinetic Auto Rifle with some great perks that currently make this devastating in PVP. Few weapons have withstood the test of time longer than the trusty SUROS Regime. This is Golden Age tech brought to life by the engineers at SUROS. Its smart-matter frame is prized among Guardians for both efficiency and rarity. Some things never fall out of fashion. Looking at the exotic perkswe have:

SUROS Legacy – The bottom half of each magazine deals bonus damage and has a chance to return health on kill.
Spinning Up – Holding down the trigger increases the rate of fire.

You can get this from Exotic world drops, which are random from killing enemies in the wild, or you can buy this from Xur when he’s selling it, or pick up the Exotic Engram from Xur. From time to time, Xur also sells this weapon.

Abyss Defiant

Abyss Defiant is a Legendary Energy Auto Rifle with a High-Impact Frame meaning it’s slow firing and high damage. This weapon is more accurate when stationary, moving slowly, and aiming down sights. Looking at the stats we have Impact 33, Range 83, Stability 35, Handling 33, Reload Speed 35, Airborne Effectiveness 17, Rounds Per Minute 360 and Magazine 32.

For PVE Hammer-Forged Rifling, High-Caliber Rounds, Reconstruction and Incandescent would be good.

Hammer-Forged Rifling – Increases range
High-Caliber Rounds – Slightly increases range
Reconstruction – This weapon slowly reloads itself over time, up to double capacity.
Incandescent – Defeating a target spreads scorch to those nearby. More powerful combatants and opposing Guardians cause scorch in a larger radius.

To get Abyss Defiant you’ll want to run Crota’s End Raid in Destiny 2. You can get Abyss Defiant from the 1st encounter (Enter the Abyss) or the Final Encounter (Crota). Once you have it drop for you, it’s also possible to get Abyss Defiant from the secret chest, plus you can pick one up from the raid vendor at the end (the sword in the ground after you beat Crota). This is also a craftable weapon, so get 5 red borders and extract the deepsight to craft your very own Abyss Defiant at the Enclave on Savathun’s Throne World.

Old Sterling

Old Sterling is a Legendary Kinetic Auto Rifle with an Adaptive Frame, meaning it has a well-rounded grip, it’s reliable and sturdy. Looking at the stats we have Impact 21, Range 43, Stability 42, Handling 63, Reload Speed 55, Airborne Effectiveness 17, Rounds Per Minute 600 and Magazine 42.

The Origin Trait for this one is Field Tested. Defeating targets or dealing damage with this weapon gradually increases range, stability, handling, and reload speed.

For PVE Arrowhead Brake, Extended Mag, Rewind Rounds and Hatchling would be good.

Arrowhead Brake – Greatly controls recoil, increases handling speed
Extended Mag – Greatly increases magazine size, Greatly decreases reload speed, Increases airborne effectiveness
Rewind Rounds – When this weapon’s magazine is empty, it refills from reserves based on the number of hits.
Hatchling – Precision final blows or rapidly defeating targets with a non-precision weapon spawns a Threadling at the target’s location.

Old Sterling is a world drop weapon that can drop from any activity that offers up legendary rewards. It’s a difficult one to target farm, so your best bet might be going to Banshee-44, given he sells world drop weapons and his inventory resets on Tuesday.

Centrifuse

Centrifuse is an Exotic Energy Auto Rifle with the exotic perks

Overcharge Capacitor – Sprinting, sliding, and firing this weapon builds a temporary electrostatic charge, increasing range and reload speed. Final blows with high charge cause explosions, and maximum charge explosions blind targets.

Regenerative Motion – Sprinting gradually reloads this weapon.

You can get this one from the Monument to Lost Lights in the Tower.

Perpetualis

Perpetualis is a Legendary Kinetic Auto Rifle with an Adaptive Frame meaning it has a well-rounded grip, reliable and sturdy. Looking at the stats we have Impact 21, Range 43, Stability 35, Handling 62, Reload Speed 58, Airborne Effectiveness 19, Rounds Per Minute 600, and Magazine 41.

The origin trait here is Noble Deeds. This weapon gains charges after assisting allies with revives, healing, overshields, or subclass buffs. Defeating targets consumes charges. While charged, this weapon gains bonus handling and reload speed.

For PVE Arrowhead Brake, Tactical Mag, Envious Assassin and Hatchling.

