For long-ranged fights in Destiny 2, there is no weapon better than a Sniper Rifle.
In this list, we have all of the top Sniper Rifles that you can obtain, each the best at what it does. You should have no trouble finding the perfect Sniper Rifle for you among this selection.
Recommended Read: How to Play Campaign in Destiny 2
The Best Sniper Rifle in Destiny 2 is Izanagi’s Burden for PvE and Cloudstrike for PvP.
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Best Sniper Rifle in Destiny 2
Dealing damage from far away is a very powerful tool in Destiny 2. Any weapon that you can reliably deal damage with while staying a safe distance away from enemies is all anyone can ask for.
The best PvE Sniper Rifles are the ones that can deal the most amount of damage, either sustained or in a burst, while still having enough range to be effective.
The best PvP Sniper Rifles are the ones that handle well and give you the most flexibility with your play style.
I think the number one choice will come as no surprise.
Izanagi’s Burden
The single best Sniper Rifle since its release.
Izanagi’s Burden is an Exotic Sniper Rifle that was released all the way back in Season of the Forge when it skyrocketed to the top of its archetype.
It has since remained there practically uncontested, as no other Sniper Rifle can replicate what This weapon does so efficiently.
It comes with the Intrinsic Perk Honed Edge. This perk allows you to hold down your reload button and consume all four shots in your magazine into a single high-powered round with additional range and damage.
This Honed Edge shot deals an incredible amount of damage, one of the highest of any weapon in the game for a single trigger pull.
Honed Edge is a monster of a Perk for just about every type of PvE activity. You will be able to one-shot just about any enemy that isn’t a Boss and will give you a solid damage rotation for DPS phases.
Aside from saving you the time of having to fire off all four rounds, Honed Edge is incredibly good when paired with Bait and Switch Heavy weapons. This gives you the most amount of damage possible for your Bait and Switch rotation.
To top it off, it comes with the No Distractions Perk to reduce flinch and make landing that single high-damage round much, much easier.
No matter the meta, Izanagi’s Burden has always been a solid pick and is one of the favorites currently due to how it compliments the best Heavy weapons around.
The Catalyst is a strict upgrade that you should definitely unlock if you plan on using this weapon.
It will grant Izanagi’s Burden the Peerless Edge Perk, increasing the damage of a Honed Edge shot that consumed all four bullets of your magazine.
Inside of PvP, Izanagi’s Burden can one-shot Guardians with a 4x Honed Edge shot to the body, though getting this much ammo can be tricky.
It is better suited for Gambit since it doubles as both an insane DPS weapon for the Boss as well as the perfect one-shot invasion weapon.
You can get Izanagi’s Burden from the Exotic Kioske in the Tower for 150,000 Glimmer, 1 Ascendant Shard, and 1 Exotic Cipher.
You can also purchase this weapon using 1 Forsaken Cipher if you have purchased the Forsaken DLC Pack.
Cloudstrike
The king of PvP.
Cloud Strike has been and will forever be the best Sniper Rifle for PvP unless it receives a major rework. This weapon is a menace in Quickplay and the bane of every Trials of Osiris player’s existence.
It is another Exotic Sniper Rifle that comes with the Intrinsic Perk Mortal Polarity, causing precision final blows to create a lightning bolt that deals area-of-effect damage to anyone near your initial kill.
It shouldn’t be understated the amount of damage that this lightning bolt can do.
In a PvP game, this Perk can grant you any number of multi-kills with a single headshot, depending on the number of enemies that dare stand near your target.
In competitive 3v3 game modes such as Trials of Osiris, this can cause a lot of discourse in the enemy team as they won’t be able to group up without the constant fear of getting the team wiped.
Being a Rapid Fire Frame with decent Handling also helps Cloudstrike to be just a good-feeling Sniper Rifle in general. If you want to keep up with the PvP meta, this is the weapon to use.
Outside of PvP, Cloudstrike makes for a surprisingly good DPS weapon with its secondary Perk Stormbringer. Rapid precision hits will generate a lightning storm that strikes your target for additional damage.
With a magazine of seven bullets, you can activate this lightning storm a couple of times when you empty your shots into a large enemy. These Perks combo perfectly with Cloudstrike’s Catalyst.
The Catalyst grants this weapon the Triple Tap Perk, returning a round to the magazine for every three precision hits you land.
Now, when you unload your seven rounds into an enemy, you will effectively end up with a 10-round magazine that constantly activates the Stormbringer Perk.
While Izanagi’s Burden may be the king of burst damage, Cloudstrike is a great contender for one of the best sustained-damage Special weapons. It is a must-have for PvP players and a solid choice for PvE end-game content.
You will have to farm high-difficulty Empire Hunts to unlock Cloudstrike. Feel free to check out our guide on How to Get Cloudstrike for step-by-step help.
Succession
One of the best Legendary Sniper Rifles.
Succession is one of the many great weapons to come from the Deep Stone Crypt Raid. This Aggressive Frame Sniper Rifle hits hard and pulls from an amazing Perk pool that gives it plenty of options for players to choose from.
The god roll for many players is, of course, the combination of Reconstruction and Vorpal Weapon.
With the right Magazine Trait, Reconstruction can give you a good amount of shots for such a hard-hitting Sniper rifle that will make your damage rotation that much better.
Reconstruction will also continually reload your magazine after you have emptied it, basically acting as an Auto-Loading Holster during DPS phases. Vorpal Weapon will ensure all of your shots are dealing an extra 15% damage.
Dealing a ton of damage and never having to worry about reloading are two things that everyone is looking for in a Special weapon and Succession perfectly demonstrates this. You can rely on this weapon as a Legendary DPS tool.
