Unstoppable Champions can be some of the easiest of their ilk to deal with in Destiny 2, but you leave them alone at your own peril. Knowing the best weapons to use to stun an Unstoppable Champion makes higher-difficulty content much easier to complete and turns these muscleheads into harmless kittens.
The Best Weapons to Use Against Unstoppable Champions in Destiny 2
There are three categories of weapons to use against Unstoppable Champions: those with inherent anti-Unstoppable traits, those that can activate an anti-Unstoppable effect, and weapons the seasonal Artifact gives anti-Champion traits. I’ll only be covering the first two, and I’ll be mentioning Ignition and Shatter most frequently, as those are two of the easier effects to activate. Now let’s get to it.
- Conditional Finality Exotic Shotgun
- Dragon’s Breath Exotic Rocket Launcher
- Zaoli’s Bane, Luna’s Howl, and Other Incandescent Weapons
- Riptide Fusion Rifle
- Ostreo Striga Exotic SMG with a Warlock Strand Suspend build
- Leviathan’s Breath Heavy Exotic Bow
- One Thousand Voices Exotic Fusion Rifle
- Polaris Lance Exotic Scout Rifle
- Wish-Keeper Heavy Exotic Bow
- Strand Subclass Shackle Grenade
Conditional Finality Exotic Shotgun
The Conditional Finality Exotic Shotgun, is one of the best weapons in all of Destiny 2 to deal with Unstoppable Champions. Hit one of them with every pellet from the first shell and they’ll freeze, staggering when the Stasis crystals shatter. If you don’t freeze them, hitting with all the bullets in the second shell will lignite them, also staggering them. The one catch: you can only get Conditional Finality as a random drop from the final boss of the Root of Nightmares Raid, so unless you play Raids, you’re out of luck here.
Dragon’s Breath Exotic Rocket Launcher
Where the Conditional Finality is the best option for dealing with Unstoppable Champions, the Dragon’s Breath is the easiest. All you do is shoot the Champion with a single rocket and wait for the Ignition. Dragon’s Breath is available from the Season of the Wish Season Pass until June 3, 2024, when The Final Shape releases. It’s liable to make its way to the Monument to Lost Lights kiosk in the Tower after that.
Zaoli’s Bane, Luna’s Howl, and Other Incandescent Weapons
You need to work a bit harder to get a Hand Cannon to deal with Unstoppable Champions unless Unstoppable Hand Cannon is available from the Seasonal Artifact. In normal circumstances, you need your Hand Cannon to have Incandescnet, and then you need to defeat enough enemies near the Champion that it ignites. In most content, that shouldn’t be too hard, as Champions usually have at least a few trash mobs around them to kill.
Riptide Fusion Rifle
The Riptide Fusion Rifle has long been a go-to option for taking out Unstoppable Champions, as two bursts with the Chill Clip perk will immediately freeze them in Stasis, and the subsequent shatter will stun them. You do need to actually have a Riptide with Chill Clip for the effect to function, but if you play PvP with any frequency, you should have more than enough Crucible Engrams to Focus focus farm one.
If, like me, you don’t care for Destiny 2 PvP, the Deliverance Fusion Rifle from the Vow of the Disciple Raid also rolls with Chill Clip. Since it’s craftable, it can take enhanced perks, but it’s also harder to come by.
Osteo Striga on a Warlock Strand Suspend Build
I know this particular setup is super specific, but even with the nerf to Osteo Striga, and the nerfs to Strand we got, Suspend spread is still a very powerful setup. You don’t need Osteo Striga to make it work, but it’s the easiest way to ensure you can clear entire rooms. Suspend is also still effective against all Champion types to boot, and there’s nothing more satisfying (to me, anyway) than stringing up an entire field of enemies and blasting them out of existence.
Leviathan’s Breath Exotic Heavy Bow
One of two weapons with intrinsic anti-Unstoppable capabilities, the Leviathan’s Breath is the better of them, offering endgame-ready damage as well as solid Void subclass synergy. While it doesn’t have the highest boss-deleting potential as, say, Gjallarhorn-enhanced rockets, it can be a great choice for solo content or activities where you know its burst damage will be helpful. It’s also a fairly solid pick for certain encounters, specifically the final boss of the Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon.
One Thousand Voices Exotic Heavy Fusion Rifle
The (in)famously difficult to get One Thousand Voices Exotic is locked behind the final boss of the Last Wish Raid, Riven of a Thousand Voices. It’s easier to get to drop these days, with bad luck protection and drop rate increases via Triumphs, but it’s still a random reward with no guarantees. That said, if you hit an Unstoppable Champion with the full blast from this weapon, it will take a heavy chunk of damage and ignite, staggering it for an easy kill. One Thousand Voices also got a reserves buff, making it an even better choice than it was before.
Polaris Lance Exotic Scout Rifle
Originally released during the Warmind expansion during Year 1 of Destiny 2, Polaris Lance is much easier to get these days. I won’t bore you with the story, but needless to say, all you need to do to stagger an Unstoppable with it is get a few precision hits and the Champ will go up like a tinderbox (it will ignite). Polaris Lance is also a great choice for dealing supplemental damage from a distance when you’re out of Special and Heavy ammo, as it has infinite reserves and, thus, an infinite potential for ignitions.
Wish-Keeper Exotic Heavy Bow
The Wish-Keeper Exotic Bow might be a super niche option, especially when there are so many overall better choices of Exotic for DPS and general utility, but the Suspend traps it can leave on the ground are a hilarious way to deal with Unstoppable Champions. You simply make a nice web and lure the Champ your way, then point and laugh as it walks right into a clearly visible green tripwire, hanging in the air like a big idiot.
Strand Subclass Shackle Grenade
Yes, I’m cheating, but the Shackle Grenade is one of the most accessible anti-Unstoppable abilities in the game. You only need to own the Lightfall expansion (and I apologize that I’m asking you to spend money on it). In any event, if you want a literal “click-button-to-stop-Unstoppables,” this is it.
For more on Destiny 2, check out our guides on the best PvE Hand Cannons, how to get Divinity, and more in our D2 guides hub.
