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Destiny: Analysis Of Xur’s Exotic Wares For April 3 (Week 30)

Derek Strickland — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 11:31:25 +0000

The shadowy merchant Xur is back again with a fresh batch of exotic wares to peddle in Destiny‘s Tower of Guardians, and he really doesn’t have anything too exciting this time around.

Notable selections from the Agent of the Nine’s weekly inventory include a decent Defender Titan helm, a body armor exotic engram that could drop a Heart of the Praxic Fire for your Sunsinger, and a fantastic Achlyophage Symbiote upgrade with 127 max Discipline.

Xur’s inventory selection for Week 30 lasting from April 3 – 4, 2015.

Other goodies include a decent Crest of Alpha Lupi Titan variant, as well as a ton of weapon upgrade repeats like impressive combo Bad Juju pulse rifle and the Arc-infused Thunderlord machine gun.

As far as location, for Week 30 the interstellar tradesman can be found in one of his usual haunts outside of the Speaker’s quarter.

This week Xur is in the western quadrant of the Tower, outside of the Speaker’s quarters next to the railing.

It looks like Heavy Ammo Synthesis are here to stay, priced at their usual exchange rate of 1SC per stack of five. As far as Telemetry models go, Xur has Pulse Rifle, Fusion Rifle and Rocket Launcher EXP boosters up for grabs for 1SC per five-stack.

Without further adieu let’s jump right into our analysis of Xur’s exotic wares for April 3 (Week 30) and find out if his wares are worth your hard-earned strange coins or not.

“Everything is luminous.”

The Glasshouse – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan (Defender)
Upgrade Mats: Helium Fragments, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Intellect: 110/118
Rain Blows: Increases melee attack speed
Quintessence Transfer: Replenish Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
Bathed in light: Blessing of Light and Weapons of Light last longer.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Defender Titan.

The Glasshouse is a very useful utility-grade exotic that serves a very specific purpose: to boost your Weapons of Light for extra damage. This is particularly useful during raids like the Vault of Glass Aetheron battle or high-level Strikes where high-output damage is key.

The Quintessence Transfer mod is pretty useful too especially if you have the Magnetic Grenade equipped. Basically you’ll get something extra out of kills you’d already be getting thanks to the grenade, and get to use your shield more often.

It’s something that every Defender Titan should have in their arsenal, but it doesn’t replace the Helm of Saint-14 for everyday use. The higher-end Intellect roll is also a nice touch that further boosts your bubble shield recharge.

“Amputated from a creature that stumbled out of a Vex gate. A vestigial defensive reflex still remains.”

Don’t Touch Me – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter (Any)
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Discipline: 77/83
Special Weapon Loader: Increases reload speed of all Special Weapons.
Inverse Shadow: Cooldown for Super Ability is reduced by 2.5 seconds per kill of minions of the Darkness.
Defensive Reflex: Taking damage from a melee attack makes you briefly invisible.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe.

These pair of gauntlets are strictly PVE, so it depends on what kind of character your Hunter is. That being said, this particular exotic is incredibly useful during the first segment of the Crota’s End raid where you’re running blind for the lamps.

Basically every time you get smacked by a Thrall you turn invisible, which pretty much allows you to keep gaining ground without taking too much damage. And considering how many thralls there are to hit you, the part becomes pretty easy to just sneak past.

But Don’t Touch Me aren’t useful as a main item–they’re not going to replace your Mask of the Third Man or Golden Gun-adding Achlyophage Symbiote.

“When one can wield the fire of stars, what use is flesh and bone?”

Sunbreakers – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Intellect: 79/85
Special Weapon Loader: Increases the reload speed of all Special Weapons.
Serpent’s Tail: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
Helium Cycle: Increase the duration of your Solar Grenade.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe, but there are better Sunsinger class exotics.

The Sunbreakers are good gauntlets for the Sunsinger class, but you have better options like the Heart of The Praxic Fire which makes Radiance incredibly potent. Another better option is the Claws of Dire Ahamkara gauntlets which grant you an extra Scorch charge, meaning you’ll get two opportunities to trigger your Flame Shield.

The Sunbreakers are pretty much a tier three item, and they’re okay, plus the stat roll is in the middle so if you don’t have anything else, go for it. Otherwise keep on the look out for those other items and stick with what you have for now.

“Burn the world. Burn it all.”

Dragon’s Breath – 17 Strange Coins

Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Rocket Launcher
Damage: 302 (Solar Elemental Damage)
- Smart Drift Control: Predictable and controllable recoil. Penalty to Velocity.
  - Linear Compensator: More predictable recoil. Slight boost to Velocity and Blast Radius. More recoil.
  - Confined Launch: Greatly reduced recoil. Significant penalty to Velocity.
- Tripod: This launcher’s tube can hold three shells.
- Upgrade Damage: Increases Attack Power, allowing this weapon to cause more damage.
- Quickdraw: This weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.
  - Javelin: Increases warhead velocity.
  - Heavy Payload: Increases warhead blast radius.
- Pyromancer :Rounds fired from this weapon leave a Solar Flare upon detonation.

Should You Buy It?

No, save your coin.

The real downside with Dragon’s Breath is that it takes up your exotic weapon slot for a very conditional type of weapon. This rocket launcher is primarily used as a “area denial” solution by leaving a Solar Flare (just like the Warlock’s ability) which delivers damage over time in a specific area.

In PVP you can use it to shoot at an area you want enemies to stay away from, as the explosion leaves behind that damage-dealing flare, pretty much cutting off that particular pathway.

This rocket launcher is curious, and is more for strategic use rather than total annihilation, but it does have a huge blast radius.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Body Armor Exotic Item Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Armor Upgrades

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

Stellar upgrade here, buy this one if you’re in the market for an upgrade. Achlyophage Symbiote is amazing for all Gunslingers, as that extra Golden Gun shot helps in every single game mode, from PVP to PVE. The extra shot is a constant source of recurring value.

Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 119/127
Defense: 407/447

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

Lower Intellect stat roll, so pass it up. The Lucky Raspberry is a very useful tool that arms you with more rocket and fusion rifle ammo (works with Vex Mythoclast) for PVE raids. Plus you instantly spawn with full grenade energy in PVP. And your Arc-infused grenade’s chain lightning effect stretches further outward, making it a good PVP finisher.

Cost: 7393 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 121/130
Defense: 444/488

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Proper high Intellect stat roll, so upgrade it if you have the extra shard laying around. The item’s worth is conditional, but spawning extra orbs can help out in boss fights as well as taking down Crota on Hard difficulty.

Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Any)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 148/159
Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

Middle tier Strength roll here, so pass it up for now. You don’t want to invest the Exotic Shard and Glimmer cost until you see a fantastic Strength buff. No Backup Plans are pretty useful for Defender Titans, and stack with defense melee skills to make the Force Barrier overshield a powerful extra line of defense.

Cost: 7759 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Defender)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 80/86
Defense: 333/366

Apotheosis Veil (Helmet)

The stat roll here is decent, but with a registered max of 128 Discipline, this particular RNG helmet isn’t anything amazing. The Apotheosis Veil is another conditionally useful item that is best equipped during Raids or other high-stakes activities. It allows the wearer to regenerate health from various triggers.

