All Crossbows in Destiny 2 & How to Get Them

All crossbows in Destiny 2 are a brand new weapon type introduced with The Edge of Fate and expanded through Renegades and Monument of Triumph. Technically classified as High-Impact Combat Bows in the game’s weapon system, crossbows fire heavy bolts that can be retrieved from the environment or from downed enemies — giving the weapon type a theoretically infinite ammo loop unlike anything else in the game. There are currently four crossbows available: three Legendary weapons and one Exotic. This guide covers all of them, where to farm each one, and which rolls are worth chasing.

• TL;DR
• There are four crossbows in Destiny 2: Opaque Hourglass, A Good Shout, Submersion, and the Exotic Heirloom.
• Crossbows use reusable bolt ammo — fired bolts can be retrieved from enemies or the environment.
• Monument of Triumph added crossbow-specific sandbox adjustments including targeted heavy weapon tuning.
• Opaque Hourglass drops from the Desert Perpetual raid (requires The Edge of Fate).
• A Good Shout is the most accessible — drops from Pinnacle Ops Engrams with no expansion required.
• Submersion drops from Reclamation Events Engrams at the Tower Tenet vendors.
• Heirloom is the Exotic crossbow, dropping from the Equilibrium dungeon final boss (requires Renegades).

What Are Crossbows in Destiny 2?

Crossbows arrived in Destiny 2 with The Edge of Fate expansion, introducing an entirely new weapon category to the sandbox. In-game they are technically labelled as High-Impact Combat Bows, but their visual design, bolt ammunition system, and firing mechanics set them completely apart from regular Combat Bows like The Spiteful Fang or any Lightweight or Precision bow.

Here is what makes crossbows unique compared to every other weapon type in the game:

• Bolt retrieval: Every bolt fired from a crossbow can be picked up after impact. You pull it out of the wall, floor, or enemy it hit. This gives crossbows a theoretically infinite ammo loop — provided you are willing to get close enough to retrieve your shots.
• Bolt types instead of magazine columns: Legendary crossbows roll with different bolt types in place of a traditional magazine perk. Each bolt type changes how the weapon behaves — explosive, damage-over-time, flinch-inducing, and more.
• Heavy ammo slot (Legendary) vs Special ammo (Exotic): All three Legendary crossbows sit in the Heavy ammo slot. The Heirloom Exotic is the exception — it uses Special ammo, making it far more flexible in activity loadout builds.
• Slow fire rate, high impact: Crossbows hit hard but fire slowly. They are not sustained-fire weapons. Each shot should be considered a deliberate, high-value action rather than spam fire.
• Retrieving a bolt deals damage: Pulling a bolt from a living enemy deals additional damage on extraction. This creates a close-range loop of fire, retrieve, fire again — similar to a sword combo in feel.

Monument of Triumph’s sandbox pass included targeted adjustments to heavy grenade launchers, rocket launchers, linear fusion rifles, and crossbows as a group — confirming that Bungie considers crossbows a full and permanent part of the heavy weapon lineup going forward.

All Crossbows in Destiny 2: Full List

Opaque Hourglass — Arc Crossbow (Heavy)

Opaque Hourglass was the first crossbow ever added to Destiny 2, dropping with The Edge of Fate expansion. It is an Arc Heavy Ammo crossbow with a High-Impact Frame that hits extremely hard per shot. Its 80 RPM fire rate is slow — but its bolt retrieval mechanic means ammo is never truly scarce as long as you stay close enough to recover shots.

The weapon’s DPS sits roughly in line with Linear Fusion Rifles, making it a viable pick in high-difficulty Strikes, Pinnacle Ops, and any content where heavy weapons are a premium. It is not currently considered a top-tier raid DPS option, but its bolt variety makes it a lot of fun in lower-stakes endgame content.

