Destiny 2 Best Class (and Subclass) to Dominate this Season (2024)

As you get serious with Destiny 2 and decide it’s time to tackle more difficult content, one of your first questions is: What is the best Class in Destiny 2 right now?

This is a difficult question to tackle, and the answer will vary depending on whether you’re talking about PvE, PvP, endgame, GMs, etc. Still, with the combined experience of the entire BlueberriesGG team, we go over the best classes and subclasses for PvE and PvP this season.

Updated as of Season of the Wish (S23).

Best Class in Destiny 2 for PvE

After reviewing and ranking all the Classes and Subclasses for Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks, this is our definitive Tier list for PvE, based on Season of the Wish (S23) meta:

--	Subclass	Element	Tier	Trend	Area	Rank
	Dawnblade	Solar	Best ❘ S		PvE	S › Best
	Gunslinger	Solar	Best ❘ S		PvE	S › Best
	Berserker	Strand	Best ❘ S	-	PvE	S › Best
	Sunbreaker	Solar	Best ❘ S	-	PvE	S › Best
	Arcstrider	Arc	Best ❘ S	-	PvE	S › Best
	Broodweaver	Strand	Best ❘ S		PvE	S › Best
	Nightstalker	Void	Strong ❘ A	-	PvE	A › Strong
	Voidwalker	Void	Strong ❘ A		PvE	A › Strong
	Sentinel	Void	Strong ❘ A	-	PvE	A › Strong
	Revenant	Stasis	Strong ❘ A		PvE	A › Strong
	Stormcaller	Arc	Average ❘ B		PvE	B › Average
	Threadrunner	Strand	Average ❘ B	-	PvE	B › Average
	Striker	Arc	Average ❘ B		PvE	B › Average
	Shadebinder	Stasis	Weak ❘ C		PvE	C › Weak
	Behemoth	Stasis	Weak ❘ C		PvE	C › Weak

About Classes VS. Subclasses: Keep in mind that all Classes have strong builds and exotics. It is nearly impossible to claim that an entire Class is better than another one. The most relevant question is what is the best Subclass right now. This is why our rankings are per Subclass.

Destiny 2 Best Subclass: Top 3 for PvE

1. Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier (best in class for team-based content)

A subclass primarily used for support, Dawnblade fills its lack of ad clear and boss damage with some of the most powerful buffs in the game. Radiant provides a whopping 25% increase to damage, and Restoration provides continuous health regeneration even through damage.

While these buffs are inherently powerful, Dawnblade lost much of its power through the Starfire Protocol nerf that came with Season of the Deep. Other Exotics like Boots of the Assembler and Sunbracers have filled the role nicely, but nothing quite matches the absurdity of pre-nerf Starfire.

All that said, Dawnblade is still excellent at what it does. Well of Radiance continues to be the best PvE Super in the game, while the potent buffs Solar offers have kept Dawnblade popular through its decline.

Preferred Exotic: Now that Starfire Protocol was nerfed into the ground, we’d recommend Sunbracers, Boots of the Assembler, or Lunafaction Boots.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Boots of the Assembler	Warlock	Legs	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 14	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "Standing in a healing rift creates Noble Seekers that seek out allies that are not in a rift and heal them. Noble Seekers from Empowering rift grant both you and your ally a damage bonus. Each time a Noble Seeker finds one of your allies, the duration of your rift is briefly extended."
Lunafaction Boots	Warlock	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Your Rifts gain the additional ability to increase weapon reload speeds. Empowering Rift makes weapons effective over longer ranges."
Sunbracers	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: All three Dawnblade Aspects have heavy pros and cons that come with them. However, Touch of Flame and Heat Rises are generally the most useful.
• Fragments: Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Solace, Ember of Ashes, Ember of Torches.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
• Abilities: Well of Radiance is arguably the strongest Super in the entire game, so running it is a no-brainer. Fusion Grenades, Solar Grenades, and Celestial Fire are generally the best picks beyond the Super.

2. Gunslinger (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: A Tier – Strong

With buffs to Blade Barrage and the ability to easily make yourself and your Fireteam members Radiant, Gunslinger is in a good place. That said, it does lack the raw survivability and neutral game of Arcstrider with Assassin’s Cowl or Nightstalker with Devour, which is why those two subclasses are slightly superior right now.

Solar Hunter does quite a lot and has perhaps some of the best synergies with certain Aspects and Fragments out of all of the classes. The combination of Knock ‘Em Down and Ember of Torches is ridiculously potent, as infinite throwing knives are nothing to scoff at. This, combined with the already powerful Radiant, Restoration, and Cure effects that all Solar Subclasses have, makes Gunslinger quite powerful, even ignoring the Supers and exotic combos.

Since Season of the Haunted, Blade Barrage has been at the top of the pile when it comes to single-target burst damage, and when combined with the likes of Star-Eater Scales, Blade Barrage can delete a massive chunk of a boss’s health bar.

