Destiny 2: Xur Exotic Armor, Weapon, and Recommendations…

After years of community feedback, Bungie finally brought crafting to Destiny 2 alongside the Witch Queen expansion. Through The Enclave on Mars, players could finally create the weapons they wanted, provided they had previously unlocked the specific Destiny 2 weapon frame pattern. However, players weren't thrilled about all aspects of shaping weapons, namely with the high cost to experiment with perks and the various resources needed.

Surprisingly, Bungie is already planning major changes to how crafting works as early as next season. Specifically, Bungie announced that it is completely removing specific weapon crafting materials, revamping the entire process to make it a little less convoluted. To help players before that happens, a hot fix next week aims to increase the small resource cap limits from 250 to 1000 and the Neutral Element cap from 8500 to 10000.

For those who don't want to make their own weapons, they can instead visit the exotic merchant Xur, who has again returned to Destiny 2 for the weekend. As always, follow this guide for his most current weekend location, news on his exotic cipher quest, as well as a review of all the exotic and legendary gear he's brought for the weekend of March 18, 2022.

Where is Xur?

Once again this weekend, Xur has landed on Nessus.

destiny 2 xur nessus tree — Destiny 2 xur nessus tree

From the Director, head to Nessus and load into Watcher's Grave. Run towards the back of the zone where a massive tree is found. Jump up until players find the huge branch where the merchant is hanging out.

Class Armor and Exotic Cipher

Xur's role continues to offer the usual weekly quests, exotics, and legendary gear. Not only are these quests required to purchase a second fated engram, but they're necessary to acquire legacy exotic gear from the Tower kiosk. Players can earn a new cipher by completing strikes and winning crucible or gambit matches. Gain bonus points for playing with clanmates or finishing more challenging activities.

Xur continues to sell even more gear outside his usual content. In addition to his normal exotic gear, Xur now has Legendary Weapons and Armor for sale in exchange for Legendary Shards and Glimmer.

Exotic Armor

Chromatic Fire - Warlock chest armor

The Chromatic Fire armor is back on sale this week. Its perk, Crystalline Transistor, causes an explosion, in the element of the player’s equipped subclass, after a kinetic precision kill. Having lots of enemies in a tight spot really maximizes the elemental damage. For PvP players, other guardians have mentioned that this armor is good when using particular weapons that cause explosions like Ace of Spades.

Regardless of how valuable this gear is, the main issue is that the overall stat roll continues to be pretty poor making these very hard to recommend.

Arc Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +6
Resilience +8
Recovery +13
Discipline +6
Intellect +6
Strength +12

Warlock Wearing Chromatic Fire — Chromatic Fire Exotic

Sealed Ahamkara Grasps - Hunter gauntlets

Back again in the same month, the Sealed Ahamkara Grasps remain an underrated exotic especially when paired with a certain subclass like the Gunslinger Way of a Thousand Cuts. Nightmare Fuel reloads the player's currently equipped weapon after melee damage.

Disappointingly, the stat roll for the exotic armor with Xur continues to be lower than expected. This means that players can safely skip the armor unless they're looking to fill out their collection.

Void Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +17
Resilience +2
Recovery +7
Discipline +6
Intellect +6
Strength +10

Peregrine Greaves - Titan leg armor

The overly rare Peregrine Greaves are back in stock with Xur this weekend. Peregrine Strike enhances all shoulder charge melee abilities to deal bonus damage when it is activated in the air. While these boots were, at one time, a trouble spot for Bungie, getting removed for 24 hours to not impact the Garden of Salvation World First Raid, many continue to view them largely as situational.

Similar to the rest of the exotic armor on here, the stat roll makes it very difficult to recommend overall until Bungie corrects this problem.

Solar Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +10
Resilience +11
Recovery +3
Discipline +6
Intellect +6
Strength +12

Exotic Weapon

For those who enjoy shooting strange objects out of weapons, like the new Parasite exotic grenade launcher, then they'll want to check out The Colony. Insectoid Robot Grenades is its intrinsic perk which causes the weapon to fire grenades that are actually spider robots. Once fired, these devices chase enemy targets (even up/around walls) and explode at close range. As if that isn’t enough, when holstered, the gun refills its magazine as well.

For now, this weapon remains a top pick for PvP players thanks to its homing rounds. Even with swords being the popular pick for the heavy slot these days, The Colony remains an easy recommendation for those who don’t yet have it. Being able to track targets in the Crucible is also incredibly valuable.

Additional perks:

Linear Compensator
High Velocity Rounds
Composite Stock

Hawkmoon and Dead Man's Tale Rolls

Since Season 16 removed the Presage and Harbinger exotic missions, Xur is also selling both Hawkmoon and Dead Man's Tale with randomized rolls. Players should visit him each weekend as he'll be carrying different rolls.

Hawkmoon Rolls:

Chambered Compensator
Alloy Magazine
Opening Shot
Polymer Grip

Dead Man's Tale

Corkscrew Rifling
High-Calibur Rounds
Subsistence
Fitted Stock

Here's the complete rundown of Xur's exotic stock in Destiny 2 for March 18, 2022:

Chromatic Fire (Warlock chest armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
Sealed Ahamkara Grasps (Hunter gauntlets) – 23 Legendary Shards
Peregrine Greaves (Titan leg armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
The Colony (Grenade Launcher) - 29 Legendary Shards
Hawkmoon (Hand Cannon) - 125,000 Glimmer, 200 Legendary Shards, 1 Exotic Cipher, 1 Ascendant Shard
Dead Man's Tale (Scout Rifle) - 125,000 Glimmer, 200 Legendary Shards, 1 Exotic Cipher, 1 Ascendant Shard
Exotic Engram - 97 Legendary Shards/1 Exotic Cipher
A Question - Exotic Cipher Quest