In Destiny 2, the MG Xenophage is probably the worst weapon exotic from Shadowkeep. Bungie recently announced a buff and wants to strengthen the exotic weapon. However, the community doubts whether that will be enough.
This weapon is about: The exotic machine gun Xenophage belongs in the power slot and fires solar projectiles. The explosive rounds require heavy ammunition. The weapon is characterized by its high range (70/100) and enormous impact (100/100).
Even though the damage value looks impressive on paper, it is somewhat different in practice. The MG causes very little damage for a power weapon. Additionally, the fact that the weapon cannot land critical hits is another disadvantage.
No matter where you hit the enemy, it always counts as body shot damage. Also, the small magazine (13 rounds) doesn’t really fit a machine gun. Therefore, we recently wondered whether Xenophage is just bad or possibly bugged.
This is supposed to change in the future: Bungie recently admitted that the power weapon didn’t really enter the game powerfully. The Destiny developer wants to improve the firearm with the start of the next season:
- A buff of a proud 50% more damage should solve Xenophage’s problems in PvE
- The ammunition from crates has been increased in PvP from 3/4 to 4/6 (from shared and solo crates with heavy ammunition)
In Bungie’s weekly letter to the community (TWaB), it was stated as justification:
Xenophage was a little weak and is now generating more damage. Machine guns have a higher ammo capacity than other heavy weapons and receive raw DPS in exchange for ease of use. Xenophage is moving in this aspect more toward other heavy weapons like grenade launchers, but it hadn’t received enough power yet. This will be corrected here.
Community Manager Dmg04 via Bungie
Additionally, two of the current top items are being targeted. What other changes are planned for the upcoming season, you can find out here:
Is Xenophage still salvageable?
Will the buff be enough? Players doubt whether the planned changes can really solve the power weapon’s problem. Xenophage doesn’t play like the other MGs. These are especially strong against many smaller enemies and majors.
An increase in base damage changes nothing about the current situation. Even now, a regular add bites the dust immediately after a hit, and somewhat sturdier enemies like Hive Knights are also quickly eliminated.
But any other legendary MG can do this without problems. They also have significantly more than 13 rounds available. To eliminate numerous weak enemies, Xenophage simply lacks ammunition – both in the magazine and in the scarce reserves.
Comparison with a grenade launcher: Bungie wants the exotic to be compared more with a grenade launcher. But how does Xenophage fare in a duel with the current boss killer Love and Death?
We compare the damage per single shot and the DPS – i.e., how much damage can be dealt in a specific time frame. We also take a look at the total damage the weapon has caused after emptying the entire reserve. All tests were conducted in the lost sector on Titan.
This is how Xenophage currently performs / after the buff:
- Damage per shot: 10,215 / 15,323
- DPS: 22,000 / 33,000
- Total damage over 26 shots: 265,000 / 398,000
This is how the grenade launcher ‘Love and Death’ performs:
- Damage per shot: 22,000-26,000 (damage varies depending on perk combination)
- DPS: 70,000-80,000 for the first magazine. After reloading, the values look like this: 42,000-50,000
- Total damage over 17 shots: 386,000 – 450,000
The comparison shows that Xenophage cannot keep up with the legendary grenade launcher. In Ehroar’s YouTube video, you can see the duel between exotic and grenade launcher:
These ideas come from the community: Most Guardians think that the raw damage buff is not enough to save Xenophage. The weapon is in a kind of identity crisis: too little ammunition to clear weak adds, but also too little DPS to melt bosses. The planned buff will not really be able to mitigate these weaknesses.
Also, discussions are taking place on Reddit about how to save the exotic MG. The Reddit user Nukesnipe has come up with some creative improvement suggestions for Bungie. And these are well-received in the community.
To ensure that the power weapon is not so weak, he wants to add another exotic perk. Three well-thought-out abilities are under consideration:
- Sting a Little: Enemies taking damage from Xenophage catch fire and receive damage over time. Since the weapon already fires explosive solar rounds, this would be a simple but meaningful addition.
- In this Life, not the Next: Follow-up shots deal bonus damage. It is suggested that each additional hit on the same enemy deals 10% more damage. This could be stacked up to ten times. Sounds ideal for boss fights.
- The Fire Rages: Killing enemies gives you one shot back and increases damage. The effect lasts until a shot misses or the damage wouldn’t be lethal. This could make the weapon appealing for clearing large groups of enemies.
What do you think of the planned changes to Xenophage – will the exotic finally come out of the vault or is the buff not enough for you?