While this all sounds good, Gunslinger lacks a way to deal serious damage to beefy enemies. Chaining throwing knife kills with exotics like Assassin’s Cowl is strong, but when it comes to majors and minibosses, you don’t have any tools to fight with, meanwhile, other subclasses either have high damage or a form of crowd control.

Preferred Exotic: Star-Eater Scales for boss damage, Assassin’s Cowl for solo content, and Young Ahamkara’s Spine/Caliban’s Hand for general play.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Assassin's Cowl	Hunter	Helm	Shadowkeep	Exotic Engrams	Season 8	Shadowkeep	Exotic Perk: "Powered melee final blows grant invisibility and restore a portion of health and shields. Finishers and final blows against more powerful targets increase the duration of the invisibility and the amount of health and shields."
Caliban's Hand	Hunter	Arms	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 17	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions, or ignites targets on a direct hit. After throwing a Proximity Knife, you gain increased melee regeneration until the knife explodes."
Star-Eater Scales	Hunter	Legs	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 14	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "You gain additional Super energy from Orbs of Power you pick up. While your Super energy is full, picking up an Orb of Power overcharges your Super, causing you to gain a burst of healing when cast and a bonus to your Super damage. At maximum overcharge, you also gain an overshield."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down and On Your Mark
• Fragments: Ember of Torches, Ember of Singeing, Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Ashes

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Resilience are highly recommended.
• Abilities: Blade Barrage or Marksman Super, Healing Grenade or Tripmine Grenade, Knife Trick or Proximity Explosive Knifes, andGambler’s Dodge

3. Berserker (Strand)

• Ranking: S Tier – Best

The new kid on the block, Berserker Titan, has quickly become one of the most dominant PVE subclasses. Capable of easy Woven Mail generation for great damage resist combined with some of the best ad-clear in the game, Berserker is an S Tier subclass for all PVE activities.

Preferred Exotic: Berserker is all about a fast-paced, in-your-face playstyle and exotics that fit this playstyle or build on the powerful Strand mechanics work best. These include Abeyant Leap, Synthoceps, and Heart of Inmost Light.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Abeyant Leap	Titan	Legs	Lightfall	Lost Sectors	Season 20	Lightfall	Exotic Perk: "Drengr's Lash spawns two additional projectiles, tracks targets more aggressively, and travels farther. Gain Woven Mail when suspending targets."
Heart of Inmost Light	Titan	Chest	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Engrams	Season 4	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Perk: "Using an ability (grenade, melee, or Barricade) empowers the other two abilities. Empowered means abilities have faster regen, melees and grenades do more damage, and Barricades have more hit points."
Synthoceps	Titan	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee and Super damage when you're surrounded."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Drengr’s Lash and Banner of War are the most used aspects for Strand builds. The easy crowd-control Drengr’s Lash provides makes it the base of most Strand builds, while Banner of War’s insane damage buff, health bumps, and support potential make it a must-have for any activity. Flechette Storm is a fun, melee-centered aspect that is great for lower-end content. Into the Fray is also a good alternative for tougher high-end content.
• Fragments: Thread of Mind, Thread of Continuity, Thread of Generation, Thread of Ascent.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Resilience, Discipline, Strength.
• Abilities: Currently, Berserker only has 1 option for both the Melee and Super, Frenzied Blade, and Bladefury, respectively. Thankfully both of these are strong, especially with the additional charges Frenzied Blade has. Shackle Grenade is the best option to due how seamlessly it fits into the suspended gameplay loop that Berserker is best at. Grapple Grenade can be fun to use for mobility.

Best Destiny 2 Class for PvP

After performing the same exercise for PvP, these are the strongest Subclasses in the game right now:

--	Subclass	Element	Tier	Trend	Area	Rank
	Dawnblade	Solar	Best ❘ S	-	PvP	S › Best
	Gunslinger	Solar	Best ❘ S	-	PvP	S › Best
	Striker	Arc	Best ❘ S	-	PvP	S › Best

Destiny 2 Best Subclasses: Top 3 for PvP

1. Striker (Arc 3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier – Best

After Arc 3.0, it is rare to not come across a Striker inside PVP. There is a good reason for this. It excels in both casual and competitive modes due to its strong neutral game and fast-charging supers. It has access to the best grenades and can empower them to make them even stronger. The new class ability, Thruster, also allows Striker to take on a more aggressive and fast-paced playstyle.