Cost: 7013 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Any)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 93/100
Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Another “meh” roll here, so save your Glimmer and shards. We’ve already weighed the value of the Sunbreakers above, and the extra defense boost isn’t worth the cost.

Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 80/86
Defense: 333/366

Weapon Upgrades

Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)

Bungie has just buffed up Pulse Rifles quite a bit in 1.1.1 so now’s a good time as any to upgrade. Bad Juju on its own is pretty damn effective and is a great go-to weapon for Voidwalker Warlocks when used in tandem with the Obsidian Mind helmet. With this combo you’ll get instant reloads and build up your super after kills, and gain more energy from killing Hive enemies thanks to the Obsidian Mind.

You can also use Bad Juju effectively with the Skull of Dire Ahamkara to build some serious super energy.

Cost: 7019 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 24

MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)

Upgrade this one. The MIDA Multi-Tool is already amazing, and with extra damage it becomes even more amazing. Essentially it’s a fast-shooting, fast-reloading mid to long-range rifle that empowers you with extra speed when equipped. And the best part is that it gives you a Third Eye that lets you see your radar when you’re scoping down the sights.

Cost: 7459 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 21

Thorn (Handcanon)

Pick this upgrade up. Even when it’s not upgraded Thorn is a very powerful weapon. Sure it’s not as good as the all-star Hawkmoon, but it does the job quite well thanks to its lingering damage and Send It perks. The extra damage is well worth restarting all over again.

Plus there’s even word that Thorn might somehow combo with the Hunter’s Tripmine-boosting Young Ahamkara’s Spine gauntlets

Cost: 7673 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 9

Patience and Time (Sniper Rifle)

Upgrading this one depends on how much you like it. That extra damage boost will come in handy to be sure, and thanks to the active camoflage, the gun is pretty flexible in a variety of situations. Basically it’s the ultimate sniper rifle for stealthy assassins.

Cost: 7561 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 4

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

Great opportunity to get that extra damage buff on an already amazing machine gun. The Thunderlord is a great go-to weapon in PvP or during Weeklies when Arc Burn is up, and is one of the best heavy machine guns in the game because it packs a powerful punch as well as retains accuracy.

Essentially it combines everything you’d want to see in this type of weapon: power, speedy reloads, and amazing stability. Plus the Lightning Rounds perk makes the gun become more accurate the longer you fire it. Win-win.

Cost: 7681G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 38

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

Apart from the Arc-infused Thunderlord, Super Good Advice is Destiny‘s other badass machine gun. It returns missed shots to its clip with the Super Good Advice perk, deals bonus damage every time you kill an enemy, packs a Solar-powered wallop, and can reload amazingly fast.

Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar damage)
Magazine: 58

Curios

Pulse Rifle Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

Fusion Rifle Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

Rocket Launcher Telemetry - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

Heavy Ammo Synthesis - Stack of 5x per 1 Strange Coin

Plasma Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

“Emerald Coil” Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

The post Destiny: Analysis Of Xur’s Exotic Wares For April 3 (Week 30) appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 3/13 (Week 27)

Derek Strickland — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:21:48 +0000

Destiny‘s infamous starbound broker is back again at the Tower for another week of exotic goods, and this time around he’s toting one of the most powerful pulse rifles in the entire universe: the popular (and quite bloody) Red Death.

Other goodies include a decent roll on the efficient Striker-specific Insurmountable Skullfort plus some nifty Claws of Ahamkara for Sunsingers who enjoy spamming Flame Shield as much as possible. As far as upgrades, our shadowy distributor has laid out super impressive stat rolls on both Mask of the Third Man (a Blandedancer’s best friend) and Helm of Saint-14 (a Defender’s best friend) as well as a 160 Intellect max roll on the Lucky Raspberry.

The snazzy Hard Light auto-rifle joins the arsenal of weapon upgrades, accompanied by the Universal Remote, the ultra-stealthy active-camo-inducing Patience and Time sniper , and others.

Plus Xur has ammo syntheses again! Hope this becomes a regular thing–and I can’t be alone on this.

For Week 27 the fleeting vendor can be found downstairs in the Tower, past the Crucible headmasters and right next to the Vanguard handlers. He’s been known to show up here from time to time, and you shouldn’t have any problem finding the purveyor of fine goods.

Without further adieu let’s jump into our analysis of Xur’s exotic wares for 3/13 (Week 27):

“BRAINVAULT Sigma-ACTIUM-IX Cranial Dreadnought (Invincible Type)”

An Insurmountable Skullfort (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan (Striker)
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Discipline: 101/108
Infusion: Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Light.
Impact Induction: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
Improved Transfusion: Kills with Storm Fist immediately trigger health regeneration. You also respawn with full Melee energy.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Titan Striker.

First this Insurmountable Skullfort sports a good stat roll at 101 Discipline–it’s not great, but it’s still good. Secondly the helm has uses in both PVP and PVE, which makes a good utility item.

In the Crucible the full Discipline stat helps boost your effectiveness with grenades, and as any Striker worth their salt knows, the Titan’s Lightning Grenade tends to wreck–especially when it’s specced with Aftershocks and used in conjunction with Fists of Havoc’s Aftermath talent.

Spawning with Storm Fist at the ready is already awesome, but you’ll also trigger cooldown reduction of your ultra-powerful Lightning Grenade–and get some health back when you defeat an enemy with your melee attack. Double synergy.

In PVE you’ll get bits of health by picking up orbs which adds a nice insurance policy in the Crota’s End raid. The Improved Transfusion stat is immensely helpful because you’ll also get some HP back when you do Shoulder Charge, too.

“You can see the point, right? Who wants to team up with one?”

Knucklehead Radar (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter (Any)
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Strength: 98/105
Light the Blade: Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
Sensor Pack: Radar remains visible while aiming primary weapons.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe.

Decent-ish stat roll here, and although the Knucklehead Radar lets you see your radar when scoped into your primary weapon, it’s still a conditional kind of item that doesn’t deliver results like the Gunslinger-specific Achlyophage Symbiote or the Bladedancer’s friend Mask of the Third Man.

It does generate super energy pretty fast when killing Hive, and you can switch your subclasses without losing any specific buffs, so there’s that. Plus the radar effect is super helpful when you’re in PvP and doubly better when you use shotguns and camp around corners, but all in all it seems a kind of so-so item.

“Look at all this life, oh bearer mine. There is so much left to burn…”

Claws of Ahamkara (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Warlock (Any)
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Discipline: 52/55
Strength: 56/60
Special Weapon Loader: Increases the reload speed of all Special Weapons.
Snap Discharge: Increases melee attack speed.
The Whispers: Gain an additional charge for Scorch and Energy Drain.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Sunsinger.

Although these gauntlets technically work for both classes, they work best for Sunsingers simply because you can, as users put it “abuse the hell out of the Flame Shield” ability. Basically you get an extra Scorch charge, meaning you get two chances to activate your Flame Shield to protect you in PVP.

The Heart of the Praxic Fire should be your first choice, but these gloves amplify a nice defense measure for Sunsingers, plus you get to reload your shotguns, sniper rifles and fusion rifles faster.

If you’re a Voidwalker, you need to use different exotic gear like the Skull of Dire Ahamkara or the Obsidian Mind instead.

“Vanguard policy urges Guardians to destroy this weapon on sight.”

