Destiny 2: The Final Shape adds a Golden Gun sniper and other new Exotic weapons

The Final Shape is almost upon Destiny 2 players, with the expansion launching on June 4. Bungie has already shown players the new Dread enemies and the Prismatic Subclass, but now, the studio is ramping up the spectacle with a preview of some Exotic weapons featured in The Final Shape. Hunters, take note: there’s a new sniper rifle that shoots Golden Gun Super shots.

Bungie is using the time before the release of The Final Shape to hype players up with glimpses at what’s to come in the expansion. Through social media and Bungie’s own This Week in Destiny and Dev Insights blogs, the studio has covered everything from weapon balancing to Exotic armor, and now new Exotic weapons are due for a sneak peek. Bungie revealed three new Exotic weapons for The Final Shape, one of which was a reimagined auto rifle from the original Destiny: the Khvostov 7G-0X.

Still Hunt Exotic sniper rifle

The Still Hunt Exotic sniper rifle looks like it could be wild. Visually, it appears to be a hand cannon retrofitted to a sniper frame, harkening thoughts back to The Craftening. In the short teaser, we can see a Hunter use the weapon to great effect, slaying a few Hive before triggering the weapon’s special ability, providing Golden Gun Super shots.

From the looