Despite all of the space magic in Destiny 2, most of the guns feel pretty familiar to anybody with experience playing first-person shooters. Hand cannons are heavy-hitting handguns, pulse rifles fire in three- or four-round bursts, and auto rifles are self-explanatory. Destiny 2’s most unique gun, however, is definitely the fusion rifle. They use tiny fusion reactors to deliver high-energy payloads capable of literally melting lesser targets and dealing tremendous damage to more powerful enemies. Every fusion rifle has to be charged up to fire, making the weapon type the epitome of high-risk and high-reward.
If you’re in the market for a great fusion rifle, we’ve rounded up the very best across PVE and PVP based on the current meta and broken them down into a tier list.
About the Author
We conducted extensive research cross-referencing various tier lists including one from Blueberries.gg and databases that rank the popularity of weapons such as Light.gg. Preferences are subjective, but hard data speaks volumes: Popularity tells us at a glance if a weapon roll is “Good” or “Bad.”
Disclaimers About the Tier List
This tier list is designed to help you figure out the best fusion rifles to use in Destiny 2 for different activities, considering various factors that might influence the rankings. How easy it is to obtain a weapon and its god roll should be just as important when considering what is “best.” By all means, chase all of the raid weapons, because they’re excellent, but in terms of the best bang for your buck, plenty of world drops are more serviceable.
Even within a specific weapon type, there typically exists several different archetypes that each serve a distinct purpose. That’s to say nothing of Bungie’s various ongoing balancing changes that might buff or nerf a specific weapon, its archetype, or the overall weapon type. It’s therefore important to understand all of the context surrounding these weapons. Tier lists are inherently opinionated even when driven by data like overall popularity or DPS output.
We will endeavor to update the tier list whenever balance changes occur and after new seasons or expansions as our understanding of the metagame solidifies.
Tier List for Fusion Rifles
- S: These are best-in-class weapons that are the go to options for anyone using the archetype.
- A: These weapons are popular overall, but are edged out for one reason or another by the truly top tier weapons.
- B: These weapons usually have an inherent weakness or downside compared to the higher tiered options usually due to things like perk pool.
- C: These weapons are just average. Nothing special to set them apart.
- F: These weapons are lackluster and mediocre. You’ll rarely see them used.
Tier List Ranks and Explanations
- Merciless (S Tier)
- Riptide (S Tier)
- Iterative Loop (A Tier)
- Techeun Force (A Tier)
- The Eremite (B Tier)
- Deliverance (B Tier)
- Cartesian Coordinate (C Tier)
- Likely Suspect (C Tier)
- Nox Perennial V (C Tier)
- Pressurized Precision (F Tier)
S Tier Fusion Rifles
Merciless
The Exotic Solar fusion rifle Merciless was always a great weapon, but some buffs during Season of the Seraph made it one of the very best. Its Impetus perk functions like a better version of Kill Clip, boosting damage by 66% when you reload after a kill. Conserve Momentum also decreases charge time with each projectile hit, which persists even after you reload or get a kill. And it has a built-in hidden Feeding Frenzy perk, increasing reload speed with rapid kills. All of the above combine into an overwhelming amount of burst damage that can melt just about anything.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: Xur and other Exotic engam sources
- Craftable: No
Riptide
A Riptide with Chill Clip is basically a must-own weapon that’s pretty easy to get. (According to Light.gg, more than 60 percent of all existing rolls have Chill Clip!) Direct hits with the top half of the magazine cause an icy Stasis detonation that slows nearby enemies, and it can freeze a target with successive hits. Since it’s a Rapid-Fire archetype, Riptide can achieve that very quickly and even handle Champions as a result. The fact that it takes up your primary weapon slot is an added bonus.
