Today marks Destiny’s most crucial ‘Xursday’ since the launch of The Taken King. Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris return next week, revamped and filled with rewards, and all players, PvP-minded or not, are scrambling to gear themselves up for the level-dependent tournaments. That means any Exotic is more valuable than usual, if only as a Light boost. That said, we should also be more discerning with our Strange Coins than ever if we want to bring the best gear into the Crucible’s elite.
An Insurmountable Skullfort: We’ve seen this particular Titan helmet many times now. Simply put, the Skullfort lets you stack melee charges. What does that do for your play style? In PvP, very little, which is why we haven’t seen much of the helmet in the past. Two melee attacks are always a guaranteed kill, and the Titan’s special melees are particularly limited in their application. That hasn’t changed in year two; there are still better Titan Exotics available for Crucible play.
However, the Skullfort’s value has gone up with the addition of the Sunbreaker subclass and its Melting Point melee ability. Melting Point increases all damage dealt against its targets, meaning hitting a boss before your team unloads on it will greatly increase your overall damage output. In that corner case, the Skullfort can be useful. But for Banner or Trials, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
Image via PlanetDestiny
Knucklehead Radar: Hunter is my most-played class, especially when it comes to the Crucible, and the Knucklehead Radar is a big part of that. The constant radar it provides (at least while aiming your primary, a.k.a. most-used weapon) lets you get away with otherwise risky approaches and maneuvers. I’ll say it until I’m hoarse: Information and map awareness are the most important things in PvP. And when it comes to awareness, it doesn’t get better than Knucklehead Radar. It puts Third Eye on every weapon in your arsenal—an Exotic perk if ever there was one. What’s more, the Nightstalker’s expanded radar has further improved the Knucklehead’s ability. Notably, however, outside of Crucible the Knucklehead is junk.
Claws of Ahamkara: Skullfort and the Claws in the same week? Bungie really wants us to punch each other next week. But while fists will surely be flying in Banner and Trials, there’s no reason to double-up your special melee. As is the case with the Skullfort, the Warlock’s Claws just don’t do enough to justify using your Exotic slot on them.
That said, unlike Titan the Warlock class has very few PvP-centric year two Exotics to choose from, so they aren’t the worst thing in the world. Even so, I would wear Voidfang Vestments before the Claws. More pertinently, I would spring for the Exotic gauntlet engrams for a shot at a pair of Ophidian Aspects, which improve overall weapon speed considerably. As for PvE, the Claws are less practical than even the Knucklehead Radar.