Opaque Hourglass Bolt Types

The bolt column replaces the traditional magazine perk. The most useful bolt types for different playstyles are:

• Charged Bolts — Bolts deal damage over time after attaching to a target. Best for boss damage phases where you want persistent damage between rotations.
• Explosive Bolts — Bolts explode shortly after hitting the environment or a target. Deals less impact damage but great for clearing groups of ads.
• Heavy Bolts — Bolts deal increased single-hit damage but fly slower and are more affected by gravity. Best for close-to-medium range precision kills.
• Spring-Auger Bolts — Bolts release an impulse on impact that deals small damage and causes heavy flinch. Best for PvP disruption.
• Serrated Bolts — Retrieving a bolt from a living target deals damage. Best when you plan to use the retrieval mechanic actively as part of your rotation.

Opaque Hourglass God Roll (PvE)

• Rail: Frictionless Rail or Quickload Rail (increases projectile speed and reload speed)
• Bolt: Charged Bolts (damage over time on attached targets for boss rotations)
• Perk 1: Impulse Amplifier or Field Prep
• Perk 2: Frenzy or Elemental Honing
• Origin Trait: Frame of Reference
• Masterwork: Velocity

Impulse Amplifier increases projectile speed and range, making bolts easier to land at mid-distance without accounting for drop. Frenzy provides a consistent all-around damage, reload, and handling bonus after being in combat for a few seconds — reliable in any sustained engagement. For a weapon-swapping playstyle, Elemental Honing rewards kinetic damage synergy by boosting damage after dealing unique elemental hits from other weapons.

Opaque Hourglass God Roll (PvP)

• Rail: Mag-Lev Rail
• Bolt: Spring-Auger Bolts or Charged Bolts
• Perk 1: Impulse Amplifier
• Perk 2: Vorpal Weapon

Vorpal Weapon is the standout PvP perk — it increases damage against Supers, making Opaque Hourglass a reliable Super shutdown tool. Impulse Amplifier makes the bolts hit almost immediately at most Crucible engagement ranges, removing the travel arc issue.

How to Get Opaque Hourglass

Opaque Hourglass drops exclusively from the Desert Perpetual raid, which requires The Edge of Fate expansion. It drops from two encounters:

• Epoptes, Lord of Quanta (third encounter — Hydra boss)
• Koregos (final boss)

The Desert Perpetual uses a non-linear encounter order — you can select encounters in any sequence. For the most efficient farm, run Epoptes then the final boss back to back to get two rolls per full attempt. There is no weekly lockout on these encounters — they are farmable on repeat. Additional copies can also be purchased at the end-of-raid vendor using Spoils of Conquest. For a full breakdown of every weapon and encounter in the raid, see our best Desert Perpetual weapons guide.

A Good Shout — Void Crossbow (Heavy)

A Good Shout is the most accessible crossbow in Destiny 2. It requires no expansion, no raid, and no dungeon — just Pinnacle Ops Engrams from the Vanguard. It is a Void Heavy Ammo crossbow with a solid perk pool that fits directly into Void builds running Volatile Rounds and Void Overshield loops.

Its Void element gives it access to perks that the other Legendary crossbows cannot roll — specifically the Repulsor Brace and Destabilizing Rounds combination that has become one of the strongest Void primary and secondary perk combos in the game.

A Good Shout God Roll (PvE — Void Build)

• Rail: Arrowhead Brake Rail
• Bolt: Charged Bolts or Explosive Bolts
• Perk 1: Repulsor Brace
• Perk 2: Destabilizing Rounds
• Masterwork: Velocity or Reload Speed

Repulsor Brace grants a Void Overshield when you defeat a Volatile target. Destabilizing Rounds makes nearby enemies Volatile after a kill — feeding Repulsor Brace’s trigger condition automatically. In any Void build, this combination is near self-sustaining. Kill one Volatile enemy, nearby enemies become Volatile, next kill gives you Overshield, repeat. It is one of the cleanest Void synergy loops available on a heavy weapon.

A Good Shout God Roll (PvE — Precision/Boss Damage)

• Rail: Quickload Rail
• Bolt: Charged Bolts
• Perk 1: Withering Gaze
• Perk 2: Box Breathing

Withering Gaze debuffs targets on sustained hits, reducing their damage output — a strong utility perk for solo endgame content. Box Breathing dramatically increases precision damage after aiming for a brief period without firing. Combining both creates a high-damage single-shot debuffer against elite and boss enemies — provided you are patient enough to wait for Box Breathing to activate before pulling the trigger.

