Our Picks for the Best (and Worst) Hunter Exotics in Destiny 2

Previously, I wrote a list of our picks for the best and worst Warlock Exotics in Destiny 2 right now. I figured it would be a good idea to show the same love to the other two classes of Guardians in Destiny 2 and give them their own list of the best and worst Exotics for Hunters and Titans as well. As you can probably see, you’re reading the list of the best and worst Hunter Exotics, so definitely go check out the Warlock and Titan lists soon! Some of these Exotics are the greatest the game has ever seen with incredibly powerful and unique abilities, but some of them are just absolutely terrible and serve no purpose in the game whatsoever. So, here’s the list for the best and worst Hunter Exotics in Destiny 2:

Best

5. Liar’s Handshake (Gauntlets)

The Liar’s Handshake Exotic Hunter gauntlets are some of the best Hunter Exotics that ever graced Destiny 2. The Exotic perk on this Exotic is Cross Counter. “Cross Counter – Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you.” For the longest time, Liar’s Handshake was by far the best Hunter Exotic for DPS (Damage Per Second) that you could use in combination with Gambler’s Dodge to fully recharge your melee after dodging near an enemy. Throw in a shotgun with One-Two Punch to even further amplify your damage? Perfection.

4. Wormhusk Crown (Helmet)

This is one of the most popular Crucible Exotics I have ever seen (almost on par with Transversive Steps for Warlock). The Hunter Exotic helmet, Wormhusk Crown, allows players to gain a bump of health and shield upon dodging. This Exotic is popular most likely due to the fact that it’s an incredible way to disengage from a fight and allows you to take a step back and rethink the engagement. It’s basically like a second chance. Or a crutch. You decide which you’d rather call it.

3. Shards of Galanor (Gauntlets)

Shards of Galanor is the Hunter Exotic that you should be running in Mayhem. “Hits and kills with Blade Barrage will return Super energy after the Super ends.” If you get even a single kill in Mayhem Clash, you will instantly regain your entire Blade Barrage Super. Yep, your entire Super. This is by far one of the best Hunter Exotics ever, especially if you’re into playing Mayhem Clash in Crucible.

2. St0mp-EE5 (Legs)

Much like the Transversive Steps Warlock Exotic Legs, the St0mp-EE5 (Stompees) Exotic Hunter Legs allow Hunters to increase movement speed with its Exotic perk. “Hydraulic Boosters – Increases sprint speed and slide distance. Improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump.” This is by far the single greatest Exotic that you can equip on a Hunter if you’re going for a speedrun or if you’re trying to make a jumping puzzle the easiest it can be. Some jumps in the game are nearly impossible without them, so if you’ve got them equipped, you don’t have to worry about making that one jump you’ve tried over and over to surpass.

1. Celestial Nighthawk (Helmet)

If you’re in the middle of a Raid and you are a Hunter, there is little reason that you should not always be running Celestial Nighthawk for boss DPS. Unless you’re running Nightstalker to tether the boss, you almost always should be running bottom-tree Gunslinger with Celestial Nighthawk to give you a single shot of insanely massive damage.

Worst:

5. Mechaneer’s Tricksleeves

Mechaneer’s Tricksleeves are only viable if you have a Sidearm equipped. The Exotic perk on Mechaneer’s Tricksleeves states that it “increases Sidearm ready and reload speed. While you’re critically wounded, swapping to a Sidearm increases its damage.” Now, if you’re using a Sidearm, sure these gauntlets aren’t half-bad, but most of the time you aren’t gonna be running a Sidearm, because most of the time, they aren’t incredibly viable.

4. Oathkeeper

Oathkeepers are…okay for Bow users, but really all it gives you is a quicker charge time and the ability to indefinitely hold your Bow charge. It’s not terrible, but it’s also definitely not worth taking up an Exotic slot for, especially in PvE. Crucible, maybe if you really like your Bows, but if you’re a pro with a Bow, then you really shouldn’t need to use these anyway.

3. Raiden Flux

The Exotic perk on Raiden Flux is called Synapse Junctions. “Synapse Junctions – Quick successive attacks with Arc Staff increase its damage output and duration.” I suppose this Exotic isn’t the absolute worst if you’re running Arcstrider – it’s actually quite good – but the problem is the fact that there isn’t really a reason to use the Arcstrider subclass. If we’re in the middle of a Raid and I see an Arcstrider Hunter, my immediate thought is….why? It just doesn’t make sense and I hope that Bungie does something about the identity of subclasses for the future of Destiny 2 going forward.

2. The Sixth Coyote

Okay, hear me out. The Sixth Coyote would be a great Exotic if a better version of its Exotic perk wasn’t already essentially built into the Hunter class. The Exotic perk on The Sixth Coyote is called “Double Dodge” and it gives you a second dodge charge. This sounds great until you realize that you can have essentially infinite dodges using Gambler’s dodge to recharge your melee while dodging near enemies and then use your melee to instantly recharge your dodge. As long as you’ve got enemies to punch, you’ve got a dodge ready to go.

1. Aeon Swift

Yet another addition to the Aeon family of worthless Exotics, the Aeon Swift works exactly how the Aeon Souls work for Warlocks. Every Fireteam member that has one of these Exotics equipped will receive a benefit from the others, the only problem here is that no one uses them so they’re entirely useless. Don’t use Aeon Swift, they’re a joke. By far the worst Hunter Exotics in Destiny 2.