This week is an interesting week namely because it answers a question I had rolling around in the back of my head. Since this is the first week Xur is returning to a planet that he had already been to… I had wondered if he would always appear in the same place on each planet. While we may not be absolutely certain… he did in fact appear up in the tree in the Watcher’s Grave area once again. I am curious to see when he goes to Titan next week… if they do follow the pattern if he also still appears in the little building that he did last time. I feel like this is going to be one of those weeks where you are either highly disappointed or really excited based on a handful of variables. So without further delay, lets rip that wrapping off and see what Xur brought us.
Every so often in Destiny 1 they had an exotic that equipped in the wrong slot… No Land Beyond the primary slot sniper or Universal Remote the primary slot shotgun are prime examples. This weeks bounty is the Fighting Lion… an energy slot grenade launcher that has a significant number of negatives that I feel have been placed on it in order to let it sit in a slot that is easier to get ammo for. The exotic perk is Delayed Gratification that allows you to do a timed explosion sort of thing where so long as you are holding down the trigger it will bounce the grenade around… then when you let up off the trigger it will explode. This continues to go into the generally fiddly and unreliable nature of grenade launchers as a whole that I went into a whole diatribe about yesterday. The most interesting perk is Thin the Herd which causes direct hits with the grenade to do significantly more damage to enemy shields… and then rapid kills to enemies damaged in this fashion cause the weapon to reload. Given that this is a single shot weapon… I feel like this is actually the perk we should be caring about. In function I think this weapon is designed to be a shield stripper and for you to swap over to it… hit an enemy decimating its shield in a single hit and then swap back to your kinetic to kill it quickly so that the weapon reloads and is ready for the next encounter. I mean this is a cool mechanic, but it also means you are losing one entire weapon slot to effectively a gimmick. I rely way too much on both my kinetic and energy weapons for moment to moment game play and cannot really afford to have a one hit wonder taking up one of those slots. Your mileage may vary of course and it is probably still worth a pick up if you have not yet unlocked this item in your collection.
Peacekeepers are an item that I would have purchased… were it not for the fact that I literally just got a pair from an engram last night. The perk on these is interesting in that it effectively gives Sub-Machineguns a stronger version of the cocoon perk. Effectively Mecha Holster does two things… firstly it causes submacs to reload when you stow them and secondly it causes submacs to swap instantly. I feel like this is screaming for a build where you are running two different archetypes of submachinegun in both your kinetic and energy slots. Were I doing this build I would go with a highly stable 600 rpm weapon like the Antiope-D or the Adjudicator in my kinetic slot, and rock something like the Royal Dispensation II in my energy slot. This is more than likely a PVP build sort of thing given that submacs akimbo is probably not the best idea for PVE engagements because you lose a lot of utility. This is a cool item that is inspired by the way Robocop drew his weapon, but it just isn’t good enough to probably get me to stop using the exotics I already have in rotation. Once again this is another if you don’t already have it, buy it to unlock in your collection sort of setup.
This week we have yet another repeat in the form of the Wings of Sacred Dawn… that actually last appeared in Xur’s inventory on week one when we were back here on Nessus. This still is one of the most ornate chest pieces that I have seen in the game and I know a lot of players seem to rock this almost for looks alone. I am still not really a fan of the Dawnblade sub class nor am I really a fan of the whole hover in air while hurling blades at your enemy that the Exotic perk gives you. If you like hanging mid air and performing attacks though then this might be the ideal weapon for you… for me that just seems to make you a giant target and I absolutely love when a warlock is using this in the crucible for that reason. It is worth the pick up for the unlock and maybe there will be a situation where this sort of gameplay is really needed in the future.
Now I present the diamond in the rough… Knucklehead Radar. There has been this trend in Destiny 2 of bringing underutilized exotics from Destiny 1 into the game, but this one sort of breaks that pattern. Knucklehead Radar has always been useful because it grants an insanely good exotic perk in the form of Upgraded Sensor Pack. What this effectively does is grant you radar 100% of the time regardless if you are aiming down the sight of your kinetic, energy or heavy weapon. The shine off of this item tarnished a bit during year three, when they introduced the Memory of Gheleon artifact… that effectively did this same thing. However for now… this is the only exotic that I use on my Hunter and if you do not already have this in your arsenal you should do whatever it takes to buy this item this week. Sure there are items that are functionally better in different situations…. but I like the fact that this is legitimately always going to be useful regardless of what sub class you are using or what situation you are in be it PVE or PVP. One of my favorite Destiny 1 items… and still one of my favorite Destiny 2 items… I just wish there was an equivalent for Titans.
Another thing I have started trying to do on my Friday morning post is show of what Xur is selling in Destiny 1, since no one seems to still be doing this thing. This week he can be located on the Reef, and apparently talked to his Destiny 2 counterpart as he is also offering the Knucklehead Radar. I am not going to talk a lot about his offerings but instead just list them out for any players who are still trying to complete exotic sets from the first game.
- Legacy Heavy Weapon Engram – 31 Strange Coins
- Helm of Inmost Light – Titan Helm – 13 Strange Coins
- Knucklehead Radar – Hunter Helm – 13 Strange Coins
- Nothing Manacles – Warlock Gauntlets – 13 Strange Coins
- Hereafter – Sniper Rifle – 17 Strange Coins
- Last Word and Sequel Ornament – Hand Cannon – 30 Strange Coins 25 Silver Dust
- Truth and Prototype Ornament – Rocket Launcher – 30 Strange Coins 25 Silver Dust
