Scout Rifles were one of the best weapon archetypes in the original Destiny. In Destiny 2, it's a different story. A myriad of sandbox changes and design choices have reduced these weapons to instant dismantle fodder in the eyes of many.

While the weapon category is certainly lacking, there are still shining weapons in this often overlooked class. The right Scout can take on most PvE content from a safe distance, making these weapons more desirable for Master Nightfalls or other pinnacle activities. Here are the best Scout Rifles you can use in Destiny 2's PvE sandbox.

Updated January 7, 2024, by Charles Burgar: New Scout Rifles were added in Destiny 2's Season of the Wish, and some of them have proven to be great PvE picks for endgame content like Master Nightfalls and raids. We've updated this guide to include this season's Imperative Scout Rifle, a reprised weapon from Shadowkeep that gives more casual players a deterministic way of acquiring a Scout Rifle with Kinetic Tremors.

10 Touch Of Malice

How to obtain: King's Fall raid.

Fans of the original will instantly recognize the Touch of Malice, an iconic Exotic Scout Rifle that siphons the user's life force to empower its rounds. It returns in Destiny 2 with the same core mechanic, but as with all reprised Exotics, it has an additional mechanic: Charged with Blight.

Landing precision hits with the Touch of Malice will grant stacks of Charged with Blight. Land ten headshots, and this weapon will launch a Taken Blight that debuffs the target, causing them to take 50% more damage from all Weapons of Sorrow—Touch of Malice included.

Touch of Malice's alt-fire can stun Unstoppable Champions.

That stacks with Touch of Malice's main perk, sacrificing HP upon firing your last bullet for a 100% damage buff and a bottomless magazine. Hold down the trigger, and you'll be dishing out some top-tier DPS for a Primary, provided you can maintain the HP degen.

With that said, this weapon has one major downside: it drains your HP. The Destiny 2 sandbox has far more methods of regenerating your HP in combat, but that still doesn't make this weapon safe to use in Master or GM content. One wrong mistake might cost your life, but intelligent use of this weapon can yield some fantastic DPS numbers.

9 Dead Man's Tale

How to obtain: Presage; craftable at the Enclave.

Tex Mechanica has yet to make a bad gun in Destiny 2 thus far. Dead Man's Tale combines the lethality of a 120 RPM Hand Cannon with the range of a Scout Rifle. In other words, this gun is incredible for taking down targets from any range.

Precision hits will ramp up the gun's reload speed and eventually bump the gun's fire rate to 180 RPM. If you combine this weapon with a damage buff like Radiant, you can even take Dead Man's Tale to Grandmaster Nightfalls. It's by no means the best PvE Exotic, but if you want to down red bars in harder activities with style, it's hard to beat Dead Man's Tale.

Recommended Trait

• Column One: Vorpal Weapon, Outlaw/Fourth Times the Charm, Killing Wind

8 Skyburner's Oath

How to obtain: Exotic Engrams or Xur.

While not the strongest Scout Rifle for slaying adds, Skyburner's Oath is fantastic for Solar builds looking for ways to Scorch targets. The best part of Skyburner's Oath is its hip-fire slug rounds, inflicting a small amount of Scorch to anything it hits. The Scorch stacks alone won't deal much damage or even proc an Ignite, but it has great buildcraft potential.

Titans can use Skyburner's Oath to spawn Sunspots with ease, granting easy Sol Invictus and general add-clearing potential. Warlocks can use this to make up for missed Incinerating Snap projectiles for an easy Ignition. Hunters can force an Ignition outright by tapping an enemy with Skyburners before using Weighted Throwing Knife.

Overall, Skyburners itself is a mediocre Scout Rifle, but this is the perfect gun for theorycrafters that love Solar.

7 Tarnished Mettle

How to obtain: Occasionally sold by Xur.

Night Watch has been a go-to Scout Rifle for years now, but it's been replaced with some powerful alternatives in recent seasons. None of them fill its niche quite as well as Tarnished Mettle, a 200 RPM Arc Scout Rifle that has some absurdly good perk combinations.

The classic Rapid Hit and Explosive Payload roll that made Night Watch popular is present here, yet Tarnished Mettle has much more to offer. Voltshot is the best perk on this gun, acting as a sort of 'Jolt Clip' that causes your next shot upon reloading to inflict Jolt—an Arc 3.0 debuff that causes the enemy to chain lightning upon taking sustained damage.

You can pair Voltshot with Demolitionist for incredible grenade uptime. This triggers off Voltshot kills as well, so Tarnished Mettle can easily recharge your grenade if enough enemies are nearby.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Rapid Hit, Demolitionist
• Column Two: Voltshot, Explosive Payload

6 Staccato-46

How to obtain: Legendary Engrams

Staccato-46 is a Solar 180 RPM Scout Rifle that is a dream to use. It can roll with Triple Tap and Focused Fury for general PvE content, allowing it to chunk red bars and majors with little issue. If you need a way to counter Champions, consider replacing Focused Fury with Explosive Payload.