How to Get A Good Shout

A Good Shout drops from Pinnacle Ops Engrams. Navigate to the Vanguard or Fireteam Ops menu from the Destinations screen and select the Pinnacle Ops tab to find available missions. Complete them and the engrams that drop have a chance to contain A Good Shout. You can also attune to it in the Vanguard Attunement system to increase its drop rate from these activities.

Since it is available through Pinnacle Ops without any expansion requirement, A Good Shout is the best starting point for any Guardian who wants to try the crossbow weapon type without gating themselves behind raid or dungeon content first.

Submersion — Stasis Crossbow (Heavy)

Submersion is a Stasis Heavy Ammo crossbow added with Monument of Triumph. It sits in the Tenet of Bravery reward pool at the Tower and drops from Reclamation Events Weapon Engrams. Its Stasis element gives it access to freeze and slow mechanics through its perk pool, making it a strong pairing with Stasis subclass builds.

The perk pool on Submersion specifically supports two main playstyles: a utility freeze/slow loop for Stasis builds, and a Stasis Crystal generation setup for builds that use crystals as a resource (like Revenant Hunter builds that exploit Shatter Shard mechanics).

Submersion God Roll (PvE — Stasis Build)

• Rail: Quickload Rail or Frictionless Rail
• Bolt: Charged Bolts
• Perk 1: Auto-Loading Holster
• Perk 2: Chill Clip

Chill Clip is the key perk here. The last few rounds in a magazine slow targets on hit, and can freeze enemies entirely with enough stacks. Auto-Loading Holster reloads the crossbow automatically when stowed — removing the slow reload downtime by letting you swap weapons and return to a full crossbow. In practice, this means you can shoot your bolts, swap to your primary, deal damage, swap back, and find a fully reloaded Submersion ready to fire again.

Submersion God Roll (PvE — Stasis Crystal Build)

• Rail: Frictionless Rail
• Bolt: Serrated Bolts
• Perk 1: Impulse Amplifier
• Perk 2: Headstone

Headstone spawns a Stasis Crystal on Precision final blows. This feeds directly into any build that shatters or uses crystals for benefit — including Revenant Hunter setups using the Shatter Shard economy changes introduced in Monument of Triumph. Impulse Amplifier helps land precision hits more consistently at range by boosting projectile velocity.

How to Get Submersion

Submersion drops from the Reclamation Events Weapon Engram available at the Tenet of Bravery vendor in the Tower Courtyard. Purchase the engram using Legendary Marks. Note that this engram draws from a large pool of returning event weapons, so you may need to spend multiple engrams before landing a Submersion. Keep an eye on daily rotations and bonus focus days that may increase the drop rate of specific weapons from the pool. For more on how to earn Legendary Marks quickly, see our Legendary Marks guide.

Heirloom — Exotic Solar Crossbow (Special)

Heirloom is the most unique crossbow in Destiny 2. It is the game’s first Exotic crossbow, the first Special ammo crossbow, and one of the most visually striking weapons in the entire Renegades expansion — designed to resemble Chewbacca’s Bowcaster from Star Wars. Its Solar element, Special ammo slot, and Exotic trait set make it feel completely different from the three Legendary crossbows.

Heirloom Exotic Perk: Overcharged Bolt

Heirloom’s Exotic trait is called Overcharged Bolt (or a similarly named overcharge mechanic). The core behaviour is:

• Aiming down sights charges the next bolt fired, increasing both its damage and explosion radius at each charge level.
• Fully charged shots deal damage comparable to a rocket launcher while using only Special ammo — an exceptional damage-per-shot output for a non-heavy slot weapon.
• Heirloom is intrinsically strong against Unstoppable Champions.
• It uses a heat management system rather than a traditional reload. Firing heats the weapon and you manage cooling between shots.

