Published on: Feb 17, 2015 @ 19:52
There’s a lot of Exotic armor in Destiny, but which pieces fall short? Which are worth using over the others, and why?
This article will analyze each piece of Exotic Hunter armor, ranking them tiers, just as we did with the Exotic Weapons for PvE & PvP.
We’d also like your feedback on which Exotics you feel are the best.
For the House of Wolves Exotics, you can find our initial thoughts for each of them here.
We have individual reviews for all of these items as well – click the armor category to read/watch them.
Helmets
Chests
Gauntlets
Leg Armor
Tiers
- Tier 1 armor is considered the best of the best, useful in nearly all situations.
- Tier 2 armor is exceptional, but not as great as Tier 1 pieces.
- Tier 3 armor is OK, worth using sometimes.
The armor in each tier is listed in alphabetical order.
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PvP Rank
Tier 1
Achlyophage Symbiote
Almost perfect for Gunslinger’s, this helmet will allow you to increase your damage output, and will guarantee an extra kill in PvP if your aim is true.
The helm will increase your Discipline as well, decreasing grenade cooldown time, which meshes well with the two other perks. This will help you get grenade kills further away, and if you’re able to kill enemies with your grenades, you can use your Super a little quicker.
Knucklehead Radar
This is the only subclass-neutral helm. It’s going to provide a lot of Strength which works well with the Light the Blade perk, allowing you to use your melee ability even more.
Its unique perk, Sensor Pack, is extremely useful in PvP: you’re able to see your radar while looking down the sights of primary weapons (MIDA Multi-tool and Patience and Time have a similar perk).
Tier 2
Lucky Raspberry
Lucky Raspberry is the only chest piece specific to the Bladedancer. Lucky Raspberry’s main feature is the ability to spawn with grenade energy, allowing you to use your (more powerful) grenade more often.
Along with the grenade energy, your Arcbolt grenade will be improved by chaining further. You’ll be able to spawn with full grenade energy with any grenade, not just the Arcbolt grenade.
Mask of the Third Man
This is a helm that every Bladedancer should own. Mask of the Third Man‘s unique ability is reduces the amount of Super energy used when attacking with Arc Blade. Couple this helm with the Encore talent for even more time with the Arc Blade.
Radiant Dance Machines
Just barely making it into tier 2, Radiant Dance Machines are built around being more mobile while aiming. For a high mobility build, they can be a solid choice for a Hunter that’s trying to avoid crossfire.
“The Dance” perk won’t give you a huge increase in speed, but it is helpful enough to build around. Your ADS movement speed will be almost doubled from what’s normal.
Young Ahamkara’s Spine
These will double the time your the Tripmine lasts, just like the Sunbreakers with the Solar grenade. With Tripmines this is especially useful, lasting a total of 30 seconds – plenty of time to shut down a Control point.
The downside is that these grenades are easily disarmed if the enemy is aware of them.
Tier 3
ATS/8 ARACHNID
This helm has an essentially useless unique perk and requires grenade damage/kills to make use of its other perks.
Only use this if you’re going to accurately use your grenades liberally, or actually think the zoom is helpful.
Crest of Alpha Lupi
This piece of armor is a subclass-neutral. As with each of the Exotic chests, you’ll get additional ammo for your weapons.
Unfortunately this chest specifically helps out hand cannon users, so that might make it less useful for you if you barely (or never) use hand cannons.
Keeper of the Pack cuts the revive time by about .6 seconds, allowing you to revive fallen Guardians (or them to revive you) in 1 second. Does it benefit you when revives are enabled? Sure, but not enough to warrant using over a tier 1-2 Exotic.
Don’t Touch Me
These are PvE-focused gauntlets that are subclass neutral. Not only is Inverse Shadow completely wasted in the Crucible, but its unique perk won’t save you nearly as much or as easily as it will in PvE.
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PvE Rank
Tier 1
Achlyophage Symbiote
You’ll have another shot to use as you wish, great for extra damage or to clean up a kill. An extra shot is universally beneficial.
Increasing you grenade throw distance is a great help as well since it will better your chances of getting grenade kills, which will boost you Super energy charge rate, which then brings you back for more 4-shot Golden Gun action.
Don’t Touch Me
If you wanted to, you could solo the first part of Crota’s End without breaking a sweat! When you are struck by melee, you are granted 3 seconds of invisibility (6 seconds using Shadowjack).
There is almost no cooldown for the invisibility, so the moment you are exposed, you are lined up for another vanishing act when you’re struck.
Mask of the Third Man
If there are encounters that have swarms of enemies, like the first phase of Templar or the lamps in Crota’s End, you can easily double or triple the amount of time you’re able to use Arc Blade. Infusion comes in really handy in in Crota’s End from Crota’s Presence too.
This helm will also increase your Intellect, increasing the passive charge of your Super.
Tier 2
ATS/8 ARACHNID
Almost in tier 3, its unique perk is still pretty useless, but you’re able to take advantage of the other 2 perks much more in PvE because of how effortless it is to damage/kill enemies with your grenades.
Knucklehead Radar
In PvE Knucklehead Radar is stronger because you’ll always be able to damage enemies with your grenades more frequently, and you’ll also be able to increase your Super energy really easily just by killing enemies.
The radar might not be as useful in PvE, but it’ll be there if you need it which is always a good thing.
Lucky Raspberry
The extra range on the Arcbolt grenade is nice, but Improved Arcbolt Grenade will really be helpful in PvP for that immediate grenade when you respawn. Remember: it’ll work with any grenade.
There’s only 2 Hunter Chests in the game right now, and this one is arguably better – especially with a good fusion rifle like Plan C or Vex Mythoclast, as it’ll greatly increase the ammo. For the Vex Mythoclast, it bumps up the ammo reserve to 189 from its default 147.
The extra heavy weapon ammo unfortunately does not stack with other armor that provides the same perk, such as the Tireless Striders.
Tier 3
Crest of Alpha Lupi
If you do not play 3v3 PvP, or usually play by yourself in PvE, this isn’t the chest for you. Keeper of the Pack is medic-like and support orientated, so it’ll benefit your teammates more than it’ll benefit you specifically.
In PvE specifically, endgame activities rarely have the ability to revive. As for the increased Orb generation, its minimal and not worth it.
Radiant Dance Machines
Easily the worst Exotic piece of Hunter armor for PvE, the increased movement speed is certainly not as advantageous or noticeable as it is in PvP.
Young Ahamkara’s Spine
These gauntlets lose credibility in PvE as Tripmine grenades are not a popular choice due to their singular targeting habits.
The additional time you’ll get with the unique perk just ins’t necessary and hardly helpful.
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Feedback
Do you agree with this ranking? Which Exotics do you prefer using in PvE/PvP? Let us know!