Destiny 2: The 15 BEST Boss DPS Weapons [2023]

The Destiny 2 best boss DPS weapons in 2023 consist only of the most viable arsenal in the PVE weapons meta, ranging from sought-after exotics to popular legendary weapons. Whether you’re a new player or a veteran playing since launch, having optimal DPS against bosses in endgame activities such as Grandmaster Nightfalls or Raids is compulsory; otherwise, you’d just be dragging your fireteam behind along with yourself. But rest assured, most of these best boss DPS weapons can be used almost everywhere across most activities.

Destiny 2 Best Boss DPS Weapons Comparison

Here’s a summary of the 15 best Boss DPS weapons in Destiny 2, all compared to each other:

1. Gjallarhorn

The Gjallarhorn was easily the most overpowered weapon back in Destiny 1’s Year 1 meta, but despite being toned down in the franchise’s latter years, even now with it being returned in Destiny 2, the Gjallarhorn shreds the HP of most bosses in Destiny 2’s PVE activities with relative ease. You can acquire the weapon via the Bungie 30th Anniversary pack in the “And Out Fly the Wolves” Quest.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Gjallarhorn Rocket Launcher:

• Wolfpack Rounds: Rounds fired split into tracking cluster missiles upon detonation.
• Pack Hunter: Gain increased handling and reload speed when standing near allies. Firing this weapon also grants Wolfpack Rounds to nearby allies wielding non-Exotic Rocket Launchers.
• More Wolves (Exotic Catalyst): Increases magazine size and final blows with wolfpack rounds spawn a faster, more powerful missile at the target’s location.

Pros

• Pack Hunter is extremely beneficial as it grants other Guardians’ rocket launchers, such as the Hothead, the powerful trait of wolfpack rounds.
• Boasts massive burst DPS, making it arguably one of the best weapons to use against bosses across all PVE activities.
• Exotic catalyst grants it an extra round, so you can have a better DPS uptime using the Gjallarhorn.

Cons

• The only possible downside is that you’ll lose your only sole exotic weapon slot access.
• Realistically speaking, most players use this because it increases everyone else’s damage by such a large amount that every raid or dungeon fireteam that uses rocket launchers has at least one person running the Gjallarhorn.

2. Apex Predator

The Apex Predator is a rocket that was introduced with the Last Wish raid back in the Forsaken expansion. While before, it was an average legendary weapon with no notable perks. But now, with the changes given in Season 21, players can craft the Apex Predator along with other Last Wish raid weapons with their personalized choice of perks and stat modifications, as well as with a variety of newly added rolls.

Furthermore, you can also acquire the Deepsight weapon patterns (needed to craft the Apex Predator) by trading Spoils of Conquest with Hawthorne at the Tower Bazaar.

Furthermore, the weapon also features a basic origin trait which is called the following: 

• Explosive Pact: This weapon gains bonus stability and reload speed when activating a grenade ability. Healing grenades and grenade final blows grant additional stacks of the bonus.

Pros

• The Godrolls for the Apex Predator are Impact Casing, Reconstruction, and lastly, “Bait and Switch” for the last column.
• Of course, the best part is you can craft the Apec Predator and apply enhanced versions of these perks to make it even more powerful.
• Reconstruction will load a rocket every 4 seconds and combine that with Bait & Switch, a 35% damage increase; you have yourself the best Destiny 2 boss DPS weapons right now.
• Thankfully, you can also farm one of the bosses in Last Wish, Kali, to acquire weapon patterns for the Apex Predator.

Cons

• Farming for the red border/Deepsight patterns can become a slightly bothersome chore to craft the Apex Predator, depending on your RNG.

3. Izanagi’s Burden

The Izanagi’s Burden is an Exotic sniper rifle that was dropped with the launch of the Black Armory during the Forsaken DLC. The weapon is notable in the community for being one of the best kinetic weapons in Destiny 2 purely due to its single-shot power, capable of dishing out enormous damage value for boss fights. You can obtain the weapon via the exotics kiosk in the Tower by trading in a Forsaken or exotic cipher.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Izanagi’s Burden sniper rifle:

• Honed Edge: Consume the magazine and load a round with additional range and damage.
• Peerless Edge (Exotic Catalyst): Increases the damage bonus of Honed Edge when four bullets are consumed.

Pros

• As a new player, it is one of the most sought-after exotics to get due to its incredible damage potency via the Honed Edge perk.
• If you don’t have a meta weapon for PVE, then you can freely use Izanagi’s Burden for DPS against bosses in raids and dungeons.
• Peerless Edge is what makes it an S-Tier exotic weapon for PVE since it’s a norm to consume four magazine shots and use the Izanagi in that manner for DPS.

Cons

• The reload speed for Honed Edge can be slow at times, making the Izanagi’s Burden non-ideal for consistent burst DPS.
• The Exotic Catalyst is only found in playlist activities such as Strikes, Gambit, and Crucible, so it comes down to your luck in order to obtain it.

4. The Hothead

Much like the Apex Predator, The Hothead is also a Rocket Launcher that earns a place for the best legendary weapons in Destiny 2 solely due to its amazing rolls and viability against all types of in-game bosses. You can acquire it either by legacy decoding it from Commander Zavala in the Tower or by farming for it in the Grandmaster Nightfalls, where it is available as a featured weapon in specific strikes each new Season.

Pros

• The Godroll perks for The Hothead are Impact Casing, Auto-Loading Holster/Demolitionist, and lastly, Explosive Light.
• Demolitionist can be a great perk to have on it, especially if you’re a Warlock with a grenade spam build.
• With the right team, you can easily farm Grandmaster Nightfalls or even trade Vanguard engrams to focus decode for the godroll of The Hothead.

Cons

• Unfortunately, The Hothead is only available on certain GM Nightfalls, so you may have to wait until you can specifically target farm it.

5. Thunderlord

The Thunderlord is also a returning exotic weapon from Destiny 1, and while it didn’t have notable usage before the release of the Lightfall DLC. It has now become one of the top boss DPS weapons, especially for certain bosses such as Nezarec in the Root of Nightmares raid. Much like other exotic gear, you can only acquire the Thunderlord as a random drop or through Xur via his weekly featured inventory and free exotic engram.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Thunderlord Machine Gun:

• Reign Havoc: Final blows with this weapon generate stunning lighting strikes from above.
  • Strong against [Disruption] Overload Champions.
• Lightning Rounds: This weapon fires faster and more accurately the longer the trigger is held. Continuous damage generates stunning lightning strikes.
• Return Stroke (Exotic Catalyst): Causing a lightning strike from this weapon partially reloads the magazine from reserves.

Pros

• The Exotic catalyst greatly improves the viability of the Thunderlord, as you won’t have to reload for sustained DPS on boss fights.
• Aside from boss DPS, the Thunderlord is absolutely amazing at ad clear, as it can tear through enemies using its Reign Havoc perk and Lightning Rounds.
• The Reign’s Havoc’s lightning strikes can also stun Overload Champion enemies, which is extremely helpful in Master raids and GM Nightfalls.

Cons

• Much like most Destiny 2 Exotic catalysts, Thunderlord’s much-needed catalyst can only be dropped randomly in playlist activities such as Strikes or Gambit.
• Without the catalyst and for rare instances, you’re better off using other heavy weapons for burst DPS, such as the Hothead rocket launcher.

6. Witherhoard

If you ask me, the Witherhoard is quite honestly one of the most unique boss DPS weapons in Destiny 2, only coming behind Izanagi’s Burden as the best in the kinetic slot specifically. It was dropped during the Season of the Arrivals and instantly became a fan-favorite among the community for its AOE damage capabilities and constant uptime as a special weapon.

• The Witherhoard can be obtained from the Exotic Archive kiosk in the Tower for 1x Exotic Cipher, 100,000 Glimmer, 150 Legendary Shards, and 1x Ascendant Shard.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Witherhoard grenade launcher:

• Primeval’s Torment: Projectiles fired by this weapon blight the target or nearby area on impact.
• Break the Bank: Blighted targets take damage over time and blight the nearby area on death.
• Silent Alarm: Increases Handling and holstering this weapon automatically reloads it after a short period of time.

Pros

• Hardcore players use Witherhoard almost 70% of the time across endgame activities since it offers a brilliant means of applying bonus damage to bosses and other enemies.
• The Exotic catalyst on the Witherhoard is a must-have as it will allow you to repeatedly hot swap between it and your heavy weapon in order to dish out optimal DPS.
• Whether you’re someone who’s new or even a returning player, it is easily a weapon that is viable and essential across every PVE activity in Destiny 2.

Cons

• If multiple players are running Witherhoard, the damage effects of Primeval’s Torment won’t stack, so it’s useless to have more than one player use it in raids or dungeons.
• Extremely low reload speed makes the Exotic catalyst mandatory to have equipped.

