Destiny class guide: Hunter

Destiny has something for everyone, and if your thing is agility, precision shots and massive critical damage, the Hunter is for you.

Destiny is carefully balanced so you can enjoy the game solo, but if you're interested in co-op, strikes or raids you want to know as much as you can about what roles each class can play in a good fireteam.

The Hunter is Destiny's most agile class. In classic fantasy archetypes, the Hunter is the rogue. In MMO parlance, it focuses on crits and spike damage.

Playing a Hunter means finding a good balance between survivability and manoeuvrability. The Hunter can't take as much damage as a Titan, and has few options for regenerating health and shields - but it's tougher than a Warlock, and much quicker on its feet than either of them. Whatever fragility the Hunter presents is easily offset by their speed, massively helped along by Double Jump. Moreover, many of the Hunter's skills reward and assist with precision, allowing you to duck in and out of cover, pop off headshots, and never get in close enough to be at risk.

As a Hunter, you're going to be a liability to your fireteam unless you can keep out of danger. Whether you choose to focus on sniping at a distance or high-risk, high-reward close range tactics, you'll need skill and a cool head.

Hunter: Equipment

Hunters are a showy bunch, with their flowing capes and dramatic hoods. The Hunter's cloak is their class armour, and while these amount to little more than a headwrap in the beginning, you can always spot a Hunter by this excess of cloth.

Once you're a few levels in, you'll start to unlock truly beautiful capes, decorated with bright colours and esoteric designs. Hunters may not be as elegant as Warlocks, but as they flip about the battlefield waving their colours behind them, they're impossible to ignore.

Hunter: Double Jump

The Hunter's mobility ability is called Double Jump, and of the three classes its movement is closer to the classic move you're thinking of. A quick tap of the jump key and our friend gains traction on the air itself, propelling diagonally upwards at high speed and granting the player a great deal of directional control.

Double Jump is easily the best of the three comparable moves for making your way around the environment in search of treasure, and for evading enemy fire with style.

The Double Jump upgrade tree is identical in both Hunter subclasses:

Double Jump
Jump a second time after leaving the ground.
• Better Control - Upgrades Double Jump for better directional control while in the air.
• Triple Jump - Upgrades Double Jump with a third jump.
• Higher Jump - Upgrades Double Jump for even greater height.

Hunter: stat boost upgrade trees

Players can choose just one perk from each of the two stat boost upgrade trees. Although it's tempting to treat the third perk in each tree as the most powerful, which you should choose depends on your subclass, play style, equipment and build. The two stat boost perks may not seem dramatic, but you can use them to plug a hole in your build, or combine them with other choice to min-max a gameplay loop.

Hunters can choose to try and pump up their survivability, making those high-reward close-range attacks less risky, or double down on damage output. How good are you at getting in and getting out again?

Class Modifiers
• Path Forgotten - Training focused on toughness and speed.
• Path Forbidden - Training focused on battle recovery and speed.
• Path Unknown - Training focused on battle recovery and toughness.

Ability Modifiers
• Way of the Drifter - Training focused on all attributes.
• Way of the Fearless - Training focused on toughness at all costs.
• Way of the Nomad - Training focused on maximum battle recovery.

Next: the Hunter's Gunslinger subclass.

Hunter: Gunslinger subclass guide

Summon a flaming pistol which disintegrates enemies with Solar Light.

The Gunslinger is a classic sniper subclass. If you're the kind to hang back, keeping cover between you and the enemy, and slowly lining up headshots, a Gunslinger is the perfect class for you. It's easy to do huge damage with the Golden Gun super, and even the melee works in your favour, to keep foes at a distance. Remember, though: watch your six, and keep your sightlines open. You don't have many escape options should trouble find you, but you can wield cumbersome weapons with speed and panache.

You can progress a Gunslinger through the following upgrades:

Grenade
• Incendiary Grenade - An explosive grenade that catches enemies on fire, causing additional damage over time.
• Swarm Grenade - A grenade which detonates on impact, releasing multiple drones that seek nearby enemies.
• Tripmine Grenade - An explosive grenade that sticks to surfaces and detonates when enemies pass through its laser trigger.

Golden Gun (super)
Summon a flaming pistol which disintegrates enemies with Solar Light.
• Deadeye - Significantly increases the accuracy of Golden Gun.
• Combustion - Killing enemies with Golden Gun causes them to explode.
• Gunfighter - Reduces the cooldown of Golden Gun, allowing it to be used more often.

Throwing Knife (melee)
Throw a knife from a distance.
• Circle of Life - Killing an enemy with Throwing Knife while Golden gun is active extends the duration of Golden Gun.
• Incendiary Blade - Throwing Knife catches enemies on fire, dealing additional damage over time.
• Knife Juggler - Precision kills with Throwing Knife immediately resets its cooldown.

Synergy
• Scavenger - Picking up ammo reduces the cooldown of your grenade and Throwing Knife.
• Keyhole - Golden Gun overpenetrates and can damage multiple targets.
• Gunslingers Trance - Precision kills increase weapon stability. Stacks up to three times.

Uber
• Chain of Woe - Precision kills increase weapon reload speed. Stacks up to three times.
• Over the Horizon - Increases the range of Golden Gun.
• Gamblers Dagger - Gain an additional Throwing Knife.

Next: The Hunter's Bladedancer class.

Hunter: Bladedancer subclass guide

Charge your blade with Arc Light and consume your foes with Lightning.

In a fantasy world, the Gunslinger is an archer, but the Bladedancer is a stealth rogue. If your ideal set up is a sharp blade and an unwary back, you have come home. The Bladedancer's abilities give you the option of doing extra damage to groups of enemies, doing extra damage at medium distance, and getting the hell out once the enemy registers your threat. In a co-op situation, you're a hell of a liability - but if you can manage to stay alive, you'll be doing some of the most serious damage in the game.

The Bladedancer's upgrade trees are listed below:

Grenade
• Flux grenade -: an explosive grenade which deals additional damage when attached to enemies.
• Skip grenade - a grenade which splits on impact, creating multiple projectiles which seek enemies.
• Arcbolt grenade - a grenade that chains bolts of lightning to nearby enemies

Arc Blade (super)
Charge your blade with arc light and consume your foes with lightning
• Showstopper - press R2 during arc blade to damage nearby enemies
• Razor's edge - press R2 during arc blade to unleash a destructive wave of energy that travels along the ground.
• Vanish - press R2 during arc blade to disappear from sight.

Blink Strike (melee)
A powerful melee attack with extended range.
• Backstab - hitting an enemy from behind with blink strike causes significantly more damage.
• Escape artist - Hitting an enemy with blink strike grants brief invisibility.
• Fast twitch - Reduces the cooldown of blink strike.

Synergy
• Fleet Footed: Increases maximum sprint speed and extends slide distance.
• Quick Draw: Weapons are ready immediately after dealing damage with any knife attack.
• Shadowjack: Increases the duration of invisibility effects.

Uber
• Encore: Killing an enemy with Arc Blade extends its duration.
• Stalker: Gain invisibility after crouching in place for a short time.
• Hungering Blade: Kills with Arc Blade and Blink Strike immediately regenerate health.

Not quite your style after all? Check out the other options in our Destiny class Guide.