The Ultimate Guide to All Missing Exotic Weapons and Optimal Damage Types in Destiny 2

Highlights

The Light and Darkness saga in Destiny 2 will reach its epic conclusion with The Final Shape, marking a remarkable 10-year journey. However, the excitement doesn't end there as the game will persist with a steady stream of new content in the form of episodes, keeping players engaged every four months.

In Destiny 2's Lightfall era, players can equip up to three weapons and five pieces of armor, allowing for customization through mods, aspects, fragments, and seasonal mods. While there are currently some missing exotic weapon and damage type combinations, particularly for hand cannons and pulse rifles, Bungie may introduce them in future updates.

Destiny 2's The Final Shape is approaching, marking the end of the Light and Darkness storylines that have been at the heart of the game for a decade. However, this does not mean the end for Bungie's looter-shooter. Instead, it will continue to provide players with new and exciting content in the form of episodes. These episodes will be released every four months, offering a larger and more impressive gameplay experience compared to the previous seasons.

With Destiny 2's focus on buildcrafting, Bungie has taken steps to ensure that all Light subclasses are balanced with Stasis and Strand. Despite this, there are still numerous combinations of Exotic weapons and damage types that can be added to broaden players' options and enhance their gaming experience.

In the upcoming Lightfall era of Destiny 2, players will have the ability to equip three weapons and five pieces of armor. However, they are only allowed to equip one Exotic item in each category. Additionally, there are a plethora of mods available for players to choose from, allowing for further customization of their characters and playstyle.

Furthermore, subclasses now play a more significant role than ever before in building unique character builds, thanks to powerful Aspects and Fragments. Seasonal mods in Destiny 2 also have a crucial impact on gameplay, determining which weapons are effective against Champions and what Guardians can achieve in battle. Despite the importance of Exotics in this system, there is still a need for additional combinations of weapon types and elemental damage to be included in the game.

All Weapon Type and Element Combos Missing From Destiny 2

Excluding variations such as grenade launchers featuring single-shot options in the Kinetic slot and drum-loading variants in the Power slot, and the unique stats and slots for fusion rifles and linear fusion rifles, Destiny 2 consists of 16 weapon families. The newest addition in terms of damage types is Destiny 2's Strand. However, the current collection of Exotics is missing combinations in the following categories:

- Auto rifles: Stasis

Bows: Strand

Fusion rifles: Stasis, Strand - although The Final Shape's pre-order Exotic Tessellation can become Stasis or Strand (as well as Arc, Solar, and Void) based on the equipped subclass

Glaives: Strand

Grenade launchers: Strand

Hand cannons: Arc, Stasis, Strand, Void

Machine guns: Stasis, Strand

Pulse rifles: Arc, Solar, Stasis, Strand

Rocket launchers: Stasis, Strand

Scout rifles: Strand, Void

Shotguns: Strand

Sidearms: Void

Sniper rifles: Stasis, Strand, Void - although Borealis can become Void (as well as Arc and Solar) by changing its elemental damage type

SMGs: Stasis, Strand

Swords: Stasis, Strand

There is a lack of elemental damage options for hand cannons and pulse rifles, with both weapon types lacking a total of four combinations. It is particularly surprising for hand cannons, considering the presence of many Exotic variants, although most of them deal Kinetic damage. With the recent hand cannon buff in Destiny 2, it would be beneficial to see more elemental options for this weapon type. Similarly, pulse rifles have limited representation in the game, especially in terms of Exotics, and the addition of new ones could bring about interesting changes.

Strand is currently the least represented element among Exotic weapons, but this is to be expected since it is the newest addition. Among all weapon types, trace rifles stand out as they have representation from all elements. This achievement is thanks to the Navigator Exotic from Ghosts of the Deep in Destiny 2, as it added a Strand weapon for this class, completing all possible options. However, there are still numerous combinations missing, with a total of 29 remaining. If Bungie continues to introduce two Exotic weapons with each major release, starting from Season 23 and assuming each new addition brings an unused combination, it would take an entire season and 14 episodes to cover the list. This amounts to several more years of future releases.

Destiny 2 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.