Red Death (Pulse Rifle) – 25 Strange Coins

Class: Any
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Attack: 302 / 331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 27
Type: Pulse Rifle
Accurized Ballistics: More range and impact. Increased recoil.
- Aggressive Ballistics: More predictable recoil. Enhanced impact. Shorter range and more recoil.
- Field Choke: More range and impact. Increased recoil.
Unflinching: It’s easier to aim under fire using this weapon.
Snapshot: Aiming this weapon is incredibly fast.
- High Caliber Rounds: Oversize rounds built to stagger targets and leave them reeling.
- Single Point Sling: Switch weapons faster. Move quicker while aiming.
Red Death: Each kill heals you and speeds up reloads.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, yes you should.

Bungie just boosted Pulse Rifle damage and performance with a new update, making the Red Death even more lethal. But what makes it so good?

Basically the gun makes you into a vampire of sorts.

With every successive kill, you get some health and also get a reloading boost, making a kind of destructive synergy that fuels the flow of battle quite well. The Unflinching mod helps with this flow by reducing the annoying flinch that’s incurred when you’re shot, letting you aim much more effectively while under fire.

Because of this the Red Death has been rightfully called the best Pulse Rifle in the entire game.

So aiming is faster, you don’t flinch as much while you’re getting shot while aiming, and you heal and reload faster when you kill someone. Now that everyone is going to have a Red Death in their arsenal, the Crucible is going to be positively ridiculous.

Outside of PVP, the Red Death is a godsend for players trying to tackle the Crota’s End raid on Hard. Since there’s no Chalice, you can now regen life thanks to this helpful pulse rifle, improving the odds quite a bit.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Helmet Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Armor Upgrades

Mask of the Third Man (Helmet)

Fantastic stat roll here, so if you need to upgrade your vanilla version now’s the best time to do it. This one is a great choice for Bladedancers who love to cut swathes through enemies with their super attack in PVP, and you’ll even net some extra health from orbs along the way, making it a good PVE helm during raids.

Cost: 7207 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 113/122
Defense: 407/447

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

Astounding Intellect stat roll here, so upgrade it if you can. The Lucky Raspberry is a very useful tool that arms you with more rocket and fusion rifle ammo (works with Vex Mythoclast) for PVE raids. Plus you instantly spawn with full grenade energy in PVP. Plus your Arc-infused grenade’s chain lightning effect stretches further outward, making it a good PVP finisher.

Cost: 7393 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 149/160
Defense: 444/488

Helm of Saint-14 (Helmet)

If you happen to be a Defender Titan and don’t have this one upgraded, you need to do so asap. The max 124 Intellect is very high, plus you get that snazzy defense boost to boot. This particular helmet is a must-have for all Defenders, which pretty much makes their bubble shields into offensive weapons that are useful in all modes of play.

Cost: 7841 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Defender)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 116/124
Defense: 407/444

Helm of Inmost Light (Helmet)

Low Strength roll here, and you always want to wait until you see a great stat roll before you upgrade, considering it’s going to cost you 7.4K Glimmer as well as an Exotic Shard. Either way this particular helm is a superb choice for Strikers who want to unleash as much havoc as they can with their super attack, making it an advantageous bit of armor for PvP.

I’d still hold off for a better stat roll though.

Cost: 7451 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Striker)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 89/96
Defense: 407/447

Light Beyond Nemesis (Helmet)

Stellar max Strength roll here, and Light Beyond Nemesis is a good helm to use when you’re on a raid. It’s a very conditional sort of item so I don’t think you need to upgrade unless your current version has low stats or if you really want the extra defense.

Cost: 7159 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Voidwalker)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 117/126
Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Low Intellect stat roll, and the odds are your pair have better numbers, pass it up for now. The Sunbreakers are great for the Sunsinger class, making your solar grenades last longer, and can be paired up with the Pocket Infinity to do some serious damage in PvP.

Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 87/93
Defense: 333/366

Weapon Upgrades

Hard Light (Auto Rifle)

Good chance to upgrade here, as we hardly ever see this gun in Xur’s inventory. The Hard Light rifle is noted for its high-capacity magazine with 40 rounds at a high rate of fire, making it a great solution for crowd control. Sadly it was hit hard by Bungie’s recent auto rifle nerfs in the 1.1.1 update.

Cost: 7669 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 40

Red Death (Pulse Rifle)

Really no need to buy this one considering Xur is selling an upgraded version for coin. If you don’t happen to have the 25 Strange Coins to pick it up the other way, you can go this route–either way you’ll be getting an upgraded and clean gun that’s noted as the best pulse rifle in the entire game–and for good reason.

Cost: 7669 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 27

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

Even if you absolutely love shotguns, this really isn’t worth upgrading. Sure you’ll get the extra damage boost, but chances are if you love shotguns, you’ve already heavily invested in upgrading and filling out the gun’s mods. Stick with your old outdated shotty and focus on maxing out some primaries or picking up powerful gear.

Cost: 7027 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 5

Plan C (Fusion Rifle)

Another great upgrade for an already impressive gun. The Plan C is one of my favorite weapons simply because it’s so dependable in just about any situation, and it completely wrecks when Arc Burn is active. It fires very fast and has a superlative charge rate, which is pretty much the bane of fusion rifles everywhere. That damage boost is worth the upgrade, even if you’ve maxed your version out.

Cost: 7187 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 5

Patience and Time (Sniper Rifle)

Cost: 7561 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 4

Truth (Rocket Launcher)

Pass this by. Truth has some interesting mods, and it can help in Nightfall when Void Burn is active, but you really don’t need the extra damage so much. Focus instead on your primary weapons and gear, as mentioned above.

Cost: 7039 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Void damage)
Magazine: 2

Curios

Scout Rifle Telemetry - Stack of 5 per 1 Strange Coin
Machine Gun Telemetry - Stack of 5 per 1 Strange Coin

Rocket Launcher Telemetry - Stack of 5 per 1 Strange Coin

Emerald Coil Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

Void Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

Heavy Ammo Synthesis - Stack of 5 per 1 Strange Coin

The post Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 3/13 (Week 27) appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 3/6 (Week 26)

Derek Strickland — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 05:54:14 +0000

Our favorite intergalactic peddler is back again to clean out our Strange Coin coffers with a batch of new shiny exotics and curios to power our exploits throughout the cosmos.

This week, Week 26, has proven to be pretty special because the Nine have finally decreed that the trade embargo on Heavy Ammo Synetheses has been lifted. That’s right, Xur finally has those long-awaited ammo boosters up for sale, at the same 1 Strange Coin per 5x stack exchange rate we know and love.

Be sure to fill up while you can. For those of you that are satisfied with your gear already, you might just want to shell out your entire SC wallet on synetheses. We never know when Xur’s going to have them again.

This time around Xur can be found in the hanger, in his usual haunt downstairs underneath the Future War Cult representative and right next to the Shipwright.

As far as items go, he’s got a rather badass Helm of Saint-14 up for grabs, which is incredible for Defender Titans, and the game’s most badass all-in-one rifle, the legendary Ice Breaker, returns to the scene for 17 Strange Coins. I’m sure most of you already have it but if not now’s a good chance to join the club.