7. Arbalest

An exotic that’s easily a popular weapon to use in Grandmaster Nightfalls is none other than the Arbalest, an Exotic linear fusion rifle that was introduced to the playerbase with the Revelry event back in the Forsaken DLC. The weapon is also popular due to the fact that its fired shots can penetrate shields, even that of a Vex Hydra; plus, hardcore players mainly use it to stun Barrier Champions in endgame content.

Furthermore, you can obtain the weapon as a random exotic drop

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Arbalest Linear Fusion Rifle:

• Compounding Force: Fires slugs that cause massive damage to combatant shields and are strong against [Shield-Piercing] Barrier Champions.
• Disruption Break: Breaking an enemy’s shield with this weapon makes them more vulnerable to Kinetic damage for a brief period.
• Genesis (Exotic Catalyst): Breaking a combatant’s shield with this weapon fills its magazine from reserves. Energy weapons regenerate ammo on hit when matching the damage type to the combatant’s shield.

Pros

• A personal highlight for the Arbalest, in my experience, is that it can easily help you in almost any PVE activity due to its ability to bypass shields and counter Barrier Champions.
• During Grandmaster Nightfalls, the Arbalest is a fantastic weapon to use when trying to team shoot majors and bosses along with your fireteam members.
• The catalyst applies the Genesis perk, which, when properly utilized, can help you use the Arbalest without having the need to reload it.

Cons

• The Arbalest is very slow to use as it has low handling and reload stats, making it difficult to use during intense situations if you’re not used to the playstyle.
• Although it is a great weapon in almost every PVE Activity, it is not so practical to use in niche instances such as Solo’ing Dungeons.

8. Succession

The Succession is a fan-favorite sniper rifle in PVE solely due to its particular Godroll combination that it ends up being one of the best boss DPS Destiny 2 weapons in raids, dungeons, and even GM Nightfalls on a few occasions. It was introduced back in the Beyond Light DLC with the Deep Stone Crypt raid (one of my personal favorite raids in all of Destiny if you ask me.)

The Succession also features the following Basic origin trait along with other Deep Atone Crypt weapons:

• Bray Inheritance: Dealing damage using the weapon regenerates a small amount of ability energy.

Pros

• The Godroll for the Succession is, without a doubt, Reconstruction and Vorpal Weapon, which makes it a powerful sniper rifle against all types of bosses with weak points.
• Reconstruction gradually fills up the Magazine size of the gun, allowing you to shoot it for longer periods of time and without having to reload.
• The Succession synergizes perfectly with an Auto-loading holster Heavy/Special weapons since, during DPS phases, you can hot-swap to them for maximum damage output.
• You can also easily craft the Succession aforementioned Godroll at The Relic Savathun’s Throneworld after acquiring five Deepsight weapon patterns.

Cons

• The only major downside is that as a random drop, the Succession can be found via the Atraks-1 encounter in the DSC raid.
• The Succession may not be an ideal choice for close engagement boss fight DPS phases of Destiny 2.

9. Parasite

The Parasite is an exotic grenade launcher that was introduced with the Witch Queen expansion during the Season of the Risen. It can be obtained by completing the “Of Queens and Worms” questline, revolving around Queen Mara Sov. The weapon is notable for providing instantaneous burst damage on specific boss encounters in Destiny 2.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Parasite Grenade Launcher:

• Worm’s Hunger: This weapon fires Hive worms which explode on impact.
  • The size and damage of the explosion scale with the number of enemies you’ve defeated just before firing this weapon.
• Worm Byproduct: Taking damage from your own worm projectile detonation empowers your weapons for a short time.
• The Parasite (as of Season 22) does not have an exotic catalyst.

Pros

• Parasite is most notably used during short-term DPS phases, where you need to dish out quick burst damage in a short amount of time.
• In solo dungeons, it can be an extremely beneficial weapon as you can quickly fire it off when initiating DPS phases (provided that you fully charge Worm’s Hunger at 20x stacks by defeating enemies.)
• The Parasite is ridiculously strong when used by all six Guardians in a raid fireteam as you can essentially melt the HP of bosses such as Atraks-1 in the Deep Stone Crypt raid.

Cons

• However, for long-term DPS phases, Parasite gets outclassed by weapons such as the Gjallarhorn or even the legendary rocket launchers like Apex Predator.
• Most of Destiny 2’s boss fight DPS phases at the moment are mostly long-term-based, so you might not see much usage of Parasite outside of encounters that require it.

