9: Striker
The classic list of the best Destiny classes now updated for Year Two and The Taken King! Remember this list is PvE (Player vs. Enemy) centered. Check out our list of the best PvP Classes for completely different rankings.
Now, let’s start this list of the best Destiny classes out by saying it’s PvE (player vs.enemy) centered.
Striker is still arguably the king of PvP but in Year Two Destiny: TTK PvE content, however it also resides at the bottom of our list of the best subclasses. Why do we have the Titan Striker last? Its main issue is that its super, Fist of Havoc, is too risky with little pay off. Other classes can easily replicate the damage of Fist of Havoc in PvE without the risk of having to charge in headstrong, Nova Bomb, Hammer of Sol and Storm Trance in particular are pretty much just as good with a lot less risk.
Still, just because Striker is probably the most difficult class to use successfully in endgame PvE content doesn’t mean it is unusable. Having a Striker around during Court of Oryx runs is great considering how tightly packed the enemies can be. Fist of Havoc combined with Aftershock can really clear out a huge amount of Hive/Taken in that small space. Also, Strikers have excellent grenades that are perfect for additional crowd control (Lightning/Pulse Grenades) and can blind enemies with Flash Grenades.
You can make a Striker work, but you’re going to have work harder than any other class to do so.
8: Gunslinger
Unlike the Bladedancer which has slowly climbed our ranks of the best Destiny classes, the Gunslinger has slowly dropped. However, Gunslingers got a huge boost in House of Wolveswith addition of the excellent exotic helmet, Celestial Nighthawk. A shot from a Golden Gun now does 6x damage and can devastate any major and put a huge dent in Ultras.
However, the Gunslinger’s main issue is they lack utility outside of its Golden Gun. They are just too reliant on a super that isn’t as helpful as some of the other ones on this list. Using Golden Gun shots on packs of enemies isn’t nearly as efficient in crowd control as other classes, and using it on a boss or tough enemy is nice and all, but what then?
Gunslinger has a high ceiling for damage but requires a lot of skill to take advantage of modifiers such as Chain of Woe, Gunslinger’s Trance, and Knife Juggler. Right now, Gunslingers have to work too hard just to compete when Golden Gun isn’t up, leaving it towards the bottom of our Year Two list of the best Destiny: The Taken King (sub) classes.
7. Voidwalker
Voidwalker, like a few other classes during Year One, got a nice boost thanks to help of exotic equipment. Obsidian Mind paired with Bad Juju (two exotics that are carried over to Year Two), proved to be a very effective combination for generating Nova Bombs since our last iteration of this list where Voidwalker was ranked last.
Nova Bombs are just as destructive as ever and when paired with Bloom can cause a chain reaction of death and destruction. Voidwalkers are also capable of creating damage over time chokepoints through the use of Vortex Grenades and the Vortex modifier on Nova Bomb. The reason why Voidwalkers aren’t ranked higher however is that they face stiff competition from Sunbreakers that can do a lot of what they can but with less effort, and within their own class with Sunsingers and their incredibly helpful Fireborn resurection perk.
That being said, any situation where you need crowds of enemies blown up quick, a Voidwalker can still do the job. When specced properly Voidwalkers have more defensive utility through the use of Life Steal then some of the other damage oriented subclasses. They can modify their super and grenades to serve a support role, and has strong exotic equipment choices to help keep the Nova Bombs coming.
Voidwalkers and Stormcallers (coming up very soon) serve similar roles in a King’s Fall raid group. Stormcallers and their Stormtrance get the edge offensively while Voidwalkers have some more defensive/utility tools. Pick your poison.
6. Stormcaller
The first of our new subclasses added in Destiny: The Taken King, Stormcallers are your prototypical glass cannons. As we mentioned in our list of the best New Destiny: TTKsubclasses, Stormcaller’s super ability, Stormtrance, is a destructive force capable of leveling both crowds and individual enemies quickly.
They can charge up their super fast through the use of Rising Storm and Electrostatic Mind, and with the help of a Nightstalker’s Shadowshot to keep enemies incapacitated, they are capable of clearing out anything that stands in their way. For example, Stormcallers can quickly clear the Aura areas during the Warpriest and Deathsinger parts of King’s Fall.
Stormcallers though are terrible defensively, and lack utility beyond dealing damage compared at least to other subclasses ranked higher on this list. Almost every ability the Stormcaller has is centered around enhancing and building up to a Stormtrance. Great for when it’s viable, but Stormcallers suffer when there isn’t a clear way to pull off a Stormtrance without getting themselves killed. However when the time is right, there may not be a more powerful class in all of Destiny: TTK in Year Two.
Stormcaller gets the slight edge over Voidwalker on this list as it has more room for error and can more reliably clear out enemies than the Nova Bomb, just be careful not to die.
5: Sunbreaker
The second of our new subclasses added in Destiny: The Taken King, Sunbreakers emerge onto the scene as the perfect combination of destructive power and team utility. Its super, Hammer of Sol, is unrivaled in terms of taking out tightly packed enemies from a distance, usurping Voidwalkers of that claim.
