Guardians who played Destiny 2 during The Witch Queen will remember how deadly Scorn crossbows were at the time, thanks to a bug. With Edge of Fate, Guardians can return the favor by wielding a Legendary crossbow, one of the new archetypes coming in next month's expansion.
The new weapon class goes on your heavy slot and may have some great ammo economy, Bungie revealed in a livestream today. The massive bolts can deal tremendous damage to enemies, but they also stick inside foes or attach to the environment. This lets you pick up your projectiles as long as you're willing to rush to their location.
As expected, the crossbow only has one bolt in the magazine, so Alloy Mag and similar traits won't appear in the weapon. Instead, the magazine attachment comprises new parts that change the behavior of the bolts, making them explode after a short delay or deal damage when ripping them from enemies.
The crossbow Bungie showcased is a Legendary, which means it also rolls random perks. The broadcast showcased a weapon with Frenzy on it, though it remains to be seen what other traits will be in the pool once it releases. It does count as a bow, the developer said, so traits such as Archer's Tempo and Explosive Head might not be just a dream. It's also closer to a traditional crossbow than the Scorn-adjacent Buried Bloodline from Warlord's Ruin.
Destiny 2's upcoming weapon type is bound to carve a spot for itself for the novelty factor alone, at least early into the expansion. That said, Edge of Fate is bringing so many variables and squishing damage numbers across the board, which can make it difficult to predict its future so early.
This type of slow-firing, single-shot bow isn't exactly without precedent. The game already boasts a heavy Exotic bow—Leviathan's Breath—though its spot in the meta is iffy. Making the most out of it requires a catalyst and good accuracy to activate Archer's Tempo consistently, though it's often used as a way to stagger bosses while dealing decent damage to them.
The upcoming crossbow was one of the highlights of an otherwise dim 45-minute stream today. Despite multiple early previews from a small village's worth of content creators earlier this month, the general sentiment for Edge of Fate doesn't feel as positive as it was leading up to the release of Lightfall or The Final Shape.
New, stylish archetypes can give players something to look forward to in the next expansion, though, and Bungie has shown off a handful of those in the form of shotgun-esque hand cannons, rocket-assisted pulse rifles, or longbows so far. Despite the profound overhaul in Edge of Fate, Destiny 2's stellar gunplay is bound to remain the same, and having more unique weapons at your disposal is hardly a downside.
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