With the Guardian Games currently raging on and about halfway through, Bungie is continuing to prepare Destiny 2 for the upcoming fourteenth season. Bungie refuses to reveal anything about the season's narrative including its title, but the studio has been more than open about upcoming sandbox changes. This week's update took a closer look at heavy weapons and various buffs coming to certain archetypes like linear fusion rifles and precision based auto rifles.
The big reveal was the upcoming return of Vault of Glass. While players won't be able to explore Venus, Bungie announced that the classic Destiny raid is returning on May 22 and kicking off a brand new World's First race. This time, the title is being tweaked slightly since this is returning content. For the clan that finishes the revised raid first, they'll still be getting a belt with the clan name on it, but it will also honor the original team who first bested it back in 2014 by including their names on it as well.
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Even with big changes afoot in a couple weeks, one thing that doesn't change is the Destiny 2 exotic vendor Xur. As expected, the mysterious merchant is back inside the game world for the next few days with new content to check out. Follow this guide for his most current weekend location, news on his exotic cypher quest, as well as a review of what he's currently selling for the weekend of April 30, 2021 inside of Destiny 2.
For the next few days, players can find the exotic merchant back in his familiar spot at The Tower.
As usual, fast travel to the main Tower location and head left into the Hangar. Once there, take another left and move past the Dead Orbit section to find a metal staircase. Move up the stairs to find Xur on a platform overlooking the mountain range off in the distance.
While Xur's role is essentially the same as it was prior to the Beyond Light expansion, the exotic merchant also has weekly quests that players can acquire to unlock an exotic cypher. Not only are these required to purchase a second fated engram, but they're necessary to acquire legacy exotic gear from the new kiosk. Players can earn a new cypher by completing strikes and winning crucible or gambit matches. Gain bonus points for playing with clanmates or finishing more challenging activities.
Other than that, here are Xur's three gear pieces this weekend:
Astrocyte Verse - Warlock helmet
Nearly half a year later, Warlocks can once again pick up the Astrocyte Verse helm which is a solid movement focused exotic, similar to the St0MP-EE5 Hunter Boots or Lion Rampant Titan Boots.
It's exotic perk is called Move to Survive and it allows Blink Warlocks to use the jumping motion more frequently and at a further distance. In addition, weapons ready quicker out of Blink and the Radar remains active. Obviously, this isn't going to be a top tier exotic piece for warlocks as there are much better combat oriented armor. Still, for players who like using blink and need a bit of help with platforming focused activities in Destiny 2, this one is worth a look even with its okay stat roll.
Void Enhanced. Stat Values:
- Mobility +11
- Resilience +8
- Recovery +12
- Discipline +2
- Intellect +7
- Strength +20
Graviton Forfeit - Hunter helmet
It's been quite a while since this Hunter exotic has been featured with Xur. When equipped, its exotic perk Vanishing Shadow nearly doubles the duration of invisibility effects and increases melee recharge speed while invisible.
In the past, this item has been known to help players solo Nightfalls, but the real draw of this helmet is how much of a positive impact it has on the Way of the Wraith super tree for Nightstalker Hunters. For players using this tree, this item is solid choice, even if there are better options out there like the Gwisin Vest. Ultimately, this item probably isn't going to become a normal rotation item or replace some of the better items out there. Still, the roll this week is pretty good, so Hunters may want to have another look at it.
Void Enhanced. Stat Values:
- Mobility +17
- Resilience +2
- Recovery +15
- Discipline +12
- Intellect +11
- Strength +8
Mk 44 Stand Asides - Titan leg armor
Xur seems to like these Titan boots as they've been featured quite often in 2021 already. As such, not much has changed outside of the stat roll from the last time they were on offer earlier this month. Watch Out is the armor perk on this exotic gear and with it, players get an overshield while sprinting with Seismic Strike, Hammer Strike, or Shield Bash equipped. In addition, hits with these abilities recharge a portion of the player's melee energy.
The value of these boots are based entirely on play style. They're certainly not the best option out there, but could certainly be useful under the right circumstances. As such, they're difficult to recommend for normal play.
Void Enhanced. Stat Values:
- Mobility +10
- Resilience +15
- Recovery +7
- Discipline +16
- Intellect +7
- Strength +8
Xur is selling the Arbalest, a kinetic linear fusion rifle that was introduced during the Revelry event in 2019. Made to look like a crossbow, the Arbalest has an intrinsic perk that essentially makes it fire like one as well. Compounding Force makes the weapon fire slugs that cause massive damage to enemies that are protected by an elemental shield. Paired with that is the Legendary trait Disruption Break which temporarily makes enemies more vulnerable to kinetic damage when an elemental shield is broken.
Because of those perks, the Arbalest shines under certain situations and can be devastating against other Guardians in PvP modes. It's a great support weapon, even following its slight nerf with Beyond Light, when going up against tougher activities making the Arbalest a solid all around weapon and is definitely worth the price this weekend.
Additional perks:
- Extended Barrel
- Projection Fuse
- Composite Stock
Here's the complete rundown of Xur's entire stock in Destiny 2 for April 30, 2021:
- Astrocyte Verse (Warlock helmet) – 23 Legendary Shards
- Graviton Forfeit (Hunter Helmet) – 23 Legendary Shards
- MK 44 Stand Asides (Titan leg armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
- Arbalest (Linear Fusion Rifle) - 29 Legendary Shards
- Exotic Engram - 97 Legendary Shards/1 Exotic Cypher
- A Question - Exotic Cypher Quest
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is now available PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.