Welcome back, Guardians, and Happy Solstice! Do you have all of your sweet armor sets finished yet? If not, make sure to check out Nico’s guide to see what you need to do.
This week, Xur is hanging out at The Rig on Titan. Read on to see if the Exotics he’s brought are worth your hard-earned Shards.
This week, for 29 Legendary Shards, Xur carries:
Graviton Lance
“So wait, that thing you found does… what?”
Graviton Lance lore
“It fires black holes.”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Oh yeah. It does. Actual, tiny, bullet-sized black holes.”
The Graviton Lance is an interesting Exotic Pulse Rifle. Thanks to its high-recoil two-round burst, playing with it can feel a bit closer to a Scout Rifle than a Pulse. Getting over that small learning curve has upside, though; the Lance’s Black Hole intrinsic perk takes away the second shot’s damage falloff and raises its damage. If you didn’t pick it up a long time ago, I’d suggest giving it a try.
And for 23 Legendary Shards, Xur offers:
Skull of Dire Ahamkara
Warlocks this week can treat themselves to a Skull of Dire Ahamkara. The Skull has the Actual Grandeur Exotic Perk, which ups your damage resistance while Nova Bombing and grants immediate Super energy on kill, so you can do it again more quickly. It’s not a bad helmet, but Warlocks have a lot of Exotic armor to choose from, and the Skull isn’t the absolute best. That said, it’s pretty good, and situationally great, so give it a shot, oh bearer mine.
Ophidia Spathe
Ophidia Spathe is an Exotic Hunter Chest that gives Gunslingers another Throwing Knife with its Scissor Fingers Exotic Perk. It also has snakes all over it. On a completely unrelated note, a lesson I’ve learned writing this column for over 30 weeks is that Hunter Exotics have a tendency to be depressing to try to write content for.
Mk 44 Stand Asides
“Pardon me, coming through,” says the flavor text on these Exotic Titan legs. You’d be wise to heed that warning; the Stand Asides are a force to be reckoned with. At full health and when sprinting, the Exotic Perk Seriously, Watch Out triggers, giving an overshield while sprinting and plenty of melee energy on a successful melee ability hit. If you want to be the scourge of PvP, these are the boots for you.
Xur also carries an Exotic Engram, providing a random piece of Exotic armor 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.
Xur didn’t exactly bring the heat this week. The Stand Asides are great as usual, but the Graviton Lance and Skull are firmly in the ‘fine’ tier, and the snek armor is well below that. If you already have the Lance and aren’t a Titan, I’d suggest saving your Shards this week.
See you next week!