Destiny 2: Best Sniper Rifles for PvE & PvP

While Destiny 2 offers many opportunities to jump into the fray and wreak havoc at close proximity, it also allows you to stay back and pick people off from a distance with Sniper Rifles.

These long-range weapons offer accurate aiming to land headshots and Precision Blows to take your enemies down before they know you’re there. And there’s a good handful you will want to know about that can be real threats on the battlefield.

We have compiled a list of the best Sniper Rifles in Destiny 2 so that you can be ready to pick your targets off and keep your health high.

Best Sniper Rifles for PvE

1. Izanagi’s Burden

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 70
• Range: 48
• Stability: 41
• Handling: 47
• Reload Speed: 40

The first Sniper Rifle for this guide Izanagi’s Burden, which packs a punch with its alternate weapon action called Honed Edge. This allows you to deplete your entire magazine and fire off a massive slug that has additional range and damage.

Izanagi’s Burden is a heavy hitter that will wipe out your target’s health or slash it enough so you or a teammate can finish them off. It’s great for taking out enemies from afar in PvE before jumping down to take the masses on.

2. Whisper of the Worm

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 100
• Range: 75
• Stability: 15
• Handling: 28
• Reload Speed: 36

This Sniper Rifle can reward you for missing a shot through its Mulligan ability, which will return a missed shot directly back into your magazine. Additionally, it has a higher base of precision damage, and landing three precision shots in quick succession can refill the magazine.

Landing precision shots on a boss will create a powerful cycle, reducing their health effectively and getting ammo back immediately without needing to reload. This makes boss encounters much easier when you can use this to your advantage.

3. Borealis

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 90
• Range: 49
• Stability: 47
• Handling: 70
• Reload Speed: 65

Using Borealis in Destiny 2 can offer a damage bonus when breaking enemy shields with the same damage type. It will also refill your magazine and ammo reserves. Furthermore, you can cycle through different damage types with its Fundamentals capabilities.

While it can get its damage boost by breaking the shield of an enemy Guardian using their Super, it’s just a little tougher, which is why this Sniper Rifle works best in PvE. In these situations, you will have many more opportunities to break enemy shields to get the most out of this Sniper Rifle.

4. Adored

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 70
• Range: 50
• Stability: 46
• Handling: 47
• Reload Speed: 38

This weapon’s Triple Tap ability will give you an extra round in your magazine when you land several precision shots in a row. It also inflicts increased damage to bosses and vehicles.

While this damage boost can also be applied to Guardians using their Super, Adored works best in PvE because it’s much easier to land hits on bosses than another player. But it goes beyond bosses, even, with the normal enemies you may encounter being much easier to land a headshot on.

5. 1000 Yard Stare

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 70
• Range: 52
• Stability: 45
• Handling: 42
• Reload Speed: 41

This Sniper Rifle comes with an improved flinch when aiming down the sights for a short period of time. It also comes with Golden Tricorn, which will grant you bonus damage when you land Final Blows. Additionally, this buff gives grenades and melee of similar damage types a boost.

Triggering Golden Tricorn helps you clear out of smaller enemies in PvE. Then, you can turn its buffed damage to any of the bigger targets you find. This is perfect for the boss encounters that come with some smaller enemies that you can shoot at to get this charged up.

6. Fugue-55

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 70
• Range: 54
• Stability: 49
• Handling: 47
• Reload Speed: 45

This weapon is best used when surrounded by teammates, as its precision damage is boosted when near two or more allies. Fugue-55 also gets better handling when getting kills with it. So running with a group is going to make this weapon very effective.

Going into some of the game’s hardest combat scenarios can be much easier when you are using this sniper and have a full squad with you. It’s a reliable and solid gun overall. PvE tends to have you and your teammates closer together than PvP, which is why we recommend using it in these modes.

Best Sniper Rifles for PvP

1. Cloudstrike

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 55
• Range: 60
• Stability: 49
• Handling: 46
• Reload Speed: 40

Cloudstrike offers a big bonus for landing precise shots, both normal hits and final blows. When you land precision shots in rapid succession, you will generate a bolt of lightning at the point of impact. You will also create a bolt if you deliver a precision final blow.

Landing these shots can be a game-changer in PvP modes, where enemies might be grouped on an objective. This opens them up to your precision shots and lightning strikes. While it can be tough to get those Precision shots, the advantage of landing one far outweighs not using it.

2. D.A.R.C.I.

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 55
• Range: 30
• Stability: 75
• Handling: 75
• Reload Speed: 60

This Sniper Rifle comes with an ability called Target Acquired, which provides improved target acquisition and leads to better precision damage to your target. It will also Jolt your enemy when hit. On top of that, it comes with Personal Assistant, which shows you an enemy’s health and critical information in the scope.

Using these two abilities makes picking off enemies in Crucible much easier, as you can line up shots efficiently to deliver a significantly more powerful blow to them. Use it to aim at a group of enemies on an objective, where they won’t be moving around as much, and it becomes much easier to land a headshot and get that Jolt to come.

3. Bite of the Fox

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 90
• Range: 70
• Stability: 20
• Handling: 25
• Reload Speed: 25

Bite of the Fox offers a quicker time when aiming down your sights so you can quickly snap to your scope in a pinch. It also has Iron Gaze, which will give you better target acquisition at the cost of range.

However, this doesn’t matter in a Crucible match, as the distance between you and your target is much smaller. In these close quarters, the ability to aim the weapon faster is going to be much more useful than to have better range.

4. Mechabre

Bungie

Stats

• Impact: 90
• Range: 74
• Stability: 28
• Handling: 26
• Reload Speed: 30

Using Mechabre in Destiny 2 gives you improved accuracy on your opening shot of a fight, as well as the ability to aim down your sights faster. Combine that with its high damage and you have an all-around solid gun.

You can do decent damage against enemy players with Mechabre’s accuracy and quick ADS speed. In PvP, you will have moments where you need to aim quickly, which is one of this weapon’s greatest strengths.

Sniper Rifles are just one type of weapon you can use in Destiny 2, and with The Final Shape here, you will want to know everything you can use as a weapon. Also, be sure to check out the best Hand Cannons, Auto Rifles, Swords, and SMGs.