While Vorpal Weapon is the choice Perk for sustained damage, you will also have the choice of getting Recombination on this weapon to increase the damage of your next single shot by up to 100%.
This is a much better choice if you plan on taking this weapon into any activity that only allows for a short burst of damage to Bosses or Major enemies.
For PvP, this weapon can roll Moving Target and Snapshot to give you that much-needed boost to Handling.
While 72 RPM Sniper Rifles aren’t considered the best, they are still a favorite for many players for their high-damage body shots.
You can get Succession by completing the Deep Stone Crypt Raid. The weapon is craftable, so it should only take a few runs of the Raid before you can start creating your very own god-rolls.
Beloved
The Legendary PvP Sniper Rifle of choice.
Beloved was initially released during the Season of the Opulence and quickly became a community favorite for its great Handling and Perk options.
It was reissued in Season of the Haunted, making it craftable and giving it a refresh on some additional Perk options for PvE, though it is still the same PvP beast it once was.
Beloved is an Adaptive Frame Solar Sniper Rifle that comes with everything you want on a Sniper Rifle, decent Aim Assist, low zoom, and some great Perks for Handling.
The god rolls for any Sniper Rifle inside of the Crucible always involve Snapshot Sights for quick scoping capabilities.
After that, you have the choice between three very dominant Perks. Moving Target is the current favorite, as you will get a boost to your movement speed and Aim Assist while staying mobile.
Box Breathing is a better choice if you are the type of sniper who likes to post up in a single spot, holding a lane or angle for your team. The boost to Range will make your shots feel more consistent.
Lastly, Quickdraw is a great option for players who like to follow up their Primary weapon shots with a snappy body shot to finish off enemies.
This is also a great Perk for mid-air sniping as you can cancel the sway of your gun caused by jumping by swapping to it after you jump.
Sadly, Beloved is no longer easily obtained. Most of the players still using it are the ones who have been playing the game consistently since its release.
You can check back with Banshee-44 and Xur every week to see if they are selling a Beloved. If you didn’t have a chance to unlock Beloved’s crafting pattern then you will want to check out the next item on this list.
Eye of Sol
The Kinetic version of Beloved.
Eye of Sol is the Trials of Osiris Sniper Rifle that has slowly been replacing Beloved for many of the veteran PvP players.
Being a Trials of Osiris weapon, you can expect Eye of Sol to be the perfect Sniper Rifle inside of any PvP game mode.
Being a Kinetic weapon gives players more flexibility in their Loadouts. Many of the best Primary weapons inside of PvP are Energy weapons.
It comes with the same high Aim Assist and low zoom that Beloved users know and love, along with some arguably better Perk options. Sadly, the best Perks for this weapon are competing in the same slot.
You’ll find both Snapshot Sights and Opening Shot in your second Perk column. This choice will come down to how you like to snipe.
The additional Accuracy and Range granted from Opening Shot is great for stationary snipers holding lanes, while Snapshot Sights will suit a more reactive gameplay style.
The choice is yours, though most players are still choosing Snapshot Sights.
In the first column, you can choose between Moving Target, Fragile Focus, and No Distractions.
Again, this will come down to personal preference, though the majority of the community still considers Moving Target to be the best pick for most players, as the additional Aim Assist on this type of weapon makes it hard to miss your target.
Finally, you have the option of any of the three Trials of Osiris Origin Traits, Alacrity, One Quiet Moment, and Wild Card. One quiet Moment is an obvious choice as you will gain increased Handling while outside of combat.
You’ll find Eye of Sol available from Trials of Osiris Engrams. There is an Adept version available for players who go Flawless, giving you the option of equipping Adept Weapon Mods.
The Supremacy
A Legendary Sniper Rifle with Bait and Switch.
The Supremacy has always been a decent Sniper rifle for PvP ever since its release with the Last Wish Raid.
It is a Rapid Fire Frame with great Handling and Aim Assist that comes with the god roll of Snapshot Sights and Opening Shot, giving you just about everything you could ask for on a Sniper Rifle.
With its refresh in Season of the Deep, The Supremacy now rolls with a lot more Perk options, some that have never been seen before on a Sniper rifle.
These new Perks have made this weapon a contender for the best Legendary Sniper Rifle inside of PvE.
The first of these new Perks was Rewind Rounds. This Perk will refill your magazine once you have emptied it, always giving you back 60% of the number of shots that landed.
The second of these Perks is Bait and Switch. The Supremacy was one of the first Sniper Rifles to roll with this Perk when it was introduced and makes full use of it as a great source for burst damage.
This combination creates a very potent DPS choice as far as Special ammo weapons go. The added range of this being a Sniper Rifle makes it the perfect choice for certain encounters where getting up close with the enemies just isn’t an option.
If you are looking for more sustained damage from this weapon, you have three other alternatives to Bait and Switch. Kinetic Tremors is great as you can keep it activated with the additional shots from Rewind Rounds.
Vorpal Weapon is a tried and true Perk for a simple damage buff to Bosses. While it doesn’t grant a damage bonus to the weapon, Fourth Time’s the Charm is a fantastic Perk on Rapid Fire Frame Sniper Rifles that will lead to a ton of sustained damage, especially when paired with Rewind Rounds, allowing players to fire off 60+ shots without reloading.
You can get The Supremacy from the Last Wish Raid. It is craftable, so get to farming for that crafting pattern.
Those are the best of the best when it comes to Sniper Rifles in Destiny 2.
Which Sniper Rifle on this list is your favorite? Are there any weapons that you think deserve a spot on the list? Let me know in the comments!
