Time to stop grumbling about Activision and sales and monetization for a minute in regards to Destiny 2, and getting back to focusing on the game itself. I have been playing a lot of Destiny lately, split between getting all my characters to 600 (which I did) and getting the Malfeasance quest done (which I also did). And now that a bunch of Forsaken exotics are finally dropping for me, I am willing to make a controversial declaration.
The best all-around Forsaken exotic weapon is none other than the one you can only get on PlayStation for the next year.
I’m of course referring to the Wavesplitter, the exotic trace rifle that completes the Coldheart/Prometheus Lens elemental trilogy, but a weapon that is Sony exclusive because it’s 2018 and we’re still doing idiotic deals like that.
I don’t think we’ve heard all that much about it because most pros judging the meta of the game are usually playing on PC, where the weapon doesn’t exist, and though I will likely get a lot of pushback on this, I am willing to stand by my assessment here. It’s the best overall exotic weapon in Forsaken.
Yes, it’s true that situationally, there are better weapons. The Queenbreaker is obviously the best Gambit invading weapon right now. If you’re in the raid, you want Sleeper Simulant or A Thousand Voices in that slot. And yet for day to day use, I find it hard to not be playing with my Wavesplitter. Why?
Wavesplitter is a pretty straightforward exotic. You point, you shoot a laser beam, and the laser gets more powerful as you hold the trigger. If you pick up an orb, it auto reloads the entire weapon and instantly gets you to max power for about ten seconds, and lord knows orbs in Destiny are everywhere these days.
The result?
Wavesplitter has become my go-to secondary in Crucible, where it can melt enemies from close to mid to mid-far range incredibly quickly. Players are caught off guard by a giant laser beam suddenly in their face, and on top of that, its damage is just out of control. I find it particular useful for burning down shotgunners before they can reach you, our outdueling pretty much anyone at mid range. You get enough ammo for about 2-3 kills per spawn, but with all those dead shotgunners around, there’s lot of ammo for refills. I pair it with something longer range like Bygones or Go Figure for those cross-map fights, but for the most part, I’m just using Wavesplitter, and winning, a lot.
The same goes for Gambit. I have something like a zero percent winrate in Gambit on my Titan, but my Warlock, combining Geomag Stabilizers for primeval melting with Wavesplitter for everything else, I almost…never lose? Even playing solo with randoms? It’s kind of insane.
Wavesplitter is a perfect Gambit weapon. Yes, Queensbreaker is the invading king (err queen), but Wavesplitter is able to melt through ads like nobody’s business, and is particular good for taking out the kind of majors that are prone to wipe out you or your team by accident, your Centurions, Wizards, Knights, Captains, Minotaurs, or the various kinds of turrets that spawn and shred. It just erases all those, quickly taking your team out of danger, and since this is Gambit, not the Crucible, special ammo refills are pretty frequent and more generous, so you can use it a lot.
Wavesplitter is also great in Gambit for countering invaders, given what I just mentioned about how it shreds in PvP. It’s not a one hit kill obviously, but I’ve racked up a ton of invader kills with it so far, and they don’t know what hit them. Wavesplitter is also great because its void damage lets you shred through Taken Envoys when the boss spawns, and you can almost solo each of them with a single clip. Yes, you’re giving up exotic primeval damage, but just get some cluster rockets and you’ll still be okay, and my Geomag Warlock automatically does 50% primeval damage with her super regardless.
I guess that Wavesplitter may be the “least” valuable in pure PvE content, but still, I’m telling you, this thing shreds. It may not burn down strike and raid bosses that quickly, but everything else besides those? Yeah, it wipes out everything in its path, from regular ads to majors to even doing solid work on yellow bars, minus huge bosses. Sure on Heavyweight day I’m still going to run Sleeper or something, but this week especially with void burn? It’s Wavesplitter all day.
And this is even without the thing getting a Masterwork catalyst! That’s going to affect Wavesplitter more than most, as while I don’t know what stats might get buffed (Coldheart and Prometheus got reload speed, stability and some other stuff), just the fact that multikills with Wavesplitter can spawn orbs may actually break the weapon. If Wavesplitter can generate its own orbs on kills, that means you will almost always be at max power because of its supercharged battery perk, which is nuts. I can’t wait.
So, if you have this thing, use it. If you don’t have it, grind for it. If you can’t grind for it, buy a PS4 (just kidding don’t reward this awful deal). It’s worth it, I’m telling you, even if it doesn’t have the pizazz of some of the other new weapons or D2 classics.
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