Surprise! Destiny 2: Black Armory just added the Thorn-inspired Exotic bow Le Monarque

The Izanami Forge, the third Lost Forge in Destiny 2: Black Armory, opened earlier this week, but Destiny 2 players are currently more interested in another Lost Forge. As players discovered yesterday afternoon - and as Bungie community manager dmg04 confirmed on Twitter - the Exotic bow Le Monarque is now dropping from the Gofannon Forge found on Nessus.

The Gofannon Forge initially opened on December 7, and thanks to the sweet hand cannon it provides, players have been grinding it hard ever since. Yet nobody received a Le Monarque until yesterday's update, which suggests there's a separate, hidden schedule for the Exotics attached to the Lost Forges. For example, as of this writing, nobody has received Izanagi's Burden - a new sniper rifle which is also a railgun - from the Izanami Forge. At the current rate, Izanagi's Burden may start dropping on Christmas day, but that's just speculation. It would be nice though, wouldn't it? Forget snow, I'm dreaming of a railgun Christmas. 

After the Anarchy grenade launcher, Le Monarque is the second of four new Exotics added in Black Armory. In the lead-up to Black Armory, Bungie described it as a Thorn-inspired bow - Thorn being one of the original Destiny's many iconic hand cannons - which raised more than a few eyebrows. I doubt Le Monarque will ever be as popular as Thorn was at its peak, but the comparison holds up: like Thorn, Le Monarque deals damage over time, though you have to land perfectly drawn (read: well-timed, max power) arrows to trigger it. Unlike Thorn, however, Le Monarque will also spawn clouds of dust which deal yet more damage over time whenever you get a perfectly drawn precision kill. Is it a game-changer for the neglected bow archetype? Probably not, but it is pretty cool. 

As more Forges have opened up, Black Armory has really come into its own. It started off dreadfully slow, but the DLC is a fun grind.  

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.