gunsmith armsday

Taken King: Armsday Weapons Guide

Contributing Author: Alex R.

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#2 – Arminius-D

  • Hot Swap | Focused Fire | High Caliber Rounds / Hand Loaded / Braced Frame
  • Crowd Control | Spray and Play | Single Point Sling / Speed Reload / Braced Frame
  • Army of One | Focused Fire | Single Point Sling / Fitted Stock / Braced Frame

Roll #2 boasts a solid perk set for PvE with Crowd Control and Spray and Play. Both of these perks will reward you for killing weaker enemies, and Spray and Play in particular grants a reload boost unmatched by any other perk so long as you’re allowing your clip to empty. Speed Reload adds just a bit more reload speed to make things even faster. In reality, we’re trying to avoid the DPS-lowering Focused Fire perk, so Rolls #1 and #3 are out the window.

If you’re looking for a PvP roll (not a bad choice given this archetype’s success in the Crucible lately), you’re going to want to wait until next week. Counterbalance is the gold standard for recoil control, and Rifled Barrel can take this gun’s range to competitive levels, so hopefully these show up together soon.

#2 or 3 – Tuonela SR4

  • Triple Tap | Quickdraw / Casket Mag | Firefly / Eye of the Storm
  • Replenish | Snapshot / Hand-Laid Stock | Firefly / Eye of the Storm
  • Life Support | Extended Mag / Casket Mag | Firefly / Exhumed

In typical Omolon fashion, we’re going to be headed to PvE with the Tuonela. Roll #3 beats out the competition with the combination of Extended Mag and Life Support. Obviously, Firefly is a great perk to have for any PvE activity, but Life Support has come up as a serious lifesaver for the raid and strikes. If you’re about to die, scout out some low-level enemies and open fire! Extended Mag on this roll beats out Triple Tap on Roll #1, because instead of having to work for those extra rounds with consistent precision shots, you get the maximum magazine capacity regardless of how you use your bullets.

#1 – Gaheris-D

  • Danger Close | Zen Moment | Speed Reload / Explosive Rounds / Reinforced Barrel
  • Relentless Tracker | Reactive Reload | Speed Reload / Explosive Rounds / Oiled Frame
  • Surrounded | Spray & Play | Speed Reload / Explosive Rounds / Oiled Frame

None of the rolls this week seem worth anything for this potentially awesome Hand Cannon.

Nothing really jumps out this week, but Roll 1 is the strongest choice. You’ll probably want Reinforced Barrel in PVP, and Explosive Rounds everywhere else. Don’t worry about that Stability penalty – just let your gun settle for a brief split second between shots and you’ll be okay. The huge Range bump will keep your aim true and prevent the “ghost bullets” that Kinderguardians tell stories about around the campfire.

For PvE, look for Triple Tap/Army of One, Outlaw/Feeding Frenzy and Speed Reload if you hold on to the package. These perks maximize your ammo efficiency and reload speed, making it worthwhile to kill adds in any type of content. Army of One can help replenish your cooldowns after using grenades and melees on stronger enemies.

If you want to rock a Legendary Hand Cannon in PvP (you brave soul, you), you’ll want something along the lines of Hot Swap, Final Round/Rangefinder and Reinforced Barrel. The goal of these perks is to maximize range and accuracy in order to combat the current problems with Hand Cannon hit detection. Final Round is a controllable buff that can effectively lessen the amount of headshots you need for a kill by compensating for body shot damage. Although Hand Cannons are in a weird place in PvP right now, if this roll were to show up next week, we’d be confident in recommending it for high-end PvP play.

#3 – Strongbow-D

  • Crowd Control | Battle Runner | Single Point Sling / Fitted Stock / Rifled Barrel
  • Close and/or Personal | Feeding Frenzy | Lightweight / Perfect Balance / Hand-Laid Stock
  • Army of One | Feeding Frenzy | Lightweight / Fitted Stock / Rifled Barrel

Run, Forrest! No, seriously though – in the highly mobile game world we all share, being just a little faster than the next Guardian isn’t nothing. But Battle Runner is not why I’m recommending Roll 1 today. I’m recommending it because we have combined here a higher RoF shotgun with Field Choke to enhance range and impact, Crowd Control to make stringing those kills together easier in hectic situations, and Rifled Barrel to make sure every shot strikes home. Battle Runner? I’d prefer Full Auto, but it’s not a bad touch.

Army of One goes hand in hand with Feeding Frenzy. Use your grenade and melee energy up and make a run through a mob of trash enemies. Feeding Frenzy will get you your clip back in a flash, and Army of One will get your abilities ready to go again! This may not be the best way to use your secondary weapon, but it works for strikes and story missions. We probably wouldn’t recommend going on LFG for King’s Fall with this equipped, though. You’ll get some strange looks.

