Exotics To Get Due To Huge Buffs In Destiny 2 Witch Queen
Bungie outlined some huge changes coming to the sandbox in the Witch Queen, including a massive 40% damage buff to Exotic Primary weapons. This means heading into your vault and dusting off some of those lesser-used exotics. Bungie also spoke about some specific buffs to other exotics, and today I’m going to go through all the info you need to know, so you are ready for the Witch Queen coming on 22nd February.
First up, the big change here. Bungie released a whole bunch of info last week in This Week At Bungie, and I went through the highlights of that yesterday. Today, I’m going to focus on Exotic Weapons and their specific buffs.
Here’s one reason why plenty of people are getting excited about the upcoming sandbox changes though, and this is related to Exotic Primary weapons. Here’s what Bungie said:
“Exotic Primary weapons and Trace Rifles aren’t sufficiently stronger than Legendaries for them to be worth bringing into hard PvE content, particularly against minors. Note that this change applies to all Exotics that use Primary ammo, and includes most secondary effects (e.g., perk-triggered explosions). Increased damage vs minors in PvE by 40 percent.”
With that in mind let’s have a look at some of the best weapons to either get out of your vault or if you are a new player, I’ll tell you how to get them.
Trinity Ghoul
Trinity Ghoul has always been good at clearing ads, especially with the catalyst fully powered up. This is going to benefit from that buff of Increased damage vs minors in PvE by 40 percent, plus you’ll be able to chain together kills as per normal.
Bows are going to be great again next season due to the champion mods found on the seasonal artifact, so I would expect Trinity Ghoul to continue climbing the charts. If you don’t have it, get it from Xur, and at the time of making this guide, you do need Forsaken for Trinity Ghoul.
Huckleberry
Huckleberry is a beast anyways, but now it’s going to be even more potent. This one has a rampage built-in, so as well as that 40% buff, you’ll get stacks of rampage too. You also have the Ride the Bull perk, which means an increased rate of fire and recoil when you’re holding down the trigger. Kills with the weapon reload a portion of the magazine.
Submachine guns are going to get some time in the sun for Witch Queen, and Huckleberry has to be one of the most fun submachine guns out there. You can get this one from Xur when he’s selling it. Or do Nightfalls, or find exotic engrams, plus you can buy the exotic engram from Xur too.
Risk Runner
Risk Runner is similar to Trinity Ghoul, using chained lightning to good effect in regards to clearing rooms of smaller enemies. With this new buff, this is going to be great. The good thing is Risk Runner is free for all players, you can get this one in the new light questline, when you run through the quests on the Cosmodrome by speaking to Shaw Han.
Lumina
Lumina got left behind when the 150s got turned into 140s, so its range is being buffed from 44 to 59. Also the stability stat from 46 to 56. This is going to be much more viable in the game, plus its primary ammo, which again means it’s going to benefit. This is much more focused on supporting players, so if that’s the role you like to play in MMOs, then try out Lumina. You can get this one from the Monument to Lost Lights, Exotic Kiosk in the Tower, next to your vault.
Ruinous Effigy
Ruinous Effigy is another one getting a custom buff. Here’s what Bungie had to say about it
“Ruinous Effigy has been overdue for a look at its Beyond Light nerf (the nerf to damage dealt while guarding), so we’re rolling that back. Note that the other part of that nerf was to the airborne standard melee attack, and this hasn’t been touched.
Increased the damage dealt by guarding with a transmutation sphere by 66 percent (30 percent against players)”
The nerf before Beyond Light actually killed this weapon. It was such a cool gun to have in Season of Arrivals and it never really recovered from the nerf. Now, with it being rolled back, expect to see it once again. You can get this one from the Monument to Lost Lights, Exotic Kiosk in the Tower, next to your vault.
Ager’s Scepter
This one isn’t going to benefit from the primary ammo buff, but it’s definitely worth checking out and having on your radar for next season as the perk is being rebuilt. Let’s see what Bungie had to say about it:
“Ager’s Scepter’s initial implementation used Super regeneration scalars, which had very weird effects in activities that also had scalars, so we’ve rebuilt it to turn off regeneration while active and have implemented a slower drain using a different method.
Fixed being able to activate or continue using empowered mode while suppressed or Stasis encased. Rebuilt the perk — used to modify Supercharge rate, now freezes Super recharge and deducts Super directly, fixing several issues with activities that change charge rate and outliers for recharge based on Intellect stat. Super should now drain more slowly while empowered.”
Graviton Lance
Graviton Lance is an Exotic Pulse Rifle shooting primary ammo, meaning it’s going to benefit from two buffs at the same time. The primary ammo means a forty percent increase against red bar enemies, and also the flatten percent buff to pulse rifles. This is also a void weapon, so I’d expect some nice interactions with builds in the coming season as I imagine void is going to be front and center in the Witch Queen expansion. Graviton Lance has been great for a number of years, especially with the explosions you get from precision kills. If you don’t use it now, I’d recommend trying it. You can get this one from Xur when he’s selling it, or exotic engrams.
Outbreak Perfected
Outbreak Perfects is another Primary Ammo Pulse, so it’s going to double up on the buffs once again. This is already one of the best weapons in the game, although it’s flown under the radar recently due to the place of pulse rifles in PVE content. Fusions, Linear Fusions, Autos and Hand Cannons have been in the spotlight, and pulse rifles have taken a little back seat. It’s got two very deadly perks
The Corruption Spreads – This weapon creates SIVA nanite swarms on rapid hits and precision kills.
Parasitism – This weapon does more damage to enemies based on the number of SIVA nanites that attach to them.
These perks combined with the buffs are going to make this weapon rise up to the top of the charts once again. I can remember a time when I wouldn’t take off this weapon, nothing else could take its place. I can see that once again in the not too distant future.
Let me know what you think of the exotic buffs coming and which weapons are on your radar going into the witch queen?
That’s it for this look at Exotics To Get Due To Huge Buffs In Destiny 2 Witch Queen. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.