Published , by Bill Lavoy and Sam Chandler
Published , by Bill Lavoy and Sam Chandler
The Hunter class in Destiny 2 goes from underwhelming to powerhouse all because of the Exotic armor available to players. No other class features Exotic armor that complements super abilities as much as it does the Hunter. Sure, the Warlock and Titan do have some incredible Exotics, but in terms of straight up benefits to the super ability, the Hunter has the most powerful Exotic armor in Destiny 2. Here’s a list of every piece that you need to collect, plus the traits and intrinsic perks that come with it.
Last updated on May 28, 2024.
Use the links below to jump to specific Destiny 2 exotic Hunter armor listings to learn more about each piece's type, trait, and intrinsic perk.
For more information about other exotic armor in Destiny 2, be sure to check out our guide to all Exotic Titan armor as well as our guide to all Exotic Warlock armor. We also have a guide on all classes, subclasses and aspects in Destiny 2 so you can see each class and its abilities.
Full Review of Knucklehead Radar
Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Upgraded Sensor Pack - Provides radar while you're aiming. Enhances your radar resolution while crouched.
Good or Bad: It's not that it's bad, just that it's outclassed by so many better exotics. The Upgraded Sensor Pack intrinsic perk is useful, but just not useful enough to choose the Knucklehead Radar over something else. Leave it in your vault regardless of whether you're in PvP or PvE.
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Full Review of Celestial Nighthawk
Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Hawkeye Hack - Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single high-damage shot. Enemies eliminated by the shot explode and grant you Super energy.
Good or Bad: The Celestial Nighthawk stands tall above many other Hunter Exotics. You will annihilate most yellow-bar enemies in Lost Sectors. Even during boss phases in playlist strikes and even during some lower-level Nightfalls, Celestial Nighthawk and Way of the Sharpshooter can one-shot kill several bosses. Don't wear it in the Crucible.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Relentless Tracker - Visually marks targeted enemies. Deals more damage to low-health marked enemies.
Good or Bad: Foetracer is great for those playing Competitive Crucible, where dealing slightly more damage can mean the difference between walking away from a fight or waiting for a revive. Target those low-health enemies for a small bump in damage.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Vanishing Shadow - Increases the duration of any invisibility effects. While you are invisible, your melee recharges faster, your weapons reload faster, and your Recovery is greatly increased.
Good or Bad: This helmet might just be overpowered. We've got an excellent infinite invisibility Hunter build that relies on this helmet. With Graviton Forfeit, you can remain invisible forever.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Burning Souls - Dodging gives a small health and shield bump.
Good or Bad: The instant health and shield is a major asset in a lot of circumstances. In Crucible, it can ensure you get away from a fight. There are certainly better Exotics, but this might still be considered worthwhile.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Vanishing Execution - Powered melee final blows grant invisibility and restore a portion of health and shields. Finishers and final blows against more powerful targets increase the duration of the invisibility and the amount of health and shields restored.
Good or Bad: This particular Exotic is great for Hunters that need to get out in a pinch. A finisher at the right moment will ensure you can scamper away undetected while healing.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Light Shift - Replaces your Stasis subclass dodge ability with a longer range, faster moving Shift that partially cloaks you during use. After Shifting, your Arc weapons deal increased damage to combatants for a short time, and you deal increased damage to all slowed or frozen combatants.
Good or Bad: Good. Coupled with Arc weapons, like Anarchy, Mask of Bakris is able to bump up a Hunter's damage output. The Shfit is a lateral Blink, with the added benefit of invisibility.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Voltaic Mirror - Attacks you redirect with your Arc Staff deal massively increased damage and generate Orbs of Power for your allies.
Good or Bad: Not as good as you might think they are. The "massively increased damage" is massively overstated, at least at the launch of The Witch Queen. Choose the other campaign reward, Renewal Grasps.
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Type: Helmet
Intrinsic Perk: Acrobat's Focus - Gain Woven Mail when activating grapple. Increased flinch resistance while Woven Mail is active.
Good or Bad: Extremely build-dependent. This is best suited for a PVP player looking to maximize their flinch to ensure better aiming with things like Sniper Rifles.
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Full Review of Young Ahamkara's Spine
Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Wish-Dragon Teeth - Increases Tripmine Grenade duration and blast radius. Ability damage grants Tripmine Grenade energy.
