Let's break down the best Arc Hunter builds for both Destiny 2 PVE and PVP.
Page Updated December 28, 2023, 21:44 | First Published November 29, 2023, 16:59
The dust has settled a bit following the release of Lightfall, Destiny 2's latest expansion. Now that it's been out for some time, we can finally take a look at the revamped mod system and put together what we consider to be top-tier Meta builds.
What makes a build good? It all depends on what you want to do. If you're a PVE fanatic, you might find more value in builds that are better for burst damage and survivability. PVP players might need faster recovery and snappier movement options. Things that don't necessarily hit hard, but certainly hit fast. Let's get down to brass tacks and take a look at the best PVE and PVP builds for Arc Hunters in Destiny 2.
Table of Contents
Best Arc Hunter PVE Build: Zues' Chosen
Your Arc builds will never be the same. This Arc Hunter build is great in all levels of content and will be clearing adds and dealing insane amounts of AOE damage on the regular. We're going to roll with Shinobu's Vow as our Exotic Gauntlets for the additional grenade, grenade energy, and some fun melee and dodge spam. Let's take a look.
Required Gear
- Exotic Armor: Shinobu's Vow (Gauntlets)
Shinobu's Vow is an underrated Exotic. Not only does it make your Skip grenades more lethal, but it also gives you an additional Skip grenade to throw and returns grenade energy to you when your little Skip buddies deal damage. You can't go wrong with it.
Class Setup
- Super: Gathering Storm
- Grenade: Skip Grenades
- Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge
- Melee: Combination Blow
- Jump: Triple Jump
Not much to say about our base-level ability selection. These things in combination with one another will lead to some fun ability uptime with our Aspects and Fragments. Arc is, objectively, one of the more fun subclasses to run, and boy oh boy, are we gonna run!
Aspects
- Lethal Current: After dodging, your next melee attack has an increased lunge rag, Jolts the target, and creates a damaging aftershock.
- Flow State: Defeating a Jolted target makes you Amplified. While Amplified, your dodge recharges faster, you're more resilient while dodging, and your reload speed is greatly increased.
Fragments
- Spark of Shock which makes your Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
- Spark of Ions creates an Ionic Trace when defeating a Jolted target.
- Spark of Amplitude generates an Orb of Power when rapidly defeating targets.
- Spark of Resistance makes you more resistant to incoming damage when surrounded by enemies.
Armor Mods
Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for ability uptime to further lean into the Grenade, Melee, and Class Ability spam that this build is all about.
- Head Mods: I recommend Ashes to Assets, Arc Siphon, and Heavy Ammo Finder for more orbs, more super energy, and heavy ammo
- Arm Mods: I recommend Grenade Kickstart and Bolstering Detonation for more grenade energy and class energy
- Chest Mods: I recommend Emergency Reinforcement and/or whatever damage reduction mods of your choosing. Emergency Reinforcement is crazy strong right now and a requirement for high-end content
- Leg Mods: I recommend Arc Weapon Surge, Recuperation, and Orbs of Restoration. These will grant you additional Arc weapon damage as well as additional health and ability recharge.
- Cloak Mods: I recommend Time Dilation, Bomber, and Outreach for longer Armor Charge duration and increased cooldowns on grenades and melee charges.
Weapons
- Kinetic Slot: You really can't go wrong here. Use your favorite weapon of choice, but for me, this slot is reserved for Witherhoard or Arbalest based on what kind of Champions we're dealing with. Ideally, you'll use your energy slot for a Primary weapon to synergize some Arc damage.
- Energy Slot: Anything Arc is going to play well here. I personally recommend something like the Ikelos SMG with Voltshot. If you don't have one, a Nation of Beasts or Insidious or any other Arc weapon will do fine. Voltshot is your friend here.
- Heavy Slot: Just about any Arc heavy weapon is going to be a fun thing to sub in here. I personally refuse to part with my Adept Hothead, but if you've found yourself without an exotic anywhere else yet, Thunderlord also wrecks shop here.
Stat Distribution
For these, you'll want to focus on as much Resilience and Recovery as possible for survivability. Next would be a minimum of 60 Mobility for your Dodge recharge, but anything higher is obviously better. The rest of the stats are entirely up to you, but Discipline as a sort of mild focus is always a good idea.
Conclusion
Arc is a fun subclass to run regardless of what level of content you're doing it in. With the additional speed, the ability uptime, and the beautiful effects, there's something to love for all kinds of Guardians. This build is a great option for some Legend or Master Lost Sectors or your next Raid run!
