DPS tests breaking down the current meta for Destiny 2’s primary weapons have revealed that one particular weapon frame outperforms everything else in the sandbox by a wide margin.
Destiny 2’s PvE meta often focuses on heavy weapons, which is no surprise as they are incredibly important. However, using the best primary weapons is equally valuable, especially in high-end content where even adds can be surprisingly tanky.
As for which primary weapon is best to use in The Final Shape, DPS tests by stats guru MossyMax suggest Heavy Burst Pulse Rifles are very much meta, with MossyMax himself describing them as the “new top dog.”
Heavy Burst Pulse Rifles produced 497 DPS when tested against Gambit-scaled red health bar enemies. This was 10% better than any other primary weapon frame, with Adaptive Burst Sidearms coming in second. The closest non-CQB weapon frame was Lightweight Pulse Rifles at just 415, almost 20% weaker.
Unfortunately, there are only two Heavy Burst Pulse Rifles available in Destiny 2: Aisha’s Care from Trials of Osiris and Nullify from Salvation’s Edge. However, Corrasion will be added as a craftable, seasonal weapon later in Episode Echoes, giving casual players the chance to try out the meta weapon frame.
The impressive strength of Burst Pulse Rifles wasn’t overlooked by the community, with one Guardian commenting, “Yeah that is silly lol, 2-burst pulses are definitely gonna be brought in line with other pulses soon.”
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Similarly, another player questioned, “So… is there ever any reason to use scouts if you have a good 2 burst pulse?” with the data suggesting Scout Rifles are lacking in raw damage.
UPDATED PRIMARY DPS CHART for TFS– There's a new top dog for legendary minor DPS – Heavy Burst Pulses!– As noted, support autos are also quite good.– Added rocket sidearms by request, traces are bad– Elites on next chart (all archetypes got a stealth 7% buff) 1/3 pic.twitter.com/D0YuXfUsqB
— MossyMax (@mossy_max) June 25, 2024
Based on MossyMax’s DPS tests, here’s a comparison of how the strongest frame for each primary weapon type performs against Minors:
- Pulse Rifle: Heavy Burst (395 RPM) – 497 DPS
- Sidearm: Adaptive Burst (491 RPM) – 450 DPS
- Auto Rifle: Support (600 RPM) – 405 DPS
- Hand Cannon: Precision (180 RPM) – 402 DPS
- Combat Bow: Lightweight (500 ms) – 382 DPS
- Scout Rifle: Rapid Fire (260 RPM) – 361 DPS
- SMG: Lightweight (900 RPM) – 307 DPS
The key takeaways are that Pulse Rifles, Sidearms, Auto Rifles, and Hand Cannons are all strong in PvE. Unfortunately, Bows and Scout Rifles are lacking, though they are still viable in content where safety is preferred over raw damage. Finally, SMGs are in a rough spot and are almost entirely outclassed by Sidearms.
Something to keep in mind is that these DPS values assume the use of Legendary weapons and don’t take perks into account. Some weapons that are let down by their frame may still be powerful if they have a strong perk pool or unique Exotic effect.