Because Destiny 2 is a looter-shooter where every piece of gear matters, a huge amount of emphasis is put on the weapons and armor pieces players can obtain that each have random rolls or unique perks. There are several elements and damage types in Destiny 2, and plenty of different weapon archetypes as well, meaning there are many possible combinations to explore - some of which haven't yet been explored. For example, the newly introduced glaive is a hybrid weapon that's both a melee polearm and a projectile-shooting gun, but because it's new there are only two variants: one that deals Void damage, another that deals Solar damage.
This limitation can be problematic when it comes to crafting builds because the elemental damage dealt by guns has an impact on the selection of mods and gear combinations one can use. Destiny 2's Vow of the Disciple Raid manages to break this trend for fusion rifles, which were widely used in Season of the Lost thanks to Particle Deconstruction, for which players have long been asking for a Stasis version. This is not the only trend that Vow of the Disciple breaks though, as another comes from the lack of new Exotic pulse rifles.
Destiny 2's New Vow of the Disciple's Loot Innovates the Meta
Many players made the assumption that Season of the Lost was the perfect place to have a Kinetic fusion rifle added into the mix because of all the possibilities it would have opened in terms of build crafting. One could argue that there are (and were already, at the time) two Kinetic fusion rifles in Destiny 2, with one being the Exotic Bastion and the other being an Exotic linear fusion rifle called Arbalest.
However, the Vow of the Disciple Raid finally added a Kinetic Legendary fusion rifle that also deals Stasis damage, which is a first in the history of Destiny 2. The weapon comes with unique perks that aren't commonly found on other weapons, making it all the more special. Although Particle Deconstruction is long gone, it doesn't mean Bungie won't add it back into the seasonal artifact mod rotation in the future.
The other trend broken by the Raid is about pulse rifles, which have been a staple of the franchise since its early days. Many fans were upset that when Destiny 2 released and only featured returning Exotic pulse rifles in the loot pool, which is something that Beyond Light's No Time To Explain didn't fix because it was also a Destiny gun brought into its sequel. Luckily, Vow of the Disciple's signature Exotic is a brand-new pulse rifle called Collective Obligation.
It has major synergies with Void 3.0 changes, as it deals Void damage itself, and it's the first new Exotic of its archetype to ever grace Destiny 2. Pulse rifles also received a decent buff across the board with The Witch Queen, now dealing 10 percent more damage to all enemies. Furthermore, Exotic weapons now deal 40 percent more damage to red-bar enemies, making Collective Obligation all the more powerful in the current meta. Ultimately, new additions to weapon archetypes or damage combinations are always welcome in the game, and Vow of the Disciple's gear should just be the first step in the right direction.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
