Trace Rifle

Coldheart, an example of a trace rifle.

"The trick with Traces is keepin' your laser on the target. Longer you keep it there, the more damage you do."

— Banshee-44

Trace Rifles are powerful rifles capable of firing singular, concentrated energy beams that can be focused down upon multiple targets at once. They are under the special weapon category. Because of the low amount of known rifles, they were instead infused with auto rifles until the introduction of Upgrade Modules. Similarly, they shared armor mods with auto rifles as well until Season of the Splicer. Most trace rifles wieldable by Guardians were of Exotic rarity until the introduction of Retraced Path.

Overview

A class of weapon first known to the Last City through the work of Omolon, trace rifles are highly accurate, battery-powered lasers. While they may appear to have a measly impact stat, this is more than made up for by the fact they are the fastest firing weapons in the game, with a damage output between the general purpose use of auto rifles and the heavy duty power of machine guns. Paired with their nonexistent spread and high stability they are effectively a sort of "super auto rifle" befitting of their status as special ammo weapons.

Trace rifles support the following intrinsic trait.

Intrinsic trait	In-game description	Further details
Adaptive Frame	A well-rounded grip, reliable and sturdy.	N/A

Exotic trace rifles

• Coldheart - Available via pre-ordering Destiny 2. Later added to world drop.
• Prometheus Lens - World drop. Added in Curse of Osiris expansion.
• Wavesplitter - World drop. Added in the Forsaken expansion.
• Divinity - Raid Exotic for Garden of Salvation. Obtained as part of the Divinity Exotic Quest.
• Ruinous Effigy - Acquired through the Missive (Growth) quest during Season of Arrivals.
• Ager's Scepter - Acquired through the Tracing the Stars quest during Season of the Lost.

Legendary trace rifles

• Retraced Path - Acquired as a drop from Xur's Treasure Hoard, which is part of the Dares of Eternity activity during Bungie's 30th Anniversary event.
• Hollow Denial - Obtainable during the Season of the Haunted.
• Path of Least Resistance - Obtainable during the Season of the Seraph.

Enemy trace rifles

• Vex Laser Rifle
  • Chronology Rifle

Trivia

Browse more images on this article's gallery page.

• Trace rifles appear to be loosely inspired by the focus rifle of Halo: Reach, Bungie's last game before making Destiny, as indicated by the description of Retraced Path.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2 (First appearance)
  • Curse of Osiris
  • Forsaken
  • Shadowkeep
    • Season of Arrivals
  • Beyond Light
    • Season of the Lost
  • The Witch Queen
    • Season of the Haunted