As you progress your character through the storyline, you encounter rarer and stronger weapons. At first, you’re just happy to use blue or golden weapons, as they pack a punch in their own right. Acquiring an exotic weapon changes everything, you finally have a high rarity item to add to your arsenal. Upon hitting the level cap and running all the end-game content, you soon find exotics are fairly easy to come by and your stash will soon fill up.
Knowing which exotics are worth keeping or not is important, your stash only has a certain amount of storage space so don’t fill it full of useless items. This list will show you the 10 best exotic weapons in the game, every other exotic item can be ignored or maybe just keep 1 of each to future-proof yourself in case they get updated.
10. Hungry Hog
LMGs are nowhere to be seen in PvP as they lack the burst damage required to take down targets. In PvE though, the Hungry Hog never gets full, no matter how many enemies it devours. While firing, each kill will increase your damage output by 10%, up to 50% bonus damage which is crazy. Combine this with the Lonestar gear set to have instant reloads upon switching weapon.
If you can acquire all 6 pieces of classified gear, you’ll unlock the 6 piece set bonus which couldn’t be more effective with the Hungry Hog. It’ll grant you a 75% chance of instantly re-filling the magazine and buffing your weapon damage/fire-rate by an extra 50%. Potentially, you can reach up to 80% extra damage with a near-endless amount of bullets.
Recommended gear set: Lonestar
9. Warlord
Surprisingly a decent PvP weapon, particularly for those Nomad or Striker builds. Warlord’s unique talent reduces damage taken while firing before dealing the same amount when you stop firing. This doesn’t sound too great but a 20% damage reduction in a 1v1 PvP gun-fight can be game-changing. A low fire-rate significantly reduces the ranking this weapon reaches on the list, though.
Recommended gear set: Nomad or Striker
8. Big Alejandro
An extended-magazine is mandatory on the Big Alejandro, as the 1000 RPM rate-of-fire makes short work of the puny 55 rounds magazine. Not only does this give you insane suppressive power potential, a full damage build will easily melt targets in PvE. Unfortunately, this is the only exotic item I’ve yet to obtain (had around 50 Bliss Holsters though..) so I haven’t used it myself, word-of-mouth and stat research tells me it deserves a place on this list.
Recommended gear set: Striker or Lonestar
7. Urban MDR
Out-fit this assault rifle with as much stability as you can and you get a high-powered long range weapon with great marksman capabilities. At close range it’ll be out-fought by most other weapons but at medium to long range, no other assault rifle will suit you better. The Urban MDR’s weapon talent increases damage by 18% against targets with status effects, which is particularly effective during the Blackout event.
With a semi-auto firing mode, many players don’t bother to give this exotic weapon a second look but trust me, in the right situations it’s more than capable of being effective.
Recommended gear set: Sentry or Firecrest
6. Pakhan
Another light machine gun, each kill with the Pakhan increases the ammo count of the next reload. You might be thinking this weapon simply makes your ammo reserves run out quickly but the bonus ammo does not count against your current ammo supply. A base ammo count of 45 without an extended magazine is a tad low but once you get those stacks going, you’ll keep firing forever.
Recommended gear set: Lonestar
5. Liberator
While the Liberator doesn’t have any unique talent unless combined with the Centurion side-arm, it’s an extremely viable assault rifle, perfect for players just starting to explore the end-game content of The Division. The Lightweight M4 is the best assault rifle in the game right now and the Liberator has almost identical stats. A trait of most assault rifles is their versatility, the Liberator is no different as it can wield 3 talents of your choice and be spec’d with almost any attachments!
Recommended gear set: Almost any gear set is great with the Liberator, it all depends on the weapon talents!
4. Bullfrog
If you can tame the recoil of the Bullfrog (believe me, you can’t), you’ll have an exceedingly powerful weapon on your hands. Its talent “Uncomplicated” increases damage by 15% but accuracy and/or stability mods reduce this damage. Good luck making this work, the recoil this weapon has is so damn hard to control. Obviously, high damage at all ranges partnered with a huge 900 RPM rate-of-fire make it a formidable CQB weapon.
I see plenty of people using this gun in both PvP and PvE, if you’re fine with the recoil then the Bullfrog is number 2 on this list for you personally, otherwise it’s right where it should be.
Recommended gear set: Striker or Predator’s Mark
3. Historian
You have to admit, this exotic weapon looks amazing. In a world full of high-tech equipment, there’s something special about running a weapon with a wooden stock. Especially one that causes explosions, Historian’s talent causes bullets to explode 1 second after hitting an enemy for damage equal to 700% of the user’s Firearms. As a semi-automatic marksman rifle rather than a bolt-action, the sheer damage output warrants a place in the top 3 on this list, as well as the number 1 spot on the best marksman rifles list.
Recommended gear set: Deadeye, Predator’s Mark or Hunter’s Faith
2. Showstopper
Being mowed down by a Striker running a Showstopper is one of the most infuriating things in PvP. It feels like there’s nothing you can do, so much damage has no equal at close range. Each pellet counts as a hit for Striker procs and as your magazine gets lower, Showstopper’s talent increases your accuracy. Taking down multiple targets is a breeze for this exotic shotgun and I’m not just talking about PvE!
Recommended gear set: Striker
1. The House
After being endlessly spawn-killed in PvP by players running The House, as well as obtaining one myself and melting NPCs, this exotic weapon has to be number 1 on the list. SMGs tend to be incredible in shooter games, as fire-fights are nowhere near as long-range as real life. Despite this, most exotic SMGs are garbage. Who cares when you can just use The House?
One half of the magazine increases damage dealt by 20% and this flips after each reload. With an extended magazine, you can have 30 or 40 rounds dealing 20% increased damage. Combine this with a full crit build and a rate-of-fire of 850 to get the best exotic weapon in the game!
Recommended gear set: Predator’s Mark or Striker