When it comes to armor upgrades, Xur has a nice helping of goodies on-hand, including a superb roll on the Bladedancer’s Mask of the Third Man helmet as well as a great Light Beyond Nemesis Warlock hat to boot.

Weapons see upgradable versions of the ultra-handy MIDA Multi-Tool, Suros Regime, Bad Juju and even the super powerful Gjallarhorn solar rocket launcher. If you own a vanilla version of any of these now’s a good time to boost their damage.

In any case, here’s the full analysis and breakdown of our analysis of Xur’s exotic wares for 3/6 (Week 26):

“He walked out into the demon light. But at the end he was brighter.” — Paean to Saint-14

Helm of Saint-14 (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan (Defender)
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Intellect: 106/114
Rain Blows: Increases melee attack speed.
Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
Starless Night: Your Ward of Dawn blinds enemies who enter it.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. If you’re a Defender Titan and you haven’t got one of these helms already, then you really want to pick it up.

This is a great roll with a base of 106 Intellect, and the helmet itself is pretty much a Defender Titan’s best friend, as it literally blinds enemies who step into your bubble shield. This is tremendously useful regardless if you use Weapons of Light to do enhanced damage or Blessing of Light to boost your shields, and literally makes the bubble shield an offensive weapon.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve saved myself and the lives of my teammates by blinding nearby enemies–basically it’s like a huge flashbang went off right in front of their face, and it works every time they enter, regardless if they just ran out and ran back in again.

This helm adds in a huge layer of tactical advantage that can seriously turn the tide of any tough battle. Highly recommend this for any Titan, because you might want to try the Defender class out later on.

Plus if you picked up the No Backup Plans gauntlets that were sold last week, you can switch between these two items for maximum proficiency as a Defender.

“Give me your arm, oh bearer mine. Let me help you fill the world with teeth.”

Young Ahamkara’s Spine (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 333/366
Discipline: 91/98
Special Weapon Loader: Increases reload speed of all Special Weapons.
Ashes to Asset: Increases the amount of Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
Improved Tripmine Grenade: Tripmine grenades last longer when placed.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe.

This one is very conditional. The stat roll isn’t too good, but these gauntlets have a neat purpose and make your laid trip mines last for quite some time. They are most useful in PvP where tripmines can afford serious tactical advantage by sort of corralling enemies, or just laying defensive explosives around zone points.

So if you have max Discipline for grenades you’ll be spawning tripmines more often, and with this pair of gloves your mines will last longer and longer.

Plus every grenade kill you score feeds your super energy, and when used in tandem with the Unyielding Casque Hunter raid helm, you’ll get even more super power during grenade kills and even boost your melee cooldowns when doing damage with a tripmine.

There’s also word that it combos well with Thorn, but I can’t see any real relation other than the possible lingering damage mod. Maybe you shoot with thorn, poison the enemy, and corral then into a tripmine to finish them off?

Also the gauntlets look pretty badass when equipped.

“Reality is the finest flesh, oh bearer mine. And are you not…hungry?”

Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Intellect: 94/101
Energy Projection: Increases grenade throw distance.
Quintessence Transfer: Replenish Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
Delusions of Grandeur: You take reduced damage while using your Nova Bomb. Your siphon abilities are also improved.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Voidwalker Warlock.

In conjunction with the right talents and perks, this helmet will speed up and actively fuel Nova Bomb generation to the point where you’re spamming explosive balls of fury much more often than normal.

You’ll want to have Soul Rip and Embrace the Void activated so that your Energy Drain is specced to reduce the Nova Bomb’s cooldown, then you’ll get the synergized bonus from the helm. You can also use the Bad Juju pulse rifle to help charge your super attack after each kill, although it’s not as effective as when combo’ed with the Obisidian Mind helmet.

Plus like the other Ahamkara item, it looks pretty snazzy when equipped. It’s sheer utility value outweighs the mid-range stat roll, too.

Ice Breaker (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

Class: Any
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Attack: 302 / 331 (Solar elemental damage)
Magazine: 6
Type: Sniper Rifle
No Backpack: Cannot be reloaded. Regenerates ammo over time.
Mulligan: Missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.
Quickdraw: This weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast.
Ice Breaker: Ice Breaker’s victims spontaneously combust, dealing damage to others nearby.

Should you buy it?

YES.

Ice Breaker is a must-have, I repeat, must-have item for any Guardian. It is one of the most useful items in the entire game, and delivers on all fronts: damage, accuracy, dependability, and just about any other quantifiable measure you can think of.

The beauty of this gun is that it has infinite ammo, but it only has a six-shot magazine. The ammo slowly replenishes over time, about one bullet per 4-5 seconds, and you can’t pick up special weapon ammo packs to refill it.

Essentially it refills its rounds, not its magazine.

It’s a bit strange using the gun at first, but it truly is one of the most powerful items in the game. While it’s mostly effective against Solar shields (you really won’t do much against an Arc shield), headshots against broken-shielded enemies are incredibly devastating–in the 6k+ damage range.

If you only have 17 Strange Coins, pick this up. You don’t want to pass on this one.

Exotic Shard - 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Chestpiece Engram* – 23 Motes of Light

*Since there are a tons of exotic chestpieces like the Heart of Praxic Fire, Voidfang Vestments, The Armamentarium or even the Lucky Raspberry, you should buy as many as these as you can.

Armor Upgrades

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

Bad roll on an expensive upgrade, so I’d say pass it up, especially if you upgraded it last week. The extra defense isn’t worth wiping out your current version–unless, maybe, you just got it and it’s clean. It’s true the Achlyophage Symbiote is amazing for all Gunslingers, as that extra Golden Gun shot helps in every single game mode, but hold off for now.

Chances are Xur will have a better roll next week, considering this helmet has been up for two weeks in a row now.

Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 97/104
Defense: 407/447

Mask of the Third Man (Helmet)

This is a pretty decent Intellect roll (just 2 points shy of last week’s) so you should consider going with the upgrade.

Mask of the Third man goes great for PvP Bladedancers who love to wreak havoc in the ring. You’ll generate more super charge more quickly, and be sure to use the Encore talent with the helmet equipped for even more tactical advantage.

Cost: 7207 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 116/125
Defense: 407/447

Helm of Inmost Light (Helmet)

Semi-decent Strength roll here, but you always want to wait until you see a great stat roll before you upgrade, considering it’s going to cost you 7.4K Glimmer as well as an Exotic Shard. Either way this particular helm is a superb choice for Strikers who want to unleash as much havoc as they can with their super attack, making it an advantageous bit of armor for PvP.

I’d still hold off for a better stat roll though.

Cost: 7451 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Striker)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 100/107
Defense: 407/447

An Insurmountable Skullfort (Helmet)

A better Discipline stat roll than last week’s abysmal rate, so there’s that.

The Insurmountable Skullfort is pretty useful in a variety of situations across both PvE and PvP, seeing as you can grab extra bits of health recovery from teammates’ spawned orbs (great in a raid situation). Plus you spawn with full melee energy giving you quick explosion of Arc damage via Storm Fist (extremely helpful when Arc Burn is up) and you’ll also regen health when you kill with that particular lightning punch.

Also the straight Discipline buff synergizes very well with Lightning Grenades stacked with Aftermath and Aftershock talents. a variety of uses.

