Destiny Diary, Issue 15 for 5/22-5/24: House of Wolves!

Shawn Farner -

If the future of Destiny DLC looks anything like House of Wolves, I think we’re all in for the game we envisioned at the start.

I don’t want to get too deep into things — I’ll do an official review of the content next week — but I’ve found myself pretty pleased with the way Bungie treated this expansion when compared to The Dark Below. I’m most impressed by the voice work (Petra Venj and Variks are great) and the breadth of activities to take part in. Add the Prison of Elders, Trials of Osiris, and the Shadow Thief strike to the current collection of raids, strikes and PvP options, and suddenly, Destiny is a way deeper game than it was just a month ago. And there are some other changes that have improved the experience dramatically.

Again, look for the review of House of Wolves next week.

Now, what’s Xur got for us?

Xur, Agent of the Nine

Did you run around the Tower looking for Xur this week? You’re not alone. Bungie teased during the Reef reveal on Twitch that Xur could potentially show up in other areas, and sure enough, he’s actually set up shop at the Vestian Outpost in the Reef this week. Head down the stairs to the left of the new Bounty-Bot and Postmaster and you’ll see one of the previously closed doors has opened. Xur is inside. Here’s what he’s got this week:

We covered The Last Word just a few weeks ago in Issue 11. If you play PvP, it’s a must-have, and the fact that it showed up on the day Trials of Osiris kicks off is a bonus. If you stay away from player-versus-player combat, you’re better off with a lot of other hand cannons over TLW. But in PvP, it comes in near the top.

As far as the available armor goes, not a single piece can be considered a recommended buy this week. If you already have The Last Word, hold on to those Strange Coins for the week.

Quick note: With the introduction of House of Wolves, weapon upgrades have changed. You no longer visit Xur to pick up the “upgrade kit” for your previously 300-level exotics. Now you can simply use an exotic shard (and some other mats) to “ascend” your exotic weapons to the current attack cap.

Nightfall and Weekly Heroic Strikes

The days of having these activities use the same strike are over. With the HoW launch on Tuesday, we got a different strike for Nightfall and a different strike for the Weekly Heroic. This was to, as Bungie said, make sure those without the latest DLC weren’t being locked out of both activities.

Those diving right into the Nightfall will find themselves playing the Shadow Thief strike. If you’re playing through the story and the strike pops up, you can actually just ignore it and play through it as the Nightfall instead. Why do it one extra time when you don’t have to? Nightfall modifiers for the week are Arc Burn, Epic, Juggler, and a new one — Brawler. This increases the damage of Guardian melee attacks, so you can get more up close and personal with your enemies this week.

The Weekly Heroic Strike stars our good friend, the Archon Priest. The sole modifier this week is Juggler.

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