I am a very firm believer in the Quickdraw perk. I believe that I can say, without a doubt, that it's my favorite perk in the game.

Some background...

I like to play anti-meta outside the competitive playlist. For the purpose of this post, that means running an auto rifle. One that isn't Suros Regime. It means running an auto rifle with low recoil direction and stability stats. It means running a Halfdan-D in the Crucible.

What does running a Halfdan-D in the Crucible entail? For me, it meant taking my main PvE rifle with 4,000+ PvE kills to go kill Guardians. And it was beautiful.

You can view my Halfdan-D roll here. I'd like to bring your attention specifically to the range stat and the first perk, Quickdraw.

What did I run in my secondary slot? Recluse seemed like an obvious choice but I gave it some more thought than that. I'm playing anti-meta, might as well act the part and come dressed for it.

After some deliberation while staring at my vault, I came to rest on Gunnora's Axe for my energy weapon. Pay some more attention to the range stat and the first perk.

Overall thoughts on the build

These two weapons complimented each other like bread and butter, like peanut butter and jelly, like NFL quarterbacks and insurance ads. Having Quickdraw on both of my weapons made a big difference, especially when the handling stat was less-than-ideal for a PvP loadout(for some). The swaps between the two were blindingly fast. Everything was crisp and snappy. The Halfdan-D was an extension of my hand at this point(see again: PvE kill tracker), and I put it to some very good work in the Crucible. I hadn't used Gunnora's Axe before, but got the hang of it pretty quickly. My roll is almost a Chaperone in the energy slot.

Moar details

Being able to swap weapons as quickly as I did made a huge difference in my gameplay. I could whip a shotgun out to follow up a melee before my opponent had time to counter-melee. The Halfdan did plenty of work in both the medium and the long range. Being a high-impact, max-range auto rifle, I could challenge the upper tier of pulse rifles and even dip into scout rifle territory with the long zoom scope. The Dan consumed everything closer than midrange pulse rifles in the same fashion as Cerberus+1 eating everything in SMG/shotgun range. Stacking rampage made the blood flow faster, adding to the carnage. If enemies got too close for the Dan, the Axe came right behind it.

I've used the Halfdan enough that it doesn't matter for me that the stability stat is low for an auto rifle. Between the amount of time I've spent with this rifle and the fact that I play on PC, I had no problems whatsoever keeping recoil controlled. I was able to out-flinch and out-shoot a Duke in the long range as well.

Closing thoughts

• Moving Target on a slug shotty is amazing. I'd almost prefer it over Snapshot Sights or, to a lesser extent, Opening Shot.
• Rampage is probably the best perk available on an auto rifle. I caught myself thinking fantasizing about Cerberus+1 with Rampage earlier today.
• Give double Quickdraw a try.

What do I think of auto rifles in PvP?

It's a shame that there aren't that many good auto rifles for PvP. Gnawing Hunter with a good roll is a solid choice, but that requires farming Reckoning. Rapid-fire ARs like Misfit and Valakadyn are also good, but again: with a solid roll. And at that point, you're better off using Recluse anyway for the most part. Some rapid-fire ARs could probably out-range Recluse, but that'd be the main perk. Auto rifles can't fully compete against hand cannons that hit between 65-70 to the head, are much more consistent, and require less recoil control.

Overall, I think auto rifles fill a really niche spot in the meta that fits in somewhere between the lower end of scout rifles and the higher end of pulse rifles. Because of that, there's no real point in taking an auto rifle when Vigilance Wing and Blast Furnace will be better choices anyway. The only real thing my Halfdan has on V-Wing is a couple more meters of range, but V-Wing would most likely out-shoot it every single time.

Auto rifles are fun, but they're in a tough spot that makes it hard to enjoy them for most people.