Hunter was the premiere PvP class in Destiny 2 for a long time, and with the proper builds, it can still be an absolute menace in Crucible. Below, we cover the best setups per class to help you home in on what works best for you.
Hunters are masters of the shutdown Super, make invisibility an effectively constant occurrence, and have some of the most annoying to fight but fun to use abilities in the game. There are, of course, countless useable builds you could employ, but only a few best-in-class options.
Top Hunter Builds for Destiny 2 PvP
Best Hunter PvP Strand Build
At its simplest, the best Strand Hunter build for PvP is anything that gives you Woven Mail, so you’ll want the following equipment/Fragments:
- The Cyrtarachne’s Facade Exotic Helmet
- A Strand weapon: The Immortal SMG, Quicksilver Storm Auto Rifle, Circular Logic Machine Gun
- A solid shotgun
The Aspects and Fragments you’ll want are:
- Ensnaring Slam, Widow’s Silk
- Thread of Warding, Thread of Generation, Thread of Continuity
You’ll also want abilities synchronizing with Grapple, so effects that activate alongside its use (like the Facade giving Woven Mail) are essential. Having your class ability up as often as possible is also helpful. While you should almost always prioritize having 100 Resilience and high Discipline for grenade recharge rate, any way you can get your Suspend dive back quickly will only help.
Suspend might not have the same effect on Guardians as on other enemy types, but it can still be a major nuisance and give you and your teammates far easier targets to take out.
Best Hunter PvP Stasis Build
If you want to play a Stasis Hunter build, you’ll want the following equipment/Fragments:
- The Mask of Bakris which, instead of a standard dodge, gives you a short-range teleport that increases Arc weapon damage, and you can slow or freeze your enemies for even more DPS. It’s an excellent option for both Mobility and survivability.
- Use the Duskfield Grenade for area denial and the ability to gain benefits for shattering the Stasis Crystal it creates with the Touch of Winter Aspect.
- If you don’t have or don’t want to use Bakris, you can double down on Duskfields with the Renewal Grasps for a more in-your-face gameplay style. Throw a grenade and rush into the field for increased resistance to damage and slower enemies.
- Any Stasis weapon with Headstone is good for creating additional crystals.
The Aspects and Fragments to use:
- Touch of Winter, Grim Harvest
- Whisper of Rime, Whisper of Durance, Whisper of Shards, Whisper of Torment.
Which stats you prioritize here depends on what’s central to your build. Resilience aside, Discipline coupled with grenade recharge abilities is great for maximum grenade spam, and if dodging around is your desire, Mobility is the play.
Best Hunter PvP Solar Build
There are two schools of thought when it comes to Solar Hunter builds in PvP: Blade Barrage or Golden Gun.
For a shutdown build, you want:
- The Blade Barrage Super.
- Equip Star Eater’s Scales Exotic Leg Armor and build for some ability to create Orbs of Power easily. This will allow you overcharge your Super, gain some back, and make it even more powerful.
- You could also go for Athrys’s Embrace for access to a powerful Throwing Knife and almost on-demand access to the Radiant buff.
- Young Ahamkara’s Spine makes your Tripmine Grenades even more powerful. Whenever an enemy pulls out a roaming Super, a single Barrage will take it out. You can also clear whole areas of the map with a well-timed Barrage.
- For weapons, the Parasite Exotic Heavy Grenade Launcher is a great choice, as is a good shotgun or Solar Pulse Rifle like the BxR-55 Battler or a weapon like Vex Mythoclast works wonders.
If you want a more aggressive choice:
- Golden Gun paired with Wormhusk Crown and Healing Grenades can help make you an almost unkillable force. Adding in Caliban’s Hand for more powerful Explosive Knives gives you a second ranged option when your Super isn’t up.
- You’ll want to use the Deadshot variant of Golden Gun, as you’ll have six shots rather than three, and you have a chance at refunding shots if you manage an ignition.
For either build, your Aspects and Fragments should be:
- On Your Mark, Knock ‘Em Down
- Ember of Torches, Ember of Benevolence, Ember of Searing, Ember of Beams
Resilience remains the first stat to focus on, with Discipline or Strength being your second choice for Grenades/Melee. You can eschew both for Mobility if you plan to activate Wormhusk after every engagement, though you won’t win any friends doing so.
Best Hunter PvP Void Build
Void Hunter builds are still very much about maximizing the effectiveness of your invisibility, and different Exotics do this in different ways.
- The Graviton Forfeit all but doubles the time you spend invisible and increases your Recovery, reload speed, and Melee ability regeneration. If sneaking around the map for a juicy flank is your desire, look no further.
- The Sixth Coyote gives gift of two dodges when your class ability is fully charged can do even more for your invisible shenanigans. If you pair it with Marksman’s dodge and a weapon with a slow reload or that only has a few high-powered rounds, you can put out much more massive damage than your enemies might be expecting.
- You could also go with either the Omnioculus or Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk, though neither is as effective as they once were.
The former makes you harder to kill while invisible and gives you a second Smoke Bomb, while the latter grants Volatile Rounds when you come out of invisibility. Not as immediately useful as it could be, but fun nonetheless.
The Aspects and Fragments you’ll want are:
- Trapper’s Ambush, Stylish Executioner
- Echo of Provision, Echo of Persistence, Echo of Leeching, Echo of Starvation
The Shadowshot Super is the original Hunter shutdown option and remains as effective today as it was in the original Destiny.
Best Hunter PvP Arc Build
Image via Bungie
How you want to play Arc Hunter builds in PvP depends on a few factors.
- You like non-meta gameplay.
- You like deflecting things.
- You enjoy spreading Jolt.
Arc Hunters remain something of a black sheep no matter what you’re doing, and that’s still true for PvP these days. There are two primary choices of Exotic here.
- Liar’s Handshake for an ultimate melee-focused setup that can not only deal massive damage but easily send out a shocking amount of pain to anyone in close proximity to your kill.
- Raiju’s Harness makes you essentially invincible in your Arc Staff Super. It enhances your Staff’s ability deflection ability, reducing its cost if you aren’t deflecting anything and removing the cost entirely if you are.
You’ll also want as many ways to Jolt your enemies as possible. These open up the possibility of creating Ionic Traces for maximum ability regeneration and can clear entire groups of opposing Guardians with a single kill — or at least do a ton of damage to everyone nearby.
For Aspects and Fragments, you’ll want:
- Lethal Current, Flow State
- Spark of Shock, Spark of Ions, Spark of Focus
For these reasons, the one stat you need to invest in is Resilience, as there are multiple ways to get your other abilities back quickly on Arc. However, Discipline is probably the best second stat to focus on, as you can get your Melee back instantly with a simple Gambler’s Dodge.
Hopefully, these general tips will help you make a PvP build for any Hunter subclass in Destiny 2. More specific builds will take much more space to break down properly, but the basic systems work across the game. For more tailored guides for the game, including god rolls, how to complete Exotic quests, and more, our D2 guides hub has you covered.
Featured image via Bungie
