Oversoul Edict Review

The light of the will of Crota shines down like a vast and inverse sun.

Talent Upgrades Tree

[divider]

Video Review

[divider]

Weapon Review

Oversoul Edict is a primary pulse rifle that can only be obtained in the Abyss section in hard mode of Crota’s End.

To learn more about the Crota’s End weapons, click here – we’ve reviewed them all.

Contributing author: Ryan Kirby

[divider]

Recommended perks:

RED DOT-OAS
+14 Stability

Field Scout
Increases magazine size to 42

[divider]

The Good

Oversoul Edict makes its strongest case during an Arc Burn Nightfall filled with Hive Knights.

It’s got the highest rate of fire, tied with a few others. Combined with Full Auto and Fitted Stock allow it to dish out solid, sustained damage under the right circumstances.

Unloading a 30 round magazine will only take 3.40 seconds, and it’ll take 4.5 seconds if you’re using Field Scout.

The reload speed is the only other stat that isn’t below average: It’ll take 2.1 seconds to reload.

Its stats make it handle extremely similar to the previous raid pulse rifle, Praedyth’s Timepiece. Raiders that got a lot of use out of the Timepiece will immediately warm up to Oversoul Edict, especially in Crota’s End, where the Hive Disruptor and Dark Breaker perks get the most bang for their buck.

This is the only primary to feature Dark Breaker, which allows Oversoul Edict to shoot through a Hive Knight’s Wall of Darkness. It’s not a game changing perk, even in Crota’s End, but it can be entertaining to land the killing blow as a Knight feebly attempts to summon his shield.

Field Scout raises a magazine of 30 to a hearty 42, but given the weapon’s high rate of fire and Full Auto you may get more use out of Fitted Stock.

You also have the choice of Snapshot, which doubles the ADS speed from .30 seconds to .15 seconds, but Snapshot is probably the least useful.

The Full Auto perk feels right on this pulse rifle; it’s awesome to not have to worry about continuously pulling the trigger.

As a drop off the first section of hard mode Crota’s End, it’s not too demanding to obtain. If you’re lacking in an Arc primary, it’s a quick fix to prepare yourself for those oddly frequent Arc Burn Nightfalls or Arc shields for the Knights/Captains.

Unique to the raid weapons is the Hive Disruptor perk which increases damage to Hive Majors. You’ll be able to do about 277 additional damage. The extra damage has a cooldown and will only happen every 1.5 seconds.
[divider]

The Bad

Pulse Rifles are in a bad place right now, and Oversoul Edict does nothing to remedy this. In fact, Oversoul Edict suffers from a bevy of issues, both statistically and in its rigid skill tree, that make it a poor choice even among the worst performing weapons in the game.

With comically low Impact, it scrapes the bottom of the barrel; this weapon tickles. Outside of a Nightfall with Arc Burn, crawling with Hive Knights, Oversoul Edict feels markedly unpowerful due to its middling stats and situational skill tree.

Of course there’s other pulse rifles with an equal rate of fire and Impact, but those pulse rifles are able to do better (especially in PvP) because of their perk selection.

Full Auto, while not a bad perk, simply serves as a quality of life upgrade. It doesn’t add any functionality onto a weapon desperately in need of a unique perk. To rub salt in Oversoul Edict‘s wounds, Full Auto is bugged, sometimes leading the gun to jam.

If Oversoul Edict‘s poor stats weren’t enough to do it in, its final perks Dark Breaker & Hive Disruptor, is the nail in its coffin. These perks are only useful for PvE, and even then it’s extremely situational. It only provides a mild benefit against a specific enemy type from a singular enemy faction, and typically Wall of Darkness is only an annoyance.

You’ve already been dealing with Knights—waiting for their shield to drop or flanking them to use their lengthy shield animation to your advantage anyway—making this perk feel a little superfluous even when its in action.

Oversoul Edict‘s specialized perks shoehorn it into PvE, and even there, it’s outclassed by other weapons such as Fang of Ir Yût (full review). Even Praedyth’s Timepiece, the Vault of Glass pulse rifle, shares Oversoul Edict‘s Arc damage type and abysmally low impact, but has infinitely more useful perks in Head Seeker and Final Round. Despite being locked at 300 damage, Praedyth’s Timepiece still outperforms Oversoul Edict in most situations outside dueling with Knights.

In the Crucible, Oversoul Edict serves as a minor handicap for its user. It’s low Impact translates to a higher time to kill, giving opposing guardians a chance to fire back with more powerful weapons. Landing precision shots will net 21 damage whereas body shots hit for 14. This gun’s high rate of fire does slightly offset its low Impact, but skilled players will find themselves more rewarded using something with a bigger burst.

Pulse rifles are easily counteracted by strafing, causing rounds from each burst to miss moving targets. Oversoul Edict can actually dish out decent damage provided your target is immobile or walking directly toward you, but that’s not a flattering trait in Crucible. In most exchanges the Oversoul Edict just doesn’t stack up favorably.

Its mediocre range of 33 leads to a drop in damage outside mid-range or closer. Unfortunately, in mid-range encounters this weapon lacks the sustained damage of an auto rifle or the versatility of a hand cannon. With an unreliable hip fire, it doesn’t transition well to close-range either.

You may want to increase its stability with the Fitted Stock perk, because the stability is also extremely low.

[divider]

Cosmetics

All of the Crota’s End weapons use a previously existing base model affixed with Hive scales and bones, and Oversoul Edict is no different.

Crota’s armament tends to be aesthetically polarizing. Most players will have already made up their mind about Oversoul Edict before seeing it in the wild. Whether you deem it a lazy rehash or a brooding, undead daydream, Oversoul Edict is at least immediately recognizable as a hard mode primary.

If you’re wearing it as a badge of honor, just hope your friends and foes mistake it for an Abyss Defiant or a Fang of Ir Yût!

[divider]

Conclusion

Our condolences go out to Guardians that obtained this weapon in hard mode thinking that they had added another powerful tool to their arsenal. Oversoul Edict feels unsatisfying from its initial burst, and there’s many other pulse rifles out there with better perks.

It’s unfortunate that Pulse Rifles aren’t preforming as well as the other weapon types, but even a universal buff to the most maligned weapon class in Destiny wouldn’t save this gun from a suite of underwhelming, situational perks.

Oversoul Edict is far from unusable, but it simply doesn’t feel powerful outside its Arc-Burn-Hive-Knight dream scenario. Its high rate of fire and low Impact rivals Praedyth’s Timepiece and 123 Syzygy, so on the off chance that Oversoul Edict clicks with you, there are easily obtainable weapons with a similar feel that offer a more balanced set of perks. This goes doubly for PvP, where Arc Burn, Dark Breaker, and Hive Disruptor is dead weight.

If you’re itching to use a Pulse Rifle, consider an easier-to-obtain and far better alternative: the Crucible’s Three Little Words (video review). Boasting an impressive Impact and range, Three Little Words won’t feel like quite as much of a burden.

Oversoul Edict is worth keeping, if only for Arc Burn. Arc burn is unnaturally frequent so it may find a place in your loadout, but keep those fingers crossed for a Fang of Ir Yût.

For PvP this weapon earns a 8.5/10 and for PvE a 8.6/10.