10. The Lament

The Lament is an Exotic sword that was dropped with the Beyond Light expansion and features a unique chainsaw-like ability to mow down everything in front of it after charging up the attack. What makes it one of the best Destiny 2 boss DPS weapons is its high burst-damage capabilities, especially against purely grounded targets. You can acquire The Lament by completing the “Lost Lament” exotic questline.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of The Lament Exotic Sword:

• Banshee’s Wail: [Block]: Hold to rev the blade.
  • Increases damage and adds [Shield-Piercing] shield piercing to all attacks.
  • Gain stacks when dealing damage with revved attacks.
  • Additional stacks increase the damage and damage resistance of heavy attacks.
• Revved Consumption: Damaging a combatant heals the Wielder.

Pros

• The playstyle can take time to get used to on first time, but the Lament’s Banshee’s Wail ability can decimate grounded bosses such as the Nightmare of Ghalran in the Duality Dungeon.
• There are a couple of viable combos for Banshee’s Wail and its optimal damage, but if you ask me, the 3x Light and 1x Heavy are perfect after charging it for precisely 1.5 seconds.
• The Shield-piercing trait allows you to mow down Barrier Champions in endgame Master-level content easily during close engagements.

Cons

• Similarly to Parasite, The Lament does not work well with long-term DPS phases and may only work situationally against certain encounters like Atraks-1.
• The Lament is only viable against ground targets or ones that allow you to damage them in any way freely, so it may not work against raid bosses such as the Templar or Zo’Aurc.

11. Cold Comfort

The Cold Comfort is a Stasis Rocket Launcher that was just introduced to the playerbase in the last season, Season of the Deep. You can obtain the weapon via the Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon’s loot pool.

More importantly, is the fact that Cold Comfort has become a popular choice among most players due to its strong perk pool and how it is unique from the other Rocket Launchers in the best Destiny 2 boss DPS weapons list of 2023.

Following is the basic origin trait of the Cold Comfort Rocket Launcher, which can also be found on other Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon weapons:

• Restoration Ritual: Reviving allies or defeating combatants with finishers reloads this weapon and readies an emergency reload for the next time this weapon runs out of ammo.

Pros

• The Godrolls for the Cold Comfort is Envious Assassin, along with either Bait and Switch or Explosive Light.
• Envious Assassin functions are similar to Auto-Loading Holster, but the key difference is the former will refill your magazine size up to 4 maximum rockets (3+1) using the perk alone.
• If you want, you can also roll Chill Clip onto it in order to freeze targets on hits, which is incredibly useful in GM nightfalls.

Cons

• While Cold Comfort is amazing in quick burst DPS on bosses for longer and sustained DPS cycles, I would suggest that the Apex Predator and Hothead slightly outclass it.
• It has really low handling, so unless you obtain a masterwork variant in that stat for the Cold Comfort, operating the weapon can feel clunky.

12. Conditional Finality

If you ask me, the Conditional Finality is one of the most unique and fun weapons introduced thus far in Destiny 2, allowing you to shoot between two different elements. The shotgun is the raid-exclusive weapon of the Root of Nightmares raid in the Lightfall expansion. So you only have a chance of obtaining it by beating Nezarec, but thankfully, that’s not a hard task to achieve if you’re a hardcore player among many.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Conditional Finality Shotgun:

• Split Decision: Dual barrels split into Stasis and Solar damage.
• Paracausal Pellets: Landing nearly all Stasis pellets will freeze targets; landing nearly all Solar pellets will ignite targets.
• The weapon (as of Season 22) does not support an Exotic Catalyst.

Pros

• The dual element properties of the Conditional Finality allow you to freeze and ignite targets, which is especially helpful against Champion enemies as well as a few mini-bosses in Destiny 2.
• Conditional Finality is a fantastic exotic to use in Solo situations such as Master Lost Sectors and Dungeons.
• The best part is you can increase your chances of obtaining the Conditional Finality by completing the Root of Nightmares’ triumphs that reward you with boosted drops for the shotgun.

Cons

• It is not a special weapon that you can use for endgame activities’ boss DPS as you’re better off switching to a Sniper rifle, such as the Succession, in those circumstances.
• While you can increase your RNG using the raid triumphs, you cannot farm Nezarec, so you only have three chances per week to get the Conditional Finality.

13. Merciless

The Merciless is an exotic fusion rifle that dates back to the launch of Destiny 2 as one of the best DPS weapons to use. Vanilla D2 players might fondly remember using it for DPS instances in the Leviathan Raid on Calus.

