Top 10 Destiny 2 Sidearms for PvE Dominance in 2025
Explore top-tier 2025 sidearms blending innovation, devastating damage, and utility—perfect for Guardians seeking precision in chaos.
Amidst the eternal conflict between Light and Darkness, Guardians seek instruments of precision that dance in the crucible of chaos. Sidearms—humble yet ferocious—have carved a sacred niche in the arsenals of warriors, their staccato rhythm echoing through battlegrounds from the Pale Heart to Neptune's neon shores. Forged in the fires of innovation, these compact marvels blend forgiving recoil with devastating damage, transforming close-quarters engagements into balletic displays of destruction. As 2025 unfolds, ten stand above the fray, their barrels whispering promises of salvation to those who wield them wisely. 🎯
10. Drang (Baroque)
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A reprised legend reborn in solar splendor, Drang weaves sunfire into every trigger pull. Craftable through the Enclave after Presage missions, its true majesty unfolds with Enhanced Incandescent—a perk transforming multikills into chain reactions of Scorch and Ignition. Paired with Wellspring for ability regeneration or Disruption Break for shattering Barrier Champions, this Solar jewel turns add-clear into pyrotechnic poetry. Guardians whisper: Where Drang walks, ashes follow.
9. Traveler's Chosen
More than a weapon, this Exotic kiosk acquisition (costing 1 Cipher + 125K Glimmer) is a wellspring of paracausal potential. Each kill bestows Gathering Light stacks, sharpening aim and handling. But the revelation comes when consuming stacks—grenade, melee, and class energy surge like tributaries to an ocean. With its Catalyst granting Osmosis and Surplus, it becomes a philosopher’s stone for ability-spam builds, proving that true power resides not in explosions alone, but in transcendent utility.
People Also Ask: "What defines a top-tier PvE sidearm?" Beyond raw damage, it’s the symphony of perks—add-clear potential, survivability enhancements, and synergy with endgame mechanics like Champion disruption.
8. Heliocentric QSC
Rarely does a world drop weapon rewrite the meta, but this Solar marvel dances on the edge of perfection. Heal Clip + Kill Clip creates a self-sustaining loop: kill, reload, heal to full HP, then unleash 25% amplified damage. Prefer chaos? Incandescent bathes rooms in Scorch, triggering volcanic Ignitions. Found in Lost Sectors or wild engrams, its rarity only heightens its legend—a testament to Bungie’s alchemy in balancing aggression with grace.
7. Buried Bloodline
From the Warlord’s Ruin dungeon emerges this Void-hued paradox—a Special ammo crossbow that trades bullets for bolts. Tracking projectiles leech health while multikills grant Devour, mending wounds and fueling grenades. The Catalyst elevates it further, Weakening foes during Devour. In solo content, it’s a lifeline; against Champions, a scalpel. Few weapons blend survival and offense so seamlessly, proving that darkness, too, can nurture.
6. Final Warning
This Strand anomaly (earned via Lightfall quests) defies categorization. Target-lock mechanics require Bow-like patience, charging to unleash devastating barrages. With its Catalyst, it becomes Destiny’s hardest-hitting Primary, shredding Master raid bosses and GM Nightfall barriers with contemptuous ease. A weapon not for the reckless, but for strategists—where every charged shot whispers: "Unravel."
People Also Ask: "Why are Rocket Sidearms dominating the meta?" Their micro-rockets merge Primary agility with Special-weapon impact, creating versatile hybrids perfect for add-clear and major elimination.
5. Indebted Kindness
Warlord’s Ruin yields another gem: Destiny’s first Legendary Special Sidearm. 100 RPM micro-rockets vaporize red bars while offering flexible builds. Beacon Rounds + Voltshot electrifies crowds with tracking Jolt; Lead From Gold + Surrounded fuels double-Special loadouts for boss decimation. A revolution in miniature—proof that sometimes, the smallest arms carry the loudest thunder.
4. Aberrant Action
Echoes Act 2 birthed this Solar titan, where Incandescent turns kills into chain reactions of Scorch and Ignition. Choose Heal Clip for mending wounds mid-fray or Field Prep for expanded reserves. Craftable and relentless, it renders most Primaries obsolete—a sunburst in pistol form that illuminates the Pale Heart’s deepest shadows.
3. Lotus-Eater
Nightfalls now reward this Void pioneer—first of its kind to wield Destabilizing Rounds + Repulsor Brace. Kill, inflict Volatile, then claim Overshields from the chaos. Shoot to Loot reloads all weapons from ammo bricks, while Reconstruction auto-loads death. A masterclass in Void synergy, turning defense into devastating offense.
2. The Call
Hailing from the Pale Heart, this craftable Kinetic marvel is a Rorschach test of perfection. Lead from Gold + One for All for sustained carnage? Slice + Hatchling for Strand puppetry? Demolitionist + Golden Tricorn for grenade symphonies? Every combination sings, making it the universal translator for buildcrafters—a Swiss Army knife in a sandbox of spears.
1. Tinasha’s Mastery
Iron Banner’s crowning achievement: a Stasis-wielding Rocket Sidearm with Chill Clip. Top-magazine hits Slow, Freeze, and Shatter, countering every Champion type. Air Trigger solves ammo and reload woes—outlaw-speed reloads while airborne. In endgame content, it’s less a weapon, more a winter’s decree: elegant, inevitable, absolute.
People Also Ask: "Are Exotic sidearms viable in raids?" Absolutely—Final Warning and Buried Bloodline redefine Primary DPS and survivability, turning ""support"" weapons into centerpieces.
Your arsenal awaits, Guardian. 🔥 Forge these sidearms in the fires of battle, let their rhythms sync with your Light. Then return to the Tower—share your tales of micro-rockets and melting Champions. The next evolution of war is in your holster; now, go write its history.
What legend will you craft first? ⚔️