Xûr’s Inventory March 4th-5th Xûr has been spotted in the tower to the west by the Speaker.
This week’s Titan exotic item are some special boots, the “Mk. 44 Stand Asides” to be exact. These boots are specifically designed for the Striker Titan due to its exotic perk called “Be Somewhere Else”. This perks increases the duration of the titan’s Shoulder Charge and gives you a tighter turn radius while sprinting. Ever try to Shoulder Charge an enemy just to run out of Shoulder Charge energy prior to reaching your target? Yeah, it is a terrible feeling, and you often get greeted with a shotgun to your face instead of killing your enemy in PvP. This week’s stat roll has intel/strength, ammo for sidearm/rocket launchers, and arc double down for the Titan Striker class.
Overall Opinion: Honestly, there is little to make these boots needed to be equipped. Personally, I only picked these up to collect and unlock them in the exotic blueprint locker. Only thing that makes them interesting is the tighter turn radius while sprinting. I would suggest a new player skip these if you are starving for strange coins.
For the Hunter, “Graviton Forfeit” is being sold by Xûr. This helmet has been specifically designed for the Nightstalkers subclass of Hunter. What makes this helmet special is its exotic perk called “Elusive Shadow.” This perk unlocks the subclass node called “Shadestep” for free. Shadestep, if you have not used it, allows your Hunter to dive out of harm’s way quickly and can save you when in a tight spot either PvE or PvP. By using this helmet to unlock Shadestep for free, this allows you to use your selection in either Predator or Keen Scout. Predator allows your Shadowshot to become traps that stick to surfaces and will trigger when enemies are near. Keen Scout allows you to sprint and sneak faster and also allows you to get an enhanced tracker for your radar giving you a more accurate depiction of your surroundings. But wait that’s not all! You also get a marker placed on any targets you damage allowing you to track their moments for a short time through walls and obstacles.
Overall Opinion: If you love the Nightstalker class then definitely pick this helmet up. The fact you get a free avoidance perk makes it worth it. If you see Hunters rolling all around in PvP making it hard for them to shoot”¦..this is why.
Xûr has passed down the “Nothing Manacles” gloves this week for the Warlock. Step one, buy the gloves. Step two, select scatter grenades node. Step three, select the bloom node. Final step, chuck scatter grenades at all your enemies and watch the fireworks. Seriously though, with these gloves you can get some pretty nifty kills in close quarters. Reason being is it exotic perk associated with these gloves named “Scatter Charge”. This enables tracking for your scatter grenades and gives you an extra scatter grenade charge as well.
Overall: These gloves can turn the tide of any battle, doesn’t matter if it is PvE or PvP. It all comes down to grenade placement though, so if you are already good with scatter grenades these gloves will be perfect for you.
Xûr has also decided to present us with a previously year one PlayStation exclusive weapon which has been remade and opened to all consoles for year two. This primary weapon is one of my personal favorites called “Hawkmoon”. The hand cannon may look pristine and shiny, but don’t be fooled by its innocent looks because it can be a devastating gun in the hands of a lucky Guardian. The reason I say lucky is because of this gun’s perks of Luck in the Chamber and Holding Aces. Luck in the Chamber gives one bullet in the magazine considerable bonus damage while Holding Aces gives two more bullets of this type to your magazine. There is no way to tell when these bullets will be fired, but you will get an auditory tone when it does. This gun can two shot kill a guardian in PvP if these bullets hit one right after the other, so those are just the big bonuses of this gun. Additionally, this gun comes loaded with a 13 round mag, hammer forged to increase range, and field choke/accurized ballistics to increase range and impact.
Overall Opinion: If you haven’t tried this weapon and love hand cannons, I must insist that you pick this weapon up and give it a spin. I personally use this constantly in PvP because it has gotten me out of more close calls than I can count.
Trials of Osiris
Trials of Osiris is a weekly challenge/tournament that puts teams of three up against other teams of three to fight in elimination style tournament gameplay. Objective is to wipe out the other team which gives you one winning round. To win the match you must win five rounds total. This crucible gameplay is built solely upon teamwork and communication.
