Destiny 2's classes each have a variety of subclasses that come with their own unique supers and abilities. Choosing the best class is already a tough decision, but deciding which of the three subclasses to pick for a character is an even harder decision. Each subclass has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, so it's important to choose one that fits one's play style.
Of course, players can always switch between each of the three subclasses at any time once they've unlocked them, but it's still good to know the situations each subclass is best for. Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters have three subclasses each, and their different supers, abilities, and perks serve a variety of purposes.
Updated April 15, 2023, by Megan Smith: Over the past few years, the subclasses for Titan, Hunter, and Warlock have been updated with newer fragments, aspects, and other reworks to allow them to work even better in a variety of situations. In addition to this, recent expansions such as Beyond Light and Lightfall have added two new subclasses to each character class, including the icy powers of Stasis and the altering threads of time power of Strand. Players are finally stepping away from the light to exploit the darkness with these new powers that are not only entertaining to use but also incredibly powerful.
1 Titan: Berserker
With the release of the DLC Lightfall players have been able to experiment with an all-new Darkness subclass known as Strand. It is incredibly powerful in all three classes though some players argue that Berserker Titans may have it the worse.
However, the Bladefury Super is almost as unstoppable as many of the Titan's other Super abilities as it allows them to charge at opponents with two lethal Strand blades. Combining this with the Titan aspect of Into The Fray means players can grant themselves extra protection to their allies as well as speed up their own melee to allow them to take to the front lines.
2 Titan: Sentinel
The Titan class is the perfect class for those who want to hold the front lines and establish a strong defense for their fireteam, and the Sentinel subclass helps Titans better serve this purpose. The Sentinel Shield super is great at clearing groups of foes in rapid succession, and the Banner Shield super provides protection and a damage buff for the player's fireteam.
The Sentinel subclass also gets access to Voidwall grenades and suppressor grenades, which can be used to keep enemies at bay and prevent particularly annoying foes from using their abilities.
3 Titan: Striker
Like the Sentinel subclass, the Striker subclass excels at clearing large groups of enemies. Titans with the Striker subclass equipped can channel arc energy and slam into the ground with the Fist of Havoc super, which can be incredibly deadly in the Crucible in the right hands. The Thundercrash super isn't quite as useful, but mastering where to land can help its effectiveness.
The Striker subclass can use lightning grenades and pulse grenades, which are perfect for zoning enemies out and creating safe boundaries for the player's fireteam. Flashbang grenades are also an option, although they're less useful. Still, for those who need to disorient a tough enemy, a flashbang grenade will definitely help.
4 Titan: Sunbreaker
The Sunbreaker is the Titan's solar subclass, and it tends to be a bit underused in the grand scheme of things. The Hammer of Sol super allows players to toss flaming hammers at their enemies, detonating on impact and dealing massive solar damage to those caught in the blast. It's great for racking up kills in the Crucible. The Burning Maul super gives Titan a much bigger hammer but at the cost of range.
In keeping with the solar theme, the Sunbreaker subclass can use incendiary grenades and thermite grenades, both of which deal solar damage. Equipping the Sunbreaker subclass also lets players use fusion grenades, which are sticky grenades that do bonus damage if they stick to a target.
5 Titan: Behemoth
The Stasis subclasses goal tends to be that of controlling the battlefield by slowing enemies or freezing them outright. This makes the Titan's subclass of Behemoth incredibly useful in situations such as Crucible where a player can freeze their opponent before getting the final blow.
The Super of Glacial Quake helps with this due to allowing the Titan to charge up an attack for additional damage while freezing all opponents around them. Aspects like Diamond Lance allow players to do additional stasis damage as after killing an enemy with a stasis ability it summons the Lance which can be used to instantly freeze another opponent.
6 Hunter: Threadrunner
Similar to the Bladefury Super of a Titan that is using Strand, Threadrunners are also able to easily tear through the battlefield while using Silkstrike. This allows players that play Hunter to take on a more aggressive role on the battlefield, dispatching enemies with ease.
Hunters will benefit greatly from the Grapple grenade of the Strand subclass as it will allow them to easily traverse both Crucible maps and escape danger during Vanguard Operations or other missions. Its melee continues to demolish as Threaded Spike can attack multiple enemies as it bounces between foes before returning to the player.
7 Hunter: Gunslinger
The Gunslinger subclass is the best Hunter subclass thanks to its versatility. The Golden Gun super is one of the best in the game. It can wipe out an entire team in the Crucible or deal massive damage to bosses in strikes and raids. The Blade Barrage super can get players out of any bad situation with ease, shutting down enemy supers or clearing some space in PvE.
The grenades are some of the best in any class as well. The Gunslinger gets the same incendiary grenades as the Sunbreaker Titan subclass as well as a tripmine grenade that can serve as a trap in the Crucible. Swarm grenades split into multiple small homing projectiles on impact, dealing tons of damage if they all connect with the same target. Add throwing knives into the mix, and players have got the class with one of the most varied kits in the game.
