Destiny 2’sPvP sandbox has seen some massive changes throughout its lifespan. From a double Primary meta to a much more ability-centric sandbox, the Crucible encourages Guardians to adapt to the current meta and find new ways to combat it. Auto Rifles have quickly taken the mantle as the jack-of-all-trades weapon archetype in Destiny 2 with the zoom and range decoupling that occurred in Season of the Witch.
Auto Rifles trade the ability to peakshoot for consistent damage, punishing opponents with bad positioning and game sense. They excel in the mid-range and are incredibly easy to use for controller users and M&K players alike. But as with all weapon archetypes in Destiny 2, some Auto Rifles are better than others. Today, we’ll be looking at the ten best Auto Rifles in the Crucible sandbox.
Updated Jun 09, 2025, by Charles Burgar:Tons of new Auto Rifles were added in Episode: Revenant, including some meta-defining picks for the Crucible. We’ve updated this list to include some of this Episode’s greatest weapons, including the reprised Chroma Rush and new VS Pyroelectric Propellant.
10Chroma Rush
How to obtain:Episode: Revenant content.
One of the most iconic weapons from Season of the Splicer has returned in Episode: Revenant. Chroma Rush is a 720 RPM Kinetic Auto Rifle with a smooth recoil profile, stunning model, and solid perk pool for general PvP usage. Most are going to chaseDynamic Sway ReductionandTarget Lockfor raw dueling consistency. However, 720s are well equipped for 1v1 duels against meta options.
If you want to excel with this gun, you’ll need a lethality perk.Kinetic Tremorsis an interesting pick and a first for a 720 Auto. If your opponent hasanyform of DR or extra HP, Kinetic Tremors is a guaranteed proc in that duel. you may even throw onKilling Windto greatly buff Chroma Rush’s range after a kill, one of its weaker stats.
Recommended Traits
9Ammit AR2
How to obtain:Craftable at the Enclave after completing a short quest.
Anyone who’s played PvP recently will know how problematic Ammit AR2 is. This 450 RPM Solar AR has two things going for it:
Unlocked after completing a short quest at the Enclave, Ammit is a highly accessible Auto Rifle with high aim assist and a great perk pool. This greatly buffs its accuracy and flinch resistance while aiming, but this is compounded by the Omolon Fluid Dynamics origin trait. This buffs the weapon’s stability and reload speed at the top half of the magazine. You can buff the weapon further withDynamic Sway ReductionandTap the Triggerto buff the gun’s accuracy and stability at every step of a gunfight.
Combine all these things together, and you have an Auto Rifle that practically aims itself. It doesn’t have any major TTK-shifting perks in the final column, but this gun’s consistency is so great that those perks aren’t needed. If you’re a controller player or love Auto Rifles, the Ammit AR2 should always be in your inventory.
8Abyss Defiant
How to obtain:Crota’s End raid; craftable at the Enclave.
Abyss Defiant is a buildcrafter’s dream. While it’s part of the somewhat weak High-Impact Frame archetype, this weapon’s perk pool is so good that it mostly makes up for the subpar archetype.Zen MomentandSword Logicis the ideal combination for most players.Zen Momentmakes this gun practically immune to flinch, and Sword Logic gives you a massive 20% damage buff from a single kill, lasting eight seconds when enhanced. This gives you a fairly low 0.67s TTK to help compete against Pulse Rifles and other Auto Rifles.
If you’re a fan of weapon and subclass synergies, Abyss Defiant is the ultimate weapon for Solar fans.Heal Cliphas some immense potential for Solar subclasses. Land a kill and reload to buff your allies with Cure, proccing Fragments likeEmber of Benevolence. You can pair this withKill Clipfor a solid weapon synergy, or you can opt to useIncandescentto proc other Fragments likeEmber of Singeing. Thankfully this weapon is craftable, so there is no reason not to experiment with this gun.
7Rufus’s Fury
How to obtain:Root of Nightmares raid; craftable at the Enclave.
Rufus’s Fury is a 720 RPM Strand Auto Rifle with an amazing perk pool and even better base stats. Featuring best-in-class range and aim assist, this gun immediately sets itself apart with its consistency. Landing headshots with Rufus is incredibly easy and becomes trivial with some investment into flinch resistance.
Most of Rufus’s perks focus on buffing its lethality, notablyParacasual AffinityandTarget Lock.The former is ideal for aggressive players that main Stasis or Strand, providing a notable 20% damage buff if you land a kill with any Darkness element. Target Lock is better for 3v3 modes that prioritize dueling.
You can pair any of these perks withDemolitionistfor faster grenade cooldowns,Perpetual Motionfor generic stat bumps, or evenMoving Targetto boost your aim assist and strafe speed while aiming. There are many good options on offer here, all of which are easy to obtain since this gun is craftable.
6Reckless Oracle
How to obtain:Garden of Salvation raid; craftable at the Enclave.
Garden of Salvation received a major perk refresh in Revenant, giving them a buffed version ofShield Disorientas an origin trait alongside some S-tier perk combinations. Reckless Oracle saw one of the largest improvements with this update. The gun’s main issues—a lack of range and short damage buffs—can now be addressed through its new perk pool.
