Whenever Destiny gets an expansion, the vendors in the tower finally get new weapons in stock. Those of us who obsess over perks and rolls and stats promptly have an anxiety attack deciding which one to buy first.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after two years of Destiny, it’s that I’ll be able to buy everything I want in due time. We’re still in the early days of Rise of Iron, however, so it pays to be choosy. (As a side note, if you’re looking to level up as fast as possible, it’s probably smarter to spend your marks on 350-light armor and a 350 ghost shell before you buy any weapons.)
Here are the five vendor guns that have most impressed me, with some thoughts on each.
Sniper Rifle - Event Horizon (Crucible Vendor)
Scopes: Sightsys SLS20, Shortgaze SLH10, Tacsys SLS15
Perks: Grenadier/Spray & Play, Explosive Rounds/Smallbore, Hidden Hand
A high-impact sniper rifle with a shortgaze and hidden hand? Sign me the hell up. This was the first gun I bought in Rise of Iron, and it was a solid purchase. The clip only holds three bullets, one less than the standard 4, so in the long run it’s probably better for crucible than for PVE. It’s doing just fine in PVE for me for now, though.
Hand Cannon - The Palindrome (Crucible Vendor)
Sights: Truesight IS, Fastdraw IS, Quickdraw IS
Perks: Mulligan/Spray and Play, Rifled Barrel/Casket Mag, Rangefinder
Lots of people are flipping out over this hand cannon, since it’s a near-perfectly rolled version of the Eyasluna archetype folks have spent the last month or so chasing as a Crucible drop. I have a Byronic Hero with a near-equal roll so I haven’t bought it yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Scout Rifle - Angel’s Advocate (Vanguard Vendor)
Scopes: Red Dot ORA2, Ranged Lens RLR5, OEG Riflescope
Perks: Outlaw/Take a Knee, Smallbore/Explosive Rounds, Reactive Reload
A scout with MIDA-tier impact equipped with a reload perk (outlaw) and a “more damage after you reload” perk (reactive reload). Not a bad combo, and I’m sure I’ll get this gun pretty soon. It feels fairly similar to last year’s Not Like The Others scout rifle, which you could buy with a similarly cool roll. I already have that gun, so the Advocate can wait for now. Definitely one to pick up if you like scouts, though. Lots of people seem enamored of the Dead Orbit scout (Keystone 01) as well, but I’m not a huge fan of the high-impact/lower stability archetype.
Shotgun - Last-Ditch 001 (Dead Orbit)
Ballistics: Smart Drift Control, CQB Ballistics, Soft Ballistics
Perks: Flared Magwell/Quickdraw, Hammer Forged/Surrounded, Rangefinder
A Party Crasher/Matador-type shotgun with strong perks available at a vendor? Sweet. This gun’s roll isn’t quite good enough for it to become the ultimate Crucible killing machine, but it’s still a really good roll on a type of shotgun that seems like it’s going to be favored in the current Crucible meta. Also, always nice to have a void shotgun on hand.
Machine Gun - Bonekruscher (Vanguard Vendor)
Ballistics: Aggressive Ballistics/Linear Compensator/Field Choke
Perks: Feeding Frenzy/Spray, Play/Hand-Laid Stock/Quickdraw, Crowd Control
This thing is going to wreck in both Crucible and in PVE. It’ll do ungodly damage, particularly when crowd control activates. Which will be often. Given that everyone probably already has a Gjallarhorn and will be using that whenever possible, this should be a good year-three LMG to keep it company in your heavy slot.
There are several other new vendor guns with good rolls, of course: The Future War Cult’s sidearm The Wormwood and pulse rifle The Waltz both look good, and the latter gun will let anyone who wants a Grasp of Malok-style pulse have one without farming the Omnigul strike. It also bears mention that my beloved Hopscotch Pilgrim is back in the Crucible loot table, which might be the best addition in this whole expansion. Even after Bungie nerfed it to death in 2015.
If you’ve put any of the weapons above through their paces and have further thoughts, or if you’ve found your own favorite in the Tower, I hope you’ll share below.