The best Bows in Destiny 2 tend to be some of the most powerful weapons in the META. You would think that such an archaic weapon like a Bow wouldn’t compete with a modern weapon of war, but this is Destiny – and a Bow beats an Auto Rifle every time.
The Bows I’m featuring here are the best of the best. They dominate the META in both PvE and PvP, so if you’ve been looking to shake up your loadout, pick up a few of these.
Trinity Ghoul
Element: Arc
Source: Exotic Engrams
Best For: PvE Add-clear
It astonishes me that Trinity Ghoul hasn’t gotten a nerf in recent years. The weapon is so good that a lot of players don’t use it simply because it makes the game too boring. It’s Voltshot on a bow before Voltshot existed, except it’s far stronger and you don’t have to hit an enemy to trigger it.
Trinity Ghoul loads a lightning round when you get a kill. When you shoot that lightning arrow, it’ll chain to nearby enemies for massive damage. This results in a gameplay loop of you literally just tapping your shoot button from the hip while aiming at the floor and watching everything in front of you die. I’d go as far to say it’s the best Add-clear weapon in the entire game.
Ticuu’s Divination
Element: Solar
Source: Monument to Lost Light
Best For: High-end PvE
Once upon a time, Bungie made the Corrupted a Grandmaster Nightfall. When they did that – they introduced Mini-Screebs. These enemies spawned from other enemies, were tiny, had buggy pathing, and could one-shot your entire Fireteam through a Rift from a one-meter radius. It was a nightmare, but Ticuu’s Divination was our knight in shining armor.
Ticuu’s lets you prime an enemy by shooting them from the hip. This shoots three arrows, and they track your target so there’s no need to aim. When you shoot a primed target with an ADS arrow, it’ll do great damage and explode, with the explosion triggering other nearby primed enemies to explode. Two of these on your Fireteam means you just have to jump and spam – the bow takes care of the rest.
Le Monarque
Element: Void
Source: Monument to Lost Light
Best For: High-end PvE and PvP
Le Monarque rose to fame thanks to the combination of its poison damage over time and its inherent anti-Overload. It was perfect for end-game builds, so much so that it still sees use in PvE for that very reason. It’s a T1 pick for Grandmasters and Lost Sectors – and it dominates in the Crucible, too.
The poison damage means that hitting a Guardian will stop them from regening their shields. It two shots, so it’s very generous with how much leeway it gives you in gunfights. Le Monarque isn’t crazy like some of the best Bows in Destiny 2, but it is fundamentally untouchable.
Leviathan’s Breath
Element: Void
Source: Monument to Lost Light
Best For: High-end PvE
Leviathan’s Breath is about as unique as an Exotic can be. It’s a Heavy Bow and is as slow as you would expect. However, the pure damage it gives you, paired with its Void compatibility, makes it genuinely a META option for end-game PvE in Lightfall.
It has inherent anti-Unstoppable and has a knockback AOE on each shot. It recently got a buff, though, and that buff has made it incredible for burst DPS. It’s the hardest-hitting bow in the game, and one of the hardest-hitting heavies in the game right now. People are sleeping on Leviathan’s Breath, so make a point of experimenting with it.
Strident Whistle
Element: Solar
Source: Vanguard Focusing
Best For: PvE
Bows are a utility class. They excel at end-game content, so most players will have an arsenal of bows that aren’t great in typical activities, but excel when the going gets tough. For me, Strident Whistle is one such example of that. This is my go-to Bow anytime Bows have an anti-Champion mod and I’m running Lost Sectors.
It’s got a massive perk pool, with my personal roll being Archer’s Tempo/Incandescent. There are plenty of traditional damage perks, though, if they’re more your thing. You can focus Strident Whistle at Zavala in the Tower, too, making it easy to get your hands on. If you’re looking to put together a collection of god-roll bows, this should be at the top of your list.
Wish Ender
Element: Kinetic
Source: Shattered Throne Exotic Quest
Best For: High-end PvE and PvP
Wish Ender is like the Anti-Barrier little brother to Le Monarque. It lacks the damage over time that makes Le Monarque so good, but it does retain intrinsic Anti-Barrier and has a unique modifier of its own. Wish Ender is a slow, sluggish bow with a long draw time. When you have it fully drawn, though, it gives you wall hacks.
Yes, those wall hacks extend to PvP. A talented Hunter with the right build could potentially be banned from playing simply because of how suspicious this weapon’s Exotic perk makes it look. I’m being dramatic, of course – you’re safe using it, but you get the point.
