Weapon

As a first-person shooter, Destiny features numerous weapons for Guardians to use in combat.

Overview

Each weapon type contains exotic variants, which are given a unique name and which have additional abilities and/or effects. Such notable "exotics" include the Fate of All Fools, Thunderlord, Patience and Time, Red Death, and Gjallarhorn, along with Thorn, Pocket Infinity, and Super Good Advice. ^[1]^[2] Scopes and various sights have also been seen. ^[3] Each Guardian will have 3 weapon slots to be able to carry a Primary, Special, and Heavy Weapon on their person, with the potential to store and access up to 9 additional weapons of each type. The primary slot is for the weapon used most frequently, such as auto rifles, scout rifles, pulse rifles, and hand cannons. The secondary slot is for specialty weapons that are highly situational such as shotguns, fusion rifles, and sniper rifles. The third slot is for heavy weapons such as rocket launchers and heavy machine guns.^[4]^[5]^[1] Ammo for the weapons will be color coded by slot type; white for primary, green for special, and purple for heavy. ^[6] Purple is the rarest ammo to find, encouraging Guardians to use heavy weapons sparingly.^[7]

Many of the weapons in Destiny carry "implied fiction," bearing details of its creator, where it came from and the sort of person who'd wield it.^[8]

Rarity of the weapon as well as armor is color coordinated into five tiers: Basic (white), Uncommon (green), Rare (blue) Legendary (purple), and Exotic (gold).^[9] Basic and Uncommon weapons can be easily purchased at the gunsmith, with Rare weapons sometimes available. All the factions, the Vanguard and the Crucible sell Legendary weapons of each type. This is the only way to obtain Legendary weapons, outside of the very rare chance of finding a legendary engram or earning them as a random drop in a Raid. Exotic weapons, meanwhile, can only be purchased from Xur, acquired through an exotic bounty, or as a random reward during a Raid or Nightfall Strike.

Certain weapons are infused with different energies - thermal damage, arc damage, and void damage.^[10]

It should be noted that while Guardians are able to switch their weapon selection at any time through the menu, this comes at the penalty of losing both special weapon ammo and/or heavy weapon ammo for the switched guns. This encourages Guardians to plan their weapon selection in advance before entering a firefight.^[11]

Weapons will be able to be "re-forged" by Lord Saladin in an upcoming Iron Banner event. This re-rolls their stats, but resets progression.^[12]

Weapon upgrades

Weapons that are Common quality or better are capable of being upgraded by Guardians. Each weapon has an upgrade path that allows certain capabilities and improvements to be applied to the weapon, at the cost of a certain amount of Glimmer and potentially other materials. Each individual upgrade per weapon is unlocked with more experience.^[1] Additionally, while certain weapons will have a more or less "linear" upgrade tree, some weapon trees will diverge into different "branches", allowing for certain weapons to have more specialized applications as well as making it impossible to obtain all upgrades for that particular weapon.^[13]

Uncommon and Rare weapons typically only require glimmer and Weapon Parts to upgrade. Legendary weapons also require either Spinmetal, Helium Filaments, Spirit Bloom, or Relic Iron. The final upgrades also require either Ascendant Shards or Ascendant Energy (for pre-House of Wolves weapons only). Exotic weapons are similar to Legendary weapons, except instead of ascendant materials they require an Exotic Shard for the final upgrade.

Weapon types

The following is a list of weapon types. The list of weapons within these types is located on its host page.

Primary weapons

Primary weapons are all-purpose weapons for most combat scenarios. Primary ammo is easy to come by and is stored in large quantities, so players will find themselves relying on these weapons the most.

Special weapons

Special weapons are more situational than primary weapons, filling specific niches. They are useful for tackling high-priority targets, or for backup in case a primary runs dry. Special ammo appears less often, and players cannot store as much special ammo.

Heavy weapons

Heavy weapons are the most powerful weapon a player can carry. They are great for dealing lots of damage against powerful targets, or for dispersing large swarms of enemies. Heavy ammo appears the least and players can only carry a limited reserve, so heavy weapon use is generally reserved for more difficult encounters.

Melee

Melee weapons and grenades fall under Guardian abilities, rather than collectible weapons.

Hunter's knife (Throwing knife (Gunslinger), Blink Strike (Bladedancer))
Warlock Melee (Scorch (Sunsinger), Energy Drain (Voidwalker))
Titan Melee (Storm Fist (Striker), Disintegrate (Defender))

Relic Weapons

Relic weapons and objects are items that only appear in specific circumstances and have a limited time to use. They provide unique abilities that aid players during high-level encounters. Switching to another weapon will drop the relic weapon.

Enemy weapons

Fallen

Hive

Hive Shredder ^[7]
Hive Boomer
Cleaver

Vex

Slap Rifle
Slap Grenade
Torch Hammer
Line Rifle

Cabal

Slug Rifle
Projection Rifle
Heavy Slug Thrower

Trivia

A "Cudgel of Xanthor" has been referred to as an example of an incredibly powerful weapon within Destiny, but does not appear in the actual game.^[15]^[16] It appears as a weapon in the novel The Cudgel of Xanthor by Jeff Green.