Greetings, Guardians! To the US Guardians: hope you had a nice holiday. To Guardians worldwide: hope you had an excellent Thursday. On this Black Friday, Xur has decided to hang out in the Tower’s Hangar. Read on to see his sweet Exotic deals.
This week, for 29 Legendary Shards, Xur carries:
Hard Light
Not too long ago, Hard Light was the gun to beat in endgame PvP content. Volatile Light used to remove damage falloff completely, and shots would ricochet and pierce for much more damage, turning narrow passages into kill boxes (For more info on the changes, check out Critbuff’s Hard Light postmortem). The gun is still good, especially in PvE, where the nerfs don’t exist, but it isn’t the dedicated Trials carry gun that it used to be. Still worth grabbing if you haven’t already, in my opinion.
And for 23 Legendary Shards, Xur offers:
Phoenix Protocol
Phoenix Protocol is a Forsaken Exotic for Dawnblades. Its Battle-Hearth Exotic perk gives you Super energy for kills and assists made in your Well of Radiance. It’s fantastic for when you’re neck deep in enemies; keeping the Well up can keep you and your Fireteam alive and powerful through the onslaught. The Protocol is a strong Warlock option. Go get it.
Khepri’s Sting
Nightstalkers rejoice; Xur has given you the opportunity — no, the privilege — to strap a large, angry scarab to your arm for various battle purposes. Khepri’s Sting comes with the Touch of Venom Exotic Perk, which allows your fully charged melees to immediately drop a Smoke Bomb. The Touch also gives you truesight in your Smoke Bombs while amping their damage a bit. Pick it up, whether for the Smoke Bomb tricks or for the large, angry scarab.
Lion Rampant
Lion Rampant is a niche set of Titan legs. Their Jump Jets perk grants aerial mobility and airborne hipfire accuracy. That’s super situational, especially given the class they belong to, but definitely neat if it pays off. Try them out. Run rampant. Become a sky lion.
Xur also carries an Exotic Engram, providing a random Exotic piece for 97 Legendary Shards, the Five of Swords for Nightfalls, and The Invitation of the Nine for 9 Legendary Shards, if you haven’t completed that quest yet.
Also, Xur now has a quest to get an Exotic Cipher! By doing Strikes or winning Crucible or Gambit games, you can unlock a Cipher to access vaulted Exotic gear!
He did it! This might be the first time I’ve liked everything that Xur has sold in a week! He usually finds a way to ruin it with Lucky Pants or some garbage. Are all of these Exotic choices the best? No. But Hard Light is fun to shoot, Phoenix Protocol is situationally pretty powerful, Lion Rampant is fun to try to make work, and just look at Khepri’s Sting. More Guardian technology should really involve taping large insects to gear and hoping that it does something. That’s a weird aesthetic that I can get behind.
See you next week!