Top 5 most underrated Exotic weapons in Destiny 2

There are almost 80 different Exotic weapons in Destiny 2 and with this number it can become difficult to truly give every weapon a fair go. Some of these Exotics see a minute amount of play time compared to others and a lot of this time this is simply because these Exotics aren't all that great. In some cases though some fairly powerful Exotics can slip through the cracks.

Here is a list, in no particular order, of the 5 most underrated Exotics that you really need to add to your loadouts:

Bad Juju

Bad Juju is a Kinetic Pulse Rifle that was released in mid 2019 during Season of Opulence. At its release this weapon saw a good amount of use but over time it faded from the limelight as the Exotic slot started to see more use in Heavy weapons for better Boss DPS.

This weapon really is something though. It essentially has many juiced up versions of many perks rolled into one package. Its String of Curses damage buff can stack up to five times, giving a 100% increase to damage. For each stack of String of Curses, each kill gives an extra 20% Super energy, up to a 100% increase. On top of this, Bad Juju fires full-auto with each kill fully reloading the magazine.

Bad Juju is definitely worth another look if you haven't used it in some time. This weapon can be particularly handy if you ever find yourself on add clearing duty in a raid as you can pump out a large amount of damage while never having to reload.

The only downside to this weapon is that its low base damage can make it a struggle to take out enemy shields and Major enemies.

How to get: Can be purchased from the Exotic Archive Kiosk in the Tower for one Exotic Cipher, 125K Glimmer, 200 Planetary Materials and one Ascendant Shard.

Huckleberry

Huckleberry is a Kinetic Submachine Gun and fills a similar niche to Bad Juju. The weapon’s signature perk is ‘Ride the Bull’ which drastically increases fire rate and recoil when holding down the trigger. Each kill will also reload half the magazine but if you have unlocked its Exotic Catalyst each kill now fully reload the magazine.

An important note is that while Huckleberry has the usual Rampage perk its damage numbers are a little different. Some time ago a lot of the damage increasing perks were nerfed by Bungie to promote the use of other perks. The Rampage perk was brought down from a 66% increase in damage at three stacks to a 33% increase as it is now. Fortunately, Huckleberry was not affected by this change so its Rampage stacks still cap out at 66%.

It is this older Rampage damage value combined with the drastic increase in fire rate that allows Huckleberry to completely shred through lesser enemies and even quickly take down Major enemies, all without having to even reload. Like Bad Juju, consider this weapon if you ever find yourself having to do some add-clearing.

How to get: As a rare world drop, from Exotic Engrams, purchased from Xur, end-game activity completions, and from Challenge rewards.

Sunshot

Sunshot is a Solar Hand Cannon that has a particular explosive Exotic perk called ‘Sun Blast’ which reads “Targets killed by Sunshot explode in Solar energy”. This Solar energy damage is a decent amount and is able to kill Minor enemies standing close to the original enemy killed. This is then able to chain explosions through nearby enemies. Sunshot is able to kill an entire swarm of Thrall through one single precision hit.

Now this already makes Sunshot a fairly usable weapon but it is through a particular Warmind Cell mod called ‘Wrath of Rasputin’ that this weapons utility skyrockets. This mod is able to create Warmind Cells through Solar explosive damage which is exactly what Sunshot does. This means that Sunshot is compatible with all your favourite Warmind Cell loadouts which can be some of the most powerful loadouts in PvE at the moment.

We even have Unstoppable Hand Cannon as a mod from the Seasonal Artifact which bumps up the power of Sunshot even more. Consider taking this into Nightfalls.

How to get: As a rare world drop, from Exotic Engrams, purchased from Xur, end-game activity completions, and from Challenge rewards.

Skyburner’s Oath

For a long time Skyburner’s Oath has been a bit of a joke within the community. Many say this weapon can really only be considered a Legendary weapon due to its very niche perk and how everall lacklustre it is.

However, there is one activity in Season of the Chosen that Skyburner’s Oath can shine in: Battlegrounds.

In many of the Battlegrounds maps the vast number of enemies faced are Cabal. Skyburner’s Oath does a flat 18% extra damage to all Cabal enemies while also being able to fully penetrate Phalanx shields.

How to get: As a rare world drop, from Exotic Engrams, purchased from Xur, end-game activity completions, and from Challenge rewards.

Borealis

Borealis is an Energy Sniper Rifle that has the ability, like Hard Light, to swap elemental types on the fly. Until this Season that would require holding down the reload button to reload and swap elemental types.

In Season of the Chosen Bungie added a new animation to the above two weapons so that holding reload plays a short animation that swaps elemental types without having to sit through the longer reload animation.

Borealis’ unique perk reads: “Ionic Return - Breaking an enemy shield transfers one bullet from reserves. Breaking a combatant shield—or the shield of a Guardian using a Super—with that shield's energy type grants bonus damage for the rest of the magazine.”

This bonus damage is a whopping 40%.

The Anti-Barrier Sniper Rifle mod is also present in the Seasonal Artifact so Borealis is perfect for any activity that contains Champions and/or Match Game.

How to get: As a rare world drop, from Exotic Engrams, purchased from Xur, end-game activity completions, and from Challenge rewards.