The best Fusion Rifles in Destiny 2 do one of two things. Either they kill a lot of adds, or they do a lot of damage. If your Fusion is doing neither of these things – it’s time to put it down. I’ve been playing Destiny 2 for the better part of a decade, and Fusion Rifles have constantly been my go-to special weapon.
I’ve leveraged that experience to put together a list. If you’ve been hurting for a new Fusion, any one of these will stop that pain.
Vex Mythoclast
Element: Solar.
Source: Vault of Glass Raid.
Best For: PvE and PvP
It should be a no-brainer that the best Fusion Rifle in Destiny 2 is the Vex Mythoclast. It’s the only Fusion of its type, giving it an unfair advantage. It’s effectively a hybrid Fusion-Auto Rifle, capable of some of the best primary DPS in the game for both PvE and PvP.
It has an incredible Linear alternative fire mode that can one-shot in PvP, and works with any perks or mods that need Fusion kills for activation, like Warlock’s Exotic Boots Rain of Fire. This synergy tends to result in Vex popping up in the META every now and again, but it’s always going to be a solid choice for any activity.
Null Composure
Element: Void.
Source: Monument to Lost Light.
Best For: PvE
Ritual weapons have a history of being META add-clear options. Case in point, Salvager’s Silo and Null Composure. This Fusion rolls with Reservoir Burst and Feeding Frenzy. This means that getting kills with your first shot causes enemies to explode, and those kills then increase your reload speed so you can do it all again.
It is consistently one of the best add-clears in the game. It’s capable of one-shotting Majors on a variety of difficulties, and it can easily wipe entire groups of adds with Reservoir Burst. It’s rare to find a special weapon capable of dealing with both adds and Majors so competently – hence its popularity.
Midha’s Reckoning is in the same category as Null Composure in that it’s a great Fusion that rolls with Reservoir Burst. Truth be told, if a Fusion has that perk along with something that improves reload speed, it’s probably worthy of a spot on this list.
In the case of Midha’s, it has a unique selling point of being Arc, unlike the Void Glacioclasm and Null Composure. If you’re running an Arc build, or dealing with a large number of Arc shields, this Fusion will outperform those other two for both add-clear and Major DPS.
Riptide
Element: Stasis.
Source: Crucible.
Best For: PvE
Riptide is potentially the best Fusion Rifle in Destiny 2 for endgame PvE content. It’s a Crucible Fusion, meaning you can focus-farm it post-Lightfall. What’s important to note about it is its ability to almost single-handedly take on all three Champion types.
It rolls with Chill Clip, which on a Fusion means you can Slow to stun Overloads and Shatter to stun Unstoppables. When you’re Radiant, your shots can pierce Barrier Champion Shields. So, when you’re Radiant with this Fusion, it can take on all three Champ-types by itself.
Deliverance
Element: Stasis.
Source: Vow of the Disciple Raid.
Best For: PvE
Deliverance drops from Vow of the Disciple. It isn’t built for add-clear so much as it is for pure Major DPS. It rolls with Chill Clip in column four, making it a great counter to Champions, but Bait and Switch is also an option.
In column three, you’ve got a few options but Demolitionist is a highlight. Compulsive Reloader also pairs very well with Chill Clip, so it ultimately comes down to what you want this Fusion to do. DPS, anti-Champion, and grenade regen are all available to you.
Merciless
Element: Solar.
Source: Exotic Engrams.
Best For: PvE
Merciless didn’t see widespread META success until the Spire of the Watcher Dungeon launched. The final boss of Spire required the community to develop some slightly different tactics for DPS than we would be used to – which is what resulted in so many people switching over to Merciless.
Merciless’ Exotic perk makes it charge faster every time you hit an enemy and don’t kill them. So, you can essentially get instant charges against bosses, and that carries over across reloads. Its second unique perk gives it bonus damage when you get a kill and reload. Combine both, and you’ll see why this is META.
Jotunn
Element: Solar.
Source: Monument to Lost Light.
Best For: PvP
Jotunn has always been a PvP menace – so don’t even think about bringing it into PvE, because there’s really no point. It has a charged projectile that tracks, explodes, and burns on hit. It’s also a special weapon, so it’s got a great Crucible ammo economy.
At various points in its lifetime, Jotunn has been disabled by Bungie. Most notably, it was disabled heading into the Root of Nightmares Raid race. It’s broken, both in terms of its strength and its code. Jotunn effectively turns your PvP experience into a point-and-click adventure game while you’re using it.
Lorentz Driver
Element: Void.
Source: Monument to Lost Light.
Best For: PvE and PvP
Lorentz Driver isn’t nearly as powerful as it once was, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using it. It’s still great in PvE, and worth a try in PvP. Although, it may be hard to justify spending your Exotic slot on it when you have the likes of Null Composure collecting dust in your Vault.
When you get a precision kill with Lorentz, it spawns a black hole that sucks in nearby enemies and explodes. This is what gives it its add-clear potential, which is notably higher than a regular Reservoir Burst Fusion. It also randomly marks enemies, and if you kill them they drop a item that gives Lorentz a damage buff on pickup.
Cartesian Coordinate
Element: Solar.
Source: No longer obtainable.
Best For: PvE
If we ever see a Fusion Rifle META as we had with Season 15, Cartesian Coordinate will come back around. It’s not great without being in fashion, but it’s a top-tier option when it is. That’s because it’s one of the most reliable Fusions that rolls with Vorpal.
Grave-Robber, Lead From Gold, and Feeding Frenzy are all great column-three perks that support Cartesian’s overall DPS – which is what this Fusion is for. If you want something to lay into bosses with – this is your best Fusion option. It has absolutely no add-clear potential, though.
Glacioclasm
Element: Void.
Source: Dawning Event weapon.
Best For: PvE
Glacioclasm is like Null Composure 2.0. It’s a Dawning weapon, which is a shame because that means not many players have this weapon’s Reservoir Burst/Repulsor Brace god roll, or its Reservoir/Subsistence alternative. Both of these are just as good as, if not better than Null Composure’s static roll.
Void mains, in particular, are going to want to hunt this down whenever the Dawning comes around. Its ability to clear rooms of adds, while also generating an Overshield for you cannot be underestimated.
Main Ingredient
Element: Arc.
Source: Dares of Eternity rotator.
Best For: PvP
It’s quite hard to get your hands on a god-rolled Main Ingredient. Despite being in the game since Red War, the reprised version of this Fusion is only available from Dares of Eternity once per month, and it shares its loot pool with a lot of other weapons – making a god roll drop very statistically unlikely.
You’re looking for Under Pressure and High-Impact Reserves. This gives your weapon more damage, accuracy, and stability when your mag is low, and it’ll always be low. So, for absolutely no work, your Main Ingredient gets to benefit from a bunch of buffs, and that matters in PvP.
Likely Suspect
Element: Void.
Source: Throneworld Activities.
Best For: PvP
Likely Suspect has been a terror since the Fusion Rifle nerfs, mainly because it’s a Rapid-Frame and they didn’t get hit as hard as the rest of them. It’s got some interesting PvE rolls – mainly thanks to Golden Tricorn in the fourth column. However, it’s very clearly a PvP-designed Fusion.
The roll you’ll be looking for on this is Firmly Planted and Successful Warm Up. Firmly Planted will give you a range of buffs to Handling, Accuracy, and Stability while crouched. Successful Warm-Up will increase your Charge Time when you get a kill – letting you easily chain kills together.
Conclusion
Those are the 12 best Fusion Rifles in Destiny 2 for 2023. This weapon archetype has been killing the META for years now – and there’s a reason for that. If you’ve never been a big Fusion fan before, now’s the time to change that.
