Weapon System explained Destiny 2 D2

The Destiny 2 weapon system is a bit confusing at the beginning. This can lead to the fact that especially beginners operate a not quite optimal weapon selection. To create a little clarity here you learn the following points:

  • What weapons slots are there
  • What ammunition is available
  • Which enemies I should defeat with which weapons
  • What weapon combinations are best

I hope I can help you with this beginner guide for Destiny 2.

Weapon Slots

Here you can see the three different Weapon slots you have available.

Important to understand here is that not all Kinetic weapons are Primary weapons or all Energy weapons are Special weapons. Destiny2 gives us a lot of freedom here which can also cause confusion.

The easiest to understand is the Power Slot because only Power weapons can be equipped there.

In the Kinetic Slot and the Energy Slot you can equip either Primary or Special weapons. Especially for beginners it is recommended to always have one Primary and one Special weapon equipped. To have the right weapon for each opponent.

Types of ammunition

Primary weapons have unlimited ammunition but are usually the weakest weapons and should be used against the weakest enemies.

You can recognize Primary Weapons by this symbol at the bottom right of the weapon’s diagram.

Typical Primary weapons are :

  • Auto Rifle
  • Combat Bow
  • Hand Cannon
  • Pulse Rifle
  • Scout Rifle
  • Sidearm
  • Submachine Gun

Special Weapons are much stronger than Primary Weapons, but finding special ammunition is more difficult. You can get special ammunition by collecting green ammunition packages like the one in the photo.

You can recognize Special Weapons by this symbol at the bottom right of the weapon’s diagram.

Typical Special weapons are :

  • Fusion Rifle
  • Shotgun
  • Sniper Rifle
  • Trace Rifle
  • (Grenade Launcher)

Power Weapons are the strongest weapons in Destiny2 at the same time Heavy Ammo is also the rarest type of ammo. Therefore, it is recommended to save this ammo until you meet a boss or champion.

You can recognize Power Weapons by this symbol at the bottom right of the weapon’s diagram.

Typical Power weapons are :

  • Grenade Launcher
  • Linear Fusion Rifle
  • Machine Gun
  • Rocket Launcher
  • Sword

Elemental Shields

Now another factor comes into play in the right choice of weapon. The shields of the opponents have different elements, you can recognize them by their color.

Shields of enemies take almost no damage from kinetic weapons regardless of whether it is a special or primary.
Secundary and heavy weapons also have one element each which you can see by the color when you inspect the weapon.
If the element of the weapon does not match the element of the enemy’s shield, it will still do much more damage than a kinetic weapon. But it is best if the element of the weapon matches the element of the opponent’s shield. Then there is in addition to the increased damage still an elemental explosion if the shield of the enemy is broken.

Orange = Solar

Enemy with Solar Shield
Weapon with Solar Damage

Purple = Void

Enemy with Void Shield
Weapon with Void Damage

Blue  = Arc

Enemy with Arc Shield
Arc Shield in Destiny 2 D2
Weapon with Arc Damage