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One type of weaponry that’s often forgotten among players is trace rifles. These weapons are so rare that all of them are in fact Exotic-tier weapons, found through various quests or through random Exotic engram drops. Despite being a bit niche, they are grossly underrated in Destiny 2, and some of them have surprising potential.
Updated on September 4, 2022, by Anastasia Maillot: With the official Lightfall expansion revealed, many new players have flocked over to Destiny 2 as of season 18, to enjoy a pirate-themed seasonal story. With a new season, a new meta has rolled around, too, and this meta is one that unfortunately doesn’t include trace rifles. Even after season 17, which saw some trace rifle-themed artifact mods introduced, trace rifles remain weak and extremely niche, save for a few strong picks. That said, Bungie has still managed to bring in a brand-new Legendary trace rifle in season 17, and some of the previous entries have been updated to reflect new features or new advantages in the season of Arc 3.0.
8 Ruinous Effigy
How To Get: Buy at Monument to Lost Lights (125,000 Glimmer, 200 Helium Filaments, 1 Exotic cipher, 1 Ascendant Shard)
The Ruinous Effigy is a Void trace rifle introduced in Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep DLC, in a quest that is no longer available for players. In order to obtain it, players must craft it themselves using an Exotic cipher. That said, it ranks the lowest among the trace rifles, not exactly making it worth the investment.
The weapon has the ability to shift enemies into Void Transmutation spheres on final blows, and despite decent stats, it compares poorly against other trace rifles. The main issue stems from how it was nerfed around Beyond Light’s release and has since been somewhat of a forgotten weapon. It simply lacks the ‘oomph’ that other, better trace rifles have.
7 Wavesplitter
How To Get: Exotic engrams and random Exotic world drops
Wavesplitter is another lower-end tier trace rifle, with more consistent stats than the Ruinous Effigy, but with debatably good effects. Its Harmonic Laser has three levels of power, which are engaged when the player holds down the trigger. Again, other trace rifles have better effects to offer.
That said, Wavesplitter is simpler to get than the Ruinous Effigy. It can randomly drop as an Exotic engram for the lucky few, and Xûr also has the chance of offering the player one in one of his Exotic engrams of the week. The Supercharged Battery trait is perhaps the best part about this weapon, as it uses Orbs of Power to charge the Wavesplitter to maximum damage and initiates a reload automatically.
However, given the way Orbs are generated in Destiny 2 nowadays, buildcrafting around the Wavesplitter can be incredibly tedious and difficult, as Orbs of Power now require special mods in the helmet sockets in order to be generated.
6 Hollow Denial
How To Get: Crown of Sorrow vendor and Nightmare Containment activity
Introduced in season 17, Hollow Denial is one of the new weapons that players can craft as they hunt down Nightmares. Deepsight versions of this trace rifle drop from the Nightmare Containment activity, but after enough unlocks at the Crown of Sorrow vendor, players can also earn one free Deepsight from the seasonal vendor on a weekly basis.
Hollow Denial is a Void trace rifle that gains the Extrovert Origin Trait. Crafting it is the best course of action to gain access to some of the desirable, Enhanced perks. Players should look to craft it with Projection Fuse, Light Battery, or Tactical Battery. For the two perks of choice, go for Surplus or Heating Up in the first column, and Killing Tally or Wellspring in the second column. Adaptive Munitions is also a solid choice.
This trace rifle is average at best and is probably best used in a meta where Void subclasses reign supreme and trace rifles gain an anti-champion mod. For season 18, it remains a weak and niche PVE weapon.
5 Retraced Path
How To Get: Xur’s Treasure Hoard
The first Legendary trace rifle has been added into the game following Bungie’s 30th Anniversary update back in November 2021. Found in the Energy weapon slot, the Retraced Path can be acquired by playing the Dares of Eternity game mode and opening the chest found at Xur’s treasure hoard.
Since it’s not an Exotic and not limited to a set of perks, there are a few rolls players should focus on getting for this Solar trace rifle. For battery, Projection Fuse or Tactical Battery are both great. Then, Perpetual Motion, Feeding Frenzy, or Subsistence. And finally, for the last slot, Golden Tricon, Frenzy, or Demolitionist are great options. It’s definitely a PVE weapon above all, and even then, it’s unlikely it will see much use given the weak state of trace rifles in the first place.
