TL;DR at bottom (This post moved due to change of Destiny category to Destiny 2 category) In a recent article that came out for Edge Magazine, Luke Smith commented on the Hunter subclass saying, "Online, the Destiny Community has focused on the apparent weaknesses. Players of the Hunter class are especially miserable, believing that the character presented to them in the beta is a shadow of its former self, lacking utility and a clear role within the team." He also explains that one subclass tree lets a Hunter generate up to 8 super orbs which is apparently enough to charge an ally's super from scratch. But of course, this does still seem very dismissive of what we're expecting based on what they gave us, the beta. And while orbs are useful, that's not great for playstyle and still only one tree. So one last time I'd like to go through all 12 subclass trees quickly, as they appear in the beta (even though that's old now, it's what we have to judge by), with a bit more of an in depth look at Hunters so we can really see where they're lacking, if they are (quick spoiler, they aren't ALL lacking). I'll include a basic/possible exotic recommendation (though many will be based off of Destiny 1 exotics) and a rating for each. This is going to be a long post. Please keep in mind that once exotics are revealed, some of these trees might be immensely improved, but the baseline for each still starts here. So let's get going: [b]Voidwalker - Attunement of Chaos[/b] Pull from your super to overcharge grenades and do extra damage. Everything does explosive damage and your melee recharges your grenade on strike. The super is slow but seeks, and splits into smaller pieces that also attack for a little extra damage. Exotic: Preferably something that grants a second grenade charge Rating: Strong synergy (all abilities), specific-use super [b]Voidwalker - Attunement of Hunger[/b] Devour is the melee ability, and like most of the synergy, it synergises to grant you extra health. The super leaves a damage-dealing field, and grenade energy can be consumed to grant health while ALSO granting devour to recharge grenades (interested to see how the conversion rate works here). Devour is also extended by killing enemies, meaning more regeneration of grenades. Exotic: Once again, anything that grants a second grenade so you're not wasting Devour's grenade recharge Rating: Strong synergy (grenade & healing), specific-use super [b]Dawnblade - Attunement of Sky[/b] Focusing heavily on mid-air combat, this tree is risky but also very rewarding to aerial combatants. Grenades feature heavily, and Icarus Dodge increases chance of survival. Infinite Icarus Dodge in super makes Daybreak quite useful. Exotic: They've already made mention of one that rewards in-air combat even more, so that one? Rating: Strong synergy (grenade & flying), broad-use super [b]Dawnblade - Attunement of Flame[/b] With tracking super shots/added duration on super and health recovery on a specific ability, this tree is not as aggressive as Attunement of Sky, but it has a lot of use over time, and strong bonuses for survival. Exotic: to fit playstyle, but especially any that will result in super faster Rating: Strong neutral game and healing, powerful/broad-use super [b]Sentinel - Code of the Protector[/b] Get a melee kill with a charge melee and you are now a demi-god. You are granted an overshield, increased melee damage (for more melees) and reload speed, AND recovered health (which you get on regular melee kills too, not just charged ones). You can also choose to cast Ward of Dawn by holding your super buttons. Exotic: Something that grants multiple Melee charges or charges melee faster Rating: Strong synergy (melee & survival), broad-use super with option for specific [b]Sentinel - Code of the Aggressor[/b] While not as strong as Code of the Protector, the combination of Shield Bash's swift melee justice and Into The Trenches' increased super charge are well rewarded for melee playstyle. Meanwhile, range is well rewarded by increased grenade recharge on grenade kills and an extra thrown shield charge on the shield's super. Exotic: Anything granting an extra charge (melee or grenade) or increased survival Rating: 2 smaller synergies (melee to super, grenade to grenade), broad-use super [b]Striker - Code of the Earthshaker[/b] This tree rewards the player well for melee damage (doesn't have to be a kill, just damage will suffice) from a strong melee by granting grenade energy, which goes nicely with the inherent extra grenade charge AND increased grenade effectiveness. The super also leaves damage dealing fields. Exotic: extra melee charge to assist with extra grenades Rating: Strong synergy (melee & grenades), broad-use super [b]Striker - Code of the Juggernaut[/b] This tree rewards gunplay