Destiny 2 – The best Auto Rifles to get before Beyond Light

Auto Rifles are pretty versatile when it comes to dishing out damage. Up until a few seasons ago, they couldn’t really hold their own in PVP, but they had a buff earlier in 2020 bringing them up to devastating levels. If you’ve spent any time in PVP this season then you’ll be familiar with Gnawing Hunger, one of the best weapons in the game right now. Bungie has outlined some changes coming in Beyond Light, however, they’re likely to be a staple of many loadouts come Beyond Light. The following is a guide for the best Auto Rifles to get before Beyond Light.

What I’ll do is provide some suggestions that are in the game right now. We all still have a few days before Beyond Light drops on November 10th (as some of them require completion of a quest) so there’s still time to get most ARs on this list. Before we get into the Auto Rifles selected here today, let’s have a quick recap of the changes from Bungie.

In Season of the Worthy, the Adaptive archetype (600 RoF) was given a buff. We’re pulling that back a little to keep it in check with other Auto Rifle archetypes. Adaptive – Damage per bullet reduced from 15.75 to 14.25. Note: Prior to Season of the Worthy, damage per bullet was 13.75.

So autos are getting a slight nerf, however, due to their ease of use and ease of availability it’s still worth picking up some of the following if you get the chance. It’s very likely we’ll be getting new ARs to play with on Europa, so keep your eyes glued to the channel for more information as I get it – you’ll be the first to know with full guides on what the weapon is and how to get it.

False Promises

False Promises is a new Auto Rifle that’s part of the Season 11 loot pool. It’s a kinetic Auto that sits in the primary slow and the power cap is going to be 1360 and this one is going to sunset in season 15, so we’ve got plenty of time with it.

In terms of stats, it’s got a great range at 75 and pretty good handling 42 and reload speed of 44. Another benefit here are the hidden stats with 86 on recoil, making it a nice weapon and is going to feel nice and steady in your hands when firing this with a controller on PC or console.

The curated roll on False Promises comes with Sympathetic Arsenal, where reloading after a final blow also reloads stowed weapons. It also comes with Killing Wind where final blows increase mobility, range and handling for a short duration. Both are new perks for the season and it’s nice to see them on display on the new weapons.

You can get this weapon from Umbral engrams introduced in Season of Arrivals. Run through the opening quest in the season and do the tutorial with Drifter and he’ll introduce you to Umbral Engrams, The Prismatic Recaster and the Umbral Decoder.

Suros Regime

SUROS Regime is an Exotic Kinetic Auto Rifle with some great perks that currently make this devastating in PVP. Nostalgia as a weapon of war. Style as a hallmark of victory. Few weapons have withstood the test of time longer than the trusty SUROS Regime. This is Golden Age tech brought to life by the fastidious engineers at SUROS. Its smart-matter frame is prized among Guardians for both efficiency and rarity. Some things never fall out of fashion.

• SUROS Legacy – The bottom half of each magazine deals bonus damage and has a chance to return health on kill.
• Spinning Up – Holding down the trigger increases the rate of fire.

Both perks work in perfect harmony here. As you hold down the trigger the rate of fire gets faster (due to Spinning Up) and the damage increases (due to SUROS legacy). This is a 600 RPM auto rifle with 25 in the magazine but it upgrades to 900 rpm when you hold down the trigger in the bottom half of the magazine. This has great Handling (68) and Reload Speed stats (67) and has pretty good stability too.

You can get this from Exotic world drops, which are random from killing enemies in the wild, or you can buy this from Xur when he’s selling it, or pick up the Fated Engram from Xur.

The Forward Path

The Forward Path is a 600 rpm auto rifle that sits in the kinetic slot and is part of the archetype that got a major buff in Season 10. It’s got great handling at 72 and pretty good reload speed at 64. The impact isn’t great at 21 and the range is mediocre at 50. It’s got 43 in the mag and takes primary ammo.

The curation roll comes with Iron Gaze, where you get an improvement to target acquisition at a cost of range (and it’s a big cost) and also Dynamic Sway Reduction, which got a big boost this season. You’ll want to look out for the Red Dot 2 MOA for the small increase in range and handling as well as Armour Piercing Rounds for range, handling and zoom.

For PVP you’ll want to grab a Dynamic Sway Reduction and Eye of the Storm, where accuracy and handling gets better as your health gets lower. Dynamic Sway is much improved this season, so it’s worth holding out for a roll with that if you can get it to drop. For PVE it can drop with Multikill Clip and Feeding Frenzy, but Swashbuckler is also good too.

