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Grenade launchers are fantastic utility weapons. They can deal damage, blind certain enemies, and clear rank-and-file enemies quickly. Thanks to the game having two different flavors of grenade launchers, too, players can pick and choose whether they prefer a heavy or a special one. Here’s which grenade launchers are worth the player’s time in Destiny 2.
Updated on November 11, 2022, by Anastasia Maillot: Grenade launchers come in two flavors: special and heavy. They continue to be extremely versatile and decently powerful tools in the game, mainly thanks to the 3.0 subclasses that have focused on ability regeneration and hold a ton of ad-clear potential when paired with weapons of the same element. Season of the Plunder has seen the introduction and re-introduction of a few grenade launchers, and a couple of choices that have been in the game for a while now hadn’t been included in the original list. For players looking for the best grenade launcher in Destiny 2, here’s which ones are must-haves in everyone’s vault.
12 Militia’s Birthright
How To Get: Master and Grandmaster Nightfall strikes
This grenade launcher is one of the Grandmaster Adept weapons available for season 18. Its non-adept version is available from Master-level Nightfalls. Militia’s Birthright is an excellent grenade launcher option for players who have yet to get a decent Pardon Our Dust or never got around to getting Ignition Code. The main reason for that is Blinding Grenades, which can be extremely useful in difficult high-level endgame PVE content.
So, look for a roll with Blinding Grenades and Auto-Loading Holster. The final perk can be Quickdraw, but Lead from Gold also works well if players plan on using this religiously in PVE game modes.
11 Explosive Personality
How To Get: Psi-Ops Battlegrounds and Season of the Risen rewards
Wave frame grenade launchers are a lot of fun as they hold a ton of ad-clear potential. Although Forbearance is still king when it comes to Wave frames, Explosive Personality is another brilliant option from the Season of the Risen weapon pool for players looking to add a bit more damage to any Solar 3.0 builds that specialize in ad-clear.
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The good thing about this grenade launcher is that it can be crafted, once enough patterns have been unlocked, and it opens up the possibility of unlocking Enhanced perks. Auto-Loading Holster is a must-have, and for the second perk, players can pick ones like Golden Tricorn, Frenzy, or Disruption Break.
10 Deafening Whisper
How To Get: Occasionally sold by Xur
Another fantastic Wave frame option is the Void grenade launcher Deafening Whisper. This one can be a little bit tricky to get since it’s a weapon that only occasionally appears in Xur’s inventory on Fridays, so keep an eye out for him when he does come around.
Deafening Whisper will pair well with Void 3.0 builds that focus on ad-clear. In the first column, players will absolutely want Ambitious Assassin. The second column will likely have a strong preference for Auto-Loading Holster for simplicity and convenience, but Wellspring and Threat Detector are decent options for PVE as well.
9 Cry Mutiny
How To Get: Reward for ranking up Zavala, Drifter, or Lord Shaxx in season 18
Season of the Plunder introduced a heavy grenade launcher as its ritual weapon, known as Cry Mutiny. This Solar grenade launcher shows a lot of promise when it comes to Solar builds in particular, as it comes curated and fully Masterworked with the Incandescent perk.
Incandescent can also be switched to Demolitionist, a highly desirable perk in the era of 3.0 subclasses. The second column is a choice between Swashbuckler or Vorpal Weapon, both of which are very powerful perks, though Swashbuckler has a slight edge over Vorpal Weapon since Cry Mutiny will likely be used as an ad-clearing tool rather than a boss DPS weapon.
8 Ignition Code
How To Get: Xur’s weekly stock (rotating)
Ignition Code is a remnant from the Season of the Splicer, and at the time, it was one of the best grenade launchers for a variety of reasons. First of all, it was ideal for endgame PVE content since it could occupy the Kinetic slot while leaving the Energy slot for a primary weapon and the Heavy slot for a damage weapon.
It could also roll with the Blinding Grenade perk, which made it a cheap and accessible option for any PVE enthusiast wanting a great utility weapon for most endgame PVE content. Blinding grenades, overall, are a must-have perk for many grenade launchers, and they were especially sought-after with Ignition Code.
