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Meet The ‘Destiny 2: Warmind’ Exotics And Exotic Weapon Changes Coming In May

By Scott Grill
Published on: 07:04 PST, Apr 25, 2018

Every new expansion of Destiny 2 introduces a new set of Exotic armor and weapons for Guardians to collect. The release of the Warmind DLC next month is particularly noteworthy as while Bungie is adding to the pool of Exotics, it is also revamping several existing weapons as well to make them stand out.

New Exotics

A total of 15 pieces of new Exotic gear will be added to Destiny 2 with the Warmind expansion. Unsurprisingly, eight of these pieces will be items returning from Destiny 1. They include the following:

  • Apotheosis Veil Warlock Helmet
  • Armamentarium Titan Chest Armor
  • Claws of Ahamkara Warlock Gauntlets
  • Eternal Warrior Titan Helmet
  • Frost-EE5 Hunter Leg Armor
  • Sealed Ahamkara Grasps Hunter Gauntlets
  • Sleeper Simulant Fusion Rifle
  • Suros Regime Auto Rifle

Meanwhile, here are the brand-new pieces:

  • Ashen Wake Titan Gauntlets
  • Ophidia Spathe Hunter Chest Armor
  • Sanguine Alchemy Warlock Chest Armor
  • The Huckleberry Submachine Gun
  • The Oculus Xol Warlock Helmet
  • Wormgod Caress Titan Gauntlets
  • Wormhusk Crown Hunter Helmet

It is currently unknown what kind of changes the returning Exotics will see or the specific perks for the new pieces that will make them stand out from the crowd.

However, many of the existing Exotic weapons will receive improvements with the 1.2.0 update. Bungie detailed these during the Destiny 2: Warmind reveal stream Tuesday along with teasing them on social media.

Boosted Existing Exotics

Borealis Sniper Rifle

  • Reduced flinch
  • After breaking the shield of an enemy (a combatant or a Guardian using a Super) with the matching elemental damage type, it deals double damage for the remainder of the magazine

The Crimson Hand Cannon

This Hand Cannon is already special in that it fires a three-round burst like a Pulse Rifle. Bungie is making The Crimson deadlier to use by decreasing the time between bursts and increasing the damage of the last round to match the time to kill (TTK) of aggressive hand cannons. It will also be able to hold more ammo going forward.

  • Refined damage, rate of fire, and recovery time between bursts
  • Increased ammo inventory

Coldheart Trace Rifle

  • Damage now ramps up faster
  • Reduced incoming flinch
  • Increased precision modifier to 1.4x (was 1.05x)

D.A.R.C.I. Sniper Rifle

  • Reduced flinch
  • Reduced zoom on scope
  • Increased precision damage to locked-on targets (up to 4x)
  • Increased aim assist

Fighting Lion Grenade Launcher

This weapon receives a buff to its detonation damage at the expense of slightly lowered direct hit damage. This is to make the Fighting Lion more reliable and not dependent on direct hits to get a kill. Bungie is also increasing its ammo capacity, and kills with it will guarantee an Energy Ammo brick will drop.

  • Deals more blast damage and less direct hit damage
  • Increased ammo inventory
  • Increased spawn ammo
  • Kills with this weapon guarantee Energy ammo drops

Graviton Lance Pulse Rifle

This will probably be the most visually interesting Exotic improvements of the 1.2.0 update along with being incredibly deadly. The weapon will now fire a two-round burst with the second round being extremely powerful. It also will create an explosion with precision kills that sends out void projectiles to do additional damage to nearby surviving enemies.

  • Now fires two-round bursts
  • Increased stability
  • Reduced recoil on its final round in a burst
  • Cosmology explosion deals more damage
  • Cosmology explosion now spawns secondary Void projectiles
  • Enemies eliminated float up and back, detonating closer to their death location
  • Improved aim assist

Hard Light Auto Rifle

Destiny 2 players will be able to change the element type fired by holding down the reload button. Additionally, bullets that ricochet will do double their normal damage.

