What you should buy from Destiny’s Xur this weekend (8/28/15)

Even with an entirely new line of Exotics on the horizon, it’s worth checking out what Destiny’s Xur is selling each weekend. After all, many existing Exotics will be upgradeable at The Taken King’s launch, and all of them will be upgraded eventually via the new Exotic Blueprint archives. With that in mind, let’s evaluate the merchant’s stock this weekend.

Peregrine Greaves: Flashy buttons aside, the main benefit of the Peregrine Greaves is their Peregrine Strike perk, which gives your Shoulder Charge a damage boost when you nail someone in mid-air. Now, Shoulder Charging is easily the most fun you can have on a Titan, but you don’t need a Peregrine anything to do it. The damage boost is irrelevant in Crucible since Shoulder Charge is hideously overpowered and already one-shots all targets, and it isn’t worth the Exotic slot in PvE due to the infrequency with which you’ll Charge basic enemies, let alone in the air.

Crest of Alpa Lupi: Much like the Titan’s variant, the Hunter’s Crest of Alpha Lupi is something of a Swiss army knife. Its quick-res ability is useful in Trials of Osiris and Elimination Crucible, as well as PvE activities like Nightfall Strikes. Beyond that, its boosted Orb generation is invaluable in Raids and team-focused Crucible playlists like Duo. If you don’t have one, you definitely want to pick one up; you’ll get plenty of use out of it, trust me.

Apotheosis Veil: Warlocks have a wealth of helmets to choose from, which is somewhat unfortunate since, in a smaller world, Apotheosis Veil would really shine. Its instant-regen effect, triggered by the activation of any Super, is actually pretty useful. It turns your Nova Bomb into a lifesaving “oh crap” button and adds a new layer of tank to Radiance. However, it’s just not as useful as something like The Ram or Light Beyond Nemesis, which constantly benefit you. That said, the Veil may become more powerful with the introduction of the Warlocks’ Stormcaller subclass in The Taken King, so it’s still probably worth owning.

Plan C: Fusion Rifles haven’t been popular in the Crucible for a long time, and have never been terribly prevalent outside it. That’s not without reason: the ostensibly short range of shotguns has proven perfectly adequate from absurd distances, and you don’t want anything but a sniper rifle at other ranges. But in the contest of fusion rifles, Plan C is a winner. Its hot-swap-inspired Exotic ability lets you fire a full charge almost immediately after swapping to it. It also speeds up weapon swapping itself, which lets you pull the thing out quicker. Together, the two abilities make for a potent reactionary weapon that can be used defensively, if an enemy surprises you at close range, or offensively as a surprise burst of lethal damage. If only it weren’t a fusion rifle. But hey, maybe the upcoming Weapon Tuning 2.0 update will bring the weapon class out of hiding.