#3 – Uzume RR4

  • Performance Bonus | High-Caliber Rounds / Reinforced Barrel | Unflinching / Eye of the Storm
  • Performance Bonus | High-Caliber Rounds / Rifled Barrel | Life Support / Mulligan
  • Performance Bonus | High-Caliber Rounds / Injection Mold | Unflinching / Eye of the Storm

While I can’t recommend this weapon as a leading choice for any game mode, it does stand out as a low Aim Assist sniper, if that’s your thing. The low zoom Faucon (I always think Falcone), ammo management with Performance Bonus rewarding headshots, Injection Mold boosting your stability and handling, and Unflinching (or Eye of the Storm – YMMV) to keep you on target while under fire, this weapon will reward a sure hand and precise aim.

Performance Bonus is always welcome in PvP, rewarding precious ammo, and Injection Mold’s handling bonus is universally recommended on Sniper Rifles. Both Unflinching and Eye of the Storm fill the same role, which is increasing your chances of a hit while under fire. The Faucon SS1 scope is king on Omolon Snipers, so with these quality pieces combined, you’re left with a great Sniper for 6v6 PvP and anything in PvE.

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Previous Orders

Zarinaea-D: Roll 3 might make this A Tier…

  • Roll 3: Relentless Tracker | Counterbalance | Snapshot / Speed Reload / Rifled Barrel

A truly beastly roll, I would take the LC Ranged scope and, in combination with Rifled Barrel and Counterbalance (to keep your aim straight-on, just hold the thumbstick slightly forward) go terrorize people at ranges most Auto Rifles don’t even know exist. Relentless Tracker is the only real weak spot here (I would have preferred Persistence), and really, it could be worse. This Auto Rifle normally rates a Tier B rating for PVP, but this is a really good roll. If you keep your distance, it can definitely with weaker rolls on the Tier A Weapons.

SUROS PDX-45: Roll 3 is your huckleberry

  • Roll 3: Perfect Balance / Casket Mag | Counter Balance | SPS / Rifled Barrel
What a roll! Will this be the roll that brings the high Rate of Fire pulse rifle back into common usage? I guess that depends how many people waited patiently for their turn to par-tay! So we’ve got, first off, a Pulse Rifle with excellent base stats: great Stability and Aim Assist, great handling, and mild recoil, although the range is maybe a bit too low. Then we add in Perfect Balance and Counterbalance to zero out the recoil, SPO-28 amp up your Aim Assist, and Rifled Barrel to let you land cross-map headshots.
If Johnny Ringo were boasting about his skills, this gun would dome him faster than Doc Holliday could think of something witty to say in response. Also, Tombstone is a good movie. I should go re-watch that.

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Next Week’s Orders

Weapon Type Impact Notable Stat
SUROS DIS-47 Scout Rifle Lowest AA (74)
Herja-D Pulse Rifle Medium Stability (72)
SUROS JLB-42 Launcher N/A Velocity (67)
SUROS JLB-47 Launcher N/A Velocity (74)
Aoife Rua-D Sniper Low Reload (68)

SUROS DIS-47

This gun gets a lot of love in the Destiny community for its ability to shoot so fast and roll with Full Auto. If you get a good roll on this gun, it can be a monster in both PvE and PvP. It also has good aim assistance, so it has huge potential in the Crucible, but we’ll be hoping for stability buffs to keep its quick shooting on target.

I would look for Hammer Forged, Counterbalance, and Smallbore, but many prefer Full Auto coupled with Stability boosts. One thing to note: Full Auto does not increase the Rate of Fire on Scout Rifles, but it does allow you to holding the trigger down while you jump and maneuver around.

Herja-D

The Herja-D has the impact archetype of the Vanguard’s Apple of Discord. It comes in with a fantastic 72 stability and 68 reload speed, so next week, we’ll be looking for Counterbalance to correct the awkward Hakke recoil pattern and more stability to make it a laser in PvE and PvP. Unfortunately, while the gun can still conceivably 2-shot enemies in the Crucible, it is unlikely to happen due to accuracy and damage nerfs. Look for Headseeker.

SUROS JLB-47/SUROS JLB-42

These are two solid Rocket Launchers that can perform in both PvE and PvP with the right perks. They have a high blast radius, magazine size of 2 and relatively high velocity. The main difference between them is the higher velocity on the JLB-47 (74 compared to 67 on the JLB-42). The Gunsmith seems to love bringing these in pairs, so if you want the best chances of getting a good roll on a Rocket Launcher, order both of these to get 6 possible rolls.

Aoife Rua-D

The Aoife Rua-D is very similar to Hakke’s Tamar-D Sniper Rifle. It has equivalent Impact to the Low-Grade Humility and Patience and Time. However, with a base stability of 34, you’ll best be aiming for headshots and not double-taps. If you like sniping in PvE, order one of these! Hakke snipers can roll with Surplus, which really helps with ammo scarcity in PvE. Hakke’s scopes are a bit different than the ones offered by the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermasters, so you may have to adapt to use this gun in high-stakes PvP.

Unfortunately, it can’t revive snipe and fires too slowly for reliable double taps.