Exotics. There are a lot of them. Some of them need help. In a reddit post from a couple of weeks ago,
community manager dmg posted a comment asking about feedback regarding underperforming exotics. A survey was done on reddit by user Krakyn
about people's opinions on the least used and most underperforming exotic weapons. I wanna dig through this feedback and give
my take on the situation since people asked me about it and also, what else we gonna talk
about right now? There were 2 parts to this poll: using an
exotic in the last 6 months and how people thought certain exotics performed. The poll was NOT split between PvE and PvP,
it is all use cases. The top 5 lowest used exotics in this poll
were: Wish Ender, Queenbreaker, Prospector, DARCI and Legend of Acrius and the top 5 worst
rated exotics were Salvation's Grip, Skyburner's Oath, DARCI, Queenbreaker and Wish Ender. There's not a lot to agree with in terms of
the least used because it's pretty objective information here, no one is giving an opinion
on if they used a weapon in the past 6 months, so I'm mainly gonna be looking at the worst
performing exotic list. And I gotta say, pretty in agreement with
the list for the most part. However, something that I think some people
do not realize is that exotics are not always meant to be GOOD, they're meant to be unique,
they're meant to let you adopt a certain playstyle or do something that you don't normally get
to do. That doesn't always mean they're good. BUT, there are some things that probably should
be better than they are, so let's chat about what needs to happen to bring some exotics
into contention. Salvation's Grip has utility in that it is
basically a meme weapon that can launch some Stasis, but it is using up an exotic AND a
heavy weapon slot. It provides very minimal value outside of
incredibly specific Stasis based builds that you might be doing and while I'm sure SOMEONE
has a working build, it's not for everyone. Or anyone. Given the intended function of the weapon,
I'm not sure what you could do to buff this at all other than providing more of a Stasis
effect, which would be fine, because no one is running this for anything serious. Skyburner's Oath fits right into the "it's
a scout rifle" category, but it doesn't really feel fun to shoot it aiming down sights in
comparison to the grenade launcher mode. It fires very slowly and shooting it hipfire
is way more fun, even if you're not capable of crits. The anti-phalanx shield part doesn't have
as much flair either with anti-barrier rounds in the game. When anti-barrier scout is so cheap AND works
on more than just Phalanx, why bother? Also, I don't care that much about the bonus
Cabal damage. A great example of the game evolving past
the need for this. DARCI needs some big help. It used to actually be a DPS champion back
in the Eater of World days. Unfortunately it's just an exotic of its time. It made sense then, it just hasn't been adapted
to today's power levels. We've had Izanagi's Burden, Whisper and Cloudstrike
all come out in a post-D2-launch situation, where the weapon game has been more refined
AND 2 of those are not in the heavy slot. A lot of people have suggested moving it to
the special slot, which at the moment I feel like I could get behind since right now, it's
essentially a 140 RPM sniper with a so-so exotic perk. I have Adored and Cloudstrike as arc sniper
options right now, so it's not like the arc slot is very crowded in that regard either. I just don't think that would be enough to
bring it to relevance. The fact that it's arc is probably the biggest
deal in the current game. Queenbreaker was dominant back when you could
just aim the thing at the sky and hit someone in Gambit, but since those nerfs, it, along
with linear fusions in general have been left in the dust. It's SLIGHTLY better than legendary linear
fusions when it comes purely to DPS, but even Threaded Needle has been making some waves
without needing to use an exotic slot. This is simply another exotic being left in
the dust and not keeping up with the insane power creep that we've had. The exoticness of this weapon is supposed
to come from its versatility and the blinding, but blinding is available on more powerful
things and the versatility doesn't matter enough, combined with its other weaknesses. Wish Ender... being able to see through walls
has proven to be an incredibly strong effect in Destiny. There have been tons of nerfs, along with
downright removal of the effect from the game. The problem with Wish Ender is that the seeing
through walls effect in PvE is not important at all, which ultimately leaves you with a
bow. Yes, can deal slightly higher damage thanks
to its overpenetration effect, I know, but most bow usage I've seen is because of the
elemental damage that is needed. In PvP, while the wallhack effect is good,
you're not one shotting people with the bow, most other bows can get the job done as well. I think it speaks volumes that we have a wallhack
effect in the game still and no one uses it. It has amazing exotic... flavor, but its performance
