Hand Cannons can be very hit-or-miss for different players in Destiny 2, and that's doubly-true for Crucible. But for some people, the problem might actually be the Hand Cannon. All Hand Cannons are not created equal, and one or two perks can make all the difference.
Let's take a look at some of the best Hand Cannon weapon perks for Crucible, a look at some of the best Legendary Hand Cannons that these perks can come on, and a look at some of the Exotic Hand Cannons, for good measure.
10 RANGE
One of the most crucial stats on a Hand Cannon is Range. You can be shooting at somebody in a normal, mid-range engagement, when suddenly either you or they take a step backward, and now you're doing absolutely pitiful damage. While the Range stat on Hand Cannons doesn't vary by incredible amounts, they'll definitely dictate which gunfights you can take and which you'll either need to avoid or have to have a secondary weapon that can handle them at.
9 MOVING TARGET
"Increased movement speed and target acquisition when moving while aiming down sights."
We all know how effective back-and-forth strafing can be in Crucible, and it's even more so when you've got the Moving Target perk. Moving Target makes a supremely noticeable difference in both your movement speed and the increased target acquisition makes it easy to hit your shots despite the speed. Enemies are going to have a really tough time hitting you, all while you're having a great time strafing and shooting your way into their hearts.
8 HIGH CALIBER ROUNDS
"Shots from this weapon knock the target back farther. Slightly increases range."
Weapons that cause higher flinch are usually going to be pretty favored in Crucible, simply because of their ability to make it more difficult for the opponent to hit their shot. High Caliber Rounds increase the flinch that your bullets cause, which is going to further complicate matters for your enemy. Once you're in that Hand Cannon "zone" and you're hitting the vast majority of your shots and keeping engagements in your ideal range, the only real threat is going to be an enemy that is hitting all of their shots, as well. Give them a bit of an extra hurdle to get over, and you're back to having the advantage.
7 RANGEFINDER
"Aiming this weapon increases its effective range and zoom magnification."
As mentioned before, Hand Cannons can have a pretty tricky range stat, so any increase to the range is going to be of crucial benefit in certain engagements that are at the edge of your ideal range. At those fights in the edge of your range, it's obviously pretty critical that you aren't hip-firing your weapon, and if you're aiming down sights, then you'll have Rangerfinder active. This will zoom you in a little bit further which will help in getting your weapon right onto an enemy's head, and they're going to have to create a bit more range than before if they want to move out further than you're range.
6 EXPLOSIVE PAYLOAD
"Projectiles create an area-of-effect detonation on impact."
Remember back when we said that causing flinch is a great way to win more gunfights? Explosive Payload is another way to increase the flinch that your shots cause, not to mention causes a bit of a flash on the screen of enemies when they're shot with it. This makes their job (killing you) incredibly difficult, and it makes your job (killing them) a walk in the park.
5 OUTLAW
"Precision kills greatly decrease reload time."
One of the biggest issues with using a Hand Cannon, especially in Crucible, is that super-slow reload time. It creates a lot of downtime throughout the match, which is time that you could instead be using to go and find some more kills. Considering that snagging those headshots is crucial in being at all effective with a Hand Cannon in Crucible, you're likely to be getting quite a few precision kills, meaning that just about every time you reload, it should be lightning fast.
4 DROP MAG
"Magazine drops on reload, wasting ammunition but greatly increasing reload speed."
Going hand-in-hand with the last perk, Drop Mag is a great way to decrease your down-time in a match without only getting a reload bonus on a precision kill. Yes, that wasted ammunition can come back to haunt you on some of those longer lives, but the time that it saves you spending countless seconds reloading really is worth it.
3 EXOTIC
There are quite a few exotic Hand Cannons in Destiny 2, so let's just take a look at a few of them that can be pretty effective in Crucible:
The Last Word - The inclusion of The Last Word will surprise exactly zero people, but it's for good reason. It has a nutty time-to-kill with it essentially being fully automatic, and causing hip-fire damage with it increases reload speed and accuracy.
Thorn - Perhaps not exactly the most effective Hand Cannon out there, Thorn makes up for it in just being a good time to use. Its rounds deal damage-over-time to enemies, which may not make a huge difference in a 1v1, but for players who move around with teammates quite often and end up in big engagements with multiple people on both sides, that DoT can really add up.
Crimson - (shudders) Crimson fires in bursts, and is basically the Hand Cannon equivalent to Red Death from Destiny 1; kills heals you, not to mention that precision kills refill the magazine, making this weapon really, really good for outnumbered engagements.
2 LEGENDARY
Generally, any Hand Cannon that has a rate of fire of 150 is going to be a decent bet, and one's like Spare Rations, Not Forgotten, and Luna's Howl can all get some pretty solid rolls to add onto their already good default state. Those are definitely a good place to start, and any of them with the above-mentioned perks can really be an absolute monster. Better Devils, which has a rate of fire of 140, can also be devilishly effective, and it drops pretty frequently for those that play Crucible often, so it's pretty likely you'll get a good roll (or already have one sitting in your vault).
1 PLAYSTYLE
Hand Cannons really play differently than most other weapons in Destiny 2. They require staying in a pretty specific range in order to be the most effective, much like Pulse Rifles; too close and a lot of high RoF weapons are going to be out damaging you, a little too far and you may as well be throwing marshmallows at the enemy. But, in that sweet spot and with a skilled hand, there are few things more effective.