Destiny allows players to shoot aliens across the stars as one of three distinct classes: Warlock, Hunter, or Titan. Each class provides its own distinct playstyle that is hard to find elsewhere. Subclasses add on to this, allowing players to further spec their character with unique abilities and passives based on the element chosen.
Solar Titans can throw hammers that explode, while Solar Hunters use a burning revolver that disintegrates foes. There are 3 subclasses per class, but some subclasses were left behind in the first Destiny. Destiny 2 radically changed the way Subclass customization worked, but their core identity is still intact compared to previous iterations. With that said, here are the 10 best Subclasses in the Destiny series.
10 Arcstrider
Butterfly kicks and swinging a massive electric staff is one of the coolest things you can do in Destiny 2. Melee attacks are the focus of this Hunter Subclass, letting Hunters punch everything to death like their Titan compatriots.
The top path is arguably the best of the three, allowing you to have infinite melee attacks that are incredibly strong while using Gambler’s Dodge. The middle path allows you to reflect abilities and even supers to enemies, but little else is offered. Bottom tree Arcstrider is terrible with its only saving grace being its dodge evasion upgrade.
9 Voidwalker
Most Destiny fans were introduced to this subclass in a gameplay demo shown at E3 2013. The Bungie employee playing the demo was using a Voidwalker Warlock.
Voidwalker is all about using abilities and harnessing energy from enemies. The top path allows you to throw a powerful Nova Bomb super and charge up your grenades to have a longer duration. The middle tree offers the ability to convert your grenade into a short-ranged shotgun explosion. Devour is the staple ability for bottom tree Voidwalkers in Destiny 2, granting full health regeneration on a kill and persistent ability regeneration, making it a fantastic choice for surviving an onslaught of bullets and enemies.
8 Striker
Using melee attacks in most FPS games is a last resort when your magazine runs empty. Not with Striker Titans. Their entire subclass is focused on punching everything to death, then punching it some more just for the fun of it.
In both Destiny games, this subclass has a unique melee attack that lets you shoulder charge anything in your path. Top tree Striker Titans have a powerful Shoulder Charge melee, additional grenades, and an augmented super that leaves aftershocks after every slam. Middle tree turns your Titan into a literal missile for their super, while the bottom path allows for an absurdly long super with bonuses for damaging enemies.
7 Gunslinger
When most Destiny players think of Hunters, they think of Gunslingers. This subclass is focused around enhancing weapon performance and utilizing a revolver of pure flame to disintegrate enemies.
Destiny 2 also changed this class somewhat by introducing a knife-based tree in Forsaken. This middle tree revolves around throwing burning knives at enemies and unleashing an explosive barrage of them as your super. The top path grants a rapid-fire Golden Gun that refunds a bullet for every kill, while the bottom path grants stability improvements and an absurdly powerful Golden Gun that can deal precision damage. Bottom tree’s Golden Gun deals some of the highest damage out of any super in the game, making it fantastic for Raids.
6 Sunbreaker
Anyone who played during Destiny: The Taken King will remember how terrifying this Titan subclass was. Hearing that iconic hammer tink when the super was activated made everyone in Crucible run for cover.
While somewhat weaker in Destiny 2, it is still a solid choice for nearly every activity. Its top path grants exploding hammers that can wipe out entire crowds of enemies. The bottom path is arguably the best, granting a powerful buff—which can be buffed with the Phoenix Cradle exotic—to you and allies on solar ability kills. Titans who want a more aggressive playstyle can try the middle path that was recently buffed, granting massive ability damage bonuses and a retrievable burning hammer as a melee ability.
5 Bladedancer
Before Nightstalkers were a thing in Destiny, the main method of going invisible was playing a Bladedancer Hunter. This rogue-inspired Subclass was one of the most powerful in Destiny.
Unlike Destiny 2, the original Destiny had perk options players would select between more akin to a skill tree. Players could either invest in invisibility effects to make themselves almost always invisible or focus on having an incredibly powerful super. Bladedancers wielded an Arc dagger that disintegrated foes it touched with rapid slashes and AoE attacks, but this could be further upgraded to include health regeneration and duration enhancements.
4 Dawnblade
Replacing the Sunsinger from the original Destiny, the Dawnblade is a solar-based subclass for Warlocks in Destiny 2 that is focused on mobility and support.
The top path for Dawnblade provides the strongest mobility buffs in the series, letting you glide nearly forever and dodge attacks in midair. The bottom path allows for a much more powerful super that lasts longer. If none of those options sound enticing, you can play the middle path added in Forsaken that is focused on healing allies, providing damage buffs with your melee, and placing a massive Well as a super that provides gun damage and over shields.
If you want to play very aggressive or defensive, Dawnblade is easily the best pick for Warlocks.
3 Sentinel
Titans don’t have to be melee machines to be effective. Those who don’t want to punch everything to death should consider playing a Sentinel, the Titan’s void based Subclass. Sentinels are the last line of defense between the enemies of the Darkness and the Guardians fighting them.
Their super is focused on projecting a wall of void energy to absorb all enemy fire. Top tree lets you project a dome instead of a wall, also granting a massive damage bonus to your team. Middle tree is more focused on aggressive play, spawning detonators that explode when enough damage is dealt. Bottom path is mainly used to be in a shield-throwing super forever, letting you play as Captain America in space for a short time.
2 Nightstalker
Who would bother using a bow as a super when burning revolvers and electric staves exist? Simple: it is the strongest crowd control super in the entire Destiny franchise.
Nightstalkers are known for their shadowshot bow, launching a powerful arrow that tethers targets together. Top tree Nightstalker has a much larger range on this tether and can go invisible while dodging. The bottom path is focused more on dealing damage, firing up to six arrows instead of one that deals absurdly high damage. If you only want to be invisible, however, play middle tree and chain headshots to be almost always invisible. Nightstalker is the most versatile subclasses in the game, making it one of the best.
1 Sunsinger
Sunsinger was the original Solar Warlock Subclass players could use in Destiny. This Subclass was so powerful that Bungie completely removed it in Destiny 2.
What made it so strong? It had a super that granted incredibly short ability cooldowns and increasing ability effectiveness. Their melee could weaken enemies, grant damage resistance, and their super could also benefit their team or provide even more damage reduction. The most notorious use of Radiance, however, was consuming it to revive yourself in PvP or Raid activities. It trivialized the hardest content in the game, allowing skilled players to single-handedly beat every Raid in the game.
This is easily the strongest Subclass seen in Destiny history.
NEXT: Ultimate Guide To Destiny 2: The Stuff Of Myth