doesn't, especially when we have things like Ticuu's and Trinity Ghoul. I'd say give it intrinsic anti-barrier, but
I just dunno how much that would help it and could interfere with other mods in the future
if you wanted to use those. The next 5 are Sleeper Sim, Malfeasance, Cerberus+1,
Leviathan's Breath and Worldline Zero. Sleeper Sim IS getting buffed so I'm not going
to dwell on it too much in this video. But let's talk about the others. Malfeasance is a gun that I would love to
see get some buffs, it has such a cool look, great lore, great exotic feel, very fun perk,
it's awesome against Taken in terms of DPS, but non-Taken targets, it's just... fine. Exotic primaries are tough, they really gotta
be super strong in order to bust into the meta and since this doesn't have a catalyst,
you lose on the orb gen too. Malfeasance thrives on targets that will actually
survive the 5 shots needed to trigger the exotic perk. Problem is that most garbage enemies don't
survive that long and special weapons work for bigger targets, they're SO strong right
now. Kinda feels like a trace rifle situation:
not good enough to be a special weapon, but deals a lot of primary damage. Except this at least uses primary ammo. But, unlike a trace rifle, you'll rarely get
to see that exotic perk proc on most junk enemies, which is the fun part. Maybe a catalyst lowers it to 4 shots instead
of 5, but that would have an unknown effect on PvP and I don't feel like you'd proc it
on garbage enemies. This is a weapon that is somewhat balanced
already and outside of some minor damage tweaking and a catalyst, I'm not sure what else should
be done off the top of my head. Cerberus+1, imo, is an underrated exotic and
that's not just because my wife loves the weapon. This gun, when in the ideal range, is dealing
so much primary weapon damage and people sleep on it. Its problem is that once you start leaving
that ideal range, it gets much tougher to justify, so it requires some planning ahead
and it's just not going to work in every activity. But the fact that people think this gun is
weaker than Leviathan's Breath, MIDA, Jade Rabbit, JADE RABBIT is better? Than Cerberus? In WHAT world? PvP meh, but PvE, no chance. I'd argue it doesn't need a buff either, maybe
if you wanted to slightly buff the damage so it's usable at more range, sure, but I
dunno if this guns NEEDS a significant buff. Leviathan's Breath is a meme weapon, although
not AS much of one as I previously thought. Each shot individually does about as much
as a Sleeper shot. But, Sleeper is getting buffed and Sleeper
with the catalyst fires twice as quickly. Then you have Unstoppable, which is cool,
but you need to use an arrow to stun a champion and damage on Unstoppable Champs isn't increased
until AFTER the stun, so you're just wasting a giant arrow to stun a target. This bow NEEDS to deal full damage ON the
stunning shot or it will forever be garbage. I don't see this happening unless Bungie has
a reasonable way to make this happen without breaking a bunch of other stuff. Worldline Zero, what a trip this thing has
been on. Ultimately, I don't think people really value
the blink strike attack that much, especially now when we have actual good legendary swords. Also, the Lament is here, it kicks ass, not
much reason to use Worldline as a result. Need that blink strike to really smack some
things around hard if you want me to care about Worldline Zero. It needs to offer more compared to what I
normally get from a sword. Next 5 on the list: Jade Rabbit, Borealis,
Legend of Acrius, Wavesplitter and Coldheart. Jade Rabbit is a piece of crap and almost
always has been, save for some very rare PvP moments. Any perk that requires you to go for the body
first as opposed to hitting headshots is garbage. Jade Rabbit is so bad that I actually hate
this gun. It is one of the few guns that I hate in this
game and I think it's the only one that I hate because it's that terrible. The perk sucks. If you're going to make me go for the body,
that big shot better be worth it: look what you did with Hawkmoon. Hitting bosses for 50k while I plink-plonk
away with Jade Rabbit to get some shots back in my gun: I DON'T CARE about returning ammo,
I'LL RELOAD, THANKS, I'm gonna be in a safe place in PvE, not a big deal. AND Hawkmoon wants you to go for headshots. AND it's a scout too. WOO, look at that DAMAGE. Good luck Jade. I hate you. Momentum Control isn't real anyway. Borealis is a relic of the past, serving a
purpose that probably doesn't really need to be served anymore. The ability to shift elements is nice, but
in group play isn't THAT vital to success and the bonus damage to a target after breaking
their shield is also nice, but doesn't appear enough during important gameplay to really
be considered. Also, Disruption Break serves a similar purpose
without having to use or having to stay on Borealis. The perk is helpful, just not a game changer. The next three I don't feel like deserve to
be this low, but I don't have the best reasons to justify all of those positions. Legend of Acrius is a BEAST of a gun still
