As a game ages, the power balance of valuable loot can shift dramatically. With Destiny 2 entering the sixth year of its lifetime and the title pumping out more content in each season than ever before, not every Exotic available to hunt is worth it. This is especially true of the Hunter class, whose Exotic armor piece list contains far too many such cases of loot.
If you’re new to Destiny 2 with Lightfall’s release on Feb. 28 or haven’t kept up with its seasonal updates, now is the perfect time to familiarize yourself with what’s best to avoid. Bungie is making Destiny 2 a harder game across the board, so picking out the right Exotics to pair with the best builds will be more crucial than ever.
Some of these Exotics are just in a bit of a tough spot, where a few buffs could make them a more viable option to keep in your vault. However, some have more intrinsic issues with the effects and traits they offer, leaving little hope for their future viability beyond a full rework.
Here’s a list of Exotic Hunter armor in Destiny 2 that are best to avoid heading into Lightfall, or that are in dire need of buffs before they can start to compete.
The worst exotic Hunter armor in Destiny 2
Foetracer
- Armor perk: Relentless Tracker—Visually marks targets. Deals more damage to low-health marked targets. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons.
Destiny 2 Exotics have gotten more complex and impactful over the years, leaving Red War relics such as Foetracer in a place where their perks aren’t that interesting anymore. Finding targets in Destiny 2 is already a lot easier than in other games, and the damage bonus you get to low-health marked targets is a meager one percent boost for every percent of health the enemy is below 30 percent. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Blight Ranger
- Armor perk: Voltaic Mirror—Attacks you redirect with your Arc Staff deal massively increased damage and generate Orbs of Power for your allies. Guarding with your Arc Staff does not consume extra Super energy.
Blight Ranger is a beautiful Exotic visually, but its time in the sun was short-lived. On paper, a 650 percent damage increase to projectiles reflected by Arc Staff sounds like an incredibly powerful benefit, but it has no use case. No Hunter is using it to deal boss damage, nor is the buff needed to kill any smaller enemies—they were already dying pretty much instantly to Arc Staff attacks.
A buff or a rework is needed before Blight Ranger can truly shine, even if a glitch at the time of its release did allow it to wipe out raid bosses in record time before it was disabled and nerfed.
Sealed Ahamkara Grasps
- Armor perk: Nightmare Fuel—Dealing melee damage reloads your currently equipped weapon. Provides a large benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons for 5 seconds after dealing melee damage.
Since Hunters already have an easy access point for reloading their weapons via one of their dodge abilities, this armor is hard to recommend. Often, you are not within melee range of the target when you need an instant reload, so the perk lacks synergy with itself. Melee-focused Exotics such as Liar’s Handshake or Athrys’s Embrace will always serve you better.
Oathkeeper
- Armor perk: Adamantine Brace—Bow charges can be held indefinitely. Provides a moderate benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of Bows.
Oathkeeper might buff your fashion game, but the arms are a gameplay hindrance. There are very few scenarios where the ability has a tangible impact in an encounter, and the bonus to airborne effectiveness has been made almost meaningless by recent reworks to how this works on primary weapons.
Keep a pair of Oathkeepers in your vault regardless, though, for the time you feel a little toxic and plan on taking Le Monarque into PvP.
The Sixth Coyote
- Armor perk: Double Dodge—Gain a second dodge charge.
Two dodges are better than one, but The Sixth Coyote’s fun perk is entirely overshadowed by superior Exotic options. The Dragon’s Shadow, Wormhusk Crown or even Mask of Bakris will serve a far more functional purpose in any build. It’s far better to load one dodge with additional effects when the Hunter’s base class ability isn’t quite as potent as a Titan or Warlock’s.
Fr0st-EE5
- Armor perk: Rapid Cooldown—Increased grenade, melee, and dodge regeneration while sprinting. Dodging increases your sprint speed.
Unfortunately, this classic Exotic has fallen out of favor as buildcrafting has improved in Destiny 2. In 2023, players have a multitude of options to rapidly generate ability energy. There are dozens of mods and new Exotics, to the point where the miniscule improvements to regeneration that Fr0st-EE5 provides no longer has the kind of major impact that justifies equipping them.
That said, if you’re just starting out in Destiny 2, and your armor stats aren’t quite up to snuff yet, Fr0st-EE5 can still be a good choice for beginners.
Knucklehead Radar
- Armor perk: Upgraded Sensor Pack—Provides radar while you’re aiming. Enhances your radar resolution while crouched.
Similarly to Foetracer, Knucklehead Radar is a product of its time and hasn’t been reworked to match up to what current Exotics can offer. Its perk only really has utility in a PvP setting, where the increased radar uptime might allow you to get the jump on an opponent, but that still doesn’t make it a better choice than many other more common PvP Exotics. It’s often far better to enhance abilities or weapons in your build than rely on a radar that won’t ultimately help you to win the gunfight it’s leading you to.
Radiant Dance Machines
- Armor perk: The Dance—Activating your dodge ability while near targets allows you to dodge additional times for a short period.
A powerful option when it was released, so much so that a heavy nerf released soon after made it obsolete overnight.
Initially, the constant ability to use dodge that this Exotic granted also activated any mods related to dodge, allowing Hunters to charge Supers in 20 seconds or permanently benefit from certain Aspects. Bungie removed this ability, and in doing so, denied the Exotic any real utility. Now, it collects dust alongside The Sixth Coyote as another disappointing dodge-related Exotic armor piece.
