Highlights

  • Destiny 2's gameplay has evolved to create complex and satisfying builds, with new seasons shaking up the meta to allow for more build variety.
  • Weapon crafting in The Witch Queen expansion has helped with buildcrafting, making god rolls more common for dedicated players.
  • The Season of the Wish in Destiny 2 made some Hunter builds very powerful, including the Celestial Nighthawk, Ophidia Spathe, and Shards of Galanor, which excel in endgame activities and offer powerful abilities in both solo and group content.

Destiny 2's modern gameplay has evolved beyond the classic gunplay and ability rotation to make increasingly complex and satisfying builds out of those elements, to the point that every new season is expected to significantly shake up the meta in order to allow players to make more builds. Weapon crafting being added in The Witch Queen was great for buildcrafting thanks to god rolls becoming more common for dedicated players, and the many reworks the mod system in Destiny 2 got also helped with this concept. Exotics in Destiny 2 are often the cherry on top with new seasons, as either Bungie adds new ones or reworks older ones, sometimes even both.

Endgame content Destiny 2 can be quite challenging and punishing, especially in Grandmaster Nightfalls, but there are plenty of activities where builds can shine a great deal by taking certain gameplay aspects to the next level, such as boss DPS or add-clearing. Season of the Wish overhauled 20 Destiny 2 Exotics, and while adding new ones would have helped player retention in the longest season to date, players can still look forward to plenty of new builds. In Season of the Wish, there are a few new Hunter builds that are taking endgame activities by the storm, and they include three specific Exotics:

  • Celestial Nighthawk
  • Ophidia Spathe
  • Shards of Galanor
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Related
3 Titan Builds Destiny 2 Players Shouldn't Sleep on in Season of the Wish

Destiny 2's Season of the Wish made a few significant changes to the sandbox, and Titan players shouldn't miss out on three new builds.

Hunter Exotics Destiny 2 Players Shouldn't Sleep On

Season of the Wish was supposed to be Stasis-centric, with Stasis subclasses getting buffs, reworks, and new artifact mods, but the Beyond Light subclass is far from being in a good place in the current meta where a few additions are enough to make it good. Instead, Season 23 became great for Strand and Solar subclasses, with the latter in particular enjoying multiple artifact mods that make it borderline OP. It doesn't come as a surprise then that all three new Hunter builds are Solar.

Celestial Nighthawk

An item that was soon outclassed by multiple options, Celestial Nighthawk went from being a forgotten Destiny 2 Exotic to one of the best DPS options in the game. Not only does it grant players the ability to regain Super energy faster with precision hits, but now it deals 25% more damage to all combatants. The main pros of Celestial Nighthawk include:

  • The ability to one-shot many Champions and deal significant boss damage
  • Frequent Super casts
  • Powerful in solo and group content

Ophidia Spathe

Like many other Exotics, Season 23 gave Ophidia Spathe a significant boost that now makes it not only viable, but a fantastic choice for Hunter builds in Destiny 2. Like before, the armor piece provides players with an extra throwing knife charge. This applies to all knives, and each kill with throwing knives grants a stack of a new buff that boosts melee damage up to 100%, with dodges refreshing this bonus. The main pros of Ophidia Spathe include:

  • Potentially infinite melee energy
  • Incredible add-clearing potential
  • Powerful in solo and group content

Shards of Galanor

While Shards of Galanor have long been a powerful Exotic in Destiny 2 given the amount of Super energy provided on Blade Barrage use, these gauntlets fell off in recent years when the Super recharge was capped at 50% per cast. The cap remains, but now players get a new bonus that grants anywhere between 2.5% and 5% extra Super energy per kill with throwing knives. Players can pair this with Destiny 2 mods like Hands-On and Heavy-Handed to respectively gain even more Super energy on melee kills and an Orb of Power, which also provides Super energy. The main pros of Shards of Galanor include:

  • The ability to one-shot many Champions and deal significant boss damage
  • Frequent Super casts
  • Powerful in solo and group content