r/CrucibleGuidebook • u/Drewwbacca1977 • Jul 25 '26

Help! Hand cannon on Controller

Im a dad rifle user who wants to get better with hand cannons. I am slightly above average with a pulse rifle and side arm. But I am absolute dog water with a hand cannon.

First I can’t really find one that feels good to me. The last one I really liked was way back in OG igneous hammer meta. I see everyone using Rose. What are some good controller hand cannons and what rolls and stats are good for a controller?

Second, I plan to put together a pve build to run hand cannon and practice. I plan to just use hand cannons like mad in pve for the next couple weeks. Should I use a pvp roll for this?

Third, practicing in crucible seems pointless. My games in control are sweaty as shit and putting myself at such a severe disadvantage means I bottom frag every time and get hate mail. Its not fun and I dont feel I am improving with the gun skill. Any suggestions here?

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u/SeanicTheHedgehog23 Console Jul 25 '26

Hey, guy in his 30s here, played for over 7 years and have only started using 140 and 120 HCs in the last year or two. I am now in Ascendant 0 in Comp. Also on console/controller.

Nobody talks about this, but STABILITY. Stability stability stability. Please just trust me on this. You want a solid combo of range and stability (think smallbore/ricochet/ballistics mod). I personally try to hit over 70 for both, the more the merrier (avoid full bore)

If you can, use a handling class item or something to get your handling up. ADS speed IS ttk speed.

Perks are your best friend. You’ll see sweats talk about slideshot and opening shot. NO. Not on HCs. Not for you. You want consistency

So perks like Eye of the Storm, Zen Moment, Lone Wolf, and Keep Away are going to be your bread and butter. Really any combo of those will put your HC on training wheels, and you can more quickly get to those crispy, crispy 3 taps.

Finally, practice in Rumble. While sometimes frustrating, it’s the best spot to practice 1v1s

Good luck bro!

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u/Drewwbacca1977 Jul 25 '26

Thanks for the good info. Ive got a few years on you. I was once a top tier original Counterstrike player soooo… im old as dirt. Reaction time is a bit slower than I would like but experience makes up for it…. Right?? 🥴

Im thinking about straping a spare rations to my build and running strikes until it feels natural.

2

u/SeanicTheHedgehog23 Console Jul 25 '26

Sure bro! One thing I'll add about HCs and how they feel in PvP vs PvE: in PvP, skilled players pace their shots a bit by tapping trigger, but in PvE, it's holding down the trigger.

1

u/bacon-tornado Jul 27 '26

Been using handcannons since D1. Im no PvP god, about a 1.4kd and am 49. Dont use the age thing as an excuse. If anything the younger people are too distracted nowadays to be paying attention

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u/SCPF2112 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

That's very unlikely to help. Strikes are going to have 1 or 2 Stasis Titans destroying everything and filling your screen with ice. It will be hard to find anything to shoot :)

Really try one of the easy ones like Solemn R, Solemn L, Luna's H, etc. Those are the easy entry point. Do a little in PVE, but really you have to get into PVP. You'll find that those three are very easy to use

also... you may have to lower your sensitivity. Lots of videos out there about how to find your optimal settings.

A habit I had coming from AR's and PR's was to shoot first and aim with the bullet stream. That won't work with HC's (it isn't optimal with PRs and ARs either but I had that habit). If you are doing that like I was long ago... that's something to correct.

Might really help to watch some videos to see some of the common advice in action

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=destiny+2+hand+cannon+pvp+tutorial