As of season 18, the Retraced Path trace rifle can also be crafted once enough patterns have been extracted from Deepsights found in Dares of Eternity. It now comes with great Enhanced perks like Incandescent and Focused Fury, on top of some of the perks mentioned above. It pairs well with Solar builds that rely on Incandescent but has a minimal place in season 18’s meta.
4 Prometheus Lens
How To Get: Exotic engrams and random Exotic world drops
Some might gasp at the fact that the Prometheus Lens ranks this high, given how ‘common’ of an Exotic it seems to be. Just like the Wavesplitter, it can drop randomly as an Exotic engram, or from Xûr’s special weekly Exotic engram. Either way, it’s more accessible than some of the other weapons on this list, which puts it at an average position. Though it has seen some very niche use in PVP, like most trace rifles it remains very much a useless weapon in difficult PVE and PVP content.
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Prometheus Lens is a very underrated weapon. Its Prismatic Inferno feature allows it to deal Solar damage through its beam. Its stats are its weakest point, but its Solar beam bumps it up above the latter few weapons due to its utility. The Flame Refraction trait is particularly useful for Prometheus Lens, as earning kills directly translates to more ammo, which allows players to beam down their enemies for longer.
3 Coldheart
How To Get: Exotic engrams, and Exotic world drops
Players who originally pre-ordered Destiny 2 might recognize Coldheart as one of the pre-order bonus items. Well, now is the time to bust it out, because it’s actually a pretty good weapon. Its stats are balanced, but the real treat is in its intrinsic ability called Cold Fusion.
Its trait Longest Winter bumps its utility and power significantly since it increases Coldheart’s damage drastically the longer players stay on the same target. This makes Coldheart fantastic for PVE, where lasering down minor bosses is key. One could also argue it works great for PVP, depending on the player’s play style. With all this in mind, however, it’s unlikely Coldheart will see use in any meta until trace rifles overall are improved.
2 Ager’s Scepter
How To Get: Likely unavailable for Season 16
Newly introduced in the Season of the Lost as the Awoken’s hidden weapon that Mara Sov wants players to fetch, Ager’s Scepter quickly climbed to the top of weapon tier lists as one of the best new additions in the game. In Season 16, it’s still unclear how players can get their hands on Ager’s Scepter. There may be a chance it can be dropped from an Exotic engram or purchased from Xur, but as of now, Ager’s Scepter is nowhere to be seen. Its catalyst drops from playlist activities.
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What makes Ager’s Scepter unique is that it’s actually a Kinetic weapon, while all other trace rifles are considered Energy weapons. Its stats are excellent all around, and its perk Ager’s Call explodes targets and deals damage in a small area of effect, making it great against multiple targets. The Rega’s Refrain trait is a bit more niche as it transfers stasis final blows as ammo, but given how good stasis is right now, it might work for a lot of builds.
Its catalyst has proven to be quite powerful: players can sacrifice Super energy to charge the Scepter, which will now also freeze and slow down targets, much like stasis. Ager’s Scepter works well with Stasis builds, even if trace rifles have somewhat of a niche role in the meta.
1 Divinity
How To Get: Secret quest in Shadowkeep DLC and Garden of Salvation raid.
The king of all trace rifles is without a doubt Divinity. The stats are fantastic for this weapon, as they should be, given it unlocks randomly from one of the raids of Destiny 2, included in the Shadowkeep DLC: Garden of Salvation. Its intrinsic perk Judgment is a timeless one. Targets affected by it will become weak, as Divinity creates a field around them that creates a disruption. Combine this with the Penance trait, and these targets will also take extra damage while inside the field of disruption.
Even without Particle Deconstruction around, Divinity has maintained an absolutely vital position in endgame PVE meta due to its ability to create a crit hit spot on bosses and significantly boost the damage of players. It was even seen on the roster of many fireteams during their completion of The Witch Queen’s raid, Vow of the Disciple.
As such, it’s truly the only trace rifle worth getting on this list. In order to get it, however, players will need to head to the Vex portal found on the moon, fight the Vex boss that comes out of it and follow several leads throughout Nessus, before completing the raid again. Within the raid, several six-man puzzles will need to be done for the Divinity to unlock at the final chest.
Destiny 2 was released on September 6, 2021, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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