Destiny 2: Top 10 Bows, Ranked (2024)

Destiny 2: Forsaken introduced Bows, a deadly weapon archetype meant to bridge the gap between Scout Rifles and Sniper Rifles. Bows combine the rapid shots of a Scout Rifle with a Sniper Rifle's high damage per shot.

As long as you master the draw time on these Bows, they can serve you well in PvE and PvP. Of course, Bows come in all shapes and sizes that benefit certain playstyles much more than others. Exotic Bows and even common Legendaries can dethrone other weapon categories with the right rolls. Here are the best Bows you can use in Destiny 2.

Updated June 19, 2024, by Charles Burgar:The Final Shape has shaken up the sandbox with a plethora of S-tier weapons. The Pale Heart, the Echoes episode, and the Salvation's Edge weapons have some of the strongest weapons this franchise has ever seen. Two of the new weapons this expansion are Bows, and they're pushing the boundaries of the PvE sandbox. We've updated this list to include the reprised Hush as well as Non-Denouement from Salvation's Edge.

10 Pre Astyanax IV

How to obtain: Nightfalls and Vanguard Engram focusing.

Pre Astyanax IV is a Precision Frame Bow that deals Solar damage. This makes it a direct competitor to Strident Whistle, an identical weapon that's awarded from Vanguard Engrams. At first glance, Pre Astyanax seems to be identical to Strident Whistle, but the perk pool on this weapon prove to be slightly better for PvE and PvP fans alike.

Shoot to Loot and Incandescent is a great utility roll for general PvE content. Kill an enemy to detonate their corpse, and any ammo they drop will be automatically picked up, reloading all of your holstered weapons. If you prefer PvP, Archer's Tempo with Opening Shot can be a terrifying combo when used with high airborne effectiveness or a more aggressive playstyle.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Shoot to Loot, Archer's Tempo, Perfect Float (PvP)
• Column Two: Incandescent, Opening Shot (PvP), Successful Warm-Up

9 Ticuu's Divination

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 100,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Ticuu's Divination is a strange hybrid between Trinity Ghoul and Sunshot. This Exotic Bow fires three arrows that aggressively track targets while hip-fired. Aiming before firing will make all three arrows land together.

Unlike Trinity Ghoul, Ticuu's Divination is all about causing explosions. Enemies that are hit by a hip-fired arrow will be "marked," causing them to explode when they are defeated. An aimed shot will cause this detonation prematurely, making this weapon comparable to Sunshot in terms of add clear.

If this weapon is so powerful in PvE, why isn't it higher on the list? Two reasons:

1. Its gimmicky nature makes it somewhat difficult to use in PvP.
2. Le Monarque exists.

Utilizing the explosive nature of this Bow in PvP can be frustrating in 3v3 environments. It's solid for 6v6 encounters, yet those game types are so chaotic that Bows are usually ill-suited for those types of firefights. As for PvE, Le Monarque fills a similar niche but also counters Champions and heals you. Ticuu's Divination is a powerful Bow you can bring to just about all endgame PvE content, but don't expect this weapon to dethrone Trinity Ghoul or even Le Monarque anytime soon.

8 Under Your Skin

How to obtain: Occasionally sold by Xur.

Under Your Skin is one of Destiny 2's best Legendary Bows. This weapon combines the best aspects of Ticuu's Divination and Hush to create a fast-firing, hard-hitting Bow that excels in PvE and PvP activities.

The star of the show here is Successful Warm-Up, a perk that drastically reduces the draw time of this Bow after a kill. Paired with Archer's Tempo, your draw speed is comparable to Hush—a Pinnacle Bow from years past renowned for its near-instant draw time. Under Your Skin also comes with the Land Tank origin trait, granting Resilience and damage resistance with each combatant final blow.

If you find Archer's Tempo too fast when paired with Successful Warm-Up, you can get Hip-Fire Grip to make this Bow a breeze to land headshots with. Hip-firing a Bow like this never gets old. And thanks to its intrinsic Void damage type, you can use Volatile Rounds. This makes Under Your Skin proc Volatile with almost every arrow, dealing immense AoE and single-target damage. If you love Bows at all, you'll love this weapon.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Archer's Tempo, Hip-Fire Grip (PvP)
• Column Two: Successful Warm-Up

7 Hush

How to obtain: Gambit matches and Engrams.

The iconic Hush from Year 2 is back in The Final Shape, complete with random rolls and the ability to be enhanced. Archer's Gambit can still roll in the second column, a variant of Archer's Tempo that's much stronger and procs off hipfire headshots. You can then pair this with Hip-Fire Grip to constantly refresh this perk with ease, or you can run Offhand Strike for even more consistency after a kill.

Of course, you aren't forced to use Archer's Gambit this time. This weapon has plenty of other good perk combinations. Archer's Tempo and Incandescent is an S-tier combination for Solar builds. Shoot to Loot with Explosive Head is a great pair of utility perks. Needless to say, Hush is stacked with good options.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Archer's Tempo, Shoot to Loot, Hip-Fire Grip
• Column Two: Archer's Gambit, Incandescent, Explosive Head

6 Tyranny Of Heaven

How to obtain: Last Wish raid.

