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Champions are some of the major factors that influence difficulty in Destiny 2’s late-game content. With as hard as Champions can be to deal with, whenever player scores aren’t a relevant part of the activity, it’s much faster to ignore or skip them entirely. On the other hand, bringing the right weaponry into activities can make it a breeze to fight Champions in Destiny 2.
Unlike enemy elemental shields in Destiny 2 that can be easily overpowered with a variety of damage sources, the three Champion enemy types require a particular set of weaponry. Having the right weapons will stun Champions and make them briefly vulnerable to incoming damage, also stopping them from regenerating health or halting their barrage of outgoing damage. Each Season in Destiny 2 has seasonal mods that are rotated for different weapon types to allow them to deal anti-Champion damage types, though a variety of Exotic gear exists with intrinsic anti-Champion damage types as permanent perks.
S-Tier
Divinity: Divinity is a seriously powerful weapon when one person on a fireteam has it because it allows other weapons to deal critical damage even if they usually can’t, like explosives and abilities. The Judgment perk is what allows further critical hits by creating a critical hitbox in a bubble shape around the target. The only condition to stunning Overload Champions is sustained fire, which in most cases is enough to activate the Judgment perk, allowing players to swap to heavy artillery against a stunned and weakened Overload Champion. There’s a reason Divinity is available through a Raid Quest, instead of a simple grab from the Monument To Lost Lights kiosk.
Arbalest: Though all linear fusion rifles have a charge time, Arbalest can break Barrier Champion shields in one, unconditional shot. As a non-elemental Kinetic slot weapon that uses Special ammo, the Exotic Perk on Arbalest grants it bonus damage to every type of elemental shield. The Exotic weapon Catalyst for Arbalest provides a great optional bonus by reloading the weapon when Arbalest breaks a shield. It's a powerful weapon against a variety of shields, and especially Barrier Champions.
Le Monarque: The condition for both stunning Champions and dealing poison damage for Le Monarque is that arrows must be fired very shortly after fully drawing the string. Poison damage from this weapon works somewhat similarly to Solar 3.0's Scorch effect, but with Void damage instead of Solar. The damage over time can stun Overload Champions, which is helpful because for some reason the arrow doesn’t always stun on impact. As an Energy weapon that uses Primary ammo to produce a damage-over-time effect, it’s a great pick for dishing out Void damage to bosses, Champions, and minions alike. Le Monarque is one of the best bows in Destiny 2.
Secant Filaments: Warlocks won the lottery with their anti-Champion Exotic Armor. The Secant Filaments provides Overload Champion stunning damage to any and every weapon in Destiny 2. The only condition is that weapons must be fired from within a Warlock’s Empowered Rift and that the owner of the Empowering Rift is wearing this Exotic leg armor. Since the Empowering Rift already applies bonus damage to weapons fired within it, this Exotic is universally a great choice in activities with Champions, competing with the best Exotic armor for Destiny 2's Warlocks.
A-Tier
Eriana’s Vow: This weapon is an Energy slot, Special ammo weapon that is everything players need in a sniper rifle, except packed into a hand cannon. The only downside to this weapon is its performance without the Exotic weapon Catalyst for Eriana’s Vow, which notably auto-reloads the weapon when holstered. Eriana’s Vow is powerful against Barrier Champions and just as good against every other type of enemy shield, including other players' shields.
Devil’s Ruin: This weapon is a sidearm with a longer-than-average range and a unique firing mode to activate the condition of the Unstoppable Champion perk. Devil’s Ruin can be charged by holding the firing button to spend the remainder of the magazine like a trace rifle beam that is fairly powerful. As a Kinetic slot weapon that uses Primary ammo, there’s nothing stopping players from exclusively using the charged firing mode on this weapon throughout entire activities. The nonexistent cost of the alternate firing mode here puts Revision Zero pulse rifle’s alternate firing mode to shame.
Thunderlord: Destiny 2’s Thunderlord is excellent at stunning Champions and contrary to how the perks explain it, it doesn’t require any Lightning Strikes to be activated in order to stun Champions. It isn’t 100% consistent, but it can stun Overload Champions in a single unconditional shot. Even though it’s a Heavy slot machine gun, the Lightning Strike perks aren’t too useful for crowd control or stunning targets that aren’t Champions, but they are still powerful against single targets.