  • Can now be manually reloaded to change the damage type
  • Hits after its rounds bounce now deal double damage

The Jade Rabbit Scout Rifle

  • +20 stability

Prometheus Lens Trace Rifle

  • Increased magazine size to 100 rounds
  • Deals more area damage and less beam damage
  • Increased precision modifier to 1.4x (was 1.05x)

The Prospector Grenade Launcher

  • Grenades now stick to surfaces
  • Grenades now cause burn damage over time

Rat King Sidearm

The existing Exotic perk that buffs the Rat King’s rate of fire, reload speed, and damage when other members of a fireteam are wielding the weapon has been further buffed. Players will only need to have the weapon equipped, but not wielded, for the buff to activate. Additionally, Bungie has made the Sidearm fully automatic so all players will see the bonus from the increased rate of fire.

  • Enhanced the total stat benefits of running with a pack
  • Benefits are front-loaded; there are now larger damage benefits when two people equip the Exotic, with slight damage increases for each additional player
  • The Rat Pack perk can now activate and stack while Rat King is stowed
  • Added HUD notification text for when the Rat Pack perk is active
  • Increased ammo inventory
  • Added full auto

Riskrunner Submachine Gun

Bungie has increased the amount of Arc damage resistance when the Arc Overdrive perk is activated. They have also enabled this perk for use in PVP so those wielding the Riskrunner will receive 50 percent less damage from Arc sources. Players will receive a notification when the perk is active so they can switch to the Submachine Gun and receive the benefits of the perk.

  • Now deals more damage while Arc Conductor is active
  • Enhanced Arc damage resistance to 50% while Arc Conductor is active and Riskrunner is in the player’s hands
  • Arc damage resistance is now enabled against Guardians in the Crucible
  • Arc Conductor can be activated while the weapon is stowed
  • Added Arc FX to the player while Arc Conductor is active

Skyburner’s Oath Scout Rifle

This Exotic Scout Rifle will behave just as it does today when firing while aiming down the sights. However, the boost in utility comes from hip firing as the Skyburner’s Oath will shoot bullets that will track a target and explode. Bungie described it as being like a mini-grenade launcher.

  • +10 aim assist
  • +30 increased handling
  • Now has the Explosive Payload perk
  • Hip fire now lobs slower-moving projectiles with tracking

Sturm and Drang

Sturm

  • Increased base stability stat
  • Overcharged rounds from Drang now deal 80% bonus damage
  • Added HUD status notification and visual feedback for when the magazine is overcharged

Drang

  • Kills with Drang reload Sturm and add one overcharged round even if Sturm’s mag is not full
  • Increased magazine size
  • Now has the Rampage perk

Sunshot Hand Cannon

  • Increased damage and radius of kill explosion

Sweet Business Auto Rifle

  • Increased the ammo gained when players pick up Kinetic ammo
  • Increased ammo inventory

Tractor Cannon Shotgun

Hitting an opponent with a round from this shotgun will make it so all Void-based damage from any source does precision damage.

  • Weapon damage now suppresses targets
  • Weapon damage now makes targets more susceptible to Void damage (+50%) for 10 seconds

Vigilance Wing

  • Recovery is set to maximum while the Last Stand perk is active

Masterwork Exotics

Legendary weapons have already received Masterwork upgrades and now it is the Exotic weapons turn. Each Exotic weapon will get its own unique perk to make the weapon more powerful called a Catalyst, according to a discussion in a PlayStation Access video. For example, Vigilance Wing could be full auto (this isn’t set in stone yet) and The Crimson will have its range extended to the maximum.

Bungie is going to leave how to obtain these Catalysts a mystery for Destiny 2 players to discover, though a hint is provided in the Exotic weapon inspection screen. MoreConsole showed RiskRunner as an example in a video with the description for the Catalyst as “found in strikes against the most challenging opponents.”

The Destiny 2: Warmind expansion and update 1.2.0 are scheduled to be released on May 8 to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Bungie has confirmed that all Crucible maps in the expansion will be available to all players in matchmaking activities whether they have purchased the DLC or not. Additionally, changes to how enemy difficulty scales will be included along with a new PVE end-game challenge called Escalation Protocol plus Competitive Ranks in Crucible.

[Update: Added details to the Exotic weapon changes following the release of the Destiny 2: Warmind update 1.2.0 patch notes.]

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