Arrowhead Brake – Greatly controls recoil, Increases handling speed
Tactical Mag – Slightly increases stability, Increases reload speed, Slightly increases magazine size
Envious Assassin – Rapidly defeating targets with other weapons before drawing this one transfers ammo to the magazine from reserves. This effect can overflow the magazine based on the number of targets defeated.
Hatchling – Precision final blows or rapidly defeating targets with a non-precision weapon spawns a Threadling at the target’s location.

To get Perpetualis you can play the seasonal activity Defiance Battlegrounds, then use a Defiance Key to open up the chest at the end. These keys drop from many activities in the game, strikes, cruicble, gambit, so you have plenty of options. As well as Defiance Battlegrounds, you can also focus Defiance Engrams at the Wartable in the H.E.L.M. You can unlock various upgrades through the Wartable to improve focusing options meaning you can go after Perpetualis again and again. Finally, if you play the story in the season, you’ll get this weapon as a reward from the end of Week 2.

Ammit AR2

Ammit-AR2 is a Legendary Energy Auto Rifle with a Precision Frame meaning this weapon’s recoil pattern is more predictably vertical.

For PVE Arrowhead Brake, Flared Magwell, Ambitious Assassin, and Incandescent would be good.

Arrowhead Brake – Greatly controls recoil, Increases handling speed
Flared Magwell – Slightly increases stability, Greatly increases reload speed
Ambitious Assassin – Overflows the magazine based on the number of rapid kills before reloading
Incandescent – Defeating a target spreads scorch to those nearby. More powerful combatants and opposing Guardians cause scorch in a larger radius

This one is a world drop weapon, but you can get it from the crafting tutorial on Savthun’s Throne World.

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo Method – Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.

Markov Chain – This weapon gains increased damage from melee kills and kills with this weapon. Melee kills grant ammo for this weapon.

Monte Carlo Method is a great perk to combine with melee builds as it reduces the melee cooldown, allowing you to get back that ability nice and fast. In this case, it’s our hammer, so you’ll be throwing that a lot. If you also go and pick it up then you’ll get some health back.

We also have an excellent catalyst now where you can stab enemies with the knife part of the weapon like a glaive.

You can pick this one up from Xur or Exotic engrams.

Rufus’s Fury

Rufus’s Fury is a Legendary Kinetic Auto Rifle with a rapid-Fire Frame meaning deeper ammo reserves, plus it deals Strand damage. Slightly faster reload when magazine is empty.

This one comes with the Origin Trait Harmonic Resonance. Equipping multiple weapons from this set grants this weapon increased reload speed and handling. It also deals increased damage versus Tormentors, Lucent Hive, and Guardians using their Supers.

For PVE Arrowhead Brake, Appended Mag, Reconstruction and Target Lock would be decent.

Arrowhead Brake – Greatly controls recoil, Increases handling speed
High-Caliber Rounds – Slightly increases range
Reconstruction – This weapon slowly reloads itself over time, up to double capacity
Target Lock – Damage increases the longer this weapon remains on a target

Hatchling is also a good perk for PVE, which is a good alternative to Target Lock.

To get this one you are going to need to go into the Root of Nightmares Raid in Destiny 2 Lightfall. It can drop from the 3rd and final encounter, and once you get hold of it you can get it from the secret chests in the raid too.

Quicksilver Storm

Quicksilver Storm is an Exotic Kinetic Auto Rifle. Looking at the stats we have Impact 18, Range 40, Stability 85, Handling 48, Reload Speed 54, Rounds Per Minute 720 and Magazine 51.

It comes with the perks:

Rocket Tracers – Landing multiple hits turns your next shot into a homing micro-rocket.
Grenade Chaser – Landing multiple rockets loads a grenade. [Alternate Weapon Action] to switch into Grenade Launcher mode.
This Exotic Auto Rifle feels great. It’s got great stability stats at 85, so feels very solid. This season too we have Anti Barrier Auto Rifles, so that’s a good time to get using Quicksilver Storm.

We also have a decent catalyst for this one. You’ll get a new perk called Nano-entanglement. The effect of this is Quicksilver Storm weapon’s damage type becomes Strand. Final blows with grenades from this weapon create Tangles.

This is great for Strand builds, plus is another way to make tangles.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the best auto rifles.