Best Arc Hunter PVP Build: Shocking Speed
Welcome to your PVP build, Arc Hunters! This build is going to look extremely familiar if you just worked on building out the Arc Hunter PVE build above because they're extremely similar! We're going to mix up the Exotic, one Aspect, and our grenade, but everything should be comfortable if you've just tested out the other build. Let's take a look!
Required Gear
- Exotic Armor: Wormhusk Crown (Helmet)
While this helmet isn't quite as powerful as it once was, Wormhusk Crown is still going to be key to getting you out of trouble or even giving you the leg up in a gunfight. Play around with it a bit, but I'd recommend Wormhusk for all of the crusty little worms out there looking for a free health regen!
Class Setup
- Super: Gathering Storm
- Grenade: Pulse Grenades
- Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge
- Melee: Combination Blow
- Jump: Triple Jump
Pulse grenades are going to help us shut down lanes, but really, we're going to try to save our Melee charges for Tempest Strike, our new Aspect!
Aspects
- Lethal Current: After dodging, your next melee attack has an increased lunge rag, Jolts the target, and creates a damaging aftershock.
- Tempest Strike: While sliding, activate your charged melee ability to unleash a devastating uppercut attack that travels along the ground in front of you, damaging and Jolting targets.
Fragments
- Spark of Shock which makes your Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
- Spark of Ions creates an Ionic Trace when defeating a Jolted target.
- Spark of Amplitude generates an Orb of Power when rapidly defeating targets.
- Spark of Resistance makes you more resistant to incoming damage when surrounded by enemies.
Armor Mods
Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for weapon steadiness and handling. These are all pretty straightforward and grant bonus weapon stats and ability recovery.
- Head Mods: I recommend Kinetic OR Energy Targeting (and a siphon mod for fun!)
- Arm Mods: I recommend Reloaders of your choice.
- Chest Mods: I recommend Unflinching mods of your choice.
- Leg Mods: I recommend Innervation and Invigoration x2 for grenade and melee regeneration.
- Cloak Mods: I recommend Distribution, Bomber, and Outreach for more ability energy.
Weapons
- Kinetic Slot: I recommend something with some range like the No Time To Explain, Dead Man's Tale, or a similarly ranged Primary of your choice. Pulse Rifles continue to absolutely dominate in PVP and DMT is just fun to use. You can try to swap for a Hand Cannon too if you're finding yourself in close range, as you should be in this build!
- Energy Slot: All Shotgun, all the time. I use a Mindbender's Ambition that I love. Auto-Loading Holster is going to make you very happy when you're sprinting and swinging over Special Ammo and you have to switch to a CQB weapon in a pinch.
- Heavy Slot: This is completely up to you. Personally, Rockets are always a go-to in PVP due to their wide blast radius, making it tough to miss an opponent, but I have been a bit partial to Heavy Machine Guns recently, too!
Stat Distribution
For these, you'll want to focus on high Resilience, Mobility, and Recovery for both survivability and class ability recharge time. Next would be Strength for faster Tempest Strike uptime.
Conclusion
This build in PVP is pretty fun, but there are definitely more fun builds with Void or Strand out there for Hunters right now. Give it a shot in Trials or Iron Banner!
These are the best Arc Hunter builds for PVE and PVP in Destiny 2. Make sure you save them in your new Loadout slots before you start moving on to your next build!
For more Destiny 2 news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below:
Weekly Updates
Future Content
Best Hunter Builds
Best Titan Builds
Best Warlock Builds
Emblem & Shaders
Exotics, Catalyst & God Roll Guides
Game Guides
Written by Austin Ford
Austin is a freelance writer, theatre nerd, and lapsed stand-up comedian. His love for writing and dissection of video games brought him to the games journalism space where he’s written for outlets like The Outerhaven and XboxEra. When not working on Destiny 2 YouTube videos or streaming on Twitch, he helps to build out our Destiny 2 coverage with his deep knowledge of the game and its systems. With multiple Day One Raid completions, Austin likes to think of himself as an expert not only in Destiny but Bungie’s entire catalog of games. When not actively obsessing over The Traveler, Austin is also a fan of indie titles and JRPGs. If you ask him what his favorite game of all time is, he’d say Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and will not rest until a sequel or Reboot is in his hands.
Follow me on:
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLXNsWWtrl%2Bau3CwxKyroqapYn9wrsSsq2agpaPBpr6MmqmcZZKqtq2w0g%3D%3D