Good or Bad: I don’t like calling anything bad because the right player can find a use for this in the right circumstance, but there are almost always better options when it comes to Exotic Hunter armor.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Spring-Loaded Mounting - Increases Sidearm ready and reload speed. While you're critically wounded, swapping to a Sidearm increases its damage.
Good or Bad: If you are a sidearm maniac in Crucible, there could be value here. With the right Sidearm and a few precise mods, these gauntlets will allow you to dish out a lot of damage. Because the conditions have to be just right, it's probably worth using something else.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Choose one of three mods (can be changed at any time):
Sect of Force - Rapid precision hits with a weapon temporarily increase your reload speed and weapon swap speed. When you stun a Champion or defeat a boss/miniboss, your nearby fireteam members gain a burst of grenade and melee energy. Aeon Cult allies who do not have the Sect of Force role equipped also gain a burst of Super energy.
Sect of Insight - Successive precision weapon takedowns have a chance to drop an Orb of Power for your allies. When you use a finisher on an Elite, you generate Special ammo for your fireteam; when you use a finisher on a boss or miniboss, you generate Heavy ammo for your fireteam. Nearby Aeon Cult allies who do not have Sect of Insight role equipped also gain a bonust o weapon damage for a short time.
Sect of Vigor - Gain class ability energy as your allies die. Gain full class ability energy when you resurrect an ally. When you cast your Super, nearby allies gain an instant burst of healing. Aeon Cult allies who do not have the Sect of Vigor role equipped also gain an overshield.
Good or Bad: Pretty great, especially with the changes to the perks. A great option regardless of whether your allies are a part of the Aeon Cult.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: New Tricks - Improves Skip Grenade, and you gain an additional Skip Grenade charge. Skip Grenades return energy when it damages enemies.
Good or Bad: It's rare to see a Hunter using Skip Grenades and even the Shinobu's Vow isn't going to change that. Having an extra grenade is nice, but there are better options out there.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Nightmare Fuel - Dealing melee damage reloads your currently equipped weapon.
Good or Bad: For those that get up close and personal in Crucible, these are rather powerful. Being able to hit an enemy and keep shooting, without having to reposition with a dodge, means you can continue fighting. Not nearly as good as they were in the original Destiny, but worth considering.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Sharp Edges - Hits and kills with Blade Barrage will return Super energy after the Super ends.
Good or Bad: Shards are fantastic. While they won't return your full Super, they will ensure you're close to getting another one if you can clear enough enemies or kill a big enough boss.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Adamantine Brace - Bows charges can be held indefinitely.
Good or Bad: Bad. These are almost entirely worthless. Holding a bow charge makes you extremely vulnerable and Destiny 2's pace is so fast that there's really not any point in holding a shot for more than is already offered.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Cross Counter - Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you.
Good or Bad: After being hit and following through with a counterattack, the Liar's Handshake will allow you to one-hit kill another player. This is extremely powerful in PVP as it allows you to quickly shutdown engagements. For those Hunters that love their Arcstrider subclass, this is going to be a top choice.
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Type: Gauntlets
Intrinsic Perk: Touch of Venom - Punching someone with full melee energy will instantly cast Smoke Bomb. Gain Truesight while in your own Smoke Bomb effect. Your smoke bombs deal increased damage.
Good or Bad: Though not nearly as impressive as the original Khepri's Sting from Destiny, having your Smoke Bomb go off on a melee hit can be great for those close-quarters combat scenarios.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Skittering Stinger - Weighted Knife gains a second bounce. Rapid precision hits with your weapons grant Weighted Knife a significant damage bonus and the ability to stun unshielded combatants for a short time. Empowered Weighted Knife is strong against Unstoppable Champions.
Good or Bad: Good. For those that don't want to be stuck using the Seasonal Artifact's weapon-specific Champion mods, there is Athrys's Embrace. The fact the throwing knives can also stun combatants is powerful. Worth considering, though some other Exotic might be more appealing.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Depths of Duskfield - Your Duskfield grenades have a much larger effect radius. Allies inside the Duskfield take reduced damage and targets inside the area deal reduced damage.
