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Season of the Risen

Best Exotics to get for Season 17 in Destiny 2 (Huge Buffs Incoming!)

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Bungie unveiled one of their biggest sandbox updates last week in their This Week At Bungie update. This means we have a whole host of changes coming to Exotic weapons in Season 17, which means it going to be worth taking another look at these exotics. Today I am going to run through all the changes coming, so you can prepare and bag some of these exotic weapons, so you are ready for the new season when it arrives in late May.

Bungie is balancing some of their least-loved Exotic weapons, and without further delay let’s dive into the list of exotics that have incoming improvements.

Exotic Glaives

All the exotic glaives are getting buff because quite frankly they were released in a terrible state. They are being changed to make it easier to build up energy, plus all the individual glaive buffs too.

  • Titan Glaive, Edge of Action: players now gain a Void overshield while inside the bubble, Helm of Saint-14 now applies to this bubble as it does for Ward of Dawn.
  • Warlock Glaive, Edge of Intent: increased speed and acceleration of the healing turret projectiles.
  • Hunter Glaive, Edge of Concurrence: tripled the damage of the wave detonation, increased the number of enemies it can chain to from 4 to 8.

Looking at all of the changes, the Hunter changes probably look the most exciting given the chaining has increased from 4 to 8 enemies, which should have a massive impact. The Warlock changes also look good too, so hopefully, the Exotic glaives will find a place in the sandbox with these adjustments.

There are also some global changes to Glaives coming, which is going to affect all of them, not just exotics.

  • Increased melee damage vs PvE enemies (except for bosses and vehicles) by 25%.
  • Reduced energy drain speed while shielded by 30%.
  • Increased projectile speed dependent on the range stat

You can get the Exotic Glaives by doing a Witch Queen quest, check out the full guide on the channel for more info.

Graviton Lance

Graviton Lance is always worth checking out, especially with Void builds. Now we have even more motivation for another look as the catalyst and its effects are getting a rework. Previously the catalyst provided the perk Hidden Hand, now it’s granting Vorpal Weapon and Turnabout. Also, Exotic Primary weapons got a big buff with Witch Queen, so Graviton Lance is definitely one to look at again.

You can get this Exotic Pulse Rifle from Xur.

Xenophage

Xenophage is getting an increase in the rate of fire, plus the damage is being reverted back to what it was. The rate of fire is going up slightly from 100RPM to 120RPM. Plus there is a big buff to machine guns in general with Bungie saying:

Machine Guns still aren’t where we want them to be in PvE, so we’re giving them an additional buff, but less so against bosses, where their extremely long-range and deep ammo reserves would make them strong in too many roles. With this change, they’ll shred most enemies without stepping on top tier boss damage options.
Increased damage by 40% against PvE enemies (20% vs bosses).

You can get this one from the quest on the Moon, I do have a specific guide for how to get it, so check that out.

Skyburner’s Oath

Skyburner’s Oath, on paper, looks like it’s getting a massive buff. Bungie says, Skyburner’s Oath felt like it didn’t have a niche, except for airborne memes, so we’ve made a bunch of changes aiming to improve its ease of use, give it some more utility and really push it into that airborne role.

  • Increased ADS projectile speed to 9999 (this projectile is now hitscan).
  • Both ADS and hip-fire are now 150 RPM.
  • Hip-fire projectile no longer tracks, but arcs similar to a Grenade Launcher and has a larger detonation size than ADS.
  • The hip-fire detonation also applies a burn to targets.
  • The bonus range from the Masterwork has been rolled into the base stats of the weapon. The Masterwork now grants bonus reload speed instead.
  • Has the highest Airborne Effectiveness stat of any weapon in the game (35).

This is now going to be a hitscan weapon, meaning the bullets travel almost instantly, plus we have some nice burn effects which are going to work very well with the solar 3.0 subclass rework. Skyburner’s Oath looks like it could be very effective in PVP too, so expect to see much more of this weapon in the coming season.

You can get this one from Xur.

Wavesplitter

Wavesplitter is worth another look, as perhaps are all of the Exotic Trace Rifles, as they are readied for subclasses 3.0. Wavesplitter is void, plus it’s getting the ability to suppress enemies when you pick up an orb of power. Definitely worth another look when the update comes out.

  • Power level no longer cycles randomly, the default damage output is the same as the old middle tier.
  • Picking up an Orb of Power now grants 10s of maximum power and caps at 20s, up from 5 and 10.
  • Now suppresses targets while granted this mode by picking up an Orb.

Leviathan’s Breath

Leviathan’s Breath is a Power Combat Bow and it comes with the perks

  • Big-Game Hunter – Fires a massive heavy bolt that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against [Stagger] Unstoppable Champions.
  • Leviathan’s Sigh – When fully drawn, the bolt creates a large concussive blast that knocks combatants back.

You can this one from Xur when he’s selling it.

Bungie says about the changes:

Leviathan’s Breath always felt like it should absolutely wreck Champions, and using its first shot to stun an Unstoppable Champion without it doing much damage felt bad. Archer’s Tempo from its catalyst is significant on paper but in practice that draws speed, the buff isn’t as noticeable as we’d like. Overall, we hope these changes make it feel a bit better against all types of Champions and other tough enemies in hard content.

  • The Archer’s Tempo perk from the catalyst now has an increased effect (just on this weapon).
  • The standard draw time scalar for Archer’s Tempo is 0.75x, it is now 0.5625x on Leviathan’s Breath.
  • Added a small delay before detonation on Champions, minibosses, and bosses – this allows the impact to stun an Unstoppable Champion and the detonation to deal bonus damage against the stunned Champion.
  • Damage changed to be more of an even split between impact and detonation and increased damage across the board by ~50%.
  • Overall damage vs Champions is roughly doubled (even more compared to shooting an un-stunned unstoppable Champion).

You will need the catalyst to benefit 100% from the improvement, as that gives you Archers Tempo and you’ll get an increased draw time. More importantly, we’re getting a 50% damage increase across the board, plus damage against Champions has been doubled. Leviathan’s Breath looks like it’s going to be one to watch next season, and has the potential to output some of the biggest damage in the game.

You can get this one from the Exotic Kiosk in the Tower.

Let me know in the comments which Exotics you are most excited about going into Season 17, and if I have missed something off this list, share your thoughts with the community.

That’s it for this look at the best exotic weapons to get for Season 17 in Destiny 2. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.