Cost: 7283 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Striker)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 95/102
Defense: 407/447

Light Beyond Nemesis (Helmet)

Stellar Strength stat roll here, and Light Beyond Nemesis is a good helm to use when you’re on a raid. It’s a very conditional sort of item so I don’t think you need to upgrade unless your current version has low stats or if you really want the extra defense. If you’ve maxed out the one you have, just pass on, seeing as it’s such a conditional helm.

Cost: 7159 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Voidwalker)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 111/119
Defense: 407/447

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Cost: 7549 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 86/92
Defense: 333/366

Weapon Upgrades

SUROS Regime (Auto Rifle)

Since the only thing you’re upgraded on a weapon is it’s damage, you’re going to want to pick and choose which items you plan on using the most and upgrade accordingly.

The Suros Regime is a great go-to weapon with tons of potential in all gametypes, providing accuracy as well as consistent damage along the way, but it really doesn’t combo too well with skills and classes the way items like Bad Juju and Thorn do. That being said there’s nothing wrong with Suros, and it’s a solid choice for any Guardian.

Cost: 7789 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 33

Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)

Bungie has just buffed up Pulse Rifles quite a bit in 1.1.1 so now’s a good time as any to upgrade. Bad Juju on its own is pretty damn effective and is a great go-to weapon for Voidwalker Warlocks when used in tandem with the Obsidian Mind helmet; basically you’ll get instant reloads and build up your super after kills, and gain more energy from killing Hive enemies thanks to the Obsidian Mind.

You can also use Bad Juju effectively with the Skull of Dire Ahamkara to build some serious super energy.

Cost: 7019 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 24

MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)

Cost: 7459 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 21

Plan C (Fusion Rifle)

Cost: 7187 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 5

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

Cost: 7681G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 38

Gjallarhorn (Rocket Launcher)

Chances are if you don’t have an upgraded Gjallarhorn you haven’t been playing very much (either that or you’re a non-DLC player). Either way do yourself a favor and upgrade this beastly rocket launcher. It’s pretty much a must.

Curios

Auto Rifle Telemetry - 1 Strange Coin per stack of 5

Shotgun Telemtry - 1 Strange Coin per stack of 5

Rocket Launcher Telemetry - 1 Strange Coin per stack of 5

Plasma Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

Stealth Drive Vehicle Upgrade - 23 Strange Coins

Heavy Ammo Synthesis (FINALLY!) - 1 Strange Coin per stack of 5

The post Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 3/6 (Week 26) appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 2/27 (Week 25)

Derek Strickland — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:58:12 +0000

Xur, Agent of the Nine is back again for another week of Exotic item sales, and we’ve dug deep into his inventory to show you if his wares are worth your hard-earned coin.

For Week 25 from Feb. 27 – March 1, Xur has some interesting toys up for grabs, namely the interesting Universal Remote primary shotgun, a new Hunter skullcap that not only looks awesome but sports some nice tactical Golden Gun buffs, and a familiar Warlock armor set that taps into the innate powers of the Sun to decrease cooldowns.

Plus Xur also has an Exotic Helmet Engram for sale. About time, right? Sadly he’s not selling Heavy Weapon Syntheses. Big surprise right?

This week Xur can be found in the Tower North, right outside the Speaker’s quarters. This is one of his usual haunts and it’s nice to see him outside of the Hangar and nearby a scenic view.

As far as upgrades go, our shady merchant has some decent gear with some decent stat rolls, like An Insurmountable Skullfort for Titan Strikers, Mask of the Third Man for Bladedancers, and Skull of Dire Ahamkara for Warlock grenade-tossers.

Interestingly enough Xur also has upgraded versions of the full-auto exotic bounty shotgun Invective, Bad Juju (goes perfect with the new pulse rifle buff with Update 1.1.1), the amazing Thunderlord machine gun, and a seventh upgrade: the Monte Carlo.

Yeah. He’s upgrading the Monte Carlo.

Anyway, let’s jump right into the analysis, shall we? Below you can find our full run-down for Xur’s exotic wares for 2/27 thru 3/1:

“No ammo? No problem.”

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan (Defender)
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Strength: 89/96
Item Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Mod 1: Special Weapon Loader: Increases the reload speed of all Special Weapons.
Mod 2: Rain Blows: Increases melee attack speed.
Mod 3: Improved Disintegrate: Increases the duration of Force Barrier by 5 seconds. This can stack with the Relentless skill.

Should You Buy It?

If you’re a Defender Titan, then definitely. Even though the Strength roll is…meh.

Force Barrier is a life saver for every Defender–I can’t tell you how many times I’ve avoided death by strategically planning out my last-hit melee saves with this ability. It effectively gives you an overshield that pretty much saves you while you’re in a pinch, and has a multitude of uses.

You’ll have to give up your exotic armor slot, which means no blinding enemies in your bubble shield with the Helm of Saint-14, so you’ll want to plan accordingly.

Oh,and No Backup Plans’ Improved Disintegrate mod stacks with the Defender’s Relentless talent, meaning your Force Barriers are going to be extra strong and last quite long.

“Advanced tactical sensorium. Induced hallucinations integrate broad-spectrum targeting data.”

ATS/8 Arachnid (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 44/47
Strength: 44/47
Item Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Mod 1: Light the Blade: Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
Mod 2: Ashes to Asset: Replenish Super energy when you kill an enemy with a grenade.
Mod 3: Arachnid Sensorium: Your Golden Gun zooms in for accuracy when aimed.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. This helm looks pretty snazzy, and basically turns the Gunslinger’s Golden Gun ability into a sniper rifle. You get an effective zoom capability to aim at long-range targets while using the ability, adding an interesting new mechanic for PvE and PvP (mostly the latter).

But there’s conditions: you have to have the Over the Horizon or Deadeye perks activated to really get the most out of the helm. While the Achlyophage Symbiote is pretty much your go-to helmet for a Gunslinger, this one does add new interesting possibilities to the mix, so I’d pick it up if you like to experiment and try new things.

“In that last moment she seemed as wholly luminescent as the Sun, and I wished to be so brave.”

Heart of the Praxic Fire (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Warlock (Sunsinger)
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 129/139
Item Type: Chestpiece
Defense: 444/488
Mod 1: Fusion Rifle Ammo: Increases the amount of Fusion Rifle ammunition you can carry.
Mod 2: Heavy Weapon Ammo: Increases the amount of Heavy Weapon ammunition you can carry.
Mod 3: Praise the Sun: Decreases the cooldown of all abilities when Radiance is active.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you’re a Sunsinger Warlock.

First of all we have a decent Discipline stat roll. Secondly the Heart of the Praxic Fire basically turns your Warlock into a grenade-throwing machine, provided you have Gift of the Sun activated (and you probably do).

Essentially you get an extra cooldown reduction modifier ontop of Radiance, and if you time your grenade throws just right, you can get off quite a few explosive lobs.

“To the untrained eye, this beast is a junker. To the trained eye however, this junker… is a beast.”

Universal Remote (Shotgun) – 17 Strange Coins

Class: Any
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Item Type: Shotgun
Damage: 302/331 (Kinetic)
Magazine: 5
Mod 1: Can be used in the primary weapon slot.
Mod 2: Crowd Control: Kills with this weapon grant bonus damage for a short time.
Mod 3: Universal Remote: Range and Precision damage increases greatly while aiming down the sights.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe. Do you love shotguns? Do you love the idea of using two shotguns on the same character? Then pick this one up.