Good or Bad: This is a fantastic option for Hunters as it allows them to effectively become a support class with the right Stasis build.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Roast 'em - Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosion, or ignites targets on direct hit. After throwing a Proximity Knife, you gain increased melee regeneration until the knife explodes.
Good or Bad: An interesting set of gauntlets for those who want to explore the Gunslinger Solar 3.0 changes. However, Proximity Knife isn't usually my go-to for PVE or PVP, so this may not be an ideal Exotic choice.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Halberdier's Reach - Increases Glaive reload speed and melee damage when surrounded. Glaive melee final blows overflow a round to the magazine. Glaive projectile final blows detonate if the Glaive deals damage matching your subclass type.
Good or Bad: These gauntlets are fun and likely nothing more than that. Until the day comes that Glaives are the go-to option for boss damage or add-clear, these cool-looking arms will likely remain in your Vault.
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Type: Gauntlet
Intrinsic Perk: Winged Escape - Your grenade becomes a cage of loyal moths that release on impact and fly toward the nearest target or ally. If they reach a target, they detonate in a blinding explosion; if they reach an ally, the moths grant your ally a Void overshield.
Good or Bad: A decent support option for Hunters and an Exotic that benefits from two different subclass effects: Blinding and Overshield.
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Type: Chest Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Synapse Junctions - Quick successive attacks with Arc Staff increase its damage output and duration.
Good or Bad: Amazing. Pair this with your Arc Staff super ability and you can clear entire rooms of enemies without running out of juice. These can decimate a Royal Beast in the Leviathan raid, or clean out one of the rooms during The Whisper quest for the Whisper of the Worm Exotic Sniper Rifle.
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Type: Chest Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Probability Matrix - Increases the chaining capabilities of Arc Bolt Grenade and has a chance to recharge it each time it deals damage. A full chain always recharges.
Good or Bad: Requires a higher skill level, but these can be good in the right PvE situation. In Crucible, a full chain will allow you to throw another grenade, which will guarantee you the kills.
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Full review of The Dragon's Shadow
Type: Chest Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Wraithmetal Mail - Dodging reloads all weapons and increases both movement and weapon handling speeds for a brief time.
Good or Bad: Amazing in PvP as the Hunter's Dodge grants buffs similar to Quickdraw, Snapshot Sights, and Enhanced Reload. It also reloads all weapons, stowed or equipped, and provides 50 Mobility. These buffs last 10 seconds, and at 100 Mobility Hunters get their Dodge back in only nine seconds.
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Type: Chest Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Scissor Fingers - Grants two knives per charge.
Good or Bad: Now that Throwing Knives are one-hit kills in Crucible, having two of the suckers is appealing. Throw these on and enjoy the extra damage output.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: Double Dodge - Gain a second dodge charge.
Good or Bad: Having a second dodge isn't nearly as important as it might seem. There's not much of a place in the meta for this Exotic.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: Roving Assassin - Each Spectral Blades kill you make before going into stealth will restore more of your Super energy.
Good or Bad: Though not nearly as powerful as it once was, the Gwisin Vest is still a force to be reckoned with. In PVE, you can keep your Super going for a good time and in Crucible, you'll be frustrating the entire team as you slice them repeatedly.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: Mobius Conduit - Pressing the Super button again will deactivate Whirlwind Guard early. Guarding does not consume extra Super energy.
Good or Bad: This is an interesting Exotic that doesn't really pay off. Deactivating a Super early means you're still down a Super for a set amount of time, even if you don't lose energy while guarding. There are few situations where this would be a good option over another piece.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: Beyond the Veil - You gain a second Smoke Bomb charge and have damage resistance while invisible. When you make an ally invisible, they gain damage resistance while invisible and you gain melee energy.
Good or Bad: Great. Omnioculus ensures you're able to stealth in and revive a fallen ally, and then stealth back out. A great asset for end-game content.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: See Me, Feel Me - Your weapons gain a bonus to damage briefly after you emergy from being invisible. When you are invisible and defeat a combatant using a finisher, you and your nearby allies gain a reserve overshield and improved class ability regen. These reserve overshields can be deployed by using a class ability.
Good or Bad: Excellent. Not only do you receive a massive boost to damage, the overshield can be activated on-demand.
