What is Hard Light good for in Destiny 2? We take a look at the exotic and reveal whether it’s worth it in PvE and PvP.
The weapon manufacturer Omolon presents three revolutionary products:
- A quickly configurable interface for outgoing damage,
- a ricochet round that bounces off any surface,
- and a projectile weapon platform with infinite range and no drop-off.
All these products are released at the same time. In one package. And Omolon calls the whole thing “Hard Light”.
This information is found in the lore section for this exotic and sounds promising. However, these weapon traits are not all that “revolutionary” anymore, as Hard Light was already present in Destiny 1, albeit in slightly altered form. Let’s take a closer look at the exotic weapon in Destiny 2.
How to get Hard Light – Here’s how you can obtain the exotic
There are several locations for Hard Light:
- Random drop from all sources that can drop exotic engrams
- Xur: Sometimes the Agent of the Nine has the weapon, like this weekend
Xur sells the weapon up to a maximum power level of 270. It costs him 29 Legendary Shards. If you have obtained Hard Light once but dismantled it, you can get it back anytime for 10 Legendary Shards from the collections in the vault.
What makes Hard Light in Destiny 2? – Perks
Hard Light is an exotic auto rifle that is carried in the energy slot. It has a fire rate of 600, a impact of 21, and a magazine size of 49. It belongs to the auto rifles with increased fire rate; for comparison: Uriel’s Gift has a fire rate of 450 but a higher impact.
Otherwise, Hard Light has solid values all around; stability and handling are excellent. The hidden stats “Aim Assist” and “Recoil Direction” are both at 100 and are therefore fantastic (However, the entire weapon shakes quite a lot when shooting. This is one of its biggest drawbacks).
These are the special perks:
- Volatile Light: Rounds from this weapon have no damage drop-off, penetrate targets, and bounce off hard surfaces. This perk is identical to the exotic perk from Destiny 1.
- Arc, Solar, Void: This allows you to choose the elemental damage of Hard Light (This was not possible in Destiny 1).
To change the elemental damage, you have to open the menu and select one of the three perks. This is impractical in the middle of a fight, as it takes several seconds.
What is Hard Light good for in PvE and PvP?
In Destiny 1, Hard Light was considered a fun weapon that performed solidly but always remained in the shadow of a Suros Regime or later a Zhalo Supercell.
In Destiny 2, Hard Light currently has less competition; with the Workhorse there is only one other exotic auto rifle. Nevertheless, Hard Light can be assessed similarly in the sequel as in Destiny 2: Not a “must-have” weapon, but rather a fun weapon.
The “Volatile Light” perk is quite nice in PvE, but one shouldn’t expect to take down an incredible number of enemies with ricocheting shots. The fact that the weapon has no damage drop-off and can penetrate enemies is likely its biggest advantage. However, the weapon shakes heavily while shooting, making it nearly impossible to land multiple hits in a row on targets at greater distances.
Switching elemental damage mid-battle is too cumbersome, so you wouldn’t want to go into the menu with every new enemy shield type. This is only sensible in a nightfall strike when the prism modifier is active. Or if you already know what shield type the enemies will have before an encounter, you can configure the weapon before the fight. In prestige mode (loadout lock), you can’t actually change the element!
Moreover, switching elemental damage isn’t that “special”. Because in Destiny 2, you can equip legendary energy weapon mods that change the elemental damage. For example, if you have three Uriel’s Gifts with different elements, it is faster to switch between these weapons than to switch the element of Hard Light.
In PvP, Hard Light is also usable, but by no means a must-have weapon – auto rifles generally have a good standing there. The optimal time-to-kill is 1.10 seconds, requiring 11 crits and one body shot. For comparison: The top weapon Uriel’s Gift has a time-to-kill of 1.07 seconds.
The ability to switch elements is completely useless in PvP. However, the fact that the rounds have no damage drop-off, penetrate enemies, and bounce off surfaces can be useful in certain situations.
Conclusion: Buy the weapon from Xur to complete your collection and to have a little fun with it. However, Hard Light cannot be classified as a top weapon worth sacrificing the exotic slot for. In most activities, it’s better to take one of the strong exotic power weapons, like the Merciless.
Are you playing with Hard Light in Destiny 2?
