7 Awesome Exotics You Need In Your Destiny 2 Arsenal

Destiny 2's honeymoon period has come to its natural end; the dust has settled and any fears the community may have had that Bungie's sequel would suffer similar issues to that of its predecessor have mostly been allayed and swept into a neat pile, ready to be discarded. With level caps reached, raids conquered and the Cabal invasion of Earth quelled, the Guardian collective has now resumed its daily and weekly rituals that Bungie remains so fond of, all in the hopes of scoring the rarest of all loot: Exotics. Just in case you're one of the unfortunate few for who bad luck follows across every video game, the developer has made sure that every player gets to experience that magical moment by doling out a hand-picked selection via Destiny 2's campaign, but the rabbit hole goes much deeper than that. The excitement of landing an Exotic Engram drop has, and remains to be one of the highlights of Destiny's addictive gameplay, but which are to be considered the best? Find out on the next page. 7) Riskrunner Remember the Zhalo Supercell from Destiny? Well say hello to Riskrunner: it's a sleeker, more compact descendant of The Taken King's similarly Arc-infused firearm and packs one hell of a punch in PvE content. Unlike its forebear, Riskrunner's a submachine gun, and less stable because of it, but don't let the recoil and shorter range deter you. Mini-Zhalo has smoother-than-butter handling and arguably better perks to boot. The unique chain lightning perk returns for Zhalo's successor, though this time it's not quite as simple as jumping into a group of enemies and spewing lightning all over the place like a certain Sith Lord; there's a catch. Owing to its name, in order to trigger Riskrunner's Arc Conductor perk, you'll purposefully need to take damage from enemies using the same element, which will, in turn, empower its barrel with a shocking (pun intended) amount of power. Adding to that already impressive benefit, racking up additional kills while it's firing on all cylinders, so to speak, will extend the duration of Arc Conductor, with every electrified bullet having the chance of being returned directly to the magazine. I still find myself mildly peeved that Bungie decided to do away with light machine guns for Destiny 2, but this is the next best thing. With a careless attitude and a bit of luck, you'll clear out an entire room of Fallen goons without having to ever reload. 6) Karnstein Armlets By design, many of Destiny 2's Exotics have been crafted with a specific, rather than universal, play style in mind, making them considerably more niche than before. That's not to say the original didn't have its fair share - using Graviton Forfeit as anything other than a Nightstalker is the very definition of redundancy - of build-defining Exotic armors, but they're much more prevalent now then they've ever been. There are, however, a handful of garments that don't try and shoehorn your Guardian into playing a specific role, providing tasty benefits for whichever subclass you so happen to fancy playing at any given time. There's a caveat, of course: the unique perks you'll find on these items usually aren't as game-changing as those meant for specific subclasses, but the versatility that the former offers make them worth considering, especially if you find yourself constantly switching roles in the heat of battle. The general rule of thumb appears to be that every class - Warlock, Titan and Hunter - has access to at least one multi-functional option, though the first of the three arguably has the best of the bunch. So far, at least. The Karnstein Armlets for Warlocks may not do anything overtly exciting, but landing melee attacks with them equipped will grant additional health recovery and ability energy. As any Warlock will readily tell you, that's a pretty big deal, considering the wizards (no, not the Hive kind) of Bungie's universe are the squishiest of all Guardians. 5) Sunshot Seasoned Destiny veterans will know, all too well, the troubles Bungie encountered in attempting to make all the tools available to Guardians in Destiny viable in one way or another, a tough balancing act that was repeatedly hampered by a select few problematic perks. One of those was Firefly, an absurdly powerful perk that had the power to - and on several occasions did - make certain endgame encounters trivial. As it turned out, enabling essentially all of Destiny's Legendary weapons the ability to randomly roll a perk that caused enemies to explode with a well-placed headshot wasn't the brightest of ideas, especially as it outshone many one-of-a-kind perks exclusive to the rarest of all loot: Exotics. That issue appears to have been largely rectified in Destiny 2. Bungie seems to have cottoned on to the fact that such perks should be used sparingly to make them feel special and while Firefly still exists - renamed as Dragonfly - in Destiny 2, it's no longer the de facto best perk to roll, neither is it as commonplace. Sunshot retains the original version of the perk, boasting the additional improvement of making all enemies - precision kills or not - spontaneously combust upon being executed by it. Obviously, it goes without saying that you should choose it as a reward, when offered, during the course of Destiny 2's campaign. 