If you only care about dueling, you’re able to’t go wrong withKeep AwayandDynamic Sway Reduction.Fighting at a distance will greatly buff the gun’s range and accuracy, synergizing with the bloom reduction from DSR. Now if you’re comfortable slaying out, this gun becomes terrifying when you procKilling WindandParacasual Affinity.A 720 Auto with a TTK of 0.67s and an effective range of 34m is nothing to scoff at.
5Necrochasm
How to obtain:Crota’s End raid.
Necrochasmis comparable to the likes ofTarrabahandTrespasser. In the hands of a skilled player, this weapon is a killing machine that can kill multiple Guardians simultaneously with minimal effort. That’s mostly due to the gun’s Exotic perk, causing precision final blows to detonate the target’s corpse with a violent Cursed Thrall explosion. This explosion can trigger itself, leading to teamwipes in ideal circumstances.
But what makesNecrochasma true terror is theDesperationperk. After landing a precision kill, reloading the weapon will increase its RPM from 720 to 900 while also buffing the gun’s aim assist and stability. This givesNecrochasma TTK of 0.6s and makes the gun competitive with most SMGs but with far more range. Aggressive playstyles with good aim can dominate lobbies withNecrochasm, but this weapon does have a somewhat high skill floor to use effectively.
4The Summoner
How to obtain:Trials of Osiris matches and Engrams.
The Summoner is one of the best feeling Auto Rifles in Destiny 2. It has a clean optic, virtually no recoil, and excellent base stats for a 600 RPM AR. You don’t need Dynamic Sway Reduction or Tap the Trigger on here since it’s already so accurate, althoughZen Momentis still a great pick for removing the gun’s reticle bounce while firing. Throw onTarget Lockto make Resilience checks easier.
Slaying out with The Summoner is also viable since it’s already such a well-rounded gun.Heal ClipwithOnslaughtcan be incredibly powerful in 1v2 and 1v3 situations. Get a kill, reload to heal, then melt the next foe with a short 0.67s TTK.
3VS Pyroelectric Propellant
How to obtain:Vesper’s Host dungeon.
It’s rare to find an Auto Rifle with such great stats, perks, and a clean optic. VS Pyroelectric Propellant is a 600 RPM Arc AR with a perk pool that rivals The Summoner.Fragile Focusin the first trait column gives this weapon a substantial range boost in most duels, andTarget Lockgives you a noticeable TTK shift against lower-Resilience Guardians.
Skilled players that prefer slaying power over dueling consistency can also aim forKilling WindandKill Clip, lowering the gun’s TTK to 0.6s while also buffing your effective range. Not many Auto Rifles boast this kind of lethality, let alone with a stat package that rivals the best of its archetype.
2Khvostov 7G-0X
How to obtain:The Final Shape Khvostov quest.
Despite a handful of nerfs, Khvostov continues to be an S-tier Auto Rifle for the Crucible. This gun has absurdly high base stats for a 600 RPM Auto Rifle, an overkill amount of aim assist at 87, and virtually no recoil—comparable to guns like The Summoner. That’s enough reason to give this weapon a go, but the Exotic perk takes things even further.
Every seventh bullet from this AR will fire a ricocheting projectile that can hit multiple targets. It doesn’t deal much damage on its own, but this bullet can make unfair gunfights (1v2, 1v3, etc.) significantly easier. If you can find a way to generate Orbs of Power, you can further buff this ricochet bullet. It’s not the most Exotic feeling gun in Destiny 2, yet the weapon’s stats speak for themselves. You’d be hard-pressed to find something better than this for dueling.
1Horror Story
How to obtain:Festival of the Lost event.
Origin Story has seen a makeover during2023’s Festival of the Lost event. Horror Story is a Stasis variant of the classic 450 RPM Auto Rifle from the Red War. Unlike its Y1 counterpart, Horror Story benefits from a perk pool that can only be described as S-tier for Crucible mains. Every roll of Horror Story comes with theNadir Focusorigin trait, acting as a weaker version of Dynamic Sway Reduction that trades bonus stability for range. It’s an absurdly strong origin trait for lengthy duels and 1v2 encounters, particularly when paired with a dueling perk.
Fortunately for Horror Story, it has that in spades.Dynamic Sway Reductionis an automatic pick for most in the first trait column, effectively removing accuracy bloom from Horror Story once you fire a few shots. If you prefer to throw enemies off through strafing, considerElemental Capacitor with a Stasis subclass.The second perk column has the highly sought-afterTarget Lockperk to buff Horror Story’s consistency, allowing you to land the optimal 0.8s TTK with one less headshot. This isn’t as substantial of a consistency shift as The Immortal or 720 ARs, but this will undoubtedly be felt by most players with good aim.
If you tend to miss the occasional shot, you might want to considerFrenzyinstead. It’s somewhat tough to proc in PvP without the right build, but a 15% damage buff makes this weapon down any Guardian in 0.67s, competitive with most top-tier SMGs but with far more range. And if you tend to push engagements with your Special weapon first, don’t sleep onDiscord and Cascade Point.Land a kill with another weapon, then swap to Horror Story to down enemies with a blazing 0.48s TTK. Discord will then refill your magazine, allowing you to chain multiple kills in a three-second window.
Horror Story Collection Roll
Once you’ve acquired Horror Story, you may reclaim it from your collections tab at any time. This version comes with Discord and Cascade Point.