8 Hunter: Revenant
Arguably Hunters using Stasis have one of their best supers out of the three classes. Silence and Squall not only does direct damage to any target players aim their dangerous Ice Picks at, but it also has an area of effect that will continuously freeze and slow foes that find themselves trapped in it.
Hunters also find all their Stasis grenades enhanced if using the Aspect Touch of Winter which makes using grenades such as Duskfield more vital as the Aspect increases the radius of the slow effect as well as creating Stasis Crystals on impact.
9 Hunter: Arcstrider
The Arcstrider subclass is more focused on crowd control than precision shooting. The Arc Staff super equips Hunters with a staff imbued with arc energy which is perfect for clearing large groups of enemies. For more defensive Arcstriders, there's the Whirlwind Guard super, which allows users to rapidly spin the Arc Staff in order to reflect projectiles.
The grenades for the Arcstrider subclass aren't anything special for the most part except for skip grenades, which can become incredibly powerful when combined with the Shinobu's Vow Exotic armor.
10 Hunter: Nightstalker
The Nightstalker subclass is for the sneaky Hunters out there. The Shadowshot super uses a void bow to tether enemies to one spot, slowing and weakening them. It also has the added benefit of shutting down enemy supers in PvP. The Spectral Blades super makes Hunters to become invisible and use dual blades to take down enemies with ease.
Vortex grenades, spike grenades, and Voidwall grenades give Nightstalkers plenty of opportunities to zone out enemies and create positional advantages. If things get hairy, Nightstalkers can also use a smoke bomb to disappear from sight entirely for a few seconds.
11 Warlock: Broodweaver
Strand on Warlocks is incredibly useful for players that have been tasked with dealing with ads on PvE missions, especially as with the right build and an exotic like Swarmers, enemies will have a tough time having a chance to attack.
The Super Needlestorm is sure to dispatch a large area of enemies as it first shoots needles of thread that stick to enemies and explode into Threadlings that will search for other foes to attack. Both Aspects of the Warlock continue this lethality with Mindspun Invocation allowing players to absorb their Shackle Grenade, which allows players to suspend surrounding enemies in the air after killing another.
12 Warlock: Dawnblade
The Warlock solar subclass is similar to the Titan solar subclass in that its super launches solar projectiles at enemies, but that's where the similarities end. The Daybreak super allows Warlocks to summon a solar sword and take to the skies, sending flames at their foes from afar. The Well of Radiance is a support super that places a rift on the floor that provides rapid healing and damage buffs to allies.
The Dawnblade subclass utilizes solar grenades that continuously deal damage in a certain area over a period of time as well as firebolt grenades that send out homing projectiles that lock onto enemies. The Dawnblade subclass can also use the same fusion grenades as the Titan Striker subclass, too.
13 Warlock: Voidwalker
The Voidwalker subclass is the void subclass for Warlocks. The Nova Bomb super that all Voidwalkers can use is incredibly powerful in both PvE and PvP activities, launching an explosive bomb of void energy at enemies and disintegrating those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast radius. The Void Warp super allows Warlocks to teleport short distances and explode in a burst of energy each time, and it is absolutely devastating in PvP.
The vortex grenades and axion bolts that Voidwalkers get access to are similar to the solar and firebolt grenades of the Dawnblade subclass, while scatter grenades are something else entirely, splitting into smaller explosives on impact to cover a large area.
14 Warlock: Stormcaller
Stormcaller is arguably the best Warlock subclass, primarily because of its supers. Stormtrance lets Warlocks float around the battlefield electrocuting foes with handheld lightning. The Chaos Reach super fires a powerful long-range beam of arc energy that disintegrates anything in its path.
Stormcallers are equipped with arcbolt grenades and pulse grenades, which can be used to deal damage spread throughout small areas. Storm grenades are unique in that they summon a small lightning storm in impact, but these can be very hit or miss depending on where they land.
15 Warlock: Shadebinder
Stasis Warlocks may appear as one of the weakest when using the power of Darkness, but it does have its advantages. The Warlock super of Winter's Wrath allows a player to shoot ice at opponents which freezes them, they can then use a melee during it that shatters all frozen targets for a substantial amount of damage.
With similar grenades to the others, Warlock gets an interesting Aspect known as Bleak Watcher that transforms their grenade into a Stasis Turret, this may not seem like the most impressive ability, but it can become quite a hindrance for some opponents.
16 Best Overall: Striker
Surprisingly, even though new subclasses like Strand and Stasis have been added recently to Destiny 2, players still continue to favor the older classes that they are familiar with. One of the best classes that has been dominating in both PvE and PvP is the Titan subclass of Arc.
Since updating to Striker 3.0, this subclass has become a brilliant ad clearer as well as still having the lethality to deal immense damage to single targets. This danger continues into Crucible where its fast charging times and ability to boost its grenades make Striker an easy choice for many.
Destiny 2 is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.