To add fuel to that fire, Sunbreakers can leave sunspots that can add additional damage over time and/or provide the Sunbreaker with an overshield when standing on them. That Sunspot overshield can be used defensively intentionally, giving Sunbreakers additional survivability during tough spots in the raid such as Oryx, where the Sunbreaker normally wouldn’t have it. Hammer of Sol is also an excellent orb generator as well.
As we mentioned in our list of the best new Destiny: TTK subclasses, Sunbreakers also have the best mobility potential out of the three Titan subclasses, being able to zip around the battlefield while supercharged using Fleetfire and Suncharge. Couple all of that with its melee ability that can be specced to reduce the armor of tough enemies, Sunbreaker has everything it needs to be a valued member of a fireteam trying to take down Destiny: TTK’stoughest Year Two content.
4. Bladedancer
With each passing expansion, the Bladedancer becomes more and more useful. Once undesirable in Vault of Glass, the Bladedancer’s cloaking ability proved to be incredibly useful in both Crota’s End and Prison of Elders. Now it’s firmly rooted as one of the best classes in Destiny: TTK going into Year Two.
The Bladedancer’s greatest asset is its ability to cloak quite easily whether it’s through Stalker, Blink Strike, or Vanish while in Arc Blade. This can be used to sneak around the map and to find a good position to shoot from. Bladedancers can also use invisibility to pull off emergency revives similar to the Sunsinger.
Its special, Arc Blade, is arguably one of the weakest for taking our powerful enemies. However, used in the right situation, IE: packs of weaker enemies, and it can be an orb producing machine. Same goes with Arcbolt Grenades which are incredibly powerful when used on tightly packed enemies (such as the Taken).
In King’s Fall whether it’s generating orbs during Golgoroth, quickly taking out pockets of Taken, or pulling off emergency revives, Bladedancer has you covered and is worthy of the number four spot on our list of the best Year Two Destiny classes.
3. Sunsinger
The Sunsinger, formally #1 on our list of the best Destiny classes falls to number three in our Year Two, TTK edition. We fauned over Fireborn last year, and it’s no less useful, however Guardians have grown to not rely on it as heavily as before. Especially now that Nightfall no longer boots you to orbit.
It’s definitely worth having Sunsingers around to revive in emergency situations but new classes such as Nightstalkers provide too much utility and don’t need to wait around for sh!t to hit the fan to provide it. That being said, when other subclasses die it may cause a wipe. When a Sunsinger dies though they can pop right back up and keep trucking, and that shouldn’t be undervalued.
Outside of Fireborn, Sunsinger is still an excellent grenadier and has an incredibly useful melee attack with Flame Shield. However, it isn’t enough to top the next two subclasses on our list.
2. Nightstalker
The new Hunter subclass added with Destiny: The Taken King has claimed our hearts like a (void) arrow from Cupid. In PvE content, Shadowshot is arguably the best super ability in the game. Not only does it essentially incapacitate large groups of enemies, it can be used an orb machine when specced correctly. These orbs are can be critical in difficult moments in the King’s Fall raid especially during the fight against Golgoroth or dealing with the large amounts of Taken in the final boss area. When anchored to Shadowshot, even the most powerful groups of enemies can be easily set up to be demolished by other more damage oriented classes.
Also, as we mentioned in our list of the best new Destiny: TTK Subclasses, Smoke is the most versatile melee attack in the game. “Smoke can be modified to either turn yourself or other allies invisible, deal damage over time, or used as a proximity mine.” Nightstalker has all the tools needed to properly support teams and is worthy of the second spot on our list of the best Destiny classes.
1. Defender
Despite being second on our Year One list and the addition of three new subclasses, the Defender has risen to the occasion and claimed the top spot of our best Destiny class in The Taken King and Year Two.
In every major end game activity to date, the Titan Defender has always been a valuable and at times, critical member of a fireteam. This remains unchanged in Destiny: TTK. Even the best fireteams have their oh sh!t moments, and Ward of Dawn is always there to save the day. Whether it’s providing a safe spot to regroup and hide, or providing extra DPS potential via Weapons of Light, the famous Titan bubble will never not be useful. It’s also unsurprising then that once again, Defenders have a place in the new TTK raid, King’s Fall. With Weapons of Light active, strong fireteams can shave off entire rounds of fire against both Golgoroth and the Warpriest, and save precious time. Self revives and Shadowshots can’t do that.
Beyond Ward of Dawn, Defenders have excellent defensive capabilities with its powerful melee overshield, Force Barrier, and three grenades that all serve a variety of different purposes (individual damage, crowd control, and ability suppression). Also, Defenders benefit from having some of the more useful subclass specific Exotics including the Helm of Saint-14, which blinds enemies that wander into Ward of Dawn.
Long live the Titan Defender! Disagree with our order? Give us your top nine in the comments!
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