Spire of the Watcher is here, and with it comes four new weapons from the Tex Mechanica weapon foundry for Destiny 2 players to farm. On top of these four Legendary weapons, the dungeon also has a chance to drop the Exotic bow Hierarchy of Needs, but this ranking won't take the Exotic weapon into account. Due to how short this Vex dungeon on Mars is, many players might find themselves underwhelmed when looking at the Spire weapons at first glance. While half of the weapons are from archetypes that aren't in the best of positions right now in the game's meta (both PVE and PVP), the other two are fairly strong picks.
It's also good to note that the Origin Trait, Tex Balanced Stock, is incredibly powerful and can make even average rolls from this dungeon good. Tex Balanced Stock boosts reload, movement speed when aiming, and handling of the weapon when players damage targets while hip-firing. Here's how the weapons from Spire of the Watcher rank up against each other in Destiny 2. Note that the two Seventh Seraph weapons are not being considered for this ranking as they are returning items and not new weapons.
4 Terminus Horizon
At the bottom of the pack is the heavy weapon of the dungeon, a machine gun. Terminus Horizon is an Arc heavy, so while it can be an okay pick for any Arc ad-clear builds for seasonal content, it remains weak due to machine guns just overall not being the best heavy weapon picks right now. This is even the case after Bungie put in place multiple buffs for machine guns, including a damage boost against rank-and-file enemies and bosses.
When it comes to perks, players should look for Demolitionist in the first column and Wellspring or Voltshot in the second column. The existence of Voltshot in the machine gun's perk pool actually makes it a somewhat desirable weapon, particularly for those who like to build around Arc 3.0. Otherwise, this machine gun remains a hard pass, and fails to be as interesting as some Exotic machine guns like Thunderlord that come with intrinsic anti-champion capabilities as well.
3 Liminal Vigil
Sidearms are a weird archetype. While there are some, like Drang, that have seen increased use in PVP, most of the time they are completely useless and underpowered in both PVE and PVP. Liminal Vigil, the dungeon's Stasis sidearm, does come with a decent perk pool but isn't the juiciest loot drop from Spire of the Watcher. What makes it unique is its double burst firing patterns, but for some players that might feel disorienting or undesirable while in combat.
Those who do plan on farming Liminal Vigil should look for Pugilist, Headstone, or even Perpetual Motion in its first column. For the second column, Swashbuckler is officially the best choice with Kill Clip and Desperado nerfed in the last year. Overall the perks definitely favor a more PVP-oriented build, so those who plan on hitting the Competitive mode of Crucible this season may want to test out this Stasis sidearm and see how well it holds up.
2 Wilderflight
Something brand-new has arrived the way of Destiny 2 players in the form of Wilderflight, which has a unique type of frame: double fire. This means that it can fire two payloads. Wilderflight is a secondary grenade launcher and is ideal for any Void builds out there due to its intrinsic Void element. Moreover, Wilderflight is one of the grenade launchers out there that can roll with Blinding Grenades, which is something every PVE enthusiast should have in their vault.
For perks, there are a lot of great ones to choose from, hence why it ranks as the second-best weapon from Spire of the Watcher. For the first column, players can choose between timeless PVE powerhouse perks like Auto-Loading Holster, Demolitionist, and Feeding Frenzy. For Void 3.0 builds, Repulsor Brace is also an interesting but more niche option. In the second column, Frenzy and Adrenaline Junkie stand out as the most interesting picks.
1 Long Arm
It should come as no surprise that the dungeon's scout rifle ranks at the top of the whole weapon loot pool. Scout rifles have been in a strong position for several seasons now, both in PVE and PVP, with a ton of great Legendary options for players to choose from.
Long Arm comes in the energy weapon slot and is an Arc scout rifle, which means it will do brilliantly when paired with any Arc 3.0 builds. It has an interesting mix of perks in its perk pool, with options mostly for PVE but also a couple of decent PVP picks for any adventurous Crucible players.
In the first perk column, players have Wellspring, Subsistence, and Under Pressure. Rapid Hit is also a decent option. For the second column, Opening Shot, Explosive Payload, Adrenaline Junkie and Redirection are all extremely appealing choices.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.