Riptide can drop from any Crucible activity or vendor focusing with Lord Shaxx. It’s ironic that a Crucible drop is better suited to PVE content, and Riptide really isn’t worth it in PVP at all. If you do want to try it out, something like Perpetual Motion makes a lot of sense since you can keep moving while charging and firing. Under Pressure also works for virtually any fusion rifle. For the final column, Successful Warm-Up will reduce charge time with each final blow, which synergizes well with Perpetual Motion if you go on a run-and-gun spree.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: Crucible rewards and Lord Shaxx focusing
- Craftable: No
- PVE God Roll: Auto-Loading Holster + Chill Clip
- PVP God Roll: Perpetual Motion/Under Pressure + Successful Warm-Up
A Tier Fusion Rifles
Iterative Loop
This Arc-powered Rapid Fire fusion rifle is a random drop from a variety of activities on Neomuna that’s versatile enough to find a place in PVP and PVE, particularly with Arc builds that capitalize on the Voltshot perk to Jolt more targets. That route is best in PVE activities alongside Compulsive Reloader because you have to reload anyway to trigger Voltshot. In the first two perk columns for Iterative Loop, try to improve recoil direction, stability, and weapon handling for PVE with something like Arrowhead Break and Particle Repeater or Accelerated Coils. Other solid perks include Lead from Gold, Grave Robber, and Demolitionist.
For PVP, Voltshot becomes far less useful, so focus on range instead. Under Pressure boosts stability and accuracy when the magazine is half-full, which happens often with special ammo in the Crucible. That with Kickstart is the most popular combo for PVP, but it requires you master firing it while sliding. The best alternative is probably Elemental Capacitor, which will boost stability if you run a Void subclass.
- Excels in: PVP/PVE
- Source: Neomuna (Public Events, Chests, Activities, Terminal Overload, Nimbus)
- Craftable: Yes
- PVE God Roll: Compulsive Reloader + Voltshot
- PVP God Roll: Under Pressure + Kickstart
Techeun Force
Originally released as part of Forsaken, Techeun Force relaunched with new perks during Season of the Deep as a craftable hot commodity. It’s the only Arc Adaptive Frame fusion rifle that can roll with Controlled Burst, which boosts damage and reduces charge time upon scoring a kill or hitting with every shot in a burst. As such, it’s best suited to PVE where you can blast it at big targets or mow down weaker enemies to trigger Controlled Burst. Rewind Rounds synergizes best with Controlled Burst, reloading the magazine based on the number of hits.
You don’t need anything fancy if you bring Techeun Force into the Crucible as its strong base stats shine. Under Pressure and High Impact Reserves synergize really well, boosting stability, accuracy, and damage as your magazine gets smaller. But you can never go wrong with Kill Clip. Players into sliding could opt for Kickstart if it strikes their fancy.
- Excels in: PVP/PVE
- Source: Last Wish raid
- Craftable: Yes
- PVE God Roll: Reconstruction/Rewind Rounds + Controlled Burst
- PVP God Roll: Under Pressure/Kill Clip + High Impact Reserves/Kickstart
B Tier Fusion Rifles
The Eremite
The Eremite was the hot new High-Impact Solar fusion rifle released in Season of the Witch, but since that season’s over, you have to go out of your way to farm old activities. It’s for that reason alone that it slides into the B tier.
High base stats make for a powerful weapon, but like other High Impact fusions, the only drawback is a slower charge time. Hitting every shot in a burst or scoring a kill increases damage and decreases charge time with Controlled Burst, which is an excellent standalone perk. But with Envious Assassin, you can overflow the magazine from reserves based on the number of kills you get with another weapon. In other words, when you modify your playstyle to focus on this delicate combo, you can absolutely mow through enemies with the overloaded magazine.