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Type: Chest
Intrinsic Perk: The Gift of Certainty: Activating Ascension of Tempest Strike throws bouncing explosives at nearby targets that jolt and damage them. Jolting nearby targets grants you damage resistance.
Good or Bad: Pretty cool! Arc Hunters have always been great for damage and add-clear, so more damage out is always neat. It just means you'll have to forgo using something like Star-Eater Scales.
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Type: Leg Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Illegally Modded Holster - When you ready a fully loaded Hand Cannon that deals kinetic damage or a damage type that matches your subclass energy type, each hit from that Hand Cannon increases the damage of the next shot for a short time against a combatant. Hand Cannons ready faster and are more accurate immediately after swapping to them.
Good or Bad: Hand Cannon users rejoice, the Lucky Pants are a bit better now than their original form. A stowed Hand Cannon will be slowly over-filled as you land precision hits.
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Type: Leg Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Uncanny Arrows - Provides ability energy for each enemy tethered by Deadfall anchors. Moebius Quiver has more shots.
Good or Bad: Amazing. The more enemies you anchor with your Shadowshot, the faster you get your Super ability back. Though not as potent as they were at launch, these will still get you a decent chunk of your Super, which is great for wave clears during raids.
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Type: Leg Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Hydraulic Boosters - Increases sprint speed and slide distance. Improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump.
Good or Bad: Depending on your playstyle, these boots could be situational at best. During jumping puzzles, the extra height will provide you with more safety. For those sweaty Trials players, confusing your enemies with your in-air shenanigans can be enticing.
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Type: Leg Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Misdirection - Dodging disorients nearby enemies and temporarily removes their radar.
Good or Bad: Good for skilled Hunters in the Crucible, especially if they are using the Arcstrider subclass with the Arc Staff Super ability. I would even combine this with the Way of the Wind perk tree. You'll take less damage while dodging, and when you dodge you'll remove your opponent's radar and disorient them. This would make Arc Staff especially deadly. Gemini Jester would be almost useless in PvE, though.
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Type: Leg Armor
Intrinsic Perk: Rapid Cooldown - Increased grenade, melee, and dodge regeneration while sprinting. Dodging increases your sprint speed.
Good or Bad: Hunters are fast and the Fr0st-EE5 make them even faster. These are great in both Crucible and PVE where you'll be constantly sprinting. Worth it for those players focused on an ability build.
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Type: Boots
Intrinsic Perk: Parting Gift - Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targtes around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type:
Good or Bad: While not the best, the Bombardiers will add more lethality to your repertoire in Crucible or help you clear more adds in PVE.
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Type: Legs
Intrinsic Perk: Feast of Light - You gain additional Super energy from Orbs of Power you pick up. While your Super energy is full, picking up an Orb of Power overcharges your Super, causing you to gain a burst of healing when cast and a bonus to your Super damage. At maximum overcharge, you also gain an overshield.
Good or Bad: Was great, now just okay. The extra damage to your Super is a nice bump, and it means you get to actually use the Orbs that are on the ground despite having a full Super.
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Type: Legs
Intrinsic Perk: The Dance - Activating your dodge ability while near targets allows you to dodge additional times for a short period.
Good or Bad: A decent pair of boots if you want to keep on doding!
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Type: Legs
Intrinsic Perk: Tight Fit - Dodging boosts reload speed, handling, and airborne effectiveness for you and nearby allies. While the buff is active, final blows and additional dodges increase the buff strength and refresh the timer. Maxes out at 5 stacks.
Good or Bad: Perfect for the player that requires more reload speed, handling, and likes shooting while jumping. String together kills and dodges to make this quite potent.
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Type: Legs
Intrinsic Perk: Double Down: Your Threaded Specter has increased duration and durability, and damaging it releases additional Threadlings. While near your Threaded Specter, you do not appear on radar.
Good or Bad: This Exotic is definitely going to be better for PvP players, but it still has some purpose in mid-level PvE activities.
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You'll be needing three characters to get the most out of your Destiny 2 life. Once you've collected all the exotic Hunter armor, be sure to visit the Shacknews Destiny 2 complete strategy guide for all your Guardian needs. For more information about other exotic armor in Destiny 2, be sure to check out our guide to all Exotic Titan armor as well as our guide to all Exotic Warlock armor.