7 Pardon Our Dust
How To Get: Xur’s Treasure Chest in Eternity
Players who prefer not to wait for Ignition Code to roll around into Xur’s rotating inventory can also try to grind for Pardon Our Dust, which is another Kinetic grenade launcher and can also roll with the highly useful Blinding Grenade perk. If anything, this weapon is a nice backup for those who couldn’t get an Ignition Code.
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This one is far easier to get by simply completing some Dares of Eternity and using the Treasure Keys to open the chest in Eternity next to Xur. Keep in mind that some RNG is involved in this as well, so a Pardon Our Dust isn’t always guaranteed.
6 Salvager’s Salvo
How To Get: Legacy gear tab in Monument to Lost Lights
In anticipation of Arc 3.0, Salvager’s Salvo could be a useful pick-up for a lot of players. It’s in the Energy slot and deals Arc damage, and since it was once one of the seasonal weapons in Destiny 2, it comes with some incredibly juicy perks worth playing around with.
To get this grenade launcher, players can buy it easily from the Legacy gear tab at the Tower’s Monument to Lost Lights. The perk options include Vorpal Weapon or Chain Reactions, and Ambitious Assassin or Demolitionist. All of these are some of the best perks out there for grenade launchers.
5 Lingering Dread
How To Get: Duality dungeon
Season 17 introduced players to the Duality dungeon that dives deep into Calus’ mind, featuring some very unique and cool-looking weapons. Among them is a Stasis grenade launcher found in the kinetic weapon slot, which can come with some cool perks.
Players should look for one that has some of the following perks: Auto-Loading Holster, Vorpal Weapon, Kill Clip, and even Blinding Grenades. It can pair quite nicely with some Stasis builds on just about all classes.
4 Salvation’s Grip
How To Get: Exotic quest in Beyond Light called Stasis Prototype
While most of the other grenade launchers on this list are there for their good perks or damage, Salvation’s Grip is here for its unique utility. Ever wondered how some players manage to get out of bounds in Destiny 2? Or climb to otherwise unreachable locations? Salvation’s Grip is the answer.
This grenade launcher spits out Stasis shards, which come in handy when players want to create a platform to climb onto. It’s a well-known Exotic among players who explore out-of-bounds areas in the game, but its usefulness in PVP and PVE is highly questionable.
3 Dead Messenger
How To Get: The Vox Obscura Exotic quest in Savathun’s Throne World
The Dead Messenger is a really interesting Exotic grenade launcher, due to its ability to change its element. This can make it a powerful weapon of choice in PVE activities that require players to have multiple types of elemental damage to deal with shielded foes and such, though Arbalest will still be the more obvious choice.
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The Dead Messenger can be acquired from the Vox Obscura Exotic quest. One of the more unique aspects of this weapon is that it fires in a cone-shaped area of effect, which increases its effectiveness, particularly when clearing ads.
2 Witherhoard
How To Get: Shadowkeep Exotics tab on Monument to Lost Lights
Another fantastic ad-clearing weapon is the Witherhoard. It’s one of the must-have PVE weapons every player should have in Destiny 2, especially when paired with its catalyst that gives it Auto-Loading Holster.
Witherhoard fires a projectile slug which will blight the target. It creates pools of this blight on the ground as well, which quickly kills off enemies. Enemies affected by the blight will leave behind a blighted area as well. In both PVP and PVE it’s quite the annoying weapon to deal with and has been in a powerful position in the game’s meta for some time now.
1 Forbearance
How To Get: Vow of the Disciple raid, craftable
Forbearance is one of the few craftable grenade launchers in the game, along with Explosive Personality. However, Forbearance is a slightly better option overall, even if it isn’t quite as accessible as it requires players to complete encounters in the Vow of the Disciple raid. Five patterns are needed to unlock it for crafting.
Players should look for perks like Chain Reaction and Ambitious Assassin. Its intrinsic perk Souldrinker is extremely powerful in PVE, which will regenerate the player’s health depending on how many kills they have scored before reloading the weapon.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia.
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