Destiny 2 boasts an impressive arsenal. From traditional assault rifles or submachine guns, to laser beams, rail guns, and worm grenade launchers, the sci-fi setting of Destiny has always afforded the franchise a wide variety of inventive weapon types. With that said, it’s time for a shake-up.
While there are hundreds of individual Destiny 2 weapons to choose from, the actual archetypes of weapons has remained largely the same since the launch of the game, besides the addition of glaives in The Witch Queen. Luckily, there’s still plenty more room for experimentation in the creative sandbox Bungie has created. Here are six new weapon types we’d love to see added to Destiny 2 in the future.
Elemental Throwers
Perhaps the most requested weapon type since the dawn of Destiny has been flamethrowers, and it’s understandable why; they’re often an incredibly strong and fun weapon to use. Yet, with Solar already being an elemental affinity in the game, there’s always been a fundamental issue with this weapon type idea. Afterall, it wouldn’t be worthwhile making a whole new weapon type just for Solar. Fret not flamethrower fans because there is a crafty, ‘Destiny spin’ solution – elemental throwers.
Besides the obvious Solar capabilities of a flamethrower weapon type in Destiny 2, likely applying Scorch to foes, there’s also fun opportunities for the other elements. An Arc elemental thrower could behave a lot like Winston’s weapon in Overwatch 2, capable of chaining targets together with Arc energy to cause Jolt. Likewise, a Void elemental thrower could spread Weaken or Volatile, while a Stasis variant could Freeze or Slow opponents. As for the reality-bending Strand, that could damage and Sever opponents to debuff them.
There’s certainly a lot of potential in an elemental thrower weapon type in Destiny. Not only would it satisfy the community’s fervent cries for flamethrowers after all these years, but the added elemental synergy would be the Destiny spin on the weapon type, which Bungie is adamant about with every new addition. Perhaps most excitingly, elemental throwers could fill a niche for more supportive and utility weapon types that are rather rare in Destiny 2, besides a few specific Exotics.
Dual-wield small arms
If you’ve played Halo then you likely already know how awesome dual-wielding sidearms or SMGs would be. There was nothing cooler than jumping into the fray as Masterchief wielding an SMG in either hand. Despite Bungie having long moved on from Halo, myself and the community at large would love to be able to relive some of those moments in the powerful Destiny 2 sandbox.
For balance purposes, dual-wield small arms weapons could include unique variants of pistols, sidearms, and SMGs, but not heavier weapons such as auto rifles (though that would no doubt be fun).
As a distinct weapon type from other close range options like sidearms and SMGs, dual-wield small arms would open the way for a new playstyle revolving around agility and a flurry of close-range firepower. While it would be unlikely, being able to mix and match weapon types like in Halo would also be a great twist.
Primary melee weapons
While it’s hard to deny that Destiny 2 is known for its excellent gunplay, there’s a void in the melee department that games like Warframe have been able to occupy. Warframe expertly blends melee and firearm combat to make a fast-paced hack ‘n’ slash shooter that I would love to be able to experience in Destiny.
Fans have asked for a variety of melee weapons for a long time now, from class specific weapon types like hammers for Titans and daggers for Hunters. The addition of glaives in The Witch Queen was a step in the right direction, but there’s still missed potential in not choosing to expand the arsenal of melee weapons.
My top pick for a close range melee weapon type would be a sword and shield, letting me protect myself and allies with a shield that can reflect damage as I leap and dive bomb into a crowd of Cabal. With that said, hammers, axes, daggers, whips, and other non-Heavy melee weapons would be great additions to flesh out the combat sandbox and provide further avenues for melee builds. These melee weapons, however, should be untethered from the strict lock-on target acquisition of swords and glaives for a more hack ‘n’ slash playstyle.
Double-barrel shotguns
The addition of the Destiny 2 Conditional Finality Exotic shotgun in the Root of Nightmares raid came with the shocking revelation that it is the very first double-barrel shotgun we’ve seen in Destiny to date. In fact, we’ve had a quadruple-barrel shotgun in the form of The Fourth Horseman long before our first double-barreled variant.
There’s a sense of old-school badassery that comes with a double-barrel shotgun that we’ve been sorely missing all this time, and now we know, it can’t be ignored. Plus, now with the powers of a Strand grappling hook, we could live out our Doom Guy fantasies in Destiny 2 with a double-barrel shotgun.
Crossbows
Crossbows are almost always a desirable weapon type to have in FPS games, but Destiny 2 has yet to dip its toes in. While it’s usually best not to chase trends, there’s potential for a highly unique Destiny 2 weapon type in crossbows for the old-school bow and arrow lovers who fancy switching things up.
Like standard bows in Destiny 2, crossbows would value precision firing to get the most damage out of them. However, unlike the bows we have already, crossbows could have multiple arrows ready to go in quick succession, trading damage for fire rate through a larger ‘magazine’ size. There’s also room for further experimentation, such as crossbows that unleash a vertical or horizontal volley of bolts, or ones that fire in short bursts.
Overall, crossbows would be the perfect accompaniment to standard bows and give bow-lovers some much needed variety.
Alien weaponry
One of the best things about Halo was defeating a creepy alien and picking up their weird, high tech weaponry to use it against their friends. Thanks to some unique Exotic weapons we’ve had a few chances to do this in Destiny 2, such as the Vex Mythoclast or Skyburners Oath, but we need more weird alien tech in our Guardians hands.
From Vex slap rifles and Fallen arc pistols to Cabal projection rifles, our enemies have some incredibly unique weapon types and aesthetics that are going to waste in their hands. Whether these were each distinct weapons types or bundled under a category of alien weapons, it would be great to get our hands on the inventive weaponry of our galaxy and time-hopping opponents.
With the Witness now on our doorstep, there’s also the possibility for new and undiscovered species to be introduced with their own brand of alien firepower to shoot us with. All in all, there’s untapped potential in the alien weapons of our enemies that deserves to be in our Guardian’s hands instead.
That was six weapon types we’d love to see added to Destiny 2, though there’s almost unlimited potential in the dense universe that Bungie has created. No doubt, any new weapon type added to Destiny 2 will be something out of left field, as glaives were in The Witch Queen. Maybe some would even go on to become some of the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons and dominate the Crucible.