best setup to stay safe and anonymous

what is the best or easiest setup to stay safe and anonymous when dealing in the darknet.
would it be unbutu and running whoenix?
tails?
vm?
all obviously ending with vpn and socks5?

I think it's kind of a tossup between Tails and Whonix. Tails is probably the quickest to get up and running, but Whonix is more flexible.