As most of us know, the Universal Remote can be used in your primary weapon slot, meaning you can equip another shotgun in your special weapon slot for double shotgunning carnage.

Plus it has a nice Crowd Control modifier that boosts damage after kills, has upgraded damage right off the bat thanks to Xur, and using the Snapshot perk’s super-quick aiming, you can sprint-slide and cap off an enemy’s skullcap before he even knows you’re there.

Also shotguns received a nice boost thanks to Destiny‘s 1.1.1 update so you’ll be doing even more damage with your double shotty combo.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Helmet Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Armor Upgrades

Achlyophage Symbiote (Helmet)

Pretty good stat roll here on a helmet that’s pretty much a must-have for any Gunslinger. Chances are you already have an upgraded version, but if not, considering picking it up. But if you’re a Gunslinger you might want to buy the ATS/8 Arachnid from Xur and do some experimenting.

Cost: 7177 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Gunslinger)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 110/118
Defense: 407/447

Mask of the Third Man (Helmet)

This is a pretty decent Intellect roll so you might want to consider upgrading. This particular helmet is fantastic for Bladedancers who love wrecking shop in PvP, letting you use your super more often while preserving energy in the process. Stack it up with the Encore talent for some serious carnage.

Cost: 7207 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter (Bladedancer)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 118/127
Defense: 407/447

An Insurmountable Skullfort (Helmet)

Low Discipline roll, but this is a fantastic helmet that has a variety of uses. It’s replenish health when picking up orbs is fantastically helpful during a raid, and spawning with full super energy is incredible for the Striker’s super attack that totally destroys in PvP. Also the straight Discipline buff synergizes very well with Lightning Grenades stacked with Aftermath and Aftershock talents.

Since Xur is selling an Exotic Helmet Engram chances are you might be able to roll your own upgraded version, so pick up an engram before you upgrade.

Cost: 7283 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan (Striker)
Light: 30/36
Discipline: 88/95
Defense: 407/447

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Decent Intellect roll on this piece, so it could make a good upgrade if you have a spare Exotic Shard laying around. The item’s worth is conditional, but spawning extra orbs can help out in boss fights as well as taking down Crota on Hard difficulty.

Cost: 7547 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 129/138
Defense: 444/488

Skull of Dire Ahamkara (Helmet)

Middle grade stat roll. This particular helm is pretty great to begin with, and upgrading right now depends on how badly you want that extra defense boost. Of course be sure to check and see if your vanilla version compares stat-wise, and if it’s lower than 114 base INT, then by all means get it upgraded.

The Skull of Dire Ahamkara has a slew of advantages for Voidwalkers. When used in tandem with specific perks like Siphon, Embrace the Void and Soul Rip the helm can seriously boost Nova Bomb frequency for some pretty entertaining havoc.

Plus it has improved Energy Drain which in turn reduces the cooldown of Nova Bombs and grenades, making the helm a formidable strategic asset.

Cost: 7907 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Voidwalker)
Light: 30/36
Intellect: 114/123
Defense: 407/447

Voidfang Vestments (Chestpiece)

Decent Strength roll here, so if you’ve got a set with lower mods and really want that extra defense, think about picking it up.

It pretty much depends on how much you like using grenades as a Warlock, and if you use a Handcannon and are tired of running out of special ammo to boot. The “spawn with grenade energy” perk applies to all Warlock grenade types so you can effectively use it to toss Sunsinger grenades with Gift of the Sun right as you respawn.

Plus you get an extra voidseeker bolt when you use Axion Bolt.

Cost: 7457G, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock (Any)
Light: 30/36
Strength: 125/135
Defense: 444/488

Weapon Upgrades

Bad Juju (Pulse Rifle)

Bungie has just buffed up Pulse Rifles quite a bit in 1.1.1 so now’s a good time as any to upgrade. Bad Juju on its own is pretty damn effective and is a great go-to weapon for Voidwalker Warlocks when used in tandem with the Obsidian Mind helmet; basically you’ll get instant reloads and build up your super after kills, and gain more energy from killing Hive enemies thanks to the Obsidian Mind.

You can also use Bad Juju effectively with the Skull of Dire Ahamkara to build some serious super energy.

Cost: 7019 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 24

Thorn (Handcanon)

Pick this one up. Even when it’s not upgraded Thorn is a very powerful weapon. Sure it’s not as good as the all-star Hawkmoon, but it does the job quite well thanks to its lingering damage and Send It perks. The extra damage is well worth restarting all over again.

Cost: 7673 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 9

Invective (Shotgun)

If you completed the “A Dubious Task” exotic bounty then chances are you’ve wanted to upgrade your Invective for quite some time.

The shotgun is already pretty beastly, being able to fire full-auto and dealing huge bonus damage with the last round in the mag, and on top of that it can regen its own ammo like the Ice Breaker. The extra boost in damage is amazingly welcome, and you can always use a Shotgun Telemetry to boost EXP progression if you have one.

Cost: 7927 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Solar damage)
Magazine: 4

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

No real need to shell out an Exotic Shard to buy this when you can just pick it up from Xur’s main inventory for 13 Strange Coins. Either way you’ll be getting a freshly upgraded primary shotgun, but this way you’ll have to pay 7K Glimmer on TOP of the Exotic Shard.

Cost: 7027 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 5

Thunderlord (Machine Gun)

Cost: 7681G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc damage)
Magazine: 38

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

Apart from the Thunderlord, Super Good Advice is Destiny‘s other badass machine gun. It returns missed shots to its clip with the Super Good Advice perk, deals bonus damage every time you kill an enemy, packs a Solar-powered wallop, and can reload amazingly fast.

Cost: 7817 G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Solar damage)
Magazine: 58

Monte Carlo (Auto Rifle)

Buy it. The Monte Carlo is an amazingly tactical weapon that can reap pretty savage combos when used with certain gear. You can team it up with An Insurmountable Skullfort Titan helmet to pretty much trigger Storm Fist over and over, or even tag it up with the No Backup Plans gauntlets to make sure your Force Barrier triggers as often as possible, effectively giving you an overshield.

There are so many possibilities with Monte Carlo’s perks, plus it doubles as an all-in-one mid-range utility firearm great for both PvP and PvE.

Cost: 7919G, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Kinetic damage)
Magazine: 36

Curios

Fusion Rifle Telemetry – Stack of 5x for 1 Strange Coin
Sniper Rifle Telemetry – Stack of 5x for 1 Strange Coin
Machine Gun Telemtry – Stack of 5x for 1 Strange Coin
Emerald Coil Vehicle Upgrade – 23 Strange Coins
Void Drive Vehicle Upgrade – 23 Strange Coins

The post Destiny: Analysis of Xur’s Exotic Wares For 2/27 (Week 25) appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 12/19

Derek Strickland — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 02:49:18 +0000

Xur, Agent of the Nine is back at the Tower to peddle his intergalactic wares, and we take a look at what Exotic goodies and strange trinkets he has up for offer for Week 15 lasting from Dec. 19 – 21.

