Destiny 2 – Best Weapons To Replace Anarchy When It Gets Nerfed In Season 15

Anarchy is getting a nerf. Bungie let us know in their latest This Week At Bungie last week, and since the Destiny 2 community has been mourning one of the greatest weapons since Gjallarhorn from the original Destiny days. Today I’m going to have a look at some alternatives to Anarchy, so you can be ready for the nerf when it comes around.

First of all, let’s have a look at the update from Bungie and what they said.

“Anarchy has done too much too well for too many years (without even counting the boost it’s gotten this season, which is due to the sweet Grenade Launcher artifact mods), so we’re making changes that make it great at a couple of roles rather than being the jack of all Grenade Launchers.”

Anarchy was introduced as the raid weapon from the Scourge of the Past raid, with the drop rate being pretty rare. Now the weapon has been moved into the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower, meaning you can get hold of it relatively easier than before when you had to rely on RNG in the raid.

Anarchy has been the go-to weapon for endgame PVE content since its release in Summer 2019, so it’s no wonder Bungie has plans for it. It’s been the crutch we’ve all used for Dungeons, Raids, Legend and Master Nightfalls and Lost Sectors, and especially Grandmasters. Whenever a weapon dominates like this, Bungie tends to have it in their sights. It happened to Recluse, Mountaintop, Spare Rations, Revoker just to name a few… and now it’s Anarchy’s turn.

We don’t know exactly when Bungie plans to nerf Anarchy, the notification was in the Season 15 upcoming sandbox changes, so it’s likely to be sometime in Season 15 – we don’t know if it’s at the start or midway through the season though. I would imagine it’s going to be the start, but that’s yet to be confirmed, so watch this space and I’ll be sure to let you know about any sandbox changes as they happen.

It’s not all bad news though, as other weapons are going to rise to the top of the tree in this new meta. With that said, let’s have a look at some of the weapons that could take its place.

Deathbringer

Deathbringer is an Exotic Power Rocket Launcher

• Dark Deliverance – Fires remotely detonated projectiles that drop Void orbs on combatants. Fire; release to detonate.
• Dark Descent – The further a Void orb falls, the more powerful its detonation becomes.

This one is even more powerful now due to the catalyst, making it great for DPS in PVE content. The catalyst is also going to help us create orbs.

Deathbringer Catalyst

Once you complete the exotic catalyst for Deathbringer it unlocks the Dead Weight perk, and this increases how quickly Dark Descent reaches its maximum damage bonus. This means you don’t have to aim as high as you did in the past to maximize the damage. You can tell when you reach maximum damage as the numbers will be yellow rather than white when the void orbs detonate on the enemy.

To get Deathbringer you need to complete a quest on the moon, and it’s likely you’ll need to own Shadowkeep.

Two-Tailed Fox

Two-Tailed Fox is an Exotic Power Rocket Launcher, which is quite unique as it shoots both Solar and Void rockets together.

• Twintails – Shoots two rockets, one Void and one Solar, that can track onto the same target.
• Play with Your Prey. The Void rocket suppresses enemies. The Solar rocket causes damage over time.

This is especially powerful when paired with Argent Ordnance, the Charged with Light Rocket Mod that overpowers rocket damage when the charged with light buff is active. Given this one has Solar and Void damage too, it’s well worth picking up.

To get this one you can buy it from Xur or get it as a random world drop exotic.

Sleeper Simulant

Sleeper Simulant is still one of the best DPS weapons in the game, plus it’s useful across a range of activities for both PVP and PVE. It’s about to get a massive buff with a 16.5% increase to damage, so it’s worth adding to your arsenal if you haven’t done so already.

On the subject matter of damage, the Sleeper Simulant inflicts extremely high damage per shot, making it a devastating weapon to use against bosses and can even penetrate closed Shriekers. It was the subject of a nerf in a previous season, as it was ruining Gambit with Invaders Weilding the very deadly Sleeper Simulant. It’s also one of the best-looking weapons in the game and has roots in Destiny 1.

You can now buy the Exotic Linear Fusion Rifle from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower, which you can find next to the Vault in the Tower called Monument to Lost Lights. Land in the Tower in the main courtyard and head on over to the Monument and look under the Red War Exotics category.

Xenophage

Xenophage is a machine gun for the power slot. Its main perk is Pyrotoxin Rounds, which fires high-powered explosive ammo. It’s a solar weapon and has max stats for impact, a pretty good range of 71, and has 120 rpm with 20 in the magazine. It’s a very strange machine gun, as normally they have a high rate of fire and lots of ammo… this one is a little different.

As well as Pyrotoxin Rounds come with Full Bore for that increase in range and a small decrease in stability, High Calibre Rounds which knock the target back further, Rangefinder and Composite Stock.

You can pick this one up from the Exotic Quest on the moon, check out the guide for Xenophage on the channel.

Also, Bungie say they are planning an update to Machine Guns in Season 15.

“Machine Guns in PvE: Through playtesting and player feedback, we’ve found they’re not doing their intended job well enough, so we’re planning a noticeable change for Season 15.”

Witherhoard

Witherhoard is an Exotic Kinetic Grenade Launcher originally introduced in Season of Arrivals. It’s perks make it pretty devastating and they include:

• Primeval’s Torment – Projectiles fired by this weapon blight the target or nearby area on impact.
• Break the Bank – Blighted targets take damage over time and blight the nearby area on death.

Looking at the stats we have Impact 60, Stability 67, Handling 53, Reload Speed 40, Velocity 21, Rounds Per Minute 90 and Magazine 6.

Witherhoard is an Exotic Grenade Launcher in the Kinetic Slot and it uses special ammo. This is one of the only Exotic Grenade Launchers in the Kinetic Slot, so by that measure, it’s pretty unique.

When it was first introduced into the game Witherhord absolutely destroyed Raid bosses due to the damage over time and various buffs that were working with each other. Bungie has since tweaked Witherhoard, but it’s still very potent and useful to take into a raid. For example, if you can find the spawn point for enemies then it’s great to throw down a few Witherhoard shots. Plus you can use this with Breach and Clear, the great mods introduced as part of Season of the Splicer, meaning you can weaken even the toughest boss or roaming mini-boss.

Regarding the Witherhoard Catalyst there’s a couple of benefits:

• Drops orbs on multikills
• Tracks kills
• Silent Alarm perk

With Silent Alarm you get increased handling, allowing the weapon to be drawn faster and shooting it sooner than your opponents. Also, when you holster the weapon you’ll get an automatic reload. This is great because you can swap weapons, fire, then swap back and you’ll find Witherhoard has been reloaded, which is very useful indeed.

Let me know down in the comments what you think of the Anarchy nerf, do you think it’s needed or do you think Bungie are right?

That’s it for this guide for the best weapons to replace Anarchy. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.