B-Tier
Leviathan’s Breath: Unlike the other anti-Champion exotic bows, this weapon stuns Champions unconditionally. As a Power slot weapon that uses Heavy ammo, it packs a punch that can stun any target, Champion or not. This weapon gives anti-Champion Exotic weapons a good reputation. The only downside to Leaviathan's Breath is a limited ammo capacity, as well as competition for the Power weapon slot.
Athrys’s Embrace: Unlike the Titan’s Exotic armor that grants Champion damage to their ranged melee ability, players have control over the Hunter’s melee charge and if it ends up successfully stunning Champions in 1 hit. This Exotic forces Hunters into a specific subclass, but can offer incredible damage bonuses for melee in Destiny 2 to the Weighted Throwing Knife when the perk is accumulated. It’s a decent armor piece for stunning Champions, though it shines even more in the Crucible.
C-Tier
The Lament: The short range of this weapon puts it at a severe disadvantage compared to the other anti-Champion exotics. Destiny 2’s Lament sword replaces the sword-shield with a unique stance that revs up the chainsaw blade on the weapon, which when followed-up with strikes will heal the user, damage Barrier Champion shields, and accumulate a damage-increasing combo. The few Exotic Anti-Champion weapons in the heavy slot are a good and cheap way to tack on an extra Champion damage type, and when utilizing its combos this weapon is very powerful.
Revision Zero: This weapon is one of the new Exotics from Season of the Seraph, and comes with unconditional damage to Barrier Champion shields. As a Kinetic slot that uses Primary ammo and an unconditional anti-Champion damage type, it’s not a bad option. The alternate firing mode on this weapon is the main draw, granting it sniper rounds after accumulating enough headshots. Players will be lucky though to generate enough headshots in most of the activities that feature Champions to allow for more than a handful of uses of the alternate firing mode. Really the only thing holding this weapon back is how expensive the alternate rounds are to accumulate.
D-Tier
Bastion: Bastion requires players to be at close range for optimal damage and will unconditionally stun Unstoppable Champions, though maximum damage-per-second is embarrassingly low. This Kinetic slot Fusion Rifle does no elemental damage yet takes Special ammo. Despite forcing players to be close and personal to targets, the weapon is incapable of achieving critical hits. It is a very poor choice in comparison to other anti-Champion weapons, Exotic or not.
Malfeasance: Connecting 5 shots on the same target within 5 seconds of the first strike with Malfeasance will cause the bullets to explode for critical damage scaled to the type of the enemy target. The damage of the bullets exploding is unaffected by range or hitting any noncritical shots and will stun Unstoppable Champions. Comparatively, Season of The Seraph's seasonal mod for stunning Unstoppable Champions on hand cannons only requires players to aim-down-sight for a few seconds without firing. Since the Malfeasance doesn’t deal massive damage, it’s far more efficient to use a modded legendary hand cannon to stun Champions in the same amount of time and slot an Exotic weapon elsewhere.
Wish-Ender: Destiny 2’s Wish-Ender Exotic bow is a Kinetic slot weapon that while aiming will highlight targets through walls, though it is underperforming beyond that. As far as anti-Champion bows go, the fire rate on the Wish-Ender is so slow that it can barely break a Barrier Champion's shield before the Champion regenerates all of its available health while shielded. This weapon in its current state is a poor anti-Champion weapon. Though, outside that particular enemy type, it still has its uses, like in PvP.
Second Chance: The Second Chance Exotic Titan armor that applies anti-Champion damage to the Titan’s Shield Throw melee is more effective on paper than it is in practice. Having 2 Shield Throw charges is helpful thanks to the Void 3.0 subclasses in Destiny 2, though it doesn’t quite compete with the best Exotic armor for Titans. Not to mention, if the player’s Power Level isn’t on par with the Champions in the activity, the Shield Throw won’t break Barrier Champions' shields in 1 hit.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.