Thankfully, with a much-needed revamp to Exotic gear, the Merciless has once again become a great exotic fusion rifle to use in 2023. It can be randomly obtained through any exotic engram drop or via Xur’s weekly inventory.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Merciless Fusion Rifle:

• Conserve Momentum: Hits with projectiles decrease this weapon’s charge time for a short duration.
• Impetus: Reloading immediately after a kill increases weapon damage for a short time.
• Exotic Catalyst: Grants the weapon a +40 stat boost in Range and Stability.

Pros

• The Merciless is a fantastic weapon to shred the HP of mini-bosses in PVE activities; continuous hits essentially make it fire off shots like a laser beam.
• In my personal experience with the Merciless, it is very viable in Solo Dungeon gameplay, such as the Grasp of Avarice, where it provides a solid amount of damage to bosses.
• Merciless synergizes extremely well with Solar Subclass builds in Destiny 2.
• The exotic catalyst grants it a decent boost in range and stability, allowing you to fire it off at longer distances without too much damage dropoff.

Cons

• The exotic catalyst is purely RNG to obtain, as it can be found by completing Strikes/Nightfall strikes.
• For sustained DPS cycles and at longer distances, you might find that in those circumstances, the Merciless isn’t so viable.

14. Divinity

First and foremost, while Divinity (technically) isn’t a boss DPS weapon in Destiny 2, the exotic Trace Rifle is one of the most used utility exotics due to its potential to boost and help with DPS in all PVE boss fights of the game. Despite its nerf, players of all levels still use it in dungeons and raids in order to make the critical spots on targets easier to hit for all fireteam members, as well as provide a slight damage buff to damage output.

The Divinity is found via an exotic quest in the Shadowkeep DLC’s raid, Garden of Salvation. The questline is called ‘Divine Fragmentation’, which requires you to complete a lengthy set of steps with all six of your fireteam members. If you want to learn more about each of these quest objectives in detail, then be sure to check the following Reddit Thread from r/DestinyTheGame.

Following are the special traits, perks, and exotic catalyst of the Divinity Trace Rifle:

• Judgment: Sustained damage with this weapon envelops the target in a field that weakens and stuns them.
  • Strong against [Disruption] Overload Champions.
• Penance: Targets under the effects of Judgment long enough are struck with a burst of damage.

Pros

• While the Divinity was still nerfed in Season 19, the weapon’s Judgment perk still provides an advantage to players with a 15% damage buff when dishing out sustained fire on bosses.
• Divinity can also prove to be an essential weapon in Master Raids or Dungeons with Overload Champions since its beam can help stun them.
• For endgame bosses in raids such as Atheon, Divinity also enlarges the critical spot with a large spherical globe, which can make landing shots for your teammates easier.

Cons

• The exotic quest to acquire Divinity can prove tedious if you can’t find a coordinated team or one that can help you complete it successfully.
• In the current meta and DPS cycles, most teams tend to use the Tractor Cannon instead of the Divinity since you don’t need to hold fire on the former to apply a weakening status.

15. Commemoration

The Commemoration is an LMG that can be acquired from the Deep Stone Crypt Raid, part of the Beyond Light expansion. While legendary Machine Guns like it aren’t necessarily meta right now in Destiny 2, Commemoration is one such LMG that is fun to use in normal PVE content for DPS due to its unique perks.

Pros

• The Godroll perks for the Commemoration are Reconstruction, which will double your ammo size, and Killing Tally, where you can gain a 3 stack bonus damage by killing enemies with the weapon.
• Like other Deep Stone Crypt Raid weapons, the Commemoration can be crafted with enhanced versions of each Godroll perk.
• It can be a great substitute heavy weapon for sustained DPS in Destiny 2’s PVE content since Reconstruction almost doubles the magazine size.

Cons

• There’s a minor hindrance where you’ll lose the Killing Tally bonus when swapping to another weapon, so keep that in mind when using it on the Commemoration.
• The Commemoration is easily outclassed by other weapons in the Destiny 2 best boss DPS meta of 2023.

Best Boss DPS Weapons Ranking Criteria

This brings me to the end of my guide, but in case you’re looking for similar guides, then be sure to check out the Best PVP sniper rifles, which can help you pick out a sniper rifle among many to learn and adapt to. Destiny 2 can be a daunting game to play, whether you’re someone new or even returning after a break, hence why I’d strongly recommend brushing up on the best methods to farm XP while you’re at it.

If you have any questions or queries related to the guide, then be sure to let me know in the comments section below. As always, eXputer wishes you luck in acquiring your favorite weapons from the list!

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