with extra melee damage, and the melee rewards the player with better gunplay and health. Fists of Havoc kills increase duration. Exotic: extra melee charge to assist synergy Rating: Strong synergy (gunplay to melee and back), broad-use super [b]Arcstrider - Way of the Warrior[/b] While this tree is highly geared towards a melee synergy (dodging and meleeing CAN recharge each other, and a charged melee kill grants higher damage and increased health for subsequent melee kills) this synergy is not incredibly powerful as melee damage is still only enough to one-hit lower tier enemies. Thankfully the Arc Staff is much more useful than ArcBlade as it can survive use on a boss, something that would inevitably kill a Bladedancer in D1. Exotic: extra melee charge, or one similar to the previously mentioned warlock one that rewards the melee synergy with higher damage Rating: passable but not powerful synergy (melees & dodging), broad-use super [b]Arcstrider - Way of the Wind[/b] While mostly geared towards neutral game (dodge recharged by sprinting and higher top speed, as well as melee & grenade recharge conditions) the conditional nature of these bonuses makes them less than effective. Having a higher top speed means you will need to run less, charging your dodge less than if you were slow. And more importantly, the need to be critically wounded to charge grenade & melee is very prohibitive. Thankfully an Arcstrider should be tougher during dodges in super, and the melee disorients enemies it does not kill (which will hopefully last long enough when applied to a boss to make this melee useful). Exotic: something that allows a Hunter to last longer in a critically wounded state Rating: passable but not powerful neutral game, broad-use super [b]Gunslinger - Way of the Outlaw[/b] Unlike Voidwalker's Attunement of Chaos, which has all of its super-related bonuses in one perk (slower, seeking, splitting) Way of the Outlaw uses two perks to accomplish a similar yet less powerful set of bonuses (shorter duration, aim assist, more shots). The other two perks are an exploding throwing knife and an increase to reload speed with precision kills. If the two super-related perks were combined into one, like with Voidwalker's aforementioned tree, this would allow for Outlaw to be given another perk to give it some actual strength. Perhaps adding Gunslinger's Trance (precision kills increase stability) from Destiny 1 to Outlaw would combine well with Chain of Woe (precision kills increase reload speed) for a useful precision synergy, or something without conditions to bolster the Throwing Knife. Exotic: Absolutely no idea on this one because there's nothing great to capitalise on Rating: no synergy, poor bonuses to neutral game, broad-use super, Bungie please fix [b]Gunslinger - Way of the Sharpshooter[/b] This is the only Hunter tree that is STRONG like the warlock trees. Precision hits (not just kills, but hits) will recharge super faster, and the super is much stronger as it can do precision damage that creates orbs and increases super damage. The throwing knife can also do precision damage to increase super charge rate, and if the player gets a precision kill with the knife it immediately recharges. So in PVE a Sharpshooter could get many throwing knife precision kills, generate super for themselves, then do lots of super damage (especially to a boss) and make orbs for their team. Exotic: Added melee charge for even more throwing knives Rating: Strong synergy (precision hits to super), broad-use super [b]Aside:[/b] The Hunter dodge is built to synergise well with other Hunter abilities, but does not accomplish this well. Requiring close-combat dodges in order to charge melee may be useful for Arcstrider, but is ass-backwards for a ranged ability like throwing knife. Bungie could easily fix this by removing the distance requirement and having it boost melee recharge rather than instantly grant it. A little but often is more useful than a lot but rarely. As well, reloading a single weapon with a dodge is extremely under-powered compared to the Warlock & Titan's zone control abilities. Perhaps reloading all weapons would be more helpful. [b]TL;DR/Conclusions:[/b] All 4 Warlock subclass trees look strong, all 4 Titan trees look useful given good exotics and 2 of these 4 appear to be strong, but only 1 Hunter tree looks strong (Way of the Sharpshooter). The rest of the Hunter perk trees, though one has good synthesis (Way of the Warrior), DO appear to be much weaker than the Titan and Warlock trees. Here's hoping that the release build of D2 is MUCH better for Hunters than the beta. For a closer look of your own, here is a Beta Armory with Subclass "builder". Check out the subclasses and see what I mean. = ) https://lowlidev.com.au/destiny/subclass-builder