Destiny 2: The 10 Best Hand Cannons For PvP (2024)

No weapon category is more popular in Destiny 2 than Hand Cannons. Their versatility and great damage make them a fan-favorite among most of the community. Even after blanket range and perk nerfs, these weapons are still the preferred Primary among many Crucible veterans.

Like with every other weapon category, there are many choices of Hand Cannon that suit different playstyles. Exotics further increase the number of choices, some favoring utility while others are more akin to Sniper Rifles. From hard-hitting 120 Hand Cannons to rapid-firing 180s, there is a Hand Cannon to suit anyone's needs. Here are the ten best Hand Cannons you should use in PvP in Destiny 2.

Updated May 9, 2023, by Charles Burgar: Destiny 2: Into the Light brought back some fan-favorite Hand Cannons to the sandbox. Out of the new weapons, Luna's Howl has greatly shaken up the PvP meta with its reworked Magnificent Howl perk. We've updated this list to include Luna's Howl, and we've rewritten many entries to reflect the mid-season balance patch that fundamentally reworked all TTK thresholds in PvP.

10 Kept Confidence

How to obtain: Season of the Witch activities and Engrams.

Kept Confidence might be one of the best feeling Hand Cannons in Destiny 2. Its clean sights, sound, and overall recoil pattern more than compensate for its mediocre stats and terrible origin trait. Kept Confidence is a Strand 140 RPM Hand Cannon with some solid dueling perks, notably Killing Wind and Eye of the Storm.

A single kill will proc Killing Wind's massive +20 range bonus and 1.05x scalar, allowing this weapon to land shots out to 38 meters without experiencing damage falloff. Eye of the Storm will then boost your accuracy during the second half of a duel. making this gun a dream to use. It's not quite as strong as Rose or similar 140s, but there are some players who will stick with this gun because of just how good it feels to shoot.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Killing Wind, Quickdraw
• Column Two: Eye of the Storm

9 Fatebringer

How to obtain:Vault of Glass raid.

The king of Hand Cannons is back and better than ever. Fatebringer is a 140 RPM Hand Cannon that has a great stat package. Excellent handling, stability, aim assist, and access to Adept mods allow this weapon to chain headshots with little issue. Of course, what makes this weapon truly come alive are its perks.

Fatebringer can roll with some fantastic traits. Explosive Payload is arguably the best PvP perk for a Hand Cannon, inflicting an absurd amount of flinch onto your target while extending the effective range of this Hand Cannon. Shockingly, this rolls in the first trait column on Fatebringer, not the second column. This means you can pair it with Eye of the Storm to create a devastating dueling weapon.

Other perk combinations on Fatebringer are also viable if you dislike any of those perks. Killing Wind is a no-brainer in the third column, allowing this gun to hit targets from 39 meters away without experiencing damage falloff. You can pair this with Kill Clip to further extend the gun's effective range while easing up on the gun's TTK requirement. Get a good roll of this gun, and you'll feel virtually unstoppable.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Explosive Payload, Killing Wind, Tunnel Vision
• Column Two: Eye of the Storm, Kill Clip, Frenzy

8 Austringer

See Also

Destiny 2 PvE Class Tier List: Which Class is Best for Endgame?Destiny 2: The 10 Best Hand Cannons For PvEDestiny 2: All Exotic Hand Cannons, RankedCrimson - Stats, Exotic Perk, Catalyst & More - Mobalytics

How to obtain: Presage; craftable at The Enclave.

Season of the Haunted brought back some of Destiny 2's most coveted weapons, one of which being the Austringer. This weapon was originally meant to be an homage to the original Destiny's Eyasluna. Yet when Eyasluna returned, many veteran players thought it didn't live up to its name. Austringer does.

The iconic Eye of the Storm and Opening Shot combination is back and stronger than ever, allowing Austringer to start and end gunfights on its own. So long as you can land that second shot, you will land three taps with minimal effort. And thanks to the zoom changes in Season 22, this perk combination is more than viable now since Rangefinder is no longer mandatory.