Back when the Last Wish raid was first released, Tyranny of Heaven was easily the worst Bow in the game. It had poor base stats, lackluster perks, and was tied to a horrible archetype. With various Bow buffs since and Season of the Deep's Last Wish perk refresh, Tyranny of Heaven is now a fantastic Primary worth using.

Beyond the above-average stat package on this weapon, Tyranny of Heaven features some of the strongest perk combinations we've seen on a Bow. A perk combination of Dragonfly and Incandescent is a first for Bows, allowing you to trigger two explosions with every precision kill. If you prefer raw damage output, consider Archer's Tempo with Golden Tricorn for PvE endgame activities.

Lightweight Bows aren't particularly great in PvP, but you can use Swashbuckler and Solar's Radiant buff to one-tap Guardians in the Crucible. It takes some setup but is quite effective in the right hands.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Dragonfly, Archer's Tempo, Explosive Head
• Column Two: Incandescent, Golden Tricorn, Swashbuckler (PvP)

5 Wish-Ender

How to obtain: Awoken Talisman quest, obtained from the Quest Archive in the Tower.

It might be surprising to see Wish-Ender on here, but Bungie has drastically buffed this weapon in past seasons. It hits a target multiple times per arrow in PvE, deals more damage versus minibosses, and has Anti-Barrier Rounds. Crucible players can also take advantage of this weapon's Exotic perk, allowing you to see enemies through walls while aiming with a fully nocked arrow.

A single arrow is all you need to break a Barrier Champion's shield, making this a fantastic alternative to Arbalest. It also hits much harder than before, one-tapping fodder enemies with ease while dealing solid damage to majors. It won't beat Trinity Ghoul in terms of add clear, but if you're looking for a good endgame Bow that counters Champions, Wish-Ender might be for you.

4 Leviathan's Breath

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 100,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Technically speaking, Leviathan's Breath is a Bow. This Heavy weapon deals a massive amount of damage with each shot, although it takes over a second to fully draw this thing. It's impractical for boss DPS on its own, but that's where its Catalyst comes in.

This weapon got a reworked Catalyst during Year 5, giving this weapon a stronger version of Archer's Tempo. One headshot is all it takes to make this weapon behave like a Precision Bow, allowing you to lay into Champions and tougher foes with ease. Perfectly drawn arrows will also inflict Volatile explosions, allowing you to shred a tight cluster of majors.

Champions die in one or two arrows, while Guardians in the Crucible and Gambit disintegrate if this Bow manages to hit them. It's easy to use, has excellent total damage, and features intrinsic Unstoppable Rounds. Don't sleep on this weapon.

3 Le Monarque

How to obtain: Purchased from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower. Costs 1 Exotic Cipher, 125,000 Glimmer, and 1 Ascendant Shard.

Le Monarque does everything you'd want from a Bow. Here are a few things it can do:

1. Create poisonous clouds that deal great AoE damage.
2. One-shot Guardians while you have a 20% damage buff.
3. Proc Volatile thanks to Volatile Rounds.
4. Heals you with each multikill.

You'll have to get comfortable landing perfect shots to get the most out of Le Monarque, but that small learning curve is completely worth it. This weapon deals immense damage, prevents Guardians from reviving allies or regenerating HP, clears out waves of enemies with a single arrow (especially with Volatile Rounds), and its Catalyst gives Le Monarque Unrelenting.

Bow mains already know how good Le Monarque is, but if you've yet to use it, we highly recommend you give it a try. Once you get used to Le Monarque, you won't want to take it off.

2 Non-Denouement

How to obtain: Salvation's Edge raid.

This weapon shouldn't exist. Non-Denouement is the only Bow in Destiny 2 that can roll with Voltshot, allowing you to inflict Jolt every single arrow. And unlike Trinity Ghoul, Jolt sticks to targets until they die or the debuff expires, so this chain lightning will keep triggering with each hit on the target. That alone is absurd and makes this weapon S-tier, but it gets even better.

You can pair Voltshot with Archer's Tempo to drastically reduce the weapon's draw time. Throw on a loader mod on your gloves to cap its reload speed, and you have a monstrous PvE Bow. And if Voltshot isn't your thing, you can run Hip-Fire Grip and Archer's Gambit to land precision hits without needing to aim.

You can even run Dragonfly with Chaos Reshaped to create AoE explosions on precision hits while also benefiting from a massive 35% damage buff and consistent healing. Calling this gun strong is an understatement. Non-Denouement is an Exotic disguised as a Legendary.

Recommended Traits

• Column One: Archer's Tempo, Dragonfly, Shoot to Loot
• Column Two: Voltshot, Archer's Gambit, Chaos Reshaped

1 Trinity Ghoul

How to obtain: Exotic Engrams and Xur.

What was once the worst Bow in Destiny 2 has become the best thanks to its Exotic Catalyst. When installed, Trinity Ghoul will activate Lightning Rod after any Arc damage kills a target. This extends to Arc grenades, melee attacks, Supers, and even Trinity Ghoul itself.

As a result, nearly every shot from Trinity Ghoul has Lightning Rod enabled, allowing this Bow to clear entire waves of enemies with a single shot. It has infinite ammo, can take down most enemies in a single shot, and can clear out waves just as well as Riskrunner but from further range. It even does well in 6v6 Crucible playlists, although we don't recommend using it for 3v3 Competitive. Every player should obtain Trinity Ghoul and Masterwork it.