Heavy Weapons

This page contains information on the Heavy Weapons available in Destiny. While there are only two known types of heavy weapon available at present - machine guns and rocket launchers - more may be announced closer to the game's release.

How to Use Heavy Weapons

To utilize heavy weapons, you can switch to by holding the weapon switch button for 2-3 seconds. You can buy Heavy Weapons from the Gunsmith or Cryptarch as soon as you have the currency to buy some.

How to Find Heavy Ammo

Heavy Ammo for heavy weapons is rare, and will drop occasionally from fallen enemies in large purple boxes. In the Crucible, you won't start with any Heavy Weapon Ammo - Crates will be dropped into the battlefield every so often, with callouts and locations appearing on your HUD. Grab a crate before the others to get ammo for yourself. If an enemy player beats you to a crate, you can defeat him to get some back.

Making the Most of Heavy Weapon Ammo

With Heavy Weapon ammo being so sparse, here are some tips to maximize your usage:

Look for Uncommon or rarer Heavy Weapons that have useful abilities concerning loot. Abilities like Return to Sender grant bonus ammo for every kill, and some weapons abilities even increase your chance to find more ammo in the field.
When in the Crucible, obtaining a Heavy Weapon Ammo Crate will instantly fill your magazine with ammo, but finding ammo off a fallen player will require you to load the ammo first.
As of the Beta, if you find yourself running out of ammo, you can unload all of your ammo and wait for a few moments. If your primary ammo is low or empty, your ammo will automatically be refilled, often with additional special and heavy weapon ammo as well.