With the Curse of Osiris, new exotic weapons and armors have arrived in Destiny 2. What can the exotic weapon Crimson do? How do you get it? And how does the weapon perform in the Crucible?
The new hand cannon Crimson not only has visual similarities with an exotic pulse rifle from Destiny 1 – the Red Death. In fact, there are also similarities in the weapon’s perks with another pulse rifle from the predecessor, namely Bad Juju.
Sounds too good to be true? We take a detailed look at the weapon to see if it meets the high expectations and how Crimson performs in the Crucible.
How to Obtain the Hand Cannon “Crimson”
As with many exotic armors and weapons in Destiny 2, you are relying on your luck. The following sources can drop the hand cannon as a reward:
- Public Events (Completing them heroically increases your chances)
- Weekly Milestones
- The Nightfall Strike
- The Trials of the Nine
- The Leviathan Raid including the new raid lair
- Xur sells the hand cannon
You can increase your chances with a Fireteam Medallion or the new item “Three of Coins,” which increases the drop chances of an exotic engram from all sources by 50%.
These are the Perks of Crimson
Not only does the design remind players of the Red Death known from Destiny 1, but the perks also hint at who the spiritual predecessor of the hand cannon is.
Impact and stability of the weapon are almost maxed out. The range is good, and the handling and reload speed of the weapon are average, but at a good level for hand cannons.
The weapon’s magazine holds 24 rounds. It’s important to note that the weapon fires bursts of 3 shots, allowing you to effectively pull the trigger eight times before the weapon needs to be reloaded.
At least in theory, because the exotic perk of the weapon allows you to fire continuously under certain circumstances – without having to reload:
- Perk 1 – This weapon fires bursts of 3 shots
- Perk 2 – Smallbore: Increased range and stability from a moderate barrel
- Perk 3 – Fluted Barrel: Increases range (increases distance)
- Exotic Perk – Kills with this weapon heal the shooter; precision kills refill the magazine
- Perk 4 – Heavy Grip: This grip improves recoil control, increases stability, reduces weapon readiness speed
The exotic perks of the weapon include some of the benefits of Red Death and Bad Juju (unfortunately, like Bad Juju, the Super is not replenished). How does the weapon perform in practice?
This is how Crimson performs in PvE
The weapon’s perks allow for an aggressive playstyle. Every kill heals you, and with precision kills, the magazine is also refilled. Classes that do not have their own health regeneration abilities will be pleased with this weapon.
Even Hunters, who potentially have a lower recovery rate compared to the other classes, benefit greatly from this weapon.
Those playing as Warlocks with the Voidwalker subclass and Hunger effects can restore their health with the Withdraw effect. Combined with Crimson, Warlocks may find it hard to die.
Crimson is perfect for larger groups of enemies, which need to be eliminated quickly; for boss fights, you should use another weapon.
This is how Crimson performs in the Crucible
Even though Crimson is a hand cannon, it plays like a pulse rifle due to the bursts. The weapon deals the following damage in the Crucible:
- 21 damage for headshots; if the entire burst hits the head, that results in 63 damage points
- Body shots deal 16 damage; if an entire burst hits the body, that results in 48 damage points
Enemy Guardians with a resilience value of 1 can thus be eliminated with three bursts to the head. This is a theoretical value; hitting three bursts critically is extremely challenging.
With a resilience value of 5, enemies can be eliminated with four bursts to the body. The great advantage of the weapon in the Crucible is health regeneration. After a kill, you can immediately turn to another enemy. 1vs2 situations become much easier to handle.
However, the range has been noted negatively by many players. Although the value of 62 is decent, many Guardians report that the weapon is only effective at the ranges of hand cannons.
So if you’re a big fan of hand cannons, you should rather opt for alternatives like the Better Devil or the Old Fashioned to have better chances at effective ranges.
Have you tried Crimson yet? How do you like the weapon?
