In the MMO shooter Destiny , the exotic armors that can be acquired from Xur have different stats.
Many of you are slowly reaching level 30 and are wondering how to squeeze out the last bit from your gear, where they can still draw performance from. There must be a small advantage hidden somewhere, right? Yes! That is why we will take a look at a rather unknown game mechanic today: Exotic armors, even those of the same type, are not exactly the same.
Update: Our new version of this article takes into account the new maximum values that came with “Darkness Rising”. You can find the article here: How good are your exotic armors really?
The same exotic armor can have 40 strength points less
It may be the most important game mechanic that only a few know. The exotic armors, which can be acquired from Xur, have varying values in strength, discipline, and intellect. Even though they are otherwise the exact same item. Unusual and somewhat counter-intuitive: Exotic items are characterized by all having the exact same “perks”. Whereas these can be randomly generated for legendary items.
These stats like intellect, discipline, or strength affect the players’ “combat power”. How important they are and whether the effort is worth it? That can be debated. It is rather for those called Min-Maxers, who want to squeeze every last bit out of their Guardian in Destiny.
4 times Sunbreakers have been different
The degree of discrepancy between the best and the weakest version of an exotic armor piece depends on the type of armor.
Let us take a closer look at the different items. The “Sunbreakers”, for example, exotic Warlock gloves, have been available four times from Xur so far. In the first, second, and fourth week. At that time, the gloves and Xur received a negative reputation: “Always the same thing.”
But they were not the same gloves (and no, it wasn’t Manuel Neuer either). In the first week, they had 90 intellect, in the second week also 90, but in the third week only 77 intellect points. And when the gloves appeared again recently, they only had 76 intellect without upgrades. Sounds unremarkable? It gets significantly more intense.
Examples for Warlocks, Titans, and Hunters
Let’s stick with the Warlocks. The Voidfang Vestments (Void Tooth Clothing) is slowly taking the place of the Sunbreakers as the most common Warlock item. In the last five weeks, Xur has had them four times (Okay, maybe he really hates Warlocks). The strength values of the chest armor ranged from 128 down to 108.
Other items also have huge fluctuations. The Hunter chest armor “Lucky Raspberry” was available in the second week with 103 intellect. In the fifth week, it was 100. But in the eighth week with a staggering 140 intellect points.
For the Titans, the healing armor has been frequently available in the last weeks. Those who struck early got one with 104 discipline. Those who waited two weeks could already obtain one with 131 discipline.
How far does the difference extend?
On reddit, players have engaged with the exotic armors and calculated the possible values the items can possess.
- Exotic helmets reach values from 75 to 105. Fully upgraded, the maximum value is 118.
- Exotic gloves achieve values from 67 to 93. Fully upgraded they reach 104.
- And the exotic chest armors reach a value from 100 to 140. Fully upgraded, they come to 157.
This means that for some exotic items, an “unupgraded” variant can provide more points than a “fully upgraded” other variant.
How much do the different values contribute?
The magic value to aim for is 272. Then you receive a 100% bonus for each stat. Beyond this value, additional points provide no further benefit.
- At 272 intellect , there is the super with a 3:55 minute cooldown, instead of 5:30. And the super meter fills up twice as fast through kills.
- At 272 discipline, you throw grenades every 27 seconds instead of just once a minute.
- And with 272 strength, you reach the full 100%-bonus, which reduces the cooldown from 69 seconds to only 31 seconds.
