Weapon

Weapons are equipment designed to inflict damage on living beings, vehicles, or structures as an effect of combat. Weapons play a dominant role in the Destiny series along with grenades, melees, and some super abilities.

For a list of all weapons, view the category page.

Weapon Types
Each weapon fits into one of three inventory slots according to its type: primary, special, and heavy. A player can equip one weapon of each slot and hold up to nine more of each slot in their inventory. Players can equip any weapon in their inventory at any time, but changing the equipped Special or Heavy weapon will forfeit half the weapon's ammo in PvE and all of the weapon's ammo in PvP.

Primary Weapons
Primary weapons are the main weapons used by Guardians. There are four different types of primary weapons:
 * Scout Rifles: Semi-automatic rifles with high accuracy.
 * Pulse Rifles: Burst-fire rifles designed for medium-range.
 * Auto Rifles: Fully-automatic rifles with high recoil.
 * Hand Cannons: Revolver handguns with short range and high impact.

Primary weapon ammo can be replenished by picking up small, white ammo boxes.

Special Weapons
Special weapons deal higher amounts of damage, but they are less "all-purpose" and useful mainly in specific circumstances. There are four types of special weapons:
 * Shotguns: Close-quarters, but high damage.
 * Sidearms: Pistols with a high fire rate, but low range and impact.
 * Sniper Rifles: Long-range scope and high damage.
 * Fusion Rifles: Close- to mid-range directed-energy rifles that have charge cycles.

Special weapon ammo can be replenished by picking up small, green ammo boxes or by opening green ammo crates.

Heavy Weapons
Heavy weapons deal massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time. There are three types of heavy weapons: Heavy weapon ammo can be replenished by picking up large, purple boxes or opening purple ammo crates.
 * Machine Guns: High rate of fire and extreme magazine capacity, deals a high amount of damage.
 * Rocket Launchers: Deals massive damage to a large radius.
 * Swords: Deals massive damage to a single target and can also be used to block damage.

Archetypes
Weapons of each type are divided into archetypes, which designate how the weapon behaves in relation to other weapons of its type. Most archetypes are determined by an Impact to Rate-of-Fire ratio.

Light
A weapon's Light is represented by a number and factors into a player's overall Light level. The higher a weapon's Light is, the more damage it will do to enemies. All Year 1 legendary and exotic weapons can be ascended to a maximum Light of 170, and all Year 2 and Year 3 legendary and exotic weapons can be infused to a maximum Light of 400.

In regular Crucible modes, weapons' Light levels do not affect damage output. However, Light is a factor in playlists with Level Advantages enabled, such as Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris.

Damage Type
There are four different damage types that a weapon may possess: kinetic, arc, solar, or void. Damage types can inflict additional damage to an enemy's shields. The color of an enemy's shield represents which damage type it is vulnerable to. Any unique damage types that are not used against their respective shields will only inflict the default damage of the weapon.

A damage type will do additional damage to all enemies if the corresponding Burn modifier is active.

Rarity
Generally, the higher a weapon's rarity is, the higher its Light will be. Weapon rarities also affect the type and number of available upgrades for that weapon.

Though players may carry as many exotic weapons as they like in their inventory, only one exotic weapon may be equipped at one time.

Attributes
Weapons are differentiated from each other by several attributes. Some of these attributes are shown in-game, while others are hidden and only accessible through the Destiny API. Most attributes are rated in a 1-100 scale.
 * Rate of Fire: How quickly shots can be fired in succession.
 * Impact: The damage inflicted by each round.
 * Range: The effective range of the weapon. Affects both damage dropoff and the range at which aim assistance benefits are active. On Fusion Rifles, Range does not affect damage dropoff or aim assistance; instead, it affects the speed at which bolts travel.
 * Stability: How much the weapon recoils when fired.
 * Recoil: The direction the weapon recoils when fired. Lower values kick more sideways, and higher values kick more upwards. This attribute is hidden in-game.
 * Reload: The time it takes to reload the weapon.
 * Magazine: The number of shots that can be fired before reloading.
 * Charge Rate: How quickly the weapon charges. Only applicable to Fusion Rifles.
 * Blast Radius: The explosion radius of the projectile. Only applicable to Rocket Launchers.
 * Velocity: The speed of projectiles fired by this weapon. Only applicable to Rocket Launchers.
 * Energy: The amount of "Ammo" a sword can hold at full capacity. Only applicable to Swords.

Perks
Nearly all non-basic weapons can be upgraded with perks by earning experience with the weapon equipped. Perks may be different optics options, adjusted attributes, or new functionality. Some perks must be purchased with Glimmer, Weapon Parts, or other materials.

Weapon Slots
Weapons can fit into one of three slots: Kinetic, Energy, and Power. A particular weapon will fit into only one slot.

Kinetic and Energy Weapons

 * Scout Rifles: Semi-automatic rifles with high accuracy.
 * Pulse Rifles: Burst-fire rifles designed for medium-range.
 * Auto Rifles: Fully-automatic rifles with high recoil.
 * Hand Cannons: Revolver handguns with short range and high impact.
 * Sidearms: Pistols with a high fire rate, but low range and impact.
 * Submachine Guns: Fully-automatic machine guns designed for close-range.
 * Trace Rifles: Directed-energy rifles that fire a laser with increasing precision damage over time.

Power Weapons

 * Shotguns: Close-quarters, but high damage.
 * Sniper Rifles: Long-range scope and high damage.
 * Fusion Rifles: Close- to mid-range directed-energy rifles that have charge cycles.
 * Rocket Launchers: Projectile that deals massive damage to a large radius.
 * Swords: Deals massive damage to a single target and can also be used to block damage.
 * Grenade Launchers: Medium range explosive that deals high damage.

Enemy Weapons
Enemy weapons are only used by the Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cabal Factions, with the exception of certain Exotics. For a list of enemy weapons, solely used by the enemy, see the category page.

Relics
Relics can only be used during special activities and cannot be stored in the inventory.
 * Aegis: An artifact with various uses and abilities. Available only in the Vault of Glass raid.
 * Cleaver: A Hive sword. Can be found in The Sword of Crota, Fist of Crota, and Crota's End.
 * Scorch Cannon: A shoulder-mounted Fallen weapon resembling a rocket launcher. Available in A Kell Rising, Wolves' Gambit, and the Prison of Elders.
 * Tomb Husk: A Hive item used to activate devices. Available in Lost to Light, Summoner's Circle, Last Rites, and King's Fall.