Edit out the part where you said hand cannons are hated on. That it not true sir. They are glorified. Anyone who uses them are truly legendary. Anyone who doesn't will die...

Thorn in the right hands absolutely destroys in PvP. Like all Hand Cannons though, still requires a degree of skill, steady hand and a cool head to get the best out of it.

Pvp The Last Word Pve Hawkmoon Have them both maxed out and TLW is like a LMG but where you need to reload after every kill. Hawkmoon is just a sniper without scope.

It is a matter of which ones 'works' with you. Idk how handcannons are frowned upon. But I guess I could see how. They're very precision damage dependent, like the scout rifles. But they do the most precision damage. I hated them for the longest simply because I felt an auto/pulse rifle would suit me better. At first, thorn felt so underpowered. Slow reload and only 6 in mag? But I kept upgrading it. And pre-patch it was great in pvp. 4 ticks of damage, 7 damage each (which is equivalent to a sunsinger's scorch ignition with Viking funeral on, except sunsinger has more ticks) You can take an enemy out with 3 shots and if you fired all 3 shots and they didn't die, wait a couple seconds, the ticks will finish the job. Just don't reload in the middle of a gunfight lol.. But in my opinion, pve, it felt useless to me, the ticks don't stack, so imo, the tick damage hardly did squat to the enemies unless it was a dreg or other 'minion' enemy. Any of the bosses or bigger enemies, it just felt like it was scratching the enemies lol Then I obtained TLW, fully upgraded it and I will say it's also fun, but it's only short-mid range. Do NOT attempt to use this at an enemy more than maybe 40ft away, you'll hardly be able to land any head shots. It takes skill to use because of the recoil, even with good stability, in which you need to choose stability or impact damage. It's not as op as people say, but in the right hands this gun is beast. In pvp it feels almost essential. I used it in pvp mainly because the crucible is FLOODED with Titans and hunters using shotguns only since they're close quarters maps. Since I don't like shotguns or fusion rifles, TLW helped me out a lot Pve it's still pretty good. As long as you don't fan fire. Land those head shots and it's great! Still have yet to try hawkmoon or fate, but I'm being patient

Depends on what console you have. On I have pretty much every hand cannon you can get on Xbone maxed, my absolute favorite is Fatebringer. 13 rounds, high impact, arc damage.

PvE: Thorn<Last Word<The Calling<Ventation<Red Hand<Lord High<TDYK<Fatebringer I play PvP every now and then and normally use my Pocket Infinity in Crucible (because I'm a b*tch) and my Fatebringer in Iron Banner but I ultimately end up using my Fatebringer in crucible anyway. I'm on Xbox so I don't have a say about the infamous Hawkmoon. Although I would do anything for it.

Have The Last Word, Fatebringer, and Hawkmoon, and Hawkmoon is undeniably the most kickass handcannon there is.

No it is definitely not the best handcannon the best is The Devil You Know

Depends on what you are using it for. I have read a lot of arguments in favor of: PvE: Hawkmoon > Fatebringer > TDYK PvP: TLW > Thorn/LHF Not as sure on PvP side other than the best being TLW. Also, there are talks of a blue hand cannon with awesome impact which performs well too. Fatebringer does aoe damage on kills which sets it apart from TDYK which does not (unless you have explosive shells which you should not use, because it reduces your single target precision damage). Also, Fatebringer apparently reloads faster than TDYK (without reload perks) which makes it also better. There was as stealth nerf to Thorn on Monday which reduced it's DOT effect by a little over half. You asked about maxed damaged of Hand Cannons, but all of them max out at the same damage. I would instead look at impact/reload/rate of fire/mag size/special perks to see which ones are set apart.

I'm currently rocking thorn in IB and it's doing great it's my go to pvp weapon. Though it has it's flaws you just have to be smart and adjust. Though before the mark of the D it is insanely worse. And right now they accidentally nerfed it's dot losing around 60% of the damage it did. Still kicks ass though. With the send it perk you will be able to wreck snipers no prob. Edit: also it's 2 head shots to kill and 3 body in regular crucible before the nerf(gets fixed on weekly update) with 3 body shots the dot will kill em with 4 the actual bullets will

I love all of em ... because you really feel difference between different handcannons.. i like devil you know and last word still doing the thorn bounty.

I have all handcannons and fully upgraded, except for fatebringer. I think thorn is the best looking weapon this game has by far. But the 6 bullet magazine and 20 min reload speed make it very ineffective in pve, even fully upgraded. Hand cannons like the chance or devil you know do a way better job at the raid or whatever. It's pretty nice in pvp though. I dislike the last word most of all. The perks are all for hip aim and the range is just way to low for my playstyle. Hawkmoon is my go-to gun for both pve and pvp. It really helps if you got good aim and can handle the recoil. I've done some 150+ damage headshots in the iron banner today, thats thanks to the 3 out of 13 bullets in the magazine that will do like 30% more damage.

Thorn is great when used properly, there are several ways it really shines. That said, you can't get a better cannon than Fatebringer in my opinion, and many will agree.

I'm actually surprised that the FWC hand cannon The Chance is not even mentioned, that actually isn't too bad with the stability perk (vendor version) , it might not have the range but it can pop head shots insanely accurate.

Well, this week I would have to say Fatebringer. Because without it, you are in for some pain in the Nightfall.