To get this weapon you need to complete the short quest from Lord Saladin in the Tower. For this you’ll need 25 auto rifle kills and 25 sidearm kills. Once you have this you’ll get a drop of both The Forward Path and The Fool’s Remedy Sidearm. On completing the quest you’ll get these weapons added to your Iron Banner loot pool, so handing in tokens will get you another version, with potential better rolls.

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is an Exotic Kinetic Auto Rifle that was introduced during Destiny 2 Shadowkeep. This one comes from random world drops and exotic engrams. This is an adaptive frame auto rifle that’s going to receive the biggest buff. It’s a 600 rpm auto rifle too.

This has pretty good range, stability and reload speed.

• Monte Carlo Method – Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.
• Markov Chain – This weapon gains increased damage from melee kills and kills with this weapon. Melee kills grant ammo for this weapon.

Summoner

The Summoner is a Legendary Energy Auto Rifle. It’s an Adaptive Frame meaning it has a well-rounded grip, plus it’s reliable and sturdy. It’s in the 600rpm archetype of auto rifle, meaning it’s best in class at this moment in time (Season of Arrivals) up there with the Galliard Gnawing Hunger.

It deals Solar damage and its power cap is 1310 meaning it’s going to be sunset in Season 14. The stats on this one look like 21 for impact, 46 for range, 47 for stability, 73 for handling and 60 for reload speed.

The curated roll comes with Rampage for that extra damage after kills (which stacks up to three times) and Dynamic Sway Reduction, which improves accuracy and handling when you hold down the trigger. It also comes with Armour Piercing Rounds for extra damage and range and Smallbore for increased range and stability.

Let’s have a look at some rolls for PVE and PVP. First up, let’s check out PVE. Arrowhead brake is great as this is going to keep things nice and stable and allow you to keep that reticle on the target. Appended mag and high calibre rounds are good choices in the 2nd slot. High calibre rounds is going to be good for that extra kick. Overflow is a great choice for PVE Summoner fans out there as you can instantly refill your magazine by picking up special or heavy ammo crates.

Next up, let’s have a look at PVP. When looking for a good PVP roll you probably want to focus on the range with this one as you can get good range, PVP opponents are not going to be able to escape in time. By the time they start running, they will be dead. Extended Barrel and Ricochet Rounds are going to be good here. Dynamic Sway Reduction is very powerful since the buff in Season of Arrivals and then Rangefinder or elemental capacitor are good in the final slot. I would say Dynamic Sway is a must-have for PVP if you can get it.

To get this weapon you’re going to have to run Trials of Osiris. This is the PVP game mode available every Friday and the rewards rotate each week. You get rewards at 3, 5, 7 wins and when you go to the lighthouse (flawless run). If you don’t like PVP, then you can still get these rewards through the Trials Engram. Go and speak to Saint-14 in the Tower and pick up the Trials bounties and one of the weekly bounties has the Trials Engram. All you have to do is complete 10 matches for this and you’ll get the 3 win reward. You can check out websites like light.gg for the rewards each week.

Hard Light

Hardlight has Volatile Light where rounds have no damage fall off, can over-penetrate enemies and bounce off hard surfaces. It’s also got The Fundamentals where you can cycle between Solar, Arc and Void damage.

Hard Light has 21 impact, 46 range, 69 stability, 75 handling and 68 reload speed. The stability, handling and reload speed definitely jump out there. It’s a 600 rpm with 49 in the magazine. There are 2 hidden stats that really jump out though and that’s Aim Assistance and Recoil, both at max stats.

Gnawing Hunger

This is an adaptive frame auto rifle that goes in the energy slot, it’s a 600 rounds per minute auto with 43 in the magazine and shoots void damage. This has great handling at 67, pretty good reload speed of 61 and not bad range at 53.

The curated roll comes with rampage, for kills with this weapon grant increased damage, Overflow for when you pick up special or heavy ammo it reloads beyond normal capacity, Appended Mag for that increase in magazine size and Arrowhead Brake for an increase in recoil and handling.

For PVE lookout for Rampage, Subsistence and Extended or Appended mag. For PVP Kill clip, Zen Moment and Accurized Rounds. Mine has Swashbuckler and Tap the Trigger, so I could definitely have a better roll.

To get Gnawing Hunger you’ll want to defeat The Likeness of Oryx and you’ll have a chance for a drop once he’s been defeated. It took me about 10-15 runs to get the drop, although I’ve heard of players getting lucky and having it drop on their first few runs.

That’s it for my rundown of some of the best auto rifles to get going into Beyond Light. Let me know if you think there is something missing and what you’re top 5 list would look like.

That’s it for this guide for the best auto rifles to get going into Beyond Light. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out the Shadowkeep Guide or check out the YouTube Channel.