Destiny Taken King: Boolean Gemini Exotic Review

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Weapon Review

There are Exotics that grab your attention, and there are Exotics that go unnoticed. There’s flash, and there’s substance, and there’s something in-between. Sitting in this no man’s land is the unremarkable Boolean Gemini.

This isn’t to say that this Exotic Scout Rifle is bad, but it takes a patient Guardian to find something to love in it. We’ll take a hard glance at this overlooked workhorse, and let you know if it’s worth a spot in your roster.
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Stats

As is fitting for an average Scout Rifle, Boolean Gemini belongs to the subclass of Scout Rifles featured most prominently in Destiny, along with Vision of Confluence and The Saterienne Rapier. Aside from this, it features middle-of-the road Range (at 61), Stability (53), and well above-average Reload Speed (68). Combined with the 19 shots in its magazine, this does give the Boolean Gemini excellent ammunition management. Guardians will also be happy to see the high Aim Assistance – for comparison, Hung Jury is at 26.

From these stats, it looks like the Boolean Gemini is well-suited for a mobile playstyle, and is forgiving for habitual reloaders. The high AA means strafing will not unduly punish your chances of landing your shots in PvP, so pump that trigger with abandon.
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Perks

Nothing intrinsic, so we’ll move right on to the barrels.

The gun does have one distinguishing feature that you can take advantage of in certain PvP scenarios: by using Aggressive Ballistics, you can guarantee a three headshot kill on targets with minimal armor investment. Armor tends to be high priority these days for avoiding certain Pulse Rifle kill thresholds, so don’t expect to get it all the time, but every little bit helps, right? At any rate, Aggressive Ballistics is the superior option to Accurized and Smooth Ballistics. This Scout Rifle needs to distinguish itself from the crowd, and even a minimal bit of extra damage does this.

Its first distinctive perk is Unflinching. Unflinching is actually surprisingly underrated on Primary Weapons, synergizing very well with Boolean Gemini’s high AA for PvP engagements. In PvE, it’s not going to be as noticeable, but in addition to the low zoom factor for the static scope helping to compensate for the lower stability, keeping that bounce down and chaining those precision shots will be that much easier. This further solidifies Boolean Gemini as an accessible gun for all players.

As is the trend with most Destiny weapons, the middle column offers a few ways to punch up the Gemini’s shortcomings. Hammer Forged or Perfect Balance are the best all-around options, the former working well for accuracy with the naturally high AA and making the BG a bigger threat at range, and the latter further mitigating the reticle kick. However, Single Point Sling possesses a certain appeal in tandem with the Exotic perk that we’ll discuss shortly. When push comes to shove, you can’t go wrong with Hammer Forged or Perfect Balance.

For its Exotic perk, the Boolean Gemini allows you to choose between one of two unique buffs. One Way grants a temporary (15 second) Agility bonus following a precision kill that stacks up to three times. Or Another does the exact same thing, but with Armor in place of Agility, and only on body shot kills. It’s a tough call, and it makes us shake our heads in bemusement that Bungie somehow thought combining the two wasn’t an option. The minor bonus to Agility is okay, but only becomes noticeable from a movement speed perspective at 2 or 3 stacks. Similarly, while it’s difficult to quantify the Armor bonus, it definitely is non-negligible when you’re under fire.

The problem with the Armor bonus is pretty obvious: maintaining it discourages precision hits. In the fray, you’re not going to want to be thinking about attempting to lower your overall DPS just to get another Armor stack. However, there are enemies like Minotaurs and Shanks that can’t be killed with precision damage, and these are great enemies to focus on if your goal is to maximize your buff uptime.
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PvE

There’s no point really going too in-depth here. The Boolean Gemini is just an above-average Scout Rifle in every regard, doing basically nothing a well-rolled Legendary alternative can’t. If you take it into PvE, expect to have your finger feathering the trigger constantly; there’s no Firefly to clean out weak trash or Full Auto to remove the finger strain. Boolean Gemini is a great weapon for those players that like to get into a rhythm with very few breaks in firing. Scout Rifles are in a great place for PvE, and a versatile variant like the Boolean Gemini can handle almost any engagement – while not particularly excelling in anything specifically.

