Wondering what the best Destiny 2 subclass is? Or what the worst is? With Stasis in the mix, there are twelve different subclasses across the game’s three character types. When Strand is added to the game later this month, that’ll be an extra three. For now though, let’s look at the best and worst subclasses in Destiny 2 for PVE activities.
Before we jump in, it’s worth noting that every subclass in the game is perfectly playable. Our rankings here are based on general utility, especially in high-level content. There are no truly terribly subclasses in Destiny 2 right now, but some are certainly more useful than others.
S Tier — Best and Worst Destiny 2 Subclasses
- Dawnblade
- Nightstalker
- Sentinel
- Striker
Let’s start with the cream of the crop. These subclasses are all some of the most effective in Destiny 2 PVE content. Each of them either has a useful buff ability or is simply able to do an extreme amount of damage to bosses and powerful enemies. Dawnblade has the Well of Radiance super, which has long been one of the most useful in the game. Additionally, Dawnblades can heal and buff their allies’ damage even without using their super, which is a great help.
The Nightstalker is almost essentially for some Grandmaster Nightfalls and other difficult content in Destiny 2. Being able to make yourself and your allies invisible is a huge boon that can make getting through tricky situations that much easier. Having a super that inflicts one of the most potent debuffs in Destiny 2 is also a great help.
Sentinels help with fireteam survivability too, albeit by dishing out overshields and using their Ward of Dawn super to provide a nearly-impenetrable barrier that also buffs weapon damage.
Lastly, Strikers are a little different from the above subclasses. They don’t really help out their fireteam through buffs or debuffing enemies. Instead, they’re capable of dealing a tremendous amount of burst damage through their Thundercrash super, making them fantastic at ending fights as quickly as possible.
A Tier
- Shadebinder
- Gunslinger
A Tier classes are still quite useful in most situations, they just aren’t as universally powerful or easy to play as their S tier brethren. They may require more effort to build into, like the Shadebinder. This Warlock subclass can be versatile and effective with the right build, but their super is a little lacking and they require a good deal of mod and Exotic support to function at their peak.
Similar, the Gunslinger can output a ton of damage with their super ability, but optimizing for that requires a specific Exotic and means sacrificing Tether and the other benefits that a Nightstalker Hunter can bring. Again, still very powerful, but the Gunslinger is less dominant than it once was.
B Tier
- Revenant
- Voidwalker
- Sunbreaker
When we get to the B tier, we’ve got subclasses that are definitely playable even in endgame activities, but that just can’t match up to the abilities of those in the tiers above them. Case in point, the Revenant. Often fantastic in PVP, the Revenant struggles to fill a niche in Destiny 2 PVE. Its super isn’t good for much but crowd control, and its abilities are better-suited to taking out opposing Guardians than supporting a fireteam or doing DPS.
The Warlock Void subclas Voidwalker has good options for debuffing enemies and healing themselves, but Nova Warp is useless for anything but basic add control and their melee ability is a little awkward. A strong subclass, but a bit limited in scope.
The inclusion of the Sunbreaker here might surprise some people. It’s a decent subclass, but it’s fallen quite a ways from the popularity it enjoyed during the Season of the Haunted. Back then, the combination of a seasonal artifact mod and the Loreley Splendor Helm made Sunbreakers effectively invincible. Now, they’re still quite hard to kill, but that survivability doesn’t really come with any major damage output or fireteam buffs beyond Radiant. If you’re running solo as a Titan, then Sunbreaker is a good choice. Otherwise, other subclasses are going to be in higher demand.
C Tier — Best and Worst Destiny 2 Subclasses
- Stormcaller
- Arcstrider
- Behemoth
In the C Tier are the subclasses that few people would pick as their go-to for difficult PVE content in Destiny 2. Again, that doesn’t make them awful, it just means they aren’t as effective at things like DPS, survivability, or damage debuffs as the other subclasses are. Stormcaller is a good example of this. Yes, you can run a Stormcaller build where you have more or less 100% uptime on your abilities, but that’s really only useful in lower-level content. Both of the subclass’s supers are pretty much useless for boss damage, and moving quickly won’t do much to keep you alive in Grandmaster Nightfalls and the like.
The Arcstrider has similar issues, though it’s gained significant utility thanks to the new burst damage super it gained in the 3.0 Arc rework. Still, though, Arcstrider is a bit of a niche subclass when compared to the broad capabilities of the other Hunter options.
Lastly, we have the Behemoth. As fun as it can be to generate a ton of Stasis crystals then smash them, this doesn’t have a lot of use most of the time. Roaming supers are unfortunately just not that great at anything but destroying weaker enemies, a task for which they’re frequently overkill. As a result, the Behemoth tends to struggle in endgame content.