If you don't mind landing the first shot in a gunfight, Austringer also has a hidden S-tier perk in the same trait column: Zen Moment. This perk makes you nearly immune to flinch when active. It gets rid of reticle bounce, greatly reduces visual recoil, and boosts your flinch resistance significantly throughout a duel. Paired with a high stability configuration, you can fight SMG and Auto Rifle users with confidence.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Eye of the Storm, Snapshot Sights
• Column Two: Opening Shot, Zen Moment

7 Hawkmoon

How to obtain: Sold by Xur.

One of Destiny 1's most coveted Hand Cannons, Hawkmoon, has returned in Destiny 2. Its random nature was shifted from its Exotic perk to its acquisition method. Now, players can earn random rolls on Hawkmoon, allowing a degree of personalization.

The gun itself is fantastic, bundled with an incredible stat package and a strong Exotic perk. Paracasual Charges offer a great boost to Hawkmoon's consistency and allows crafty players to one-shot Supers and other Guardians in the right circ*mstances. Hawkmoon does come with a large cost: it's an Exotic weapon. You can't put mods on this gun, and it restricts what you can put in your Energy and Heavy slots.

Even with those caveats, Hawkmoon's ease of use makes it one of the best Hand Cannons you can use. If you're trying to get accustomed to Hand Cannons, Hawkmoon is a fantastic weapon to start with.

Recommended Trait

• Column One: Opening Shot, Eye of the Storm, Killing Wind

6 Exalted Truth

How to obtain: Trials of Osiris Legacy Focusing.

Exalted Truth is a Trials of Osiris Hand Cannon that excels at just about everything. Featuring exceptional base stats in nearly every category, this weapon is the perfect blank slate for buildcrafters and PvP players alike.

Both trait columns are so loaded that it's a shame Exalted Truth isn't craftable. Killing Wind, Perfect Float, Rangefinder, and Slickdraw can all roll in the first trait column. Slickdraw might seem like a poor recommendation, but recent buffs have made this perk far more forgiving. The second column has some amazing picks like Eye of the Storm Frenzy, Repulsor Brace, and Encore.

What further sets this gun apart from other 140s are the origin traits. SUROS Synergy, Alacrity, and One Quiet Moment roll on every copy of this gun. SUROS Synergy is our recommendation here, granting a massive boost to your handling and flinch resistance after reloading. But if you're a solo player who wants to slay, use Alacrity.

Bottom line, Exalted Truth is a stat monster that can achieve 100 range without much investment, dueling targets out to 37.5 meters. It has the same consistency as Palindrome but has better origin traits and can even squeeze in a damage or utility perk with the right build. If you're skilled enough to play Trials, Exalted Truth is definitely worth the grind.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Killing Wind, Perfect Float, Slickdraw
• Column Two: Encore, Eye of the Storm, Frenzy

5 Thorn

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 125,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Thorn is a 140 RPM Hand Cannon that inflicts a weak poison damage-over-time effect with every shot. This alone makes Thorn a solid option for life-modes like Trials of Osiris, but it also has a unique perk that spawns souls with each kill. Collecting one will empower your poison damage, allowing it to enemies in critical condition, although it no longer changes the gun's TTK.

As powerful as that sounds, Thorn was held back by its lackluster range stat for years. Thankfully, that's no longer the case. Its Exotic Catalyst grants a whopping +15 range, +5 stability, and buffs Soul Devourer to also grant the benefits of Killing Wind. In essence, landing a kill slightly buffs your stability, gives you 35 meters of effective range, and partially refills the magazine. That's a solid weapon for any PvP playlist, Trials especially.

4 Luna's Howl

How to obtain: Onslaught activities and Brave Engrams.

Most Crucible veterans remember Not Forgotten dominating the Forsaken meta, but many players forgot about Luna's Howl. Bungie brought this version back with Into the Light, and it's arguably the strongest Energy 140 RPM Hand Cannon in the game. That's mostly due to the gun's reworked Magnificent Howl perk, granting the weapon a 50% damage buff on a number of shots equal to the precision kills you landed in your previous magazine.

