Fast and deadly, the Hunter is Destiny 2’s best class for expert marksmen who favor speed and agility over more conservative gameplay. The various pieces of Exotic armor available to Hunters emphasize their unique abilities like invisibility or dodging, and some Exotics even provide brand-new abilities entirely. Particularly after the Season of the Wish shook things up with some big adjustments to key Exotics, the Hunter meta has shifted considerably. Here’s a list of the 10 best Hunter Exotics to work into your builds.
10. Cyrtarachne’s Facade
"Gain Woven Mail when activating grapple. Increased flinch resistance while Woven Mail is active."
Woven Mail got a slight nerf in Season of the Wish, reducing damage resistance in PVE from 55% to 45%. But it remains an excellent choice for Strand Hunters who want to zip around the battlefield like Spider-Man. With the Widow’s Silk aspect, you get a second charge for your Grapple and it generates Tangles. The Thread of Ascent fragment also reloads your equipped weapon when you Grapple. If you also go with Marksman’s Dodge, you can do all of your reloading using abilities, allowing you to wield weapons where their only drawback is reload speed.
9. Lucky Pants
"When you ready a fully loaded Hand Cannon that deals kinetic damage or a damage type that matches your subclass energy type, each hit from that Hand Cannon increases the damage of the next shot for a short time against a combatant. Hand Cannons ready faster and are more accurate immediately after swapping to them."
Hand cannons in Destiny 2 are in a really great spot right now thanks to some adjustments over the last couple of seasons. Lucky Pants are more or less tailor made for Ace of Spades, but you can also use a powered hand cannon as long as it matches your subclass. If you have the heavy burst Warden’s Law hand cannon, then it’s definitely worth trying that with Lucky Pants.
8. Renewal Grasps
"Your Duskfield grenades have a much larger effect radius. Allies inside the Duskfield take reduced damage and targets inside the area deal reduced damage."
Stasis saw some noteworthy buffs in Season of the Wish: The Hunter’s melee projectile travels faster and further, and the Winter's Shroud aspect that causes dodges to slow nearby enemies got bigger and more powerful. Renewal Grasps have long been the Stasis Hunter’s go-to Exotic thanks to the massive buff to Duskfield grenades, increasing the radius of its area-of-effect, reducing the damage allies receive and the damage dealt by enemies within its area.
7. Shards of Galanor
"Throwing Knife final blows decrease the cooldown of your Super. Hits and final blows with Blade Barrage will return Super energy after the Super ends."
Another Hunter Exotic that received a noteworthy buff in Season of the Wish, Shards of Galanor has always been the go-to Exotic for Gunslinger Hunters running the Blade Barrage Super due to the fact that it returns super energy with hits and final blows. But now, throwing knife final blows also decrease the super’s cooldown. In high STR builds that focus on becoming Radiant with virtually any variation of the Gunslinger’s throwing knife will continuously refresh and recharge your super as long as you land precision kills with it.
6. Assassin’s Cowl
"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 restored."
Invisibility is often the focus of most Void-powered Nightstalker builds, but Assassin’s Cowl is a great way to incorporate it into other subclass builds as well. If you’re a Nightstalker focusing on finishers for whatever reason, then it’s definitely worth considering. Between the invisibility and boost to health and shields, it’s an excellent choice overall for difficult solo content and one of the most consistent ways for any Hunter to stay invisible.
5. Ophidia Spathe
"Gain a second knife per charge. Getting a final blow with a throwing knife grants consecutive knives a temporary stacking damage bonus. Gambler's Dodge refreshes the bonus timer."
Ophidia Spathe used to only grant two knives per charge, but a major buff this season makes it one of the most effective melee-focused Hunter exotics for add-clear. Knife kills now grant a stacking damage bonus to all throwing knives (+30%/+60%/+100% for 5 seconds). On top of that, Gamber’s Dodge — where dodging near enemies fully recharges your melee ability — now refreshes that timer. Powered melee hits with the Ember of Torches fragment make you and allies Radiant, and when with the Knock ‘Em Down aspect, throwing knife kills while Radiant refund melee energy — so you don’t even need to invest in STR all that much. In other words, you can create a feedback loop of infinite knives with Knife Trick that also applies Scorch and triggers Ignitions. Particularly for easier content, you’d be hard-pressed to find a build that’s more efficient and fun.
4. Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk
"Your Void weapons gain volatile rounds after you emerge from being invisible. When you are invisible and defeat a combatant while using a finisher, all of your weapons gain bonus damage; you and your nearby allies gain a reserve overshield and improved class ability regeneration. These reserve overshields can be deployed by using a class ability."
Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk creates a very narrow playstyle for your Hunter requiring a full commitment to Void weapons (ideally with Void-specific perks like Repulsor Brace and/or Destabilizing Rounds), but it’s tremendously effective once you get into the flow. Turn invisible and use a finisher as often as possible to dole out a huge buff. If you can convince your team to stack Rat Kings, its invisibility perk counts here. But the exotic Heartshadow sword from the Duality dungeon is easily your best weapon choice here as heavy attacks turn you invisible.
3. Omnioculus
"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."
In terms of survivability in high-end content, there really is no better pick than the Omnioculus, which has your Hunter pivot into more of a support role. Extra ability charges are always a huge boon, and the added utility of being able to turn entire fireteams invisible with increased damage resistance is borderline OP. Half of a melee charge is refunded with each ally you turn invisible, so all you need is two to get a full charge. Perhaps best of all, Omnioculus also impacts Quickfall, so you can dive into a pile of allies and turn them all invisible. While more vital in PVE, all of this utility can also be hugely useful in larger PVP contests like Iron Banner.
2. Celestial Nighthawk
"Precision final blows reduce the cooldown of your Super. Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single, high-damage shot. Targets defeated by that shot give you Super energy and explode."
Star-Eater Scales still edge out Celestial Nighthawk overall because they’re more versatile and capable of buffing any Hunter Super, but for Hunters who excel at precision kills on Gunslinger, there’s really no better option out there right now. The big change to Celestial Nighthawk in Season of the Wish is that precision kills now grant bonus Super energy, but it also has a damage buff as well. With the Marksman version of Golden Gun, getting a precision hit on a boss while Radiant can easily max out damage to the tune of 999,999. So all you really need to do is focus on Radiant fragments and weapons effective at precision kills.
1. Star-Eater Scales
"You gain additional Super energy from Orbs of Power you pick up. While your Super energy is full, picking up an Orb of Power overcharges your Super, causing you to gain a burst of healing when cast and a bonus to your Super damage. At maximum overcharge, you also gain an overshield."
Star-Eater Scales doubles the amount of Super energy you gain from Orbs of Power, and once your Super is full, each further Orb grants one Feast of Light stack up to eight total. When at max, it boosts Super damage a whopping 70 percent. Use these with a high INT build and fully Masterworked weapons to generate Orbs galore and spam your Super. And, whenever you reach a boss, max out Feast of Light to really deal some damage. Though it has less viability in PVP, Star-Eater Scales has universal appeal across all subclasses and Supers. Although with Golden Gun, you’re better off with Celestial Nighthawk.
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