How ‘Destiny’ Exotics Work For Year Two And ‘The Taken King’

Exotic weapons and armor are being given the once over in Destiny: The Taken King. Bungie spent part of the past week dropping information on how Exotics will work for Year Two of the PlayStation and Xbox shooter via a Twitch stream and Weekly Update. The good news is that some of the Exotic pieces you own won’t become useless, plus managing weapons and armor from this quality class will become a little easier.

Exotic Blueprints

Guardians of Destiny should rejoice with the news that unwanted or unused Exotics will no longer take up space in their character inventory or Vault. Bungie has added Exotic Armor and Exotic Weapon Blueprint terminals in the Tower Vanguard Hall that will record every Exotic piece each player finds.

The Exotic Blueprint collection isn’t limited to just a single character, though, as it is an account-wide feature. That means players will be able to obtain a Thunderlord with their Hunter and then create copies for their Warlock and Titan.

Retrieving an Exotic from Blueprints is not free, though. It will cost one Exotic Shard and 2,500 Glimmer. It’s also unclear on how this will affect the Intellect, Discipline, and Strength stats for Exotic armor pieces. These have been random before, but the Twitch stream from Bungie suggests they have been retooled in some way. This article will be updated when we understand more.

Players shouldn’t assume how collections will be implemented. Just because you have an Exotic today, does not mean you can dismantle the item and it will show up your the Exotic Blueprint collection when The Taken King goes live on September 15. Executive Producer Mark Noseworthy dropped this tidbit via Twitter.

Any Exotic you have in your inventory when Destiny update 2.0.0 goes live, will come with an Exotic Blueprint. No guarantees before that.

— Mark Noseworthy (@knowsworthy) August 20, 2015

Year One Exotics

Exotic weapons and armor from Destiny Year One will start at the new 160 Attack and Defense ratings, respectively. They also cannot be “Infused” to increase their power. Please see the How ‘Destiny’ Armor And Weapons Work For Year Two With ‘The Taken King’ article for a full explanation of the new weapon and armor ratings, plus what is currently known about Infusion.

Not all Year One Exotics will be left behind with the release of The Taken King, however. A selection will be available to upgrade to new variants in Year Two for a cost of 125 to 150 Legendary Marks. The upgrades will come with a 280 Attack or Defense rating, plus some perk changes.

The signature perk for Exotics will now be enabled from the moment they are obtained. New perks will be added to the talent tree on Year One pieces. Meanwhile, some existing perks will be enhanced. For example, the “Improved Disintegrate” perk on the No Backup Plans gauntlets will have its duration “significantly extended.”

The Suros Regime was another Exotic shown off during the livestream with not just new perks, but a new look. The red and white color scheme was replaced with a metallic black and white scheme with gold highlights. This is also another Destiny Exotic that saw its perk tree changed; this time to match the rest of the Suros Foundry.

Please scroll to the bottom of this article to see a list of all upgradable Year One Exotics confirmed (so far) in Year Two.

Year Two Exotics

The new, Year Two Exotics appearing in Destiny are unknown at this point, with the exception of The Sleeper Stimulant Heavy Fusion Rifle. The September issue of Game Informer also mentions an Exotic can be found spread across Oryx’s Dreadnaught in 50 pieces.

Based on the livestream, it is confirmed Year Two Exotics will require an overall level of 40 to wear and will have a 280 Attack or Defense rating. As mentioned above, each new Exotic piece in Destiny will also start out with a signature, intrinsic perk that is active even when the piece is not upgraded.

Confirmed Year One Weapons/Armor Upgradeable to Year Two

Here are the Year One Exotics that can be upgraded to Year Two levels with Destiny: The Taken King. This list is based on the teaser, the livestream and comments coming directly from Bungie.

The good news is Xbox players can obtain the PlayStation timed-exclusive weapons at the Year Two levels – Hawkmoon, Monte Carlo, The 4th Horseman. The bad news is that Gjallarhorn will be left behind along with Nercrochasm, which is finally receiving a much needed buff in the Destiny 2.0 update.

Primary Weapons

• Bad Juju
• Hawkmoon
• Last Word
• Monte Carlo
• Red Death
• Suros Regime

Special Weapons

• The 4th Horseman
• Invective

Heavy Weapons

• Thunderlord
• Truth

Armor

• Light Beyond Nemesis
• Obsidian Mind
• Voidfang Vestments

Confirmed Year One Weapons Not Available For Upgrade In Year Two

• Gjallarhorn
• Hardlight
• Icebreaker
• Necrochasm
• Super Good Advice
• Thorn
• Universal Remote
• Vex Mythoclast

Have any questions or see anything that is missed? Sound off in the comments below.

[Images via Bungie]