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

It's Friday which means that the exotic salesman Xur is back in world of Destiny 2 once again. As players continue to wait for the inclusion of Year 2 exotics in his loot pool, Xur keeps up his weekly tradition of bringing year 1 exotics, slightly remixed with randomized rolls.

Those waiting for the appearance of Forsaken exotics may be in for a long one if Bungie's Annual Pass roadmap for 2019 is anything to go by. It doesn't appear that Xur will be receiving any significant changes until next season at the earliest. Not only is there mysterious content related to Xur and new bounties listed under the Season of the Drifter, but many players believe this is the point when Bungie will start to finally integrate Forsaken exotics into his weekly inventory.

Even though it's the new year, Xur is still up to his usual tricks. Here's where players can find the shifty merchant and what he's selling in Destiny 2 for the weekend of January 11, 2019:

Where is Xur?

This weekend, Xur is back in the Tower, overlooking the vast mountain range from inside the hangar.

Load into the tower and immediately head to the left down into the hangar. Once there, hang another left, and run past the Dead Orbit section to find a metal staircase and the odd merchant hanging out on a platform.

Class Armor

For the first time in a while, Xur has brought with him three Destiny 2 year 1 exotics, and none from the first two expansion updates, Curse of Osiris or Warmind.

Crown of Tempests - Warlock helm

This exotic helm is specifically for the Stormcaller subclass and has no practical use for Dawnblade or Voidwalker. It's an exotic that uses arc ability kills to increase the recharge speed of the player’s arc abilities as well as extend the duration of Stormtrance.

For Stormtrance Warlocks, the Crown of Tempests is a must have, similar to other class-specific exotics. To a lesser extent, players have also seen some success when paired with Chaos Reach but the new Geomag Stabilizers are usually the better choice. While players are only getting half of the benefits of this item, getting arc abilities to recharge is still valuable. With that said, it's an easy item to pass on for players who typically use the other two subclasses instead.

Gear Rolls:

Mobility OR Recovery
Fusion Rifle Targeting, Hand Cannon Targeting, Hands-On
Sniper Rifle Reserves OR Machine Gun Reserves

Young Ahamkara's Spine - Hunter gauntlets

The Hunter item this week is the Young Ahamkara’s Spine gauntlets. The bone inspired armor has an exotic perk called Wish-Dragon Teeth, which increases tripmine grenade duration and blast radius. Better yet, any damage done with the ability returns bonus tripmine grenade energy.

The gauntlets are hard to recommend for players as its ability is very specific, but they do synergize well with the Way of a Thousand Cuts subclass tree. It may not be able to compete with some Hunter exotics like Shards of Galanor, but when used in certain spots, it’s a decent choice.

Gear Rolls:

Resilience OR Mobility
Fusion Rifle Loader, Hand Cannon Loader, Impact Induction
Sniper Rifle Scavenger OR Machine Gun Scavenger

Doom Fang Pauldron - Titan gauntlets

Similar to the Warlock item this week, the Titan's Doom Fang Pauldrons won't benefit every subclass. Intended mainly for Sentinel Titans, this armor grants super energy on void melee kills. Not only that, melee kills recharge Shield Throw when Sentinal Shield is active, also extending the super on basic hits.

Needless to say, this is another must-have item for Sentinel Titans, just for the added recharge effect alone. The melee benefits also apply to players using a void sword as well, not just for using the Titan melee attack.

Fixed Gear Rolls:

Resilience OR Recovery
Fusion Rifle Loader, Hand Cannon Loader, Impact Induction
Sniper Rifle Scavenger OR Machine Gun Scavenger

Exotic Weapon

This week, Xur has brought back Merciless, a very good power weapon, though it's also one that he sold three weeks ago. As unfortunate as that is, Merciless is definitely worth an inventory spot for those who may have missed it last time. Merciless is a high damage weapon that excels at doing concentrated damage on a single target. It's a solid choice regardless of the mode, though Nightfalls and strikes make it a powerful choice. However, players may have found a new favorite fusion rifle with the recent addition of the Jotunn.

Merciless gets its power from its exotic perks. Conserve Momentum continually charges the weapon faster when players get non-lethal hits, with the cycle resetting once the final kill is achieved. Pair that with its other perk, Impetus, players gain increased damage for a short time after quickly reloading following a kill.

Here's the complete rundown of Xur's entire stock for Jan 11: