Hello to all you Guardians out there. To the new ones just joining our ranks as well as the experienced, welcome back from the holidays.
Xûr this week is located in Tower North across the hall from the Speaker. His inventory is comprised of year two remakes, some of which are better than others. Honestly, it just depends on what type of gameplay and comfortability a guardian prefers. As always, the following is based off of my opinion on playing with these exotics already.
This week’s Titan armor so happens to be “No Backup Plans”. These gloves can be a blessing in disguise if used properly. The year one perk just increased Force Barrier’s duration. The year two boost does the same but can trigger Force Barrier with a shotgun kill. This makes it easier to trigger Force Barrier compared to the requirement of getting a Disintegrate kill (titan melee power). In addition, these gloves come with shotgun loader and Rain Blows. Those two perks will help your shotgun reload speed and increase your melee attack speed.
Overall Opinion: These gloves can be a game changer if used properly in PvP. I like these gloves to make the titan an immovable object during control matches. If you combine these with Unbreakable, Relentless, and Untouchable perks it will help to lock down a spot. The only downside to all of this is that while locking down an area you become vulnerable to getting a titan smashed, golden gunned, nova bombed, ect.. These gloves, compared to other titan exotics, don’t do much to help a PvE group. Although if you are out on your own, these can come in handy to keep you alive.
This week’s Hunter Item is a year one remake which is far from impressive when compared to other Hunter exotics. Although, the “Knucklehead Radar” does provide some nifty perks. The main perk, Sensor Pack, enables radar while aiming primary weapons. This is similar to the Third Eye Perk that is on some weapon rolls throughout Destiny. The other two perks (Ashes to Assets and Better Already) seem more useful in my eyes while in PvP. These boost super energy gains on grenade kills and regen your shields after picking up an orb of light.
Overall Opinion: Although it may seem neat to always have your radar up, I feel it is not necessary for both PvP and PvE. I personally wouldn’t waste my coins on buying this armor at 280 defense for 13 strange coins. This is due to the other, more useful exotics within the hunter class.
Last, but not least, of the guardian classes is the Warlock item of the week. It is yet another year one remake the “Apotheosis Veil”. The year one version allowed the Warlock to regenerate health upon activating their super. The difference between that and the year two version is now it regens the grenade and melee as well. The helmets roll has more of a PvE aspect since it will only work while killing minions of the Darkness.
Overall Opinion: I would pass on this helmet as well this week. Although it seems like it could be built around some clutch moments in PvE/PvE due to the regen capability. The biggest issue is knowing when to activate your super. Plus, there are too many other exotics which can boost your capabilities more dramatically based on your subclass.
The last item is the Weapon of the week. Is it a bust like the helmet armor this week or will it be useful in the world of Destiny? The weapon of interest this week is “Dragon’s Breath” another year one remake. This Rocket launcher once created a Solar flare on impact causing any enemies to continue to burn, but the bad part was enemies would easily step out or avoid the orb completely. At first it was exciting but then tossed aside by the community after seeing how lacking it was. This year two upgrade has me impressed. The new take on it not only makes the weapon’s name more realistic, but it can cause some serious damage. The newest perk added is called Napalm which allows you to drop a solar damage napalm canister after firing the rocket when you release the trigger. This means you might have to be more cognizant on your trigger mechanics but causes a blanket of fire to engulf your enemies when released at the right time. It looks like a dragon has blanketed your enemies in fire, hence the name. Other perks helping this weapon out is “Surplus” (expect to find more ammo for weapon) and “Who’s Next?” (increases reload speed with final round kill). Since this weapon only holds one round at a time anyways, it is a nice touch to help the next rocket to be fired in a faster manner.
Overall Opinion: If you have not unlocked this year two version I strongly advise you to do so. Yes, it will cost you 23 strange coins, but you will have a “blast” with this rocket launcher. It will also become helpful on any solar burn nightfall challenges in the future.
Additionally, Xûr is selling the legacy engram for all the grimoire hunters out there who have yet to collect all the year 1 exotics. If you want to try your luck to complete your Heavy weapons engrams grimoire, then it will cost you 31 strange coins per engram.
As always Xûr’s inventory has two Sparrow drives this week including the Plasma Drive (Blue contrail) and Stealth Drive (Red contrail). Each will cost you 23 strange coins. If you are low on Heavy ammo synthesis, three of them will cost you one strange coin. The two other consumables you can purchase from Xûr every week are the “Three of Coins” at 5 for the cost of 7 strange coins as well as the Glass Needles at 3 for the cost of 3 strange coins, 3 motes of light, and 1 exotic shard.
If you have spare strange coins laying around and are running out of Three of Coins, Friday and Saturday are your times to refill your supply.
Happy Xûr Day Guardians!