Preferred Exotic: There are a few Arc-based exotics that work well with Striker in PvP, but the best exotics are ones that enhance the already powerful neutral game that Striker offers. These include Dunemarchers, Synthoceps, and One-Eyed Mask.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Dunemarchers	Titan	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed. Sprinting builds up a static charge. After melee-attacking an enemy, that charge will chain damage to nearby enemies."
One-Eyed Mask	Titan	Helm	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Engrams	Season 4	Forsaken Pack	Exotic Perk: "Highlights the enemy who dares to damage you. Track down and destroy your enemy for an overshield."
Synthoceps	Titan	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee and Super damage when you're surrounded."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Knockout and Touch of Thunder are the aspects to use for PVP. Knockout is incredibly strong with the increased melee range and damage combined with the health regeneration. Touch of Thunder makes the already strong grenades even more deadly.
• Fragments: Spark of Magnitude, Spark of Feedback, Spark of Recharge, Spark of Momentum.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Recovery, Discipline, Resilience.
• Abilities: Seismic Strike is the best overall melee. It provides extra movement and is great for shotgun clean-ups. Ballistic Slam can also be great for engaging when paired with exotics like Dunemarchers or Synthoceps but is riskier. Lightning Grenades are the best choice after recent nerfs to Storm Grenades. Touch of Thunder gives you two and allows them to jolt targets which is incredibly potent for PVP. Towering Barricade is the best option for 3v3 competitive modes due to the safe utility it provides. Thruster is a good option for faster-paced game modes like 6v6. Thundercrash is the most used super due to the combination of its short charge time and effectiveness allowing for multiple high-impact supers in a single game.

2. Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier

With unique movement abilities and absurd health regeneration, it’s no wonder Dawnblade is such a menace in PVP.

Icarus Dash and Heat Rises allow you to utilize vertical movement while not bogged down by airborne effectiveness. Movement in Daybreak is similar, allowing you to fly across the map raining death from above.

Dawnblade (and Solar as a whole) also provides excellent support opportunities in the form of Restoration. This buff goes through damage, meaning you’ll restore health while taking damage. Radiant is also an irreplaceable buff in PVP, allowing for significantly more consistent kills.

Dawnblade is simply unmatched in general utility, movement, and support, making it one of the best subclasses for PVP.

Preferred Exotic: Rain of Fire can grant easy reloads and damage increases, while Transversive Steps and Ophidian Aspect are timeless favorites.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Ophidian Aspect	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 2	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons."
Rain of Fire	Warlock	Legs	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 17	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Air dodge reloads all of your weapons and improves the airborne effectiveness of Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles; final blows with these weapons make you radiant."
Transversive Steps	Warlock	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Heat Rises and Icarus Dash’s movement bonuses are hard to resist, but Touch of Flame could be used in rare situations.
• Fragments: Ember of Solace, Ember of Torches, Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Benevolence.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: Recovery, Discipline.
• Abilities: Daybreak is great for both its movement and killing capabilities, and Celestial Fire’s range and tracking is usually preferred. Solar Grenade is excellent here, but unique grenades like Healing can excel just as much.

3. Gunslinger (Solar 3.0)

• Ranking: S Tier – Best

Gunslinger in PvP is in an excellent spot right now as it boasts some of the strongest abilities and ability-altering exotics that can be used right now. Weighted Knife is still quite an easy skill shot to hit, letting you 1-shot anyone if you get a precision hit, and while Young Ahamkara’s Spine has been nerfed, it still does massive damage to enemies.

Athrys’s Embrace is also another cheesy yet powerful option. Being able to make your Weighted Knife even deadlier is not something to ignore, especially when the activation condition is so simple.

Overall, Gunslinger is just solid across the board. Strong Supers, good abilities, and generally fluid gameplay.

Preferred Exotic: Young Ahamkara’s Spine with Tripmine Grenades, Athrys’s Embrace with Weighted Knives, or St0mp-EE5 for overall gameplay

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Athrys's Embrace	Hunter	Arms	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 12	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "Weighted Knife gains a second bounce. Rapid precision hits with your weapons grant Weighted Knife a significant damage bonus, bonus strength, and the ability to stun unshielded combatants for a short time. Empowered Weighted Knife is strong against Unstoppable Champions."
Caliban's Hand	Hunter	Arms	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 17	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions, or ignites targets on a direct hit. After throwing a Proximity Knife, you gain increased melee regeneration until the knife explodes."
St0mp-EE5	Hunter	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases sprint speed and slide distance while your dodge energy is full and improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump."

Preferred Aspects and Fragments:

• Aspects: Knock ‘em Down and On Your Mark.
• Fragments: Ember of Torches, Ember of Combustion with Deadshot, Ember of Solace, Ember of Beams.

Preferred Abilities and Stats:

• Stats: 100 Mobility and 100 Recovery is best.
• Abilities: Deadshot Super, Healing Grenade/Tripmine Grenade/Solar Grenade, Weighted Knife/Proximity Explosive Knife, Gambler’s Dodge.

Before you go…

Keep in mind that choosing at Class and Subclass is only the first step. If you truly want to take your game to the next level, you need to also find the right combination of weapons and armor to create an exceptional build:

• Best Destiny 2 Builds right now