Today’s visit marks Xur’s second coming since Destiny‘s new Hive-centered The Dark Below DLC launched, and this week’s inventory matches the new layout recently introduced in Week 14. The merchant’s arrival coincides right alongside Bungie launching a fresh wave of the Iron Banner PVP event and lets Guardians gear-up with the very best to test their meddle in the playlist.

This week Xur can be found in one of his usual Tower haunts in front of the double doors right outside of the Speaker’s quarters. There he waits to collect his boundy

Two of Xur’s five purchasable items are DLC-specific, and as I personally own the Dark Below, I’m not sure if non-DLC owners can pick up the Titan Ruin Wings or Warlock Claws of Ahamkara gauntlets. It’s also worth wondering if Guardians who don’t own the DLC have a reduced selection or not–to wit just three items instead of the full five–or if they can just pick up the gear anyway.

In any case, below we have a breakdown of all his available stock, including purchasable Exotics and newly acquired weapon and armor upgrades.

Ruin Wings (Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

Class: Titan
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Strength: 99/106
Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Mod 1: Heavy Ammo drops more often, and contines more ammo in each drop.
Mod 2: Causing damage with a melee reduces your grenade cooldown.
Mod 3: Increased Reload speed with Heavy Weapons.

“You can see the point, right? Who wants to team up with one?”

Knucklehead Radar (Helmet) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Strength: 97/104
Type: Helmet
Defense: 407/447
Mod 1: Light the Blade: Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
Mod 2: Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness.
Mod 3: Sensor Pack: Radar remains visible while aiming Primary Weapons.

“Look at all this life, oh bearer mine. There is so much left to burn…”

Claws of Ahamkara (Gauntlets) – 13 Strange Coins (Dark Below Item)

Class: Warlock
Upgrade Mats: Helium Filaments, Exotic Shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Light: 30/36
Strength: 58/63
Discipline: 56/60
Type: Gauntlets
Defense: 333/366
Mod 1: The Whispers: Gain an additional charge for Scorch and Energy Drain.
Mod 2: Special Weapons Loader: Increased reload speed with Special Weapons.
Mod 3: Snap Discharge: Increased attack speed

If you’ve got it, they’ll never see you coming.

Patience And Time (Sniper Rifle) – 17 Strange Coins

Class: Any
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom, Exotic shard (last tier)
Min Level: 20
Attack: 302 / 331 (Arc elemental)
Magazine: 4
Type: Sniper Rifle
Mod 1: Patience and Time: You gain active camouflage when aiming down the sights.
Mod 2: Third Eye: Radar stays active when aiming down this weapon’s sights.
Mod 3: Field Scout: Increases maximum ammo capacity.

Exotic Shard – 7 Strange Coins

Exotic Helmet Engram – 23 Motes of Light

Exotic Upgrades

Our favorite Agent of the Nine can now upgrade existing exotics at the cost of about 7,000 Glimmer and an Exotic Shard, but be forewarned that upgrading will reset all progress on that item and set it back to square zero.

But the trade-off of Xur’s upgrades is that the item will have higher base defense and attack, improving overall effectiveness in battle. Hardcore Guardians will gladly offer up their gear and build it back up from scratch considering an upgraded Exotic will do more base damage than a same fully maxed-out copy.

There are a few changes in Xur’s upgrade offerings like the inclusion of Plan C, Monte Carlo, Heart of the Praxic Fire, and No Backup Plans and a few more. But Hawkmoon is still noticeably absent, and given how good the handcannon is without any upgrades, we probably won’t see it any time soon.

Below we have a full breakdown of all the items that can be upgraded in Week 15, along with Glimmer prices, the change to defense and attack, and more.

Just like last week Xur has six exotic up gradable armors for sale, all of which are pretty demanding in Glimmer.

Armor Upgrades

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Glimmer: 7607, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter
Light: 30/36
Stats: Strength 152/164
Defense: 444/488

Lucky Raspberry (Chestpiece)

Glimmer: 7393, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Hunter
Light: 30/36
Stats: Intellect: 116/124
Defense: 444/488

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece)

Glimmer: 7547, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan
Light: 30/36
Stats: Intellect 134/144
Defense: 444/488

No Backup Plans (Gauntlets)

Glimmer: 7759, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Titan
Light: 30/36
Stats: Strength 105/113
Defense: 333/366

Heart of the Praxic Fire (Chestpiece)

Glimmer: 7297, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock
Light: 30/36
Stats: Discipline: 129/139
Defense: 444/488

Sunbreakers (Gauntlets)

Glimmer: 7549, 1 Exotic Shard
Class: Warlock
Light: 30/36
Stats: Intellect: 92/99
Defense: 333/366

Xur has a surprise seventh weapon upgrade for this week, letting Guardians boost their Monte Carlo auto rifles to do more damage in the iron Banner.

Weapon Upgrades

Xur has added a seventh up-gradable weapon to his arsenal, with the Super Good Advice machine gun and the Mida Multi-Tool, which actually boosts your speed, is thrown into the mix as well. Thorn is back again, so if you haven’t boosted it now’s your change as we’ll probably see it taken off for next week’s rotation.

MIDA Multi-Tool (Scout Rifle)

Glimmer: 7459, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331
Magazine: 21
Mod 1: This weapon boosts move speed anf ires on a hair trigger.
Mod 2: Radar stays active while aiming down this weapon’s sights.

Thorn (Handcannon)

Glimmer: 7673, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331
Magazine: 9
Mod 1: Rounds pierce targets and cause lingering damage over time.
Mod 2: The last round in the magazine does bonus damage.

Universal Remote (Shotgun)

Glimmer: 7027, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331
Magazine: 5
Mod 1: Range and precision damage increases greatly while aiming down the sights.
Mod 2: Kills with this weapon grant bonus damage for a short time.

Plan C (Fusion Rifle)

Glimmer: 7197, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Arc elemental damage)
Magazine: 5
Mod 1: Charge and equip times are very short immediately after weapon swap.
Mod 2: This weapon as bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.

Super Good Advice (Machine Gun)

Glimmer: 7817, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Solar elemental damage)
Magazine: 58
Mod 1: Almost all shots that miss their target will return to your magazine.
Mod 2: Kills with this weapon grant bonus damage for a short time.

Truth (Rocket Launcher)

Glimmer: 7039, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331 (Void elemental damage)
Magazine: 2
Mod 1: Rounds fired from this weapon seek their targets aggressively.
Mod 2: Rockets from this weapon will detonate early based on proximity to targets.

Monte Carlo (Auto Rifle)

Glimmer: 7919, 1 Exotic Shard
Attack: 302/331
Magazine: 36
Mod 1: Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.
Mod 2: This weapon has bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 12/19 appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 11/14

Derek Strickland — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:02:45 +0000

Xur is a bit like Destiny’s intergalactic Santa Claus. Instead of paying him with cookies and milk, Guardians cough up Strange Coins (who knows what the mysterious merchant does with those) for goodies and presents.

The shadowy Agent of the Nine has been spotted again in the Tower above The Last City, proffering his exotic wares to teeming masses of excited Guardians.

Xur is found in one of his previous spawn points right outside the Speaker’s quarters.

Xur can be found in the North Tower to the right of the Speaker’s quarters for Week 10 (November 14-15).