The Trials of Osiris map this week is once again The Burning Shrine on Mars. This was the first original trials map back in year one and is a community favorite for 3v3 battles. It has several good sniping lanes all around the maps, so you Guardians will have to keep your eyes out on some of the long range battles if that happens. Other areas of the map allow for closer range combat which helps grenade effectiveness. These areas are all on the inside of the level around what most players call “The Bridge.” Trials overall is an extreme test on your fire team’s communication skills. The more your team communicates, the better opportunity your teammates have to adjust to the new information. Big foot stomper for trials is to get revives when you can or are close to down teammates. This is due to the over shields you get for being revived as well as reviving an ally. Revives can quickly turn the battle in your favor if done properly. On the other side of this, if you get an enemy down make sure you keep at least one guy guarding to keep them from being revived easily.
To get started in trials, you will have to form a fire team of three Guardians and all have picked up a “Trials Passage” from Brother Vance in the Reef. Additionally you can talk to Brother Vance and pick up the six bounties that can be completed while doing trials. I strongly advise on doing this since, even if you don’t think you will ever make it to the Lighthouse, you can still get some great loot from turning in these bounties. The ultimate goal of Trials of Osiris is to go nine wins and zero losses, which gives you access to “The Lighthouse”. Upon doing so, you get to open a chest that gives you a primary weapon, emblem, and a chance at exotic gear as well. Some of these weapons you can get with the right stat roll on them are extremely powerful in PvP which is why everyone tries to go flawless every week.
If you want help for you and your fire team to go flawless, you have the option to purchase three buffs or “boons” as they call them in trials. You purchase these by selecting triangle or Y on your controller (depending on console) while hovering over the trials passage on your inventory screen. You can only purchase these boons/buffs before starting Trials, once the first matchmaking has been completed, you are no longer allowed to buy them. The first buff is called Favor of Osiris which instantly starts you off with one win. The second one, Mercy of Osiris, allows your first loss to be forgiven (meaning if you have this and lose while 8-0 you will stay 8-0 to get another chance at going flawless). The last buff, Boon of Osiris, enables your first trials match in will count as two wins.
Destiny Weekly News Roll-Up
This past week Bungie held their Ride Along inside Oryx’s “loot filled fortress” to give an insight to the fans about where the designers were concept wise when trying to put together this massive ship. Both designers were able to share their stories as well as their thought process while putting some of the Dreadnaughts missions together. It was interesting to hear what they were trying to get the players to feel and experience. Look back at what we as Guardians actually felt when we came aboard the Dreadnaught for the first time. Did you experience what they were trying to make you feel? If you missed the broadcast of the Ride Along feel free to watch it on Bungie’s Twitch.
I know most of the community’s feedback via Twitch to Bungie was trying to get them to focus more on the upcoming PvE content, but to no avail was any information released. On a side note, Deej did state they are aware of the issue, “to point out the elephant in the room (and salt in our chat window), we know we’re on the hook to tell you more about the next things we’ll do to infuse your PvE lifestyle with new challenges”. Therefore, we know they are aware of the issue of what the community wants which is honestly a good sign. For now, though, it looks like we will have to enjoy learning more about Bungie first.
On other notes, Bungie posted their weekly news recapping the Ride Along as well as advertising their next Twitch broadcast on March 10th. This time we will be getting to know how the Bungie Audio Team got the sounds captured and tied into the Destiny Universe. Ever wondered how they came up with the sound of your favorite weapon? If so, then this next broadcast is for you. (I’m personally curious about the Rocket Launchers and Hawkmoon).
For all you PvP Guardians out there, next Tuesday (8 March) Bungie will be pushing out a patch to balance the matchmaking system. Most of us Guardians know about the struggle between connection based and skill based matching that has been going on in Destiny for a while now. This patch being pushed out (hotfix 2.1.1.3) is said to help matchmaking find matches with the lowest latency as possible first. On secondary, the matchmaking will be trying to balance the skill levels of players as well. Per Senior Designer Derek Carroll “The newest settings are more aggressive about keeping latency low than we’ve ever had in Destiny. Regardless of the playlist you prefer, you should be seeing high-quality matches”.
Overall not a bad start to the weekend Guardians. Enjoy the info, and I will return next week with more Destiny news. Hopefully, I will be back next week with some insights into that PvE update they keep hinting at. -ShadowAssault86
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