Auto Rifles have seen dozens of changes throughout Destiny's history. Arguably the strongest weapon archetype for the first year of the original game, they have seen many balance changes to give other weapons a chance to shine.

Most Auto Rifles fire quickly, deal solid damage per shot, and cover medium distances. They're a jack of all trades in Destiny's sandbox, perfect for new players and veterans alike. They do great when a player can land all of their shots, but they could potentially be top-tier with the right rolls. Here are the best Auto Rifles you should own in Destiny 2.

Updated March 18, 2024, by Charles Burgar: A mid-season update for Season of the Wish has updated the Prophecy perk pool, added some new weapons to the sandbox, and made some major balance changes. We've updated this list to include the Prosecutor, an Auto Rifle that hasn't been seen since D2Y1. It has a fantastic perk pool, some solid perk combinations, and is generally a fantastic option for most PvE content.

10 Age-Old Bond

How to obtain: Last Wish raid; craftable at the Enclave.

All Last Wish weapons received a perk refresh in Season of the Deep. Age-Old Bond saw one of the largest buffs from this refresh, featuring perk combinations that are impossible to find on other Auto Rifles, much less Primary weapons in general. Repulsor Brace and Target Lock is a fan-favorite for most, ramping up your damage while increasing your survivability with Void Overshield uptime. So long as you have Volatile Rounds active, you'll always have an overshield active.

Age-Old Bond can also be specced more towards utility or raw add-slaying. Repulsor Brace with Destabilizing Rounds gives you a way to proc Void Overshields on any subclass, not just Void. And if you want to slay dozens of adds with little issue, run Dragonfly with either Target Lock or Golden Tricon. A massive 50% damage buff and precision kill explosions is a combination you seldom find on Primary weapons, and it works incredibly well on a 360 RPM Auto Rifle.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Repulsor Brace, Dragonfly
• Column Two: Target Lock, Golden Tricorn, Destabilizing Rounds

9 Abyss Defiant

How to obtain: Crota's End raid; craftable at the Enclave.

Fans of Solar builds will want to craft Abyss Defiant. This weapon's perk pool is incredible, featuring classic options like Subsistence and Target Lock for general add clear, but that barely scratches the surface of what this gun is capable of.

If you can pair Abyss Defiant with a damage buff, it should be able to easily ramp up Sword Logic. This perk is exclusive to Crota's End weapons and grants an escalating damage buff based on the toughest enemy you've slain. You can pair this with Enlightened Action to quickly ramp up this gun's reload speed and handling.

And if you prefer to lean on Solar keywords, Heal Clip and Incandescent is a fantastic combination. Use a melee ability to proc the Cursed Thrall origin trait, then kill enemies with Incandescent to spread massive explosions. Reload afterward to heal yourself and nearby allies, proccing the likes of Ember of Benevolence. Buildcrafting is highly rewarded on Abyss Defiant, more so than most Legendary weapons in Destiny 2.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Enlightened Action, Heal Clip, Subsistence
• Column Two: Sword Logic, Incandescent, Target Lock

8 Tommy's Matchbook

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 100,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Tommy's Matchbook was released back in Season of the Worthy and was quickly forgotten about, ignored by most due to its strange Exotic perk. This 720 RPM Auto Rifle fires Solar rounds that progressively heat the weapon, eventually causing the wielder to light on fire. While this weapon damages you with sustained use, it gains a massive 100% damage buff while you're on fire.

This damage buff stacks with the 40% damage buff that all Exotics gain against red bar combatants in PvE, allowing Tommy's Matchbook to annihilate tankier red bars like Hive Knights and Cabal Gladiators. Tommy's Matchbook also received a buff in Season of the Deep that causes the weapon to inflict Scorch while fully ramped up, allowing this gun to proc Ignitions with sustained fire.

It won't top the add-slaying potential of Sunshot or Graviton Lance, but Tommy's Matchbook can pump out some serious damage in difficult PvE content if you can find a way to consistently heal yourself.

7 Prosecutor

How to obtain: Prophecy dungeon.

The classic Prosectuor Auto Rifle has returned in Season of the Wish's dungeon update to Prophecy. This 450 RPM Arc weapon is packed with fantastic perks. Target Lock has been making the rounds in PvP, but PvE players are better off using Golden Tricorn due to its absurdly high uptime on Arc or Frenzy for a consistent damage boost.

However, what makes this gun truly special is Dragonfly. It can roll in the first perk column and makes short work of most adds. Throw on Voltshot for shocking results, or stick with a classic damage perk to pump about some amazing damage in Legend-tier content. It's not a bad pick in Master difficulty either, but it won't hold a candle to Quicksilver Storm or even Onslaught ARs.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Dragonfly, Rewind Rounds
• Column Two: Frenzy, Golden Tricorn, Voltshot

6 Rufus's Fury

How to obtain: Root of Nightmares raid; craftable at the Enclave.

Rufus's Fury is more or less a better version of Perpetualis. This weapon is a 720 RPM Strand Auto Rifle that has an excellent perk pool. Most of this weapon's perks are low maintenance and highly effective, notably Rewind Rounds and Paracasual Affinity. Landing shots will auto-load ammo when your magazine runs dry, and Paracasual Affinity will give you a notable 20% damage bonus after landing any Stasis or Strand kill. This works with both Rufus's Fury and abilities.

