Rank 7: Exceptional Performance
The legendary submachine gun Exceptional Performance is used by 3.91% of Guardians. The Cabal weapon has only come into play with Season 13, but immediately takes out 6.92% of all enemies in PvE.
Why is the weapon so popular?
- Exceptional Performance is very easy to obtain through the Battlegrounds and Umbral Engrams, along with strong perks.
- The best perk is probably “Rampage.” This passively increases damage, handling, and reload speed only when you participate in the fight. “Rampage” is exclusive to Cabal weapons and makes Exceptional Performance kind of a Recluse 2.0.
- In the seasonal artifact, some bonuses for the weapon type can be found, and the 10% damage bonus (because it’s kinetic) adds to it.
The SMG is easily obtainable with strong perks, new, and rips through Add hordes. However, another SMG is even more popular.
Rank 6: Ikelos_MP-V1.0.2
The submachine gun with the lengthy name is called Ikelos-MP for short and, with a usage rate of 5.02%, is one of the absolute must-haves. Proudly, 10.02% of all kills in PvE are attributed to the Arc weapon – the highest value of all weapons in Destiny 2.
Why is the weapon so popular?
- The Ikelos-MP is older, can drop from all activities, and many Guardians have a strong roll of the legendary gun.
- Since the MP is classified as Ikelos weapon, it can generate Warmind Cells. It is the most prominent primary weapon capable of doing so.
- Why such weapons are so strong, you can read in this guide on MeinMMO: Warmind Cells in Destiny 2 – What they can do and why you should use them
- The Ikelos-MP is already strong as it is and a solid Add-clearer. However, due to its fixed slot in many builds, its usage skyrockets.
By the way, the Ikelos-MP is spared from weapon sunset, so its usage will likely not decrease soon. Bungie announced, however, that they would like to adjust Warmind Cells in the future.
Rank 5: Falling Guillotine
The sword Falling Guillotine from Season 11 has been firmly entrenched in the inventories of Guardians for months. Currently, 5.13% of players carry the power weapon and achieve 4.06% of all kills with it.
Why is the weapon so popular?
- Falling Guillotine is unique as a sword because it has a heavy spinning attack. This deals more damage than the legendary competition.
- With the right perks, you can generate ammo while fighting, increase damage, and with a spinning attack, annihilate everything; even bosses fear the giant blade.
- Swords have generally been the most popular power weapons for a long time, as they never need to reload, break with the first-person perspective, and can also block incoming hits.
- As a legendary power weapon, Falling Guillotine can compete with few Legendarys alongside the Exotics. Players can equip an exotic weapon in a different slot.
- Falling Guillotine can come as a world drop from all sources for loot.
Falling Guillotine has already undergone some nerfs, which has never affected its usage. Even in Season 14, the next nerf is on the way – will the sword become less popular as a result?
Rank 4: Xenophage
The somewhat different MG Xenophage narrowly misses the podium with a usage rate of 5.64%. However, due to the heavy shots of the “Shadowkeep” weapon, only “1.56%” of the PvE enemies fall.
Why is the weapon so popular? Xenophage has a remarkable history:
- At its introduction, Guardians wondered whether the weapon was simply bad or buggy.
- Over time, Bungie gave the MG several buffs and the exotic meta changed overall.
- Then experts had to admit: Once the weakest exotic is now a fierce boss killer
In contrast to all other MGs, Xenophage fires very slowly and has only 13 rounds in the magazine. However, they deal extremely high damage per shot, explode, and have nearly infinite range. Moreover, the feel-good factor comes from the fact that the Exotic does not need to deal crits to deal full damage.
All of this together ensures that Xenophage excels in every area of PvE, thinning out hordes or dealing heavy damage to bosses with small crit spots.
Anyone wanting to obtain the weapon, which is powered by a nasty alien insect, has a long quest ahead of them, but the MG is guaranteed: Destiny 2: How to get the MG Xenophage – This is how the exotic quest goes
On the next and final page, we’ll look at the top 3 – we’ll only reveal that both a legendary and an exotic weapon are involved.