To find him, just keep running straight when you enter the North sector and you’ll find Xur to the right. Usually there will be a cluster of Guardians around him, so he shouldn’t be so hard to find.

What does Xur have in his inventory this week? Really it’s more of the same as last week, with no armor refreshers, but he does have a snazzy handcannon that’ll make you feel like Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars.

“Yours…not mine.” – Renegade Hunter Shin Malphur to Dredgen Yor during the showdown at Dwindler’s Ridge.

The Last Word (Handcannon) – 23 Strange Coins

Class: All
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal
Min Level: 20
Type: Handcannon
Attack: 260/300
Magazine: 8
Mod 1: The weapon can be fired quickly and continuously.
Mod 2: This weapon has bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.
Mod 3: Bonus damage and stability. Extra precision damage when firing from the hip.

“For This, There Is One Remedy”

The Armamentarium (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal (Earth)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Discipline +138
Mod 1: Carry an additional grenade
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Heavy Weapons
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons

“YOU WILL DREAM OF TEETH AND NOTHING ELSE” – scratched behind a buckle

Voidfang Vestments (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Warlock (Specialized for Voidwalker)
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom (Venus)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Strength +115
Mod 1: Enhanced Axion Bolt. Spawn with grenade energy
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons

You’ve heard every last tale of the wolf by now. None of them are true. You are the wolf.

Crest of Alpha Lupi (Chestpiece) – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom (Venus)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Strength +132
Mod 1: Revive teammates faster. Spawn more orbs.
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon

Random Exotic Engram (Helm) – 23 Motes of Light

Xur’s ready-made Exotic Engram can turn into a number of helpful exotic helms, including the all-powerful Achlyophage Symbiote helm that gives Hunters an extra shot with the Golden Gun.

It can also turn into the amazing useful Helm of Saint-14, a Defender Titan helm that blinds all enemies who choose to enter your bubble shield. This is incredibly useful in PVP and PVE, and serves as a massive tactical advantage that imbues your shield with an offensive capability.

The Armementarium packs in an extra grenade for Titans, which is extremely useful for the Flashbang nade that disorients and blinds enemies for a short time.

What Should You Pick Up?

Should you pick up The Last Word handcannon? In a word, yes. It’s one of the best guns in the game, and its upgrades are positively amazing. When all mods are present you’ll have an eight-shot revolver that doesn’t even need to be aimed, and it can be fired like the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain.

Destiny DB has a fantastic article that breaks down the benefits of each of Xur’s wares, which is extremely useful considering most Guardians don’t have enough coin to pick them all up.

Out of all the armor sets, I have to say that I find the Armamentarium the most useful. Personally I use it on a Striker class Titan because there’s one extremely beneficial grenade that blinds foes for a short time–I’m talking about the flashbang grenade, of course.

Having two flashbangs is amazingly fun and can afford for some unique tactical advantage. They’re best used in clusters of baddies; one toss reduces even the most powerful of Wizards or Ascended Knights into gibbering, drunken simpletons that stagger around aimlessly for a short time.

And they also deal Arc damage.

But you’ll have to be careful with these ‘nades, as it’s possible to blind yourself in the process.

Get some practice under your belt and learn how they work–these grenades will bounce before igniting, and you can use this to your advantage–but in many ways hitting baddies with flashbangs seems like a sport. Once blinded, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Next Week

Hopefully Xur will have some more interesting gear next week, and always remember you rack up Strange Coins with Weekly Heroic Strikes, in the Tiger Strike playlist, with random blue engrams and as Weekly Nightfall rewards.

The post Destiny: Xur's Location And Exotic Wares For 11/14 appeared first on VR World.

Destiny: Xur Location and Full Exotic Inventory Unveiled

Derek Strickland — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 11:59:33 +0000

Get your Strange Coins ready: Xur, Agent of the Nine has been spotted in the Tower with a whole new wave of Exotic goods for eager Guardians.

For Week 7 in Destiny (starting October 24) Xur can be found in the Tower’s lower level in the Hall of Guardians, near the Titan, Warlock and Hunter vanguards.

Below we have a breakdown of the items he’s selling and their respective costs.

“Nostalgia as a weapon of war. Style as a hallmark of victory.”

Suros Regime (Auto Rifle) – 23 Strange Coins

Class: All
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron (Mars)
Min Level: 20
Type: Auto Rifle
Attack: 260/300
Magazine: 33
Mod 1: The bottom half of each magazine deals bonus damage and has a chance to return health when dealing damage
Mod 2: When zoomed, this weapon fires slower, but causes additional damage
Mod 3: When held, this weapon grants +2 character Agility

“”YOU WILL DREAM OF TEETH AND NOTHING ELSE” – scratched behind a buckle”

Voidfang Vestments – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Warlock (Specialized for Voidwalker)
Upgrade Mats: Spirit Bloom (Venus)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Strength +108
Mod 1: Enhanced Axion Bolt. Spawn with grenade energy
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons

“You’ve heard every last tale of the wolf by now. None of them are true. You are the wolf.”

Crest of Alpha Lupi – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Hunter
Upgrade Mats: Relic Iron (Mars)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Strength +123
Mod 1: Revive teammates faster. Spawn more orbs.
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Hand Cannon

“For This, There Is One Remedy”

The Armamentarium – 13 Strange Coins

Class: Titan
Upgrade Mats: Spinmetal (Earth)
Min Level: 20
Defense: 339/439
Light: +21
Discipline +131
Mod 1: Carry an additional grenade
Mod 2: Carry more ammo for Heavy Weapons
Mod 3: Carry more ammo for Special Weapons

Random Exotic Engram: Gauntlets – 23 Motes of Light

While Xur does have some interesting goodies for various classes, I think that most Guardians already have their optimum setup. Seeing as you can only have one Exotic armor piece equipped at a time, I’m assuming most Sunsinger Warlocks aren’t about to pass up their blessed Sunbreakers in favor of the Voidfang Vestments.

The same goes for Gunslinger Hunters with their Exotic Achlyophage Symbiote helm, which gives them an extra shot with their Golden Gun ability.

The Armamentarium is a great piece of armor for Titans, but personally I find my Helm of Saint-14 to be a great asset for Defenders, as it blinds anyone who enters my bubble shield.

For Week 7 (Oct. 24) Xur can be found in the Hall of Guardians by the Titan, Warlock and Hunter vanguards.

I’m a bit bummed that the incredibly potent Ice Breaker sniper rifle didn’t make a comeback. I missed out on picking it up in favor of the Titan helm, and have been avidly scouting Xur’s wares ever since. If you ever see it in his inventory, pick it up post-haste. It’s an amazing firearm–and it shoots fire.

I think that the Suros Regime will be the most-purchased item in Xur’s current inventory, even if it’s a bit steep. It’s mod–which effectively gives you life leech and bonus damage–is impeccable for PVE and PVP.

Remember, the best ways to get Strange Coins are the Weekly Heroic/Nightfall missions on Level 28, as well as the Vault of Glass Raid. Progress on both activities reset every week on Tuesday, so get your fill and start up a party before Xur’s items are gone. That is if you’re eyeing the Suros Regime like I am.

The post Destiny: Xur Location and Full Exotic Inventory Unveiled appeared first on VR World.