First ‘Destiny: The Taken King’ Exotics Revealed, What’s Hot And Not


Bungie has begun the process of revealing the new Exotic weapons and armor for Destiny: The Taken King. The developer used the official Destiny Instagram account Tuesday to share the first six Exotics for the expansion coming on September 15. Which will PlayStation and Xbox players favor and which will they be disappointed in?

As a reminder, weapons and armor in general are changing along with how Exotics are being handled in what Bungie is calling Destiny: Year Two. Some can be obtained via new quest lines while others will like be obtained through good old Destiny RNG. We don’t know how the following will be obtained yet, but Xur is teasing us with a good look.

Destiny: The Taken King - Empyrean Bellicose and Alchemists Raiment Exotics (PlayStation, Xbox)

Empyrean Bellicose

Titans: Fly like the shadows with the Empyrean Bellicose. Aiming your weapons while in the air will hold you in place for a short time. Orbs collected when your Super is full will recharge your melee ability.

Analysis

The ability to aim your weapon in the air and stay in place sounds like this Titan helmet is receiving the “Angel of Light” perk from the Sunsinger Warlock skill tree. It can be useful at times in PVE, but is a death sentence in PVP more often than not.

Recharging the melee ability with Orbs after the Super is full doesn’t sound terribly useful at this point. Titans already have the shortest melee reach in Destiny and only buffing one perk pales compared to the Warlock’s new Exotic armor.

Alchemists Raiment

Warlocks: reshape the world and turn iron to gold with the Alchemist’s Raiment. Collecting Primary Ammo will give you a chance to gain glimmer. Orbs collected when your Super is full recharge your grenades and melee.

Analysis

This Warlock chest armor will be a Glimmer farmer’s best friend in Destiny. How big of a chance to collect glimmer from Primary Ammo drops is the question right now, but it’s hard to argue that this the aesthetics on this armor work extremely well.

Unlike the Empyrean Bellicose, picking up Orbs of Light when your Super is full recharges two abilities and not just one. This will make the piece handy for Sunsinger Warlocks who tend to save their Supers for a self-resurrection.

Destiny: The Taken King - Sealed Ahamkara Grasps and Telesto Exotics (PlayStation, Xbox)

Sealed Ahamkara Grasps

Hunters: these Sealed Ahamkara Grasps are filled with Nightmare Fuel. They will provide you with an additional melee charge and your melee damage will have a chance to reload your Primary Weapon.

Analysis

Destiny Year One saw armor and skill tree perks that granted two grenades to Guardians. This Exotic Gauntlet gives two melee attacks to Hunters though. If this causes knife throws for Gunslingers and smoke for the new Nighstalker sub-class to double up, these could quickly become a favorite.

Telesto

An end will come, Guardian. Bring it about sooner with Telesto, a vestige of the Queen’s Harbringers. This Fusion Rifle will attach projectiles to your foes and detonate with a delayed Void blast. Multikills with this weapon will drop Orbs for your allies.

Analysis

The number of Exotic Void weapons in Destiny are currently limited to just The Truth rocket launcher and nothing else. Adding a Void Exotic in the special weapon slot is truly welcome. The fact that it potentially can generate loads of Orbs of Light will have players trying this out as soon as possible.

Destiny: The Taken King - The Chaperon and Sleeper Stimulant Exotics (PlayStation, Xbox)

The Chapherone

The Chaperone Exotic shotgun fires a single slug shot and grants an Agility boost when equipped. Your precision kills will grant a brief increase to Handling, Range, Rate of Fire, and Stability.

Analysis

This is a beautiful looking weapon in Destiny and has the kind of design players want out of an Exotic. A single slug shotgun is a fascinating des, however, and it will be interesting to see how it performs in Crucible and if the combination of range plus performance boost from precision kills makes it over-powered.

Sleeper Stimulant

Sleeper Simulant: a Fusion Rifle equipped in your Heavy Weapon slot. This weapon’s laser tears through enemies and ricochets on hard surfaces.

Analysis

This Heavy Fusion Rifle has been revealed by Bungie already along with its ability to bounce lasers off hard surfaces. Bouncing shots has seen limited usefulness in Destiny so far, but we also haven’t seen it with a weapon as powerful as the Sleeper Stimulant either.

[Images via Instagram, Bungie]

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