Xur, Destiny's visiting weekend merchant, black market guinea pig trader, and fan of strong hooch, has returned to the Tower once more, to throw out Exotic goodies like an eccentric millionaire getting rid of all his worldly possessions in order to get into Heaven. So jingle those Strange Coins (their distinctive sound will raise Xur from his dread slumber) and get over to the balcony near the Speakers' room.
What do we have this week? Well...
- No Backup Plans (Exotic Titan Gauntlets) - 13 Strange Coins
- Knucklehead Radar (Exotic Hunter Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Apotheosis Veil (Warlock Helmet) - 13 Strange Coins
- Dragon’s Breath (Rocket Launcher) - 23 Strange Coins
- Legacy Engram (Heavy weapon engram) - 31 Strange Coins
- Three of Coins - 7 Strange Coins
- Glass Needle - 3 Strange Coins
A mix of the 'meh' and the rather tempting, then. The year two version of the Titan gauntlets is notably improved from last year's version, in that they now increase the duration of the Defender subclass' force barrier and activate it with shotgun kills. Combine it with the Relentless perk, and you can actually stack the effect for another five seconds on top of that. The Knucklehead Radar’s star ability gives you a full radar when scoping any primary weapon. Certainly very useful in the Crucible, especially if you find yourself losing a lot of snap-confrontations, and of course, the helmet’s increased Super energy from PvE kills is undeniably valuable. Though that perk has been appearing on a fair few of The Taken King’s Legendaries, so you probably don’t want to give up an Exotic slot for that one alone.
The Warlock's Apotheosis Veil is a hell of an under-rated helmet, being one of the most powerful and triumphant tide-turners in the game if you're running a Sunsinger build. While you'd lose the raw Super duration of Heart of the Praxic Fire if you equip it (and that is something worth considering), its furnishing of full health, melee and grenade regen upon Super activation provides a serious get-out-of-jail free card. Combine it with the Flame Shield perk's melee-fuelled overshield, and you have a powerful solution for tanking your way out of trouble at a second's notice. And the Dragon's Breath rocket launcher? It fires off a salvo of solar napalm upon impact. And who doesn't like that?
As ever, Xur will only be around for a couple of days, from now until 10am UK / 2am Pacific on Sunday, January 10. After that, he's gone for another week...