It’s worth noting that you may find the reticle a little obstructive when you’re zeroed in on the field of battle. The specialized red dot sight has a surprisingly stunted and short glass lens that, when bouncing at lower stability levels, can definitely throw off your aim. Perfect Balance will remedy this, though we can assure you that even if you don’t always have the head in view, the Boolean Gemini will more or less stay on target when firing at the maximum RoF regardless.

One Way is a solid selection for Strikes and objective-based missions. Anytime flanking or forging ahead is a priority, the host of benefits that +3 Agility can get you will come most in handy. In general, we’d also probably recommend One Way as it is most sensible for when you’re focusing on headshots – which should be almost all of the time.

For those specific moments when you are going to be locked down or are defending an objective, Or Another shouldn’t be overlooked . Waves of enemies that go down to one or two body shots are great for building that extra bit of damage resistance, and when you’re camped or behind cover, you’ll need that Agility less than some insurance padding.
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PvP

You know, it’s not all that bad. The aforementioned Aim Assist really is nothing to sneeze at; Scout Rifles only really have a few weaknesses, and Aim Assist is frequently one of them. Unfortunately, with TTKs being where they are, your success with the Boolean Gemini will come down more to how well you play, and not the strengths of the gun on its own. In a straight up firefight, it’s going to lose out to pretty much anything if your opponent’s aim is true.

However, that doesn’t mean that baiting Hawksaw users into engaging outside of their optimal range isn’t a winning strategy. On those maps that have open sightlines beyond cramped quarters, the BG is as solid an option as most Scouts. And with Aggressive Ballistics, you’ll score that satisfying three shot kill at least a couple times a game, assuming at least one of your opponents was cocky enough to spec Agility/Recovery.

As for its Exotic perk…there’s not much to be said. It’s very rare that you’ll string together enough kills within 15 seconds of another to proc 3 stacks, much less take advantage of them in an ensuing encounter. Your best choice is probably One Way, as headshots should be your #1 focus, and Agility will give you strafe power.

It’s worth mentioning that Scout Rifles might be worth a little extra attention following the next balance patch. With Pulse Rifles being kept in check and forced into a mid-range roll as Auto Rifles seize the close range encounters, expect newly cautious PR users to be caught with their pants down while they adjust to the new meta.
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Conclusion

The Gemini lives and dies by its accessibility. It’s a great weapon for Guardians to get the feel for Scout Rifles, with accuracy, good-enough stats, and a suite of perks that get the job done, but its lack of specialization means it’s almost never the best choice for any one situation. In a game that encourages you to mix and match to meet your foes with the best gear possible, this is somewhat of a death sentence for its endgame viability.

This Scout flies in the face of the warped and twisted design of the King’s Fall Raid weapons, preaching order and precision. It fires Arc-blue bullets that eject from the magazine with a satisfying ching – as Patrick observed, it sounds like a particularly angry typewriter shifting to the next line.

Taking it into PvE, you’ll be pleased with its ability to keep up relentless fire, reloading quickly and always buffing your Armor or Agility by at least some amount. However, it won’t be able to keep up with stronger Primary competitors, and the fact that it consumes your Exotic slot limits your Special and Heavy options to an unacceptable extent.

In PvP, Aggressive Ballistics and high AA give it the tiniest of niches, but barring an extreme shift in the meta, it’s again an inferior option. All in all, pick it up and have fun with it in the story and Vanguard Strikes, but leave it in the barracks when it comes to the important stuff.

Thanks for reading our Exotic Review for Boolean Gemini! For PvP this weapon earns a 7.2/10 and for PvE a 7/10.