Destiny: Xur weapons, gear, and location, December 11-13. Monte Carlo!

Xur, Destiny's weekend merchant, miniature horse-breeder, and friend of the oppressed, has returned. This week he’s over near the Crucible vendors in the Tower. What’s he selling this week? A mixed bag, with some decent stuff and some undeniable highs, albeit via gear you'll have to be smart to get the absolute best out of:

  • Helm of Inmost Light [Exotic Titan helmet] – 13 Strange Coins
  • Radiant Dance Machines [Exotic Hunter leg armour] – 13 Strange Coins
  • Nothing Manacles [Exotic Warlock gauntlet] – 13 Strange Coins
  • Monte Carlo [Exotic auto rifle] – 23 Strange Coins
  • Legacy Engram [Primary weapon engram] – 31 Strange Coins
  • Three of Coins – 7 Strange Coins
  • Glass Needle – 3 Strange Coins

The Helm of Inmost Light, as I said when it came round last month, “basically turns you into The Incredible Hulk, with a two-perk combo extending your leaping range when using Fist of Havok, and allowing said super to be more precisely aimed”. It’s a natty and cool set-up, capable is immense spectacle, but not a consistent, moment-to-moment benefit. The Hunters’ Radiant Dance Machines look sweet as hell with their glowing neon details, but only improve your movement speed while scoped. Handy for PvP, but better if used alongside an overall build specced for movement buffs.

The Warlocks’ Nothing Manacles are a good bet for grenade-focused PvP players, in that they both add an additional Scatter grenade stock, and impart strong tracking for said destructive throwables. Pretty meaty set-up all round, though obviously you’ll get much more out of it if you have a build focused around Discipline. There’s a chance the gloves will give you extra grenade energy on melees too, so that’ll help.

As for Monte Carlo, it’s a decent gun, but can be turned into a thing of absolute wonder if used as part of the right build. Given that every kill with it partly recharges your melee energy, and has a (high) chance of completely refilling your metre, if you combine it with a Warlock using Sunsinger - with melee-induced overshields set up via the Flame Shield perk - then you can be double-shielded for a huge amount of the time. Combo that with the extra melee shots you get when you activate Radiance, and you’ve got the core of one hell of a powerful tank build.

And that’s the lot. As ever Xur is only around until 10am on Sunday (UK time) and 2am on Sunday (Pacific time). After that, you’ll be waiting another week.

David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.