in my opinion, but it is really tough to warrant its use in end game content currently. Ridiculously short range, never gonna do anything
with it in GM content and slug shotguns are simply out doing it right now. But, it still chunks targets hard. I dunno if it needs a buff though, I feel
like Acrius just kind of flows with whatever the meta happens to be and it just so happens
that the meta isn't in its favor, but also hasn't been since... Crown of Sorrow? I don't think a damage buff or anything makes
people use it unless it's an unreasonable buff, it simply needs a situation to thrive
in and then you'll see it again. Wavesplitter and Coldheart, I think these
guns are solid, I don't think they need buffs at all, especially with Trace Rifle mods coming
into play now. I think they fit their roles pretty well right
now, I want to see how people adapt or don't adapt to using trace rifles in the game. Either way, I don't see them getting buffed
or nerfed at all, check out my video on trace rifles for more on these weapons. The last 5 in the bottom 20 are Tommy's Matchbook,
Merciless, Polaris lance, Symmetry and Lumina. We're pretty firmly in, "yeah, they're not
top tier, but there's not much to buff about them," kind of territory right now. I gave Tommy's Matchbook some flak in my "what
should you buy from the exotic vendor," video, but I don't think I was wrong in doing so. The weapon can put in some work for sure,
not saying it can't. So why don't people use it? I think people don't like hurting themselves
even though there's a plethora of ways to stay healed, but in higher end content can
be a liability, and it's a gun that succeeds the most when you can just hold the trigger
down. But, the amount of times where you're gonna
be holding the trigger down for THAT long is probably not often, so it can end up just
feeling like an auto rifle. Merciless I think is finally working again,
but is unfortunately victim to being a fusion rifle. That is its only crime. I think it's a really neat weapon, fun to
use when you get to spray the hell out of something. Fusions just haven't been it in PvE for a
while and there are plenty of other PvP fusions to use that will do more than Merciless. Another weapon that individually could maybe
use a buff, but it's mainly the whole archetype, although apparently a couple of fusions have
been making waves on Atheon, which would say to me that maybe Merciless is some secret
tech. I'll be investigating. Polaris Lance, I'm shocked that it is this
far along in the list, truly am. Relies a lot on crits, obviously the fact
that it's a scout holds it back, but also the explosion effect. Just not very good, innit? Hits as hard as a single crit from the gun
itself! The catalyst proc is just Dragonfly and that's
way more fun. Gotta buff this if you ever want me to use
Polaris Lance. Symmetry I think is actually a really neat
weapon, those seekers hit really hard and I do enjoy the back and forth mechanic. Problem is that while Dead Man's Tale is around,
most other scout rifles are just not going to compete. I went and used Symmetry in a Master Nightfall
to see how its performance was, it's a 260, which is nice because you wanna ramp to that
20x Revolution asap. And... it's a fun experience and the alt.
fire mode is really fun and hits super hard, but man, in Season 14 especially, it is tough
to even consider using a PRIMARY in general other than for champion stuns. Omnigul... sorry, the Disgraced, also maybe
not the best strike for Symmetry, this would work better in other strikes with more scout
rifle lanes. Also, the mental barrier of not wanting to
switch to another weapon while using this one can be a tough one to break, since the
alt fire is almost special weapon like in nature. But I don't think Symmetry needs any major
tuning. Finally, Lumina, it's a support weapon, it
is very niche in what it does, I don't think it really needs too many adjustments, it's
just tough because the weapon itself is just a basic hand cannon and the buff you can give
people in low and mid tier content isn't really that vital. But using it in end game is just naturally
tough to pull off. The top 5 most powerful exotics voted were
the following: Anarchy, by an overwhelming margin, Dead Man's Tale, goes without saying,
Witherhoard, guessing that's mainly because of this season in particular, but overall,
it's certainly good, Xenophage, and then Trinity Ghoul. Can't say I really disagree with much here,
I'm not a huge Xenophage guy, but it has such great versatility and it works wonders with
Warmind Cells, so it's tough to argue against it. I'm also not abig Witherhoard guy, so if I
WAS gonna take something out, it would be Witherhoard and I would drop in Eriana's Vow
in here, it's just so good. Bad exotics, you know, some ARE pretty bad,
but some are just weak due to their archetype or are actually pretty well balanced, but
just don't see a lot of play. I think that's definitely ok that not every
single exotic is S-tier, but I definitely wouldn't mind seeing some of those D-tier
exotics get some love. Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time.
