Destiny 2
Yesterday, I talked about the new exotic armor pieces in Destiny 2’s Season of Plunder, and while we also have two weapons, Delicate Tomb and the return of Touch of Malice, what if I told you the best exotic weapon this season is actually four years old? Almost to the day, in fact.
When Shattered Thrones premiered in September of 2018 along with the Forsaken expansion, it gave us Wish-Ender, Sjur Eido’s famed super bow. Unfortunately, it was quite bad. You could use it to break Ahamkara Eggs, but it didn’t have much use case in actual combat. that changed for a very brief window a few years later where Wish-Ender was bugged to do roughly 4-5x damage per shot. And while that lasted only for two months or so…now? Those days are back, kind of.
Not only has Wish-Ender’s damage been boosted, but it also has dramatically more utility with both its new anti-barrier functionality, but also the more recent buff where all exotic primaries now do 40% more damage to red bar enemies. All of this has combined to make Wish-Ender what I would consider the best exotic weapon of the season.
Destiny 2
To recap, here are the actual changes that were made to Wish-Ender at the start of this season:
- Added intrinsic Anti-Barrier.
- Increased number of hits vs most targets from 2 to 3 (more hits against vehicles, still 2 against players).
- Increased damage vs. Champions, majors, and minibosses by 10%.
- Draw time decreased from 828ms to 820ms.
So, what does this mean in practice? Increasing the number of hits from 2-3 is about a 50% damage increase on most targets. When it was bugged, it was more like 4-5x, so it’s not that high however, we also have the red bar buff to consider. So depending on difficulty level, I’ve found I’m now able to 1-2 shot chunky enemies like red bar ogres, shriekers and gladiators.
Past that, the buff to orange bars, finish-able yellow bars and champions feels solid, and helps make it a great pick for higher level content.
As for being anti-barrier, a fully drawn shot can pop a barrier shield by itself at many difficulty levels, at worst it takes two shots. And remember, anti-barrier also comes with the ability to do things like shoot through immune hobgoblins or phalanx shields. I have also found Wish-Ender able to hack through match game shields pretty well also. Not instantly, perhaps, but shielded red bars? You can get through those elemental shields in maybe 3-4 shots.
Is this a better top slot, exotic anti-barrier pick than Arbalest? That may depend on who you ask and the situation, but in many instances I would argue…yes. For champions alone, and bonus boss DPS, Arbalest is great. But Wish-Ender can also safely shot a ton of red bar enemies in any stage of combat between both its recent buffs and the old red bar damage buff. It’s a monster now.
So, if yours has been collecting dust in the vault, it’s time to break it out again. Wish-Ender is back, perhaps for the first time.
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