Arguably the most interesting perk on Staccato-46 is Incandescent, scorching nearby targets whenever you land a final blow. The Scorch has great synergy with Solar 3.0 and deals respectable damage, making it much easier to kill groups of enemies with this gun. It's also a great alternative to Skyburner's Oath if you're looking to go all-in on Scorch stacks but don't want to forgo your Exotic slot.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Triple Tap, Shoot to Loot
• Column Two: Focused Fury, Explosive Payload, Incandescent

5 Imperative

How to obtain: Season of the Wish activities; craftable at the Enclave.

Imperative is a 150 RPM Kinetic Scout Rifle that was originally released during Season of Undying. It's returned in Season of the Wish with a new perk pool and origin trait. It's not quite as powerful as its direct competitor, Transfiguration, but Imperative's power level is justified since it doesn't come from a raid.

Arguably the chase perk combination here is Subsistence and Kinetic Tremors. Enhanced Kinetic Tremors will trigger after four hits, greatly increasing Imperative's DPS in harder activities. Kills will then auto-reload a portion of the magazine. If you don't mind reloading, Demolitionist is also a fantastic perk in the first perk column.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Subsistence, Demolitionist, Keep Away
• Column Two: Kinetic Tremors

4 Hung Jury SR4

How to obtain: Potential Nightfall reward (rotates weekly).

Hung Jury is back yet again in Season of Defiance, this time with a refreshed perk pool. Explosive Payload was removed from the second perk column, but it was replaced with Kinetic Tremors, a Kinetic-exclusive perk that releases shockwaves upon landing consecutive hits. It deals a surprising amount of damage and is fairly easy to proc.

If you use Scout Rifles in harder activities, you can't go wrong with Frenzy or even Firefly if you're facing weaker foes. You have good reload options on this gun as well, notably Shoot to Loot for safe ammo pickups. You can proc Shoot to Loot with Kinetic Tremors as well, making this a great all-rounder for PvE. It won't destroy Champions or slay bosses in seconds, but Hung Jury can hold its own in most PvE content.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Shoot to Loot, Rapid Hit
• Column Two: Kinetic Tremors, Firefly, Frenzy

3 Transfiguration

How to obtain: Last Wish raid.

Transfiguration is a 150 RPM Kinetic Scout Rifle that has an amazing perk pool. Thanks to the perk refresh in Season of the Deep, this gun is capable of rolling many different combinations of double damage perks, expanding on the gun's iconic Rampage and Kill Clip combination back in Forsaken. That roll is still present here, although you have better options now.

An amazing pairing worth chasing is Rampage with Kinetic Tremors. While the tremor effect isn't buffed by Rampage, the Rampage stacks will make it easier to kill red bars from a distance. Kinetic Tremors will then take care of orange bars, making this a great gun for Legend-tier content. If you prefer more utility, replace Rampage with Demolitionist or Rewind Rounds.

And if Kinetic Tremors doesn't suit you, try out Explosive Payload for quick Champion stuns or Adrenaline Junkie for an excellent grenade-centric weapon. It's hard to recommend a specific perk combination since this gun has so many good options. If you're able to craft this gun, we highly recommend experimenting with perks to find a combination that suits you.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Rampage, Demolitionist, Rewind Rounds
• Column Two: Kinetic Tremors, Kill Clip, Explosive Payload, Adrenaline Junkie (with Demolitionist)

2 Polaris Lance

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 125,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Similar to Symmetry, the shift to tankier endgame enemies has given Polaris Lance a niche in this sandbox. Polaris Lance can trigger explosions if you chain headshots, giving this weapon some excellent damage output and add-clearing potential. Paired with Dragonfly from its Catalyst, clearing out hordes of enemies is surprisingly easy with Polaris Lance.

Season of the Wish's Artifact has further buffed Polaris Lance's clearing potential thanks to Rays of Precision. While Radiant, your Solar precision final blows will trigger an Ignition. This stacks with Polaris Lance's on-kill effects, creating a flurry of explosions that will destroy Grandmaster Nightfall enemies with ease.

1 Doom Of Chelchis

How to obtain: King's Fall raid.

Doom of Chelchis has the best perk pool out of any Legendary Primary in Destiny 2, including sunset weapons. This weapon can roll with double damage perks, an exceedingly rare combination that is only possible on a select few weapons. For Scout Rifles specifically, only Transfiguration can compete.

Firefly and Dragonfly turn your enemies into miniature grenades when you land a headshot, releasing two explosions simultaneously that will instantly kill just about every fodder enemy nearby. If you're looking for consistency, try out Explosive Payload with either One for All or Dragonfly. And if you want to kill Champions quickly, try out Vorpal Weapon with Frenzy.

This weapon has the most stacked perk pool we've seen in Destiny 2, and its base stats make Doom of Chelchis a dream to shoot. If you're looking for a good Scout Rifle in Destiny 2, you won't find a better weapon. And if you just want a good Primary for PvE, Doom of Chelchis will not disappoint.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Explosive Payload, Firefly, Vorpal Weapon
• Column Two: Frenzy, Dragonfly, One for All, Focused Fury