4) Actium War Rig On its own, Actium War Rig's set of unique perks are nothing to write home about; the devastating combo it has with another particular Exotic is what makes spotting a Titan wearing it a worrying prospect. Auto-Loading Link, the chest armor's special ability that steadily reloads Auto Rifles directly from reserves, is a powerful blessing on its own, but it's not instant. What that essentially means is, you want to be on the lookout for one with as big a magazine as possible. That's where Sweet Business comes in. As those that rolled Titan in the beta will know, this particular Exotic, despite being labeled an Auto Rifle, is actually a minigun, and what do all miniguns have? Gigantic magazines. Tinkering with the gun's perks can boost its base size, but even by default, Sweet Business can be loaded with an eye-watering 99 rounds of bullet-shaped metal, ready to be unloaded at blistering speed into the nearest target.aired with Actium War Rig Coupled with Actium War Rig, reloading will be an action you'll never have to concern yourself with, the barrel only coming to a standstill once all ammo has been exhausted which, obviously, will happen fast. Sweet Business' own intrinsic perk, which automatically loads any ammo pickups directly into the magazine, will help to offset that weakness somewhat, but be prepared to get rushed the second you have to reload - it takes an age to do so. 3) MIDA Multi-Tool If you and a group of friends decided to partake in a round or two of Destiny 2's intense Trials of the Nine PvP event over the weekend, you'll undoubtedly be intimately familiar with the MIDA Multi-Tool. Perhaps owing to its relative ease of acquirement, every Guardian and their mother, it feels like, has designated it their go-to primary weapon of choice in the quest to go Flawless, a result that's equal parts understandable and aggravating. As Exotics go, the Scout Rifle's not particularly exceptional in either form or function, so it's not immediately apparent at first glance why it has so quickly risen to become a mainstay of the Crucible. You need only cast an eye over MIDA's unique set of perks to understand why, however. First of all, unless you're a Hunter using Knucklehead Radar, this is currently the only reliable way to obtain a weapon with the Third Eye (or Mida Radar, as it's now known) perk. In PvP, awareness of your surroundings is key, so being able to do just that while scoped in - a practice that usually removes your radar from view altogether - is already a big plus, but when it's attached to a weapon with negligible recoil that also provides a boost to movement speed, the choice becomes a no-brainer. Take note, too, that the primary now has a coupling with the MIDA Mini-Tool, a submachine gun that, when equipped along with its bigger brother, provides an even larger speed boost. Who needs defensive plays if your opponents can't so much as land their crosshairs on you? 2) Orpheus Rig A godsend for Hunters across the land, Orpheus Rig is the only pair of pants that lovers of the role's Nightstalker subclass will ever want or need. In fact, if incapacitating tightly-packed groups of enemies with a Void-powered bow has always been more appealing to you than, say, incinerating single targets with Gunslinger or flitting around like a madman as Bladedancer (now Arcstrider), I'd argue that this particular pair of leg warmers is an essential bit of kit for the subclass in Destiny 2, as currently, it seems to be the weakest of the three, especially in PvP. Sadly, Orpheus Rig isn't going to turn around the subclasses' ill fortune in the Crucible, but for PvE, my word - the Exotic leg armor can lead to some pretty disgusting feats of destruction. For those that bemoaned Bungie's removal of the infinite Shadowshot glitch from the original game, Orpheus Rig essentially enables that very same thing, only this time it's a legit tactic requiring some smart timing on the player's part. The armor's unique perk, Uncanny Arrows, makes it so that, for every individual enemy caught in Shadowshot's web-like tangle, a portion of your Super meter will be reimbursed. Loosing an arrow in activities such as Public Events, Lost Sectors or even the Leviathan raid, where your Fireteam is quickly overrun by a huge number of hostiles, your quiver will, more often than not, be completely restocked with fresh arrows quicker than you can fire them. If you're looking to dominate your enemies with crowd control, this is how you do it. 1) Skyburner's Oath With its leader essentially reduced to nothing but a shower of glitter by the Traveler at the conclusion of Destiny 2's campaign, the Red Legion, I imagine, is forced into hastily retreating from Earth after the credits roll, lest it suffers the wrath of Guardians once more empowered by the Traveler's Light. With such a swift evacuation effort in place, it's hardly surprising that the elite Cabal squadron had no time to pack up its personal effects, and it appears that someone living in the Tower 2.0 has been having fun reverse engineering some of its weaponry. Skyburner's Oath, despite what its appearance might suggest, is a Cabal Scout Rifle, one that you've likely found yourself on the wrong side of numerous times in the past, but now it's in your hands. Or can be, assuming Master Rahool decides not to decrypt yet another Hard Light from your hard-earned Exotic Engram. Anyway, assuming you get lucky and score yourself an Oath, its unique set of perks means you'll never have trouble dealing with Destiny's burliest race of extraterrestrials ever again, thanks to the innate damage multiplier it has against any and all Cabal units. As an added bonus, its projectiles have the uncanny ability to penetrate Phalanx shields, eliminating the need to waste time in hitting their weak spot. In regards to why the Cabal would manufacture a weapon that's more potent when used against its own number rather than, say, humans, I couldn't say, but given Ghaul's traitorous actions, one can only assume civil war is a popular pastime within the Cabal hierarchy. Whatever the case, it belongs to us now.