It's effectively been reworked to behave similarly to Hawkmoon, expect now you need to reload before the perk procs. Magnificent Howl can two-tap Guardians if you have two or more stacks of the perk, a feat that exceptionally few 140s can pull off. You can then pair this with Heal Clip for free healing or Slideshot for a massive range boost. And if Magnificent Howl isn't your thing, Precision Instrument makes this an S-tier dueling weapon.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Heal Clip, Slideshot
• Column Two: Magnificent Howl, Precision Instrument, Kill Clip

3 Ace Of Spades

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 125,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Nearly everyone who played during Forsaken remembers this gun. Ace of Spades shaped the Crucible meta for a long time and still has a massive impact today. So long as Hand Cannons exist in Destiny 2, Ace of Spades will be a great pick. That is thanks to its Exotic perks. Ace really has five perks instead of two major ones. This weapon has its radar active while aiming, Firefly, Outlaw, a stronger version of Kill Clip, and High-Caliber Rounds for extra flinch.

Its absurdly high range stat allows this gun to three-tap from 35 meters, competitive with most meta Hand Cannons. Throw on Radiant, and now Memento Mori can two-tap Guardians up to T9 Resilience. It's a devastating weapon in the hands of a good player.

2 Igneous Hammer

How to obtain: Trials of Osiris matches and Engrams.

Igneous Hammer has returned in Season of the Witch, complete with a perk pool refresh and origin traits. For those who missed this gun in Beyond Light, Igneous Hammer has such a good stat package that it's closer to 140s than 120s. With a good roll of this gun, you're looking at a 120 Hand Cannon with 80+ range and 70+ handling. No other 120 can achieve that without the help of perks.

Yet all Igneous Hammer needs to achieve those stats are Adept mods and Keep Away, a perk that buffs your range and reload speed while 15+ meters away from a target. Hand Cannons tend to excel in the mid-range so this is trivial to active. Keep Away's small accuracy bonus also helps Igneous Hammer land headshots, but you can take this even further with Eye of the Storm.

While both perks are active, your bullets cannot miss. Every shot will land on target, usually curving to their head. There are some great perk alternatives like Encore and Frenzy, but we find Keep Away and Eye of the Storm to be the best pairing on this gun.

What you're left with is a Hand Cannon that has a massive boost to accuracy, can snipe enemies from 38+ meters away, and receives some major stats bonuses when you're the last player alive. No 120 Hand Cannon comes close to that level of performance.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Keep Away, Rapid Hit, Encore
• Column Two: Eye of the Storm, Frenzy, Moving Target

1 Rose

How to obtain: Competitive Engram Focusing.

While this weapon isn't obtainable currently, Rose is such a unique Hand Cannon that it deserves a mention for those who own it. Rose is the only Lightweight Hand Cannon in Destiny 2, providing a passive +20 Mobility and 6.25% sprint speed boost while the weapon is equipped. This weapon otherwise behaves like a 140 RPM Hand Cannon, featuring high handling and a whopping 85 base aim assist.

This weapon's base range and stability are somewhat lacking, but you can easily fix this with good perks and grips. Slideshot and Eye of the Storm is arguably the best combination after the Season 23 balance changes, granting a massive boost to your range and stability after you slide, and Eye of the Storm will boost your accuracy on the tail end of a fight. Explosive Payload is a great alternative if you don't mind the adjusted damage profile.

That is far from the only viable combination, however. Perpetual Motion is a great pick for aggressive players, Moving Target is a solid neutral game option, and Rapid Hit never disappoints. If you don't care for Explosive Payload, you have some amazing alternatives like Eye of the Storm and Snapshot Sights. Rose has so many good perk combinations that just about any roll will serve you well.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Slideshot, Moving Target, Rapid Hit
• Column Two: Eye of the Storm, Explosive Payload, Snapshot Sights