The heat-based system rewards deliberate firing. Knowing when to hold a charge versus releasing early is what separates strong Heirloom play from mediocre use. Mastering the rhythm gives you one of the most damage-efficient Special ammo weapons available in any activity.

Heirloom Catalyst

Heirloom’s Catalyst is obtained by completing The Way Between quest inside the Equilibrium dungeon. Once the quest is completed, the Catalyst drops from the next encounter completion in the dungeon after focusing it inside the Praxic Temple. The Catalyst adds Incandescence — spreading Scorch to nearby enemies on kills — which transforms Heirloom into a Solar ignition engine when paired with the right fragments and subclass perks.

With Incandescence, Heirloom slots naturally into Solar builds running Ember of Char and Ember of Singeing, creating Ignition chains from its bolts. For more detail on the Heirloom Catalyst and the broader list of Monument of Triumph catalyst changes, see our new catalysts Monument of Triumph guide.

How to Get Heirloom

Heirloom drops from the final encounter in the Equilibrium dungeon — specifically from defeating the final boss, Dredgen Sere. It is a random drop with no guaranteed weekly cadence outside of Contest Mode.

• During Contest Mode (launch week only): Clearing all encounters before Contest Mode ended guaranteed the Heirloom drop plus the Dredgen’s Descent emblem.
• After Contest Mode: Heirloom drops randomly from the final boss chest. The weekly lockout applies — it can only drop once per character per week from the final boss. Legendary weapons and armor in Equilibrium have no weekly lockout and are farmable freely.

You can improve your Heirloom drop chance by completing specific Equilibrium Triumphs in the Equilibrium Triumph category. Each qualifying Triumph increases your drop chance by +10%, stackable across multiple completions. The Triumphs that count include challenge completions with active feats like Phase Race, Encounter Challenges, Cutthroat Combat, Token Enabled, and Battalions.

The Equilibrium dungeon requires the Renegades expansion to access. It is not currently in the featured dungeon rotation, which means the Heirloom is under a weekly lockout rather than being farmable. For a full walkthrough of the dungeon and its complete loot pool, see our Heirloom exotic crossbow guide and Equilibrium dungeon weapons and armor page.

Crossbow Bolt Types Explained

Every Legendary crossbow has a bolt column instead of a traditional magazine perk. Understanding bolt types is essential to getting the right roll for your playstyle. Here is a full breakdown of all bolt types currently in the game:

For most PvE content, Charged Bolts is the safest and highest-value bolt type. The damage-over-time effect stacks independently, meaning you can fire, retrieve your bolt, fire again, and have multiple stacks of DoT running simultaneously on a boss or elite. Explosive Bolts is the top pick for patrol, lost sectors, and any content where enemies cluster together.

Are Crossbows Worth Using in Destiny 2?

The honest answer is that crossbows are a genuinely fun weapon type that fills a niche role rather than dominating the current meta. Here is where they sit:

• Opaque Hourglass is not a top-tier DPS weapon but it is an excellent high-difficulty content pick for solo play. The bolt retrieval mechanic means you never actually run out of ammo, which matters a lot in Master-tier content where heavy ammo is scarce.
• A Good Shout in a Void build with Repulsor Brace and Destabilizing Rounds is legitimately strong and accessible to all players. It competes with other Void heavy options at mid-tier content.
• Submersion with Chill Clip is a strong utility pick for Stasis builds — the freeze potential from a heavy weapon slot is unusual and highly valued in endgame Stasis synergy setups.
• Heirloom is the strongest crossbow by a significant margin, especially post-Catalyst. Using Special ammo means you keep your heavy slot free for a rocket launcher or linear fusion, and the charged shot damage output rivals heavy weapon options on a per-shot basis. It competes directly in solo endgame and Conquest content.

For loadout and build context, crossbows pair well with the Solar Hunter builds currently dominating endgame — see our best Infinite Crackshot Hunter build for how Heirloom fits into a Solar damage rotation. If you are farming Tier 5 weapons to complement your crossbow, the free Tier 5 solo raid loot guide covers the fastest ways to upgrade your arsenal without needing a full fireteam.

Crossbows FAQ