If you prefer more ability-centric builds, replace Rewind Rounds with Demolitionist to spam Grapple or Shackle Grenades. And if Paracasual Affinity isn't your cup of tea, try Frenzy for a more passive bonus or Target Lock to greatly buff this weapon's damage against tankier enemies. There's no shortage of good roll combinations for Rufus's Fury.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Rewind Rounds, Demolitionist
• Column Two: Target Lock, Frenzy, Paracasual Affinity

5 Necrochasm

How to obtain: Crota's End raid.

Necrochasm was brought back to Destiny 2 with the reprisal of Crota's End. Strangely, the buffs this weapon received during Destiny's Age of Triumph did not carry over, but the gun received some major buffs to its Exotic perk and general stat package. To veteran players, this gun has never felt better to shoot or create explosions with.

Necrochasm is a 720 RPM Kinetic Auto Rifle that creates Cursed Thrall explosions on precision kills. Reloading after landing a precision kill will trigger Desperation, buffing the gun to fire at 900 RPM for a few seconds. This allows Necrochasm to melt just about every red bar enemy in the game, both in seasonal content and GMs. Landing consistent headshots on an AR that fires so quickly can be difficult, but if you don't mind managing this weapon's fairly light recoil, you'll be rewarded with a fast-firing weapon that can clear hordes of enemies in just a few bullets. Pair this gun with Necrotic Grips to further improve its damage output.

4 Lethal Abundance

How to obtain: Iron Banner matches and Engrams.

Lord Saladin has added an absurdly powerful Strand Auto Rifle to the Iron Banner loot pool. Named Lethal Abundance, this 450 RPM Auto Rifle is the first AR to roll with Slice and Onslaught, the ultimate perk combination for general PvE and PvP play.

Kills will increase this weapon's fire rate and reload speed without any damage penalties, and reloading will infuse your shots with Sever—a Strand keyword that reduces enemy damage by 40%. So long as you can keep killing enemies, Lethal Abundance has enough damage to make most Exotics blush. And thanks to its Strand damage type, it benefits from Unraveling Rounds.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Slice, Enlightened Action
• Column Two: Onslaught

3 Ros Arago IV

How to obtain: Legendary world Engrams.

Ros Arago IV has taken Funnelweb's place as the ultimate PvE bullet hose Primary for Void builds. This 600 RPM Auto Rifle is the first Adaptive Frame to roll with Onslaught, increasing the gun's fire rate to 822 RPM at max stacks. To keep the carnage going, you can pair this with Rewind Rounds or Subsistence to constantly refill the magazine.

Defeat three enemies, and you have what's effectively a Primary version of Retrofit Escapade in your hands. But that's not even the best part. Since this weapon is Void, it benefits from Volatile Rounds. Throw on Echo of Instability or Gyrfalcon's Hauberk to make your bullets explode. This gives you constant Void Overshield uptime if you run Repulsor Brace. Needless to say, Ros Arago IV is the new king of Legendary Void Primaries.

Recommend Traits

• Column One: Rewind Rounds, Repulsor Brace, Subsistence
• Column Two: Onslaught

2 Monte Carlo

How to obtain: Exotic Engrams and Xur.

Energy Scalar Bug

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Due to the energy scalar changes in Season of the Wish, Monte Carlo no longer grants full melee energy when its Exotic perk procs. This doesn't seem intentional and makes the weapon somewhat weaker for melee builds, albeit not nearly enough to adjust our ranking of this weapon.

Builds that focus on melee abilities won't find a better Exotic than Monte Carlo. Each round from this weapon will grant a small chunk of melee energy on hit. Kill the enemy, and there's a small chance that a melee charge will be refilled outright. That makes Monte Carlo excellent for buildcrafting, but the weapon itself is also a workhorse thanks to the Markov Chain perk and Catalyst.

Markov Chain is effectively a stronger version of Swashbuckler, granting double the damage per stack. At x5 stacks, you're looking at a massive 65% damage buff that stacks with the Exotic's 40% damage bonus against red bars. Fodder units melt while Markov Chain is active, but you can take this even further with the gun's Catalyst. You can exchange Markov Chain stacks to empower the weapon's bayonet, one-tapping nearly every non-boss unit in the game. This will also max out Markov Chain, allowing you to chain bayonet hits for some absurd damage output.

1 Quicksilver Storm

How to obtain: Speak to Rahool in the Tower after purchasing the Lightfall expansion.

Quicksilver Storm is easily one of the strongest Exotic weapons in Destiny 2, full stop. It's a 720 RPM Auto Rifle that occasionally fires heat-seeking homing rockets. When these rockets make contact with a foe, they will load grenades into Quicksilver's underbarrel grenade launcher. Hold down the reload key to morph the gun into a pump-action grenade launcher.

The default firing state is perfect for killing red bars and clusters of adds from medium distances. But unlike most other Auto Rifles that struggle to kill majors, Quicksilver has a grenade launcher alt-fire that is nothing short of devastating. It can one-tap majors, deal solid damage to bosses, and even kill Champions in GM Nightfalls. Bundle this with Quicksilver's Catalyst that morphs the gun into a Strand Primary, and you have a dependable Auto Rifle that excels in all PvE content.