In Destiny 2, Season 13 has now brought a stronger reimagining of the notorious Redrix. However, to get the “Precision Weapon 2.0”, you’ll have to sweat it out in the Trials.
What’s new in the game: On the first weekend of Season 13 of Destiny 2, Guardians were amazed when they earned the new Trials weapon “The Messenger”. The pulse rifle can come with the perk Desperado.
Desperado effectively doubles the fire rate, catapulting the TTK of the Messenger into the Olympus. The perk originally came from a very rare Precision Weapon, and the entire category of precision weapons was actually banished from Destiny 2. But the Messenger even surpasses its Redrix predecessors.
What was special about precision weapons? For a while, Destiny 2 brought precision weapons into the game every season. These were legendary guns that came with fixed perks and waited at the end of a – usually challenging – quest.
Each precision weapon had a tailored perk that was usually ridiculously powerful.
- The notorious Recluse received massive bonus damage regardless of which weapon you got a kill with.
- The sniper rifle Succession simply fed the bullet back into the magazine on miss.
- Luna’s Howl and the sister weapon Not Forgotten rewarded precision hits with insane damage – leading to near season-after-season nerfs until the weapons themselves initiated a retaliatory campaign against the sandbox.
In principle, these legendary weapons were more powerful than some exotics. Bungie subsequently banished the overly strong guns and introduced quest weapons instead. The quests are easier, and the perks are more godrolls for everyone rather than game-breaking. In Season 13, you chase the quest weapon Plunderer’s Salvo:
The Messenger is the Redrix, but better, if you are lucky
What’s new now: Desperado is no longer guaranteed on the weapon. You’ll have to have some serious loot luck with every drop of the Messenger. Additionally, the perk was also made more accessible.
- Previously, Desperado only activated when reloading after a kill in combination with Outlaw.
- Now, Outlaw is no longer needed; reloading after a precise kill is enough.
- This expands the loot pool, and options like Quickdraw or Killswitch provide alternatives. You can still roll Outlaw, though.
The Messenger offers a larger magazine and a better, more open sight compared to both Redrix versions. The stats are otherwise very similar. If you sweat through the Trials and get lucky, you’ll receive a “Redrix 2.0” with better perks and a few other improvements. By the way, in PvE, damage does drop somewhat when Desperado is active, but not in PvP.
What could this mean for the future of Destiny 2?
Bungie has already mentioned that the rare and powerful perks of raid weapons might eventually become available on non-raid weapons too (via Polygon.com). Especially Reconstruction from the Deep Stone Crypt is considered one of the best perks in the game.
If perks from previous precision weapons were also added gradually to the loot pool, there would be a chance for enormously powerful toys that Guardians would surely love to farm. This could potentially make the hated weapon retirement a bit more palatable.
The Destiny expert Aztecross sees the situation both positively and negatively. According to him, the perks of precision weapons can and should make a return.
- He would find it interesting if the perks could roll on other archetypes. So if Desperado, for example, came on a lightweight pulse or even on entirely different weapons – an automatic rifle that has a fire rate of over 1,000, for example?
- On the other hand, he never wants to see perks like those from Succession, which guaranteed ammunition back on misses, ever again. The perk from the Summit should remain permanently banished as the “rocket launcher in pocket size” (with special ammo) was simply too strong and completely ruined the balance.
Did you expect the quasi-return of the precision weapon Redrix in Season 13? Do you already own “The Messenger” with Desperado and are dominating, or should these powerful perks remain buried? Discuss in the comments.
To get another new and trendy gun, Guardians will have to struggle a lot: Last Dollar in Destiny 2 – How to get one of the currently best hand cannons
