Highlights

  • Destiny 2's Season of the Wish serves as the bridge to the upcoming expansion and the conclusion of the Light and Darkness saga.
  • The season has changed the game's meta with the introduction of the Dragon's Breath Exotic, becoming a top-tier weapon for DPS.
  • Dragon's Breath allows players to spread their rocket launcher DPS over longer phases, making it ideal for solo content and certain endgame scenarios.

Destiny 2's Season of the Wish is a bit of a controversial release from the get-go because not only is it the last season before episodes and simultaneously the longest one ever for the game, but it is also the last piece of content many developers worked on before the Bungie layoffs happened. There are currently a lot of eyes set on Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion, which is set to conclude the 10-year Light and Darkness overarching saga of the game while also ushering it into a new era, and Season 23 needs to be the perfect bridge for this. Season of the Wish is doing several things right, luckily, and the fact that it managed to change Destiny 2's meta with one Exotic is a good sign.

While it's true that Destiny 2's meta changes constantly, with new seasons often being the perfect catalyst for this due to new items being added, older ones being reworked, and a different set of seasonal mods being included, Season of the Wish goes above and beyond. For two seasons in a row now, one of the strongest weapons in the game has been the newly reworked Apex Predator rocket launcher from Last Wish, making most other rocket launchers and Heavy weapons obsolete. However, things are changing, and Season 23's latest Exotic proves that.

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Destiny 2 Players Shouldn't Sleep on Dragon's Breath in Season of the Wish

How Season of the Wish is Changing the Meta

It's not uncommon for Destiny 2 to introduce guns that end up being the biggest representation of power creep in the game for a while, but power creep works in a way that makes it possible to happen again. For example, Season of the Wish added a new Strand fusion rifle called Scatter Signal that is marginally better than other ones that came before it, but that difference makes it the new best-in-slot gun for raw DPS in the Kinetic slot.

Why Dragon's Breath is a Top-Tier Weapon in Destiny 2

However, the most interesting change came with Destiny 2's Dragon's Breath. Originally showcased among other reprised Exotics for The Final Shape, the fact that Dragon's Breath came out in Season of the Wish was a bit of a surprise for many players. While it was fully expected to be inferior to other options in the Heavy slot, Dragon's Breath is now among the best DPS guns in the whole game thanks to its ability to spread that damage across longer damage phases as well as enhancing some builds that rely on Solar keywords, like Scorch and Ignite.

Dragon's Breath has a few unique mechanics going, such as the Composite Propellent perk that makes its rockets attach to a target or surface and periodically eject fuel that sets enemies on fire, dealing damage and applying Scorch stacks. This stacks up to five times, becoming exponentially more deadly, especially if combined with good Solar builds in Destiny 2's Season of the Wish, possibly using Ember of Ashes to double the amount of Scorch inflicted on enemies. This also combines with the Exotic's other perk, High Octane, which makes ignitions replenish fuel and reload the weapon (even if stowed) upon reaching maximum fuel.

Dragon's Breath is Amazing for DPS, Endgame Content, and Solo Players

What this does is allow players to spread their rocket launcher DPS over much longer phases where each rocket does great amounts of damage, ignites enemies left and right, and can also work as an add-clearing machine. Normally, the meta is to shoot as many rockets as possible in short time windows, but Dragon's Breath works best if players make it stack fuel and replenish its magazine over time, becoming a top pick in solo content and some endgame scenarios. For example, the second boss of Destiny 2's new Warlord's Ruin Dungeon is the perfect target for Dragon's Breath given the nature of its damage phases and how long the encounter can go on, whereas shooting a handful of rockets at it and running out of Heavy ammo could make future DPS phases much harder.