While a risky play in PVP, The Eremite can work if you emphasize its stability and range. Even with that, none of the perk combos work particularly well in the Crucible. Slickdraw does max out The Eremite’s handling but reduces target acquisition. That gives you a bit more flexibility in the other columns to play around. There’s no standout for the fourth column perk, but if you run a Solar subclass with Golden Tricorn, you can synergize with your abilities to scoop up bonus damage with final blows. Alternatively, Elemental Capacitor can grant you a different decent boon depending on your subclass — just don’t go Arc, because your handling is already at max.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: Season of the Witch seasonal activities
- Craftable: Yes
- PVE God Roll: Envious Assassin/Compulsive Reloader + Controlled Burst/Reservoir Burst
- PVP God Roll: Slickdraw + Golden Tricorn/Elemental Capacitor
Deliverance
Like Riptide, Deliverance is a Stasis fusion rifle that takes up your first weapon slot and can roll with Chill Clip. Unlike Riptide, Deliverance has the Precision Frame archetype and is somewhat hard to get — but totally worth the chase for diehards, mainly because it’s craftable. That said, committing to farming the raid is a lot of work.
With Chill Clip, hits with the top half of the magazine cause a slowing Stasis detonation and consistent pressure can freeze enemies outright and potentially stagger Champions. Demolitionist + Chill Clip is by far the most popular roll (at more than 30% of all rolls on Light.gg), generating grenade energy on kills and reloading the weapon from reserves when activating your grenade ability.
With this approach, however, you should also run a Stasis subclass to emphasize the effects. I prefer the more direct synergy of Compulsive Reloader + Chill Clip which fits nicely into virtually any build. Similar to Iterative Loop with Compulsive Reloader + Voltshot, if you consistently hit enemies and reload compulsively, then those reloads will be incredibly fast and each hit will consistently slow and/or freeze those targets.
As an alternative, Demolitionist + Adrenaline Junkie is a grenade-forward thrill that enhances an already great weapon, and it works just as well in PVP. Perpetual Motion + Successful Warm-Up is arguably even better for PVP. You ought to always be moving in the Crucible anyway, and with Successful Warm-Up reducing charge time, killing sprees only get easier.
- Excels in: PVP/PVE
- Source: Vow of the Disciple raid
- Craftable: Yes
- PVE God Roll: Compulsive Reloader/Demolitionist + Chill Clip/Adrenaline Junkie
- PVP God Roll: Perpetual Motion + Successful Warm-Up
C Tier Fusion Rifles
Cartesian Coordinate
Once upon a time, Cartesian Coordinate was the S-Tier choice for fusion rifles on account of its robust aim assist and great range. But this Solar Rapid-Fire Frame weapon is currently very hard to obtain because it’s part of the world loot pool and could theoretically drop from any activity. It’s possible that Xur might sell it one day, but there’s no guarantee it’ll be a good roll.
One of the weapon’s greatest strengths is its tight perk pool, and almost all of them are viable enough that you could mix and match to find something unique and serviceable. Banshee sold the Lead from Gold + Vorpal Weapon god roll in late 2021. Vorpal Weapon boosts damage against bosses, enemies on vehicles, and Guardians with their super active. And Lead from Gold grants special ammo whenever you pick up heavy.
Lead from Gold doesn’t have much use in PVP, but Under Pressure and High Impact reserves ensure that your gun’s performance is optimized when your magazine is low. All things considered, it remains a solid weapon. It’s just hard to hunt down.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: World loot pool
- Craftable: No
- PVE God Roll: Lead from Gold + Vorpal Weapon
- PVP God Roll: Under Pressure + High Impact Reserves
Likely Suspect
Likely Suspect has fallen from grace just a bit after being the flavor of the week with the launch of The Witch Queen, but if you don’t have it already, spending so much time farming for it in the Throne World might be a chore. This Void Rapid-Fire Frame with deeper ammo reserves and faster reload speeds when empty remains a decent choice in the Crucible, but to capitalize on its best perks, you have to do a very particular playstyle. Firmly Planted + Successful Warm-up can work wonders thanks to Likely Suspects decent range, but you’ll get the most use out of it camping while crouched.
Golden Tricorn is an excellent PVE perk for a fusion rifle, granting bonus damage with final blows, and ability kills of the same damage type increase damage and duration. But it limits you to using a Void subclass to get the most use out of it. Powered Hunter melees are also not good at getting kills, so that’s another drawback if you play the best class in the game. That’s well and fine if you construct your build around it, however, and emphasize Volatile Rounds.
