Season of Dawn has brought a new crop of weapons to Destiny 2 with many of them being solid options for PvE activities. Game Rant has previously covered some of the best overall weapons in Season of Dawn as well as the best new weapons for PvP, and these next set of weapons have some very unique rolls that tailor them specifically well for PvE.
And, all these weapons are exclusive to Season of Dawn, so Destiny 2 players will need to farm for these weapons during the course of this season as the method by which to get them will be removed at the end of Season 9 in a few months time. That should make it obvious that the following weapons are tied to the new Sundial activity and the obelisks that were added in Season of Dawn.
Pyroclastic Flow
First up is Pyroclastic Flow, a rocket launcher that is earned via the season pass for Season of Dawn and through its associated Timelost bounty from the Tower obelisk. The base roll from the season pass is not what players want, so they will need to farm for the perfect PvE roll for this weapon. The perfect PvE roll for Pyroclastic Flow is Volatile Launch, Black Powder, Ambitious Assasin, and Cluster Bomb. The one throwaway perk here is Ambitious Assasin, as it may not provide too much of a benefit unless firing a rocket launcher into a group of enemies. However, what makes this rocket launcher good is that it intrinsically has tracking as part of its Precision Frame archetype. Combine that with Cluster Bomb and perks that boost its Blast Radius stat, and it is one of the best Legendary rocket launchers for PvE in the game.
Granted, rocket launchers are not as good as they were in Year 1 and at the start of Year 2 with Forsaken, with Cluster Bombs especially getting a huge nerf as a direct result of how much damage they could deal to a boss like Riven in the Last Wish raid. But, for fans of rocket launchers—or if a rocket launcher PvE meta ever returns—this is absolutely a weapon to have.
Trophy Hunter
Also on the Season Pass and available as a Timelost bounty on the Tower obelisk is the sniper rifle Trophy Hunter. Once again, the default roll from the season pass is mediocre, and players will need to farm the Timelost bounty to get the perfect PvE roll, which is Arrowhead Break, Extended Mag, Triple Tap, and Vorpal Weapon. Vorpal Weapon gives this sniper rifle a damage buff against bosses and Triple Tap will load an extra round for three rapid precision hits. This high-impact sniper rifle is perfect for dealing boss damage.
It should be said that a sniper rifle such as Sole Survivor or Tranquility with the Firing Line perk can deal more damage than this Vorpal Weapon/Triple Tap combination; however, for Firing Line to activate, players must be in close proximity to at least two other Guardians. That doesn't always happen, especially when playing something like strikes with random players, and Firing Line is completely useless when playing solo. That's where Trophy Hunter is so good. It gives a good damage boost to boss damage without the requirement of being around other players, and it is definitely a weapon to go for before Season of Dawn ends.
Steelfeather Repeater
Steelfeather Repeater is the auto rifle gained from the Sundial activity and it has a very unique perk combination that makes it great for clearing out groups of enemies in PvE. The barrel perk is up to personal preference, but with this being a faster-firing auto rifle, perks that boost recoil and stability, like Extended Barrel or Polygonal Rifling, will be good here. Armor-Piercing Rounds or Appended Mag are good options for the second column. And finally, the most important perk combination to get is Feeding Frenzy and Multikill Clip. This is the perfect combo for allowing for fast reloads after clearing multiple minor enemies and boosting the weapon's damage at Multikill Clip x3.
Martyr's Retribution
Martyr's Retribution is an entirely new grenade launcher archetype that sends out a line of fire that damages enemies and is a perfect add-clearing PvE weapon. The best thing to do is to pair this weapon with a Demolitionist build, which will allow killing multiple enemies to recharge players' grenades and throwing a grenade will automatically reload this single-fire grenade launcher. This opens up a character build that allows for a lot of grenade use and damage output, especially against minor and major enemies. With that in mind, the PvE roll to look for is one with Field Prep and Demolitionist. There is a lot of flexibility in the first two columns with not many of those options making a huge difference in how this weapon performs.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.