With a new Exotic of Season 6, Hunters can finally kill in PvP with one hit in Destiny 2. However, the armor Exotic has more to offer and is certainly worth a closer look.
This is the Exotic in question: With Season 6, five new Exotics have made their way into the game, including three armor pieces – one for each Guardian class.
The Hunter received the gauntlets “Liars Handshake” which allow him to transform into a powerful melee killer in certain situations. Thus, Hunters can finally hold their own in close combat against Titans or Warlocks.
Gauntlets “Liars Handshake” – What the new Exotic can do
What sets the gauntlets apart? This new armor Exotic is specifically tailored for the Arcstrider Hunter. The special feature of these gauntlets is their intrinsic perk Counterpunch.
When you use your Arc melee attack or are hit by a melee attack, you can initiate a powerful melee counter through Counterpunch, which heals you.
Counterpunch raises your melee damage during the counter or the second melee attack from 100 to 300 for 4 seconds. This allows you to take out any Guardian in the Crucible with just one melee hit.
What are the purposes of these gauntlets? The massive damage increase for melee and the healing make this Exotic especially interesting in PvP. In PvE, however, the gauntlets do not really make a significant impact.
This Sub-Focus works best with the gauntlets: While the gauntlets can be used with all Sub-Trees of the Arcstrider, the top Sub-Focus “Way of the Warrior” creates the best synergies with Liars Handshake. The following perks are active:
- Combo Punch: A kill with this melee ability starts health regeneration and temporarily increases melee damage
- Combat Flow: Melee kills recharge your dodge
- Deadly Reach: Dodging increases melee range
Additionally, choose Reckless Dodge, which recharges your melee ability when using the dodge roll.
All perks of the Way of the Warrior are actually very situational, as Hunters previously didn’t have a good punch and the advantages were therefore hardly utilized. But with Liars Handshake, the intrinsic and focus perks can now be combined into a very effective overall package.
This is how you play the gauntlets: Basically, you play the Hunter like a Titan: as soon as you’re in melee range, it’s “Brain off and hit hard”. This principle is then refined with some small Hunter quirks.
As soon as you’ve landed a first hit or have been hit yourself, you use your melee. Within four seconds, this should take out any opponent you hit – even a Hunter with active “Golden Guns” super. Most other supers can be taken out with a second hit.
If several opponents are nearby, use your dodge roll and hit them again. Now you also have an enormous melee range.
Furthermore, Counterpunch and the subsequent hits heal you. A kill with Counterpunch restores half your health immediately, while the subsequent hits regenerate it gradually through Combo Punch, until you can land another Counterpunch kill. Kills also recharge your dodge, so you can dive back into the fray immediately.
If you use the combination of abilities and Exotic correctly, you can prevail against several opponents. Especially in situations where you are outnumbered, this Hunter Exotic can shine.
Who benefits from these gauntlets? They are not an absolute must-have Exotic, but depending on the situation, these new exotic gauntlets can prove to be quite useful and powerful in PvP.
While they can only shine situationally, anyone who enjoys engaging in close combat as a Hunter and prefers a corresponding playstyle should take a closer look at them. This way, you can often secure a decisive advantage in close combat.
In this video from Atzecross Gaming, you can see Liars Handshake in action:
What do you think of this new Hunter Exotic? Have you been able to test it yourself?