Whistler’s Whim
Element: Kinetic
Source: Trials of Osiris
Best For: PvP
As you might expect from a Trials of Osiris weapon, Whistler’s Whim is about as good as a PvP Bow is going to get – for a Legendary, at least. In column three, you’ve got Rapid Hit and Killing Wind to combine with frankly a ludicrous number of S-tier perks in column four.
Archer’s Tempo, Opening Shot, Kill Clip, Adrenaline Junkie, Swashbuckler, and Successful Warm-Up are all god roll-viable. The only column four perk you don’t want is Gutshot Straight. That means if your column three perk is good, practically every single Whistler’s Whim you get will be a god roll – so Crucible Bow mains should try to put some hours into Trials.
Biting Winds
Element: Kinetic
Source: Beyond Light Campaign
Best For: High-end PvE
A quality Legendary Kinetic Bow is a must-have for any serious PvE player. Most of the best Bows in Destiny 2 are in your energy slot, though, which is what makes an otherwise plain Bow like Biting Winds so powerful. With the lack of competition, the simple possibility of rolling with Rapid Hit and Explosive Head is enough to make this T1 whenever Bows have an anti-Champion mod.
The bow is a Precision Frame, which is less favored than the faster Lightweight Frames. However, it gets more damage from this, and that stacks with the natural 5% damage buff Kinetic weapons got with Lightfall. This is the most fundamentally solid Bows you can obtain in that Kinetic slot, so make a point of securing one if you want to take on end-game PvE.
Arsenic Bite
Element: Arc
Source: World loot pool
Best For: PvE
Like Biting Winds, Arsenic Bite isn’t particularly flashy. However, it has a small perk pool, giving you a greater chance at rolling that Rampage/Explosive Head god roll. Losing out on the draw time from Archer’s Tempo doesn’t matter so much since it’s a Lightweight Frame, so we can afford to go all-in on damage.
Arsenic Bite is less specialized than a lot of other Bows on this list, so you won’t be resorting to it too often. It’s there for whenever you happen to specifically need an Arc Bow, and can’t waste your Exotic Slot on Trinity Ghoul.
Fel Taradiddle
Element: Kinetic
Source: The Wellspring
Best For: PvE and PvP
Peculiar name aside, Fel Taradiddle earns a spot on this list of the best Bows in Destiny 2 for one reason – it’s still obtainable, and it’s craftable. Unlike seasonal Bows such as Tripwire Canary, you can still obtain this weapon from the Wellspring if you own Witch Queen. This makes it the only craftable Bow in the game not tied to a season.
It’s got everything you would want from a craftable Bow, too. Killing Wind, Archer’s Tempo, Explosive Head, and Successful Warm-Up are all options here. No matter what you need a Bow for, you’ll be able to craft one of these to suit your needs. That includes PvP, too.
Under Your Skin
Element: Void
Source: No longer obtainable
Best For: PvE
Although it’s no longer obtainable, Under Your Skin was the best Bow in Destiny 2 for a time. It was a Precision Frame but rolled with Archer’s Tempo and Successful Warm-Up to give you a near-instantaneous draw time. This lets you output Precision Frame damage at a fire rate faster than most Lightweight Frames.
You can obviously see why people would favor Under Your Skin for both PvE and PvP when you consider that draw time. Further, if you’re one of the lucky few that have one of these in Lightfall, it’s a Void Bow so it synergizes with all the crazy Volatile stuff we can do right now. It’s a rare Bow, but that makes it all the more desirable.
Tripwire Canary
Element: Arc
Source: No longer obtainable
Best For: PvE
What makes Fel Taradiddle so powerful is the fact that it’s a still-obtainable craftable Bow. Tripwire Canary is also craftable, but it rotated out with Season 19 – and that’s a shame because it’s got a number of perk options that makes it a sleeper pick for PvE activities.
Archer’s Tempo in column three combines with Explosive Head, Successful Warm-Up, or Frenzy to give you a PvE viable Bow that’ll serve you in everything right up to Grandmaster Nightfalls. Given how easy weapons were to craft in Season 19, most dedicated players should be able to put one of these together. Don’t overlook it because it’s not an Ikelos – it’s still a top-tier Bow.
Conclusion
Those were what I consider to be the 12 best Bows in Destiny 2 as of Lightfall. There are a lot of really good bows out there – it’s a pretty stacked archetype. All of these are a cut above, though. If you’re lacking some of the important ones, you might want to make a point of rectifying that.