- Excels in: PVP
- Source: Throne World
- Craftable: Yes
- PVE God Roll: Slideways + Golden Tricorn
- PVP God Roll: Firmly Planted + Successful Warm-up
Nox Perennial V
The second Strand-powered fusion rifle to ever hit the game has a decent High-Impact frame, which makes for a slower charge time for greater damage per hit. Nox Perennial V’s base stats have less handling and range than better counterparts, and while the novelty of Strand on a fusion rifle is interesting, it really is just a novelty. The signature Strand perk, Hatchling, requires multikills to trigger on a fusion rifle. Considering how slow this thing fires, Hatchling feels like a waste.
A better alternative build would be the Envious Assassin + Controlled Burst approach. Defeating targets with other weapons before switching to Nox triggers Envious Assassin, overflowing the magazine from reserves. Then with Controlled Burst, landing every shot in a burst boosts damage and reduces charge time. In PVE, that means you can wipe out lesser enemies with a hand cannon or grenade launcher then swap to Nox to deal loads of damage to a big target or boss.
Being a world drop doesn’t do it any favors, because that just makes it impossible to farm and even harder to get a good roll. To top it all off, it’s not craftable. It can be deadly in PVP but requires a lot of skill. Under Pressure is always solid on fusion rifles in PVP, improving stability and accuracy as the magazine gets lower. And so long as you slide around a lot, you’ll pick up bonus damage and a faster charge rate thanks to Kickstart. Despite the strong perk combo, unless you fix those base stats with lucky rolls on the barrel and battery, you’re far better off using something else.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: World Drops
- Craftable: No
- PVE God Roll: Envious Assassin + Controlled Burst
- PVP God Roll: Under Pressure + Kickstart
Pressurized Precision
The first Strand-powered fusion rifle to hit the game is a solid weapon with great stats and a decent perk pool, but its biggest drawback is the fact that it’s an Iron Banner weapon. Acquiring one can be a challenge and acquiring a good roll is totally left up to chance. As a Darkness-powered element, it takes up the primary Kinetic weapon slot which remains a coveted rarity. But the Strand elemental perk, Hatchling, requires multikills with fusion rifles to trigger, so it’s not really all that useful.
Pressurized Precision is a well-balanced Adaptive Frame, and its perk pool has all of the fusion rifle classics. Auto-Loading Holster and Vorpal Weapon combination is probably your best bet for PVE, paired with a reliable auto rifle in your Special weapon slot. That way, you can drain your fusion rifle clip, then swap right to your auto so PP can reload itself. Vorpal Weapon, of course, capitalizes on the weapon’s high impact to deal extra damage to bosses. Alternatively, High-Impact Reserves has decent synergy with Auto-Loading Holster; just time things so that you keep your magazine half full.
Over in PVP things are pretty typical with nothing interesting going on. Rangefinder is always a must for fusion rifles where it’s available. To pick between Perpetual Motion and Firmly Planted, just think about whether you want to keep moving or take your time to shoot from afar.
- Excels in: PVE
- Source: Iron Banner
- Craftable: No
- PVE God Roll: Auto-Loading Holster + Vorpal Weapon/High-Impact Reserves
- PVP God Roll: Perpetual Motion/Firmly Planted + Rangefinder
Are Fusion Rifles Good Right Now?
While a fusion rifle won’t be your constant companion for taking out hordes of Thralls and other lesser foes, a strong roll is remarkably potent in terms of DPS and quickly eliminating Major enemies. Over in PVP, they’re easy to pick up but difficult to master and, by and large, rarely used in comparison to other weapon types. But that just makes it a more effective choice.
Fusion rifles are optimal at the medium range — further away than a shotgun or your typical SMG but closer than most auto rifles and all scout rifles — and their varied charge times can be tricky to navigate. As energy weapons that use special ammo, they can often synergize with subclass builds depending on the perks.
