Submachine Guns are one of the most efficient close-quarters Primary weapons you can use in Destiny 2.
With so many weapons in the game, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth unlocking. This guide will help you find the perfect Submachine Gun for your needs.
Recommended Read: How to Unlock Strand in Destiny 2
The best Submachine Gun in Destiny 2 is The Immortal (Adept) for PvP and Osteo Striga for PvE.
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Best Submachine Gun in Destiny 2
A common theme you will see in this list is that the best Submachine Guns are mainly used inside The Crucible.
There are a few exceptions that show up inside PvE activities, often for their elemental damage type and synergy with 3.0 subclass builds.
Submachine Guns’ close range and fast time to kill make them the perfect weapon for players who like to get up close to their opponents.
Shotgun users will enjoy having a Primary that compliments their aggressive playstyle, while Sniper Rifle users will often have a Submachine Gun ready in case their opponents get too close for comfort.
The best Submachine Guns are the ones that kill your enemies before they kill you. Submachine Guns often fall short on Range, so bonus points to any weapon that has Range-boosting Perks and a good overall stat spread.
The Immortal (Adept)
If you’ve ever played PvP in Destiny 2, you’ve probably run into The Immortal. This is one of, if not the strongest Submachine Gun in The Crucible, with a solid Perk pool and an insane time to kill.
This is the perfect Primary weapon to pair with either your Sniper Rifle for close-quarters engagements or with your Shotgun if you plan on going in constantly with your team.
The god roll is obviously Rangefinder and Target Lock, giving this weapon Range that should not be found on any Submachine Gun and an impressive time to kill of 0.56s when Target Lock is activated.
Aggressive Frame Submachine Guns already have a decent base time to kill of about 0.67. With Target Lock, this becomes one of the fastest-killing Primary weapons inside The Crucible.
Factor in Rangefinder, giving this weapon a nice boost to Range, and you will be winning engagements far outside the average Submachine Gun range.
The Adept variant of The Immortal has access to the Adept Range mod, giving this weapon an additional nine points of Range to work with, further increasing its efficiency in mid-range fights.
Outside of PvP, The Immortal still sees some utility in being a Strand element weapon. You can pair this with your Strand subclass for some synergy in your build.
The Immortal can only be obtained from Trials of Osiris, with Adept variants only rewarded to players who go Flawless and reach the Lighthouse.
Shayura’s Wrath (Adept)
Shayura’s Wrath was The Immortal before The Immortal was released.
This Void Precision Frame Submachine Gun has a lot going for it. Unlike The Immortal, Shayura’s Wrath doesn’t focus purely on getting the fastest time to kill possible.
Instead, this weapon offers a good balance of Perks that create a weapon that handles well and can still compete with the best inside of The Crucible.
While it doesn’t have access to Target Lock, there are other great damage-boosting Perks if you need them.
The god roll will depend on whether you plan on using this weapon in 3v3 or 6v6 game modes. In 6v6 game modes, you can rely on damage-boosting Perks that require a kill to activate, as there are plenty of players around for you to farm.
This is where Kill Clip Shines, boosting your damage by 25% after only getting a single elimination.
Pair this with either Killing Wind for increased Mobility and Handling or Tunnel Vision for target acquisition and aim down sight speed and you have a beast of a weapon.
For 3v3 game modes, Dynamic Sway Reduction is the go-to for accuracy and Stability. Kill Clip can be great if you can activate it, though many players choose to focus on Perks that allow them to win their first duel.
Tap the Trigger or Elemental Capacitor can both give you even greater neutral game enhancements that will make this weapon feel great in any scenario.
Just like The Immortal, Shayura’s Wrath is only obtainable from the Trials of Osiris. The Adept variant requires Flawless passage to the Lighthouse.
While not quite the beast that The Immortal is, this weapon is still a great pick-up if you can manage a god roll.
Unending Tempest
Unending Tempest is the poor man’s Immortal.
While there is no contest for The Immortal being the best Submachine Gun, there is a reason you don’t see every player using it. It is very hard to get The Immortal, let alone a god-roll variant.
Unending Tempest offers a similar performance to The Immortal, with many of the same Perks and stats that make The Immortal such a great weapon. It does this all while being one of the easiest Submachine Guns to obtain.
The god roll Unending Tempest copies the amazing Perk combination The Immortal uses, with Dynamic Sway Reduction and Target Lock.
It is worth noting that because Unending Tempest is a Precision Frame and not an Aggressive Frame, Target Lock does not give this weapon a massive boost in time to kill.
Target Lock does make this weapon’s optimal time to kill more forgiving. However, it requires fewer headshots. This has led some players to try out different Perks in the second column for better overall performance.
Rangefinder or Fragile Focus are both great Perks that give this weapon a boost to Range that it desperately needs in order to keep up with other longer-ranged Submachine Guns. A Range Masterwork is also a must.
Many PvE players were also excited to see this weapon released, as it is one of the few Stasis weapons to roll with both Demolitionist and Headstone, giving them a very fun and very viable roll.
This weapon is rewarded by Crucible Engrams. You can get one randomly when decrypting Engrams, or you can focus Engrams with Shaxx to purchase an Unending Tempest.
IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.3
One of the few good Submachine Guns that plays into Arc 3.0 builds.
IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.3 was introduced in Season of the Seraph. It is an Aggressive Frame Arc Submachine Gun that was one of the first to take advantage of the new Arc synergy Perks.
The god roll for many are Feeding Frenzy and Voltshot, which play very nicely with each other. Voltshot is the main reason you want to use this weapon.
Reloading after killing an enemy causes your next shot to jolt nearby enemies, potentially killing many minor enemies with a single shot. Feeding Frenzy makes reloading trivial and will constantly keep Voltshot activated.
This is a great Primary Submachine Gun for PvE activities and is one of the few that many veteran players still use to this day. The only downside to the IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.3 is its availability.
This weapon was only available during the Season of the Seraph. It is no longer farmable and can only be obtained through Xur or Banshee-44 if you are lucky enough to find them selling it.
The IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.3 is craftable. If you happened to unlock the crafting pattern when it was released, be sure to craft a god roll soon.
CALUS Mini-Tool
The go-to Submachine Gun for Solar 3.0 builds.
While the unique Mida Synergy Frame may have you thinking that this weapon is only good when paired with its Exotic counterpart, you’d be wrong.
The Calus Mini-Tool is an upgraded version of the Mida Mini-Tool, with new Perk options that make this a stand-out Solar Submachine Gun.
The number one reason you want to use this weapon is for the Perk Incandescent.
This Perk causes final blows to spread Scorch stacks to every enemy nearby, dealing damage over time and synergizing with many Solar subclass abilities.
This Submachine Gun is one of the best when it comes to applying Scorch to enemies, with a large base magazine and decent overall stats.
Your secondary Perk isn’t as important on this weapon, though Unrelenting, Grave Robber and Threat Detector are all viable options.
This weapon is also no longer available to unlock, as the activity it was tied to is no longer in the game. You will need to find one for sale from Xur or Banshee-44 and hope it has Incandescent.
The Calus Mini-Tool is craftable. Once you have the pattern, you can create the perfect god roll.
Funnelweb
On to the Void Submachine Gun of choice for Void 3.0 subclass builds.
Funnelweb is the most used Lightweight Frame Submachine Gun in the game. The reason for this is its damage type and Perk options.
Funnelweb is the perfect Submachine Gun for Void 3.0 builds, even without the option of using Void-specific Perks. There are plenty of great Perk options, though one stands out from the rest.
By far, the most used Perk combination and the god roll for many players is Subsistence and Frenzy.
With this Perk combo, you will almost never have to reload, meaning you can stay in combat and constantly have Frenzy activated for an additional damage boost.
With a Void subclass in PvE, this weapon should always have Volatile Rounds and will constantly refresh Devourer to keep you healthy. Void Hunters will almost exclusively use this weapon for their invisibility build.
You can get Funnelweb from any rank-up reward or Engram. You may find Banshee-44 selling one as well. If not, be sure to decrypt as many Engrams as you can with him to get a Funnelweb, regardless of the roll.
Osteo Striga
One of the few Exotic Submachine Guns that are really worth using.
Osteo Striga is a great weapon that can carry players through PvE content with how simple it is to use. It comes with the Intrinsic Perk Screaming Swarm, causing your bullets to track down enemies and poison them.
The Toxic Overload Perk will create a burst of poison on every final blow that spreads to nearby enemies, dealing damage over time.
This makes for a very powerful and potent Primary weapon that you barely even have to aim, thanks to the tracking rounds.
Osteo Striga is one of the few Exotic weapons that is also craftable, allowing you to increase its base stats and fine-tune the weapon to your liking. For many players, this is their go-to Exotic Primary weapon.
Exotic Primary weapons deal more base damage than Legendary Primary weapons, so it is usually a good idea to use up your Exotic weapon slot with a Primary weapon.
Ostea Striga is a top contender for PvE ad clearing and is a very flexible weapon.
Osteo Striga can only be obtained after completing the Witch Queen Expansion campaign. You will then be rewarded with the crafting pattern for this weapon.
Riskrunner
The Exotic version of IKELOS_SMG_v1.0.3.
Riskrunner is one of the oldest Exotic weapons in Destiny 2. Many payers have used this weapon for years now to completely delete wave after wave of enemies.
It comes with the Intrinsic Perk Arc Conductor, causing the weapon to deal additional damage and increase your resistance to Arc damage after taking damage from any Arc source.
Kills with Riskrunner during this time will extend the duration of the Perk.
The Superconductor Perk gives any shot fired while Arc Conductor is active a chance to return ammo to the magazine and chain lightning to nearby enemies.
With a magazine size of 37 bullets, you will surely see this Perk activate plenty of times.
The chain lightning and infinite magazine size, once Arc Conductor is activated, make this weapon quite powerful and capable of dealing with any enemy in sight.
It is a good weapon to use if you are going into an activity with a lot of Arc damage sources, such as Hiver Boomer Knights or Scorn Abominations.
Riskrunner is rewarded to any player who completes the A Spark of Hope Quest. This quest is available to every new player and should take no time at all to complete.
These are the best Submachine Guns that Destiny 2 has to offer.
How many of these weapons do you already have unlocked? Which god roll are you currently after? Let me know in the comments!
