Eye of Sol Review

“The sun took my sight, thus the sun became my eyes.” —Parables of the Allspring

Talent Upgrades Tree

[divider]

Weapon Review

We’ve been pretty thorough with our Sniper Rifle coverage lately, reviewing the popular Shadow of Veils and putting out a few videos and other relevant articles to help you improve your PvP sniping game.

We’ve discussed the perk “Hidden Hand” and explained how much Aim Assist can help.

This review will be focusing on the Eye’s stats relative to other Snipers, a brief discussion of its perks, and its place in both metagames.

[divider]

Eye of Sol at a Glance

It’s a low-Impact/high-RoF Sniper Rifle and shares this class with only one other Legendary Sniper: the New Monarchy’s classic Prudence II.

Like almost all Snipers, it has an impressive base Range. Its Stability of 40, on the other hand, is fairly low and disappointingly so when you consider the increased difficulty of keeping your shots on target when exercising its quick RoF. Thankfully the Eye of Sol has an ample Magazine Size of 5, and a speedy 1.7 second Reload Speed.

This is a Sniper from which rounds can fly fast and frequently, with very little downtime in between salvos. To round off its interesting stat build, its hidden Equip Speed and Aim Assistance are also staggeringly high. The former is near-maximum, and the latter is 4th best among all Sniper Rifles.

With these statistics, we see that the Eye of Sol is designed for those who aren’t afraid to empty their magazine at a moment’s notice. If the pressure is on, you can swap to it quickly, discharge all 5 rounds at lightning speed, and reload before your quarry has a chance to return fire.

This spells good things for both PvE and PvP, if you can get past the poor non-negotiable Impact. Is this really a feasible trade-off though? Let’s take a look at perks to decide.
[divider]

Perk Up

You’ll start off with the ShortGaze and eventually unlock the LongView and EagleEye as alternatives. Because of the low base Stability, higher zoom factors result in a bigger effective kick, so we recommend sticking with ShortGaze or LongView.

Its first distinct perk is Army of One which grants you a boost to both melee and grenade energy for every unassisted kill. This means that so long as you are the only one to damage and eventually kill an enemy, you’ll get the effects of Grenadier plus its melee equivalent. It’s actually a pretty desirable PvE perk on certain guns, and not entirely worthless in PvP.

Of course, you’ll only find it useful if you consciously try to use your special abilities whenever they’re up. If you’re locked into using your weapon first and foremost, you might not notice when your Grenade pops up 8 seconds early. This as a solo PvE-friendly perk but not insignificant for the Crucible either.

From the second column of three, you have the choice between Quickdraw, Snapshot, and Send It. To briefly review, Quickdraw offers a substantial buff to equip speed and a minor buff to ADS time, Snapshot grants a huge buff to ADS time, and Send It completely maxes out the Range.

Really, the only appealing option here is Snapshot. Quickdraw is hardly necessary given the aforementioned quick Equip Speed. If you want to minimize the downtime between switching to your Sniper and getting your scope on your enemy, then Snapshot is going to do this best. For quick-scopers and those who liberally switch between Primary and Special this is the preferred choice.

There is some evidence that an increased Range stat affects some intangible mechanics, including effective hitbox size, but as we are unable to corroborate this to any significant degree, Send It isn’t recommended.

Its final perk, Unflinching, is a curious one. We’ve heard emphatically positive reviews from several of our own readers, as well as unambiguously negative ones. Holtzmann however has found Unflinching to have an almost negligible benefit in his Crucible experience, though it’s apparently much more effective when combined with Hidden Hand.

Unflinching is somewhat of a wild card. Its benefits may be a placebo, or perhaps more noticeable under certain conditions, but it is by no means going to make or break your game. Suffice to say that, when it’s working, you’ll hopefully be able to land that crucial headshot even under fire.

In summation, the Eye of Sol has a smattering of perks that don’t necessarily improve any of its weaknesses, but aren’t outright useless. A pure stat-booster like Perfect Balance is sorely lacking – though with 2.0’s changes on the horizon, this might not be such a bad thing – and the age-old Destiny problem of “PvE or PvP?” rears its ugly head when considering the lack of synergy between Army of One and Unflinching.

Speaking of which…
[divider]

PvE

This sniper rifle is a touch better than some of its PvE rivals introduced in the House of Wolves. Its main benefit is its extra shot per magazine, which may seem insignificant, but it equates to more DPS on a single troublesome enemy than a comparable alternative with 4 in the magazine. It’s not going to have much staying power though, as it lacks the raw Impact of the LDR or Spear archetypes, and thus needs to rely on quantity over quality when engaging an enemy.

You’re going to want to be smart about your reserves: Use it opportunistically, when you encounter a wall that slows your progression. Weapons like Ice Breaker might be fine to use as a second Primary, but the benefit to using the Sol or Prudence is a sudden burst of DPS when it’s called for, and to not squander it until then. Consider pairing it with a Hand Cannon with a healthy amount of Impact to cover the close-to-mid range encounters.

Your other option is to prey on weak enemies to activate Army of One constantly. This requires a presence of mind that might be taxing to maintain, but is a viable strategy on its own. Just get used to seeing “0” in reserve ammunition.

It’s interesting to note that the Eye of Sol can only have Solar damage. It faces stiff competition from Ice Breaker and Black Hammer for PvE, and frankly can’t really touch either of them when compared side-by-side. Still, if you choose to take it into PvE, it will obviously be most ideal for Hive missions in which shielded Wizards will prove troublesome, or areas such as the Cabal room in the Prison of Elders where Centurions are numerous.
[divider]

PvP

The one thing this weapon has going for it that makes it an obvious choice for PvP: high Aim Assist. At 61 – which can be improved to 71 – it undoubtedly is one of the most friendly options for those who like a helping hand. High AA does not result a drastic bonus, but the stickiness that your reticle receives when a target moves slightly is sometimes enough to make a miss, a hit.

With its larger-than-average Magazine Size and fast RoF, the Eye of Sol also is a scary option for body-shot snipers. While one should always aim for headshots when it’s feasible, this Trials rifle can be surprisingly deadly when emptied judiciously into an enemy crowd – providing you can handle the kick.

Unfortunately, the good mostly stops there. Ironically, it’s an inferior choice for the incredibly popular Trials of Osiris. If the Guardian you’re victimizing has recently been revived, picked up an Overshield, or is using Nova Bomb, Radiance, or Arc Blade, you’ll find it impossible to eliminate them with fewer than two shots.

This is a notable handicap; “revive-sniping” is one of the most crucial strategies for many Trials teams. Winning a sniper duel at the beginning of Pantheon doesn’t mean much if you can’t lock down opposing ghosts with the threat of a quick return to the grave. For this reason, the Eye of Sol is better for standard Crucible playlists, with the exception of Skirmish and Salvage.
[divider]

Conclusion

The Eye of Sol doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but is no way a disappointment. The combination of a few key stats, ShortGaze, and Snapshot, is a recipe for the Eye to feel right at home in the Crucible. When not outright dropping unshielded enemies with a headshot, it will give them the smallest amount of respite before finishing the job with a follow-up.

In PvE, it’s not really worth your time. Though Solar damage and Army of One are intriguing, its Impact class and lack of Field Scout pretty much dooms its chances of becoming a regular part of your rotation.

The miserable base Stability might dissuade you from using it, but give it a try!

For PvP this weapon earns a 8.2/10 and for PvE a 6.8.