Destiny 2 – Beyond Light Exotics Breakdown
Bungie dropped a trailer for a range of exotic weapons and armour coming in Beyond Light. Together with our new stasis powers, we’re looking to gear up with some of these exciting new exotics come November when the next expansion drops, and I don’t know about you… but I am started to get VERY hyped about Beyond Light on November 10th. The following is a breakdown of the Exotic weapons and armour coming in Beyond Light.
If you haven’t seen the trailer, let’s kick off with that, but if you have seen it feel feel to skip ahead.
First up let’s have a look at the weapons.
Beyond Light Exotic Weapons
No Time to Explain (Exotic Pulse Rifle)
Precision hits and hits against enemies affected by Stasis will return to the magazine. Stack this effect to summon a portal which will fire bullets from an alternate timeline of the weapon.
This is the only returning weapon, coming back from Destiny 1. However, it has been completely redesigned so it’s basically a new weapon. This one used to have a perk called Rewind Again, where precision shots were returned to the magazine. It looks like that is coming back, with the added bonus of enemies that are affected by Statis as well as precision hits. These seem to stack up which you can then summon a portal and fire bullets from an alternate timeline of the weapon, which sounds very cool! The effect looks a lot like Arc Buddy from our Warlocks, so we’ll have to wait and see how this differs.
Cloud Strike (Exotic Sniper Rifle)
Precision final blows will generate lightning bolts at the target location. Rapid precision shots will summon an entire storm at the point of impact.
This one was shown off in PVP, where the wielder of the Cloud Strike gets a triple kill with the precision shot being followed by a lightning strike. Looks very powerful indeed, although we probably need to see more info on how this works. It was very impressive in the trailer but it’s not clear if the other players near the precision shot were weak or damaged. If the lightning strike can take out two players with full health, that’s going to be very interesting indeed!
The Lament (Exotic Sword)
A mortal blade, a stalwart shield. Block with The Lament to rev the blade, then shred through shielded enemies. At its peak, damaging an enemy will heal the wielder.
This sword looks incredible. It looks like a combination between a chainsaw and a sword. The trailer shows a Guardian slicing through Champion’s shields. I don’t know if there’s a finisher being used here, or if the move is part of the animation for the sword but the guardians appear to be jumping in and attacking. Very cool, and I’m happy to see more swords in the game after te successes of Season of Arrivals.
Salvation’s Grip (Exotic Grenade Launcher)
Redemption is within your grasp. Each fired projectile will create Stasis crystals that will freeze nearby targets. Charge to increase the number of crystals created and the freeze radius.
This is the exotic we’ve seen so far and it’s an exotic grenade launcher as we suspected. This one shoots ice crystals to help freeze nearby targets, which is going to super charge your freezing abilities alongside the stasis subclass.
Next up let’s have a look at the armour.
Beyond Light Exotic Armour
Icefall Mantle (Titan Exotic Gauntlets)
Stand tall against the oncoming hordes with this reinforced armour that replaces the Titan’s Barricade with Overshield, absorbing damage from incoming fire.
This is something I’ve been wanting for sometime. Yeah sure a barricade is great, but an overshield on command is going to be awesome.
Precious Scars (Titan Exotix Helm)
Prove your strength, even when coming back from the brink. Upon revives, the Titan gains an Overshield aura that protects the wearer and nearby allies.
This looks very cool and interesting to see both Titan exotics moving more towards the overshield, rather than the barrier. The Aura looks similar to the mechanic in The Garden of Salvation raid.
Mask of Bakris (Hunter Exotic Helm)
Don the Mask to replace the Hunter’s Dodge ability with a longer range Shift ability that also temporarily cloaks the wearer during use.
This brings back Blink to Hunters in Beyond Light, although called Shift here. If you haven’t played D1 then you wouldn’t be aware that Hunter’s had the ability to blink, but now it’s coming back. It’s nice to see some exotics here replacing abilities which is really going to switch up the playstyle for our Guardians.
Arthrys’s Embrace (Hunter Exotic Gauntlets)
The Hunter’s weighted knife gains a second ricochet; rapid precision hits to gain a damage bonus and can temporarily stagger enemies.
This looks nice for the Hunter’s getting the second ricochet, otherwise seems fairly unremarkable (I’m sure that one will come back to bite me in the future!).
Dawn Chorus (Warlock Exotic Helm)
Feel that sweet burn. The Warlock’s Daybreak projectiles deal extra damage and cause enemies to burn on contact. Gain melee energy each time a burn damages a target.
This one looks pretty powerful for the Warlock’s especially with the extra damage AND getting melee energy each time the damage occurs. That looks deadly!
Necrotic Grip (Warlock Exotic Gauntlets)
A deadly caress, compounded. Melee attacks corrupt enemies with increasing damage over time. Defeating a corrupted combatant spreads the corruption to nearby targets and restores melee energy.
This is probably one of my favourites from the whole trailer, spreading poison with exotic gauntlets looks very nice indeed and damage over time always causes issues for enemies whether they be in PVP and PVE.
Summary
All in all, there’s plenty to be excited about. I’m confident for the weapon designs as we’ve seen some of the best exotic weapons come out of the team in the last 12 months with Witherhoard, Traveler’s Chosen, Eriana’s Vow, Devil’s Ruin, Ruinous Effigy and many more.
What we haven’t seen here is Hawkmoon, which is also a returning exotic confirmed during a charity stream earlier in the summer. We are yet to find out about the redesigned perk Luck In The Chamber to see if that’s going to be any different than it was before. I’m super excited about Hawkmoon coming back too as that was one of my favourite weapons in Destiny 1. With them leaving it off this weapons roadmap, that may indicate we have more to come.
We don’t know yet timing. For Shadowkeep we’d get an exotic each season. I don’t remember if we got an exotic dump like this before Shadowkeep (I don’t think we did, but I’m sure you can help me out in the comments).
Beyond Light looks to be shaping up really nicely. We have Stasis, we have Europa – a brand new area to explore, which looks pretty big from the map we’ve seen. We have these Exotics to chase. We don’t know yet about the campaign structure, the seasonal activity and of course The Raid. We still have plenty of info to uncover over the next few weeks but we are LESS THAN ONE MONTH from the release of Beyond Light.
Let me know what you think down in the comments about the new exotics and what you’re looking forward to most for Beyond Light!
That’s it for this breakdown of the Exotic weapons and armour coming in Beyond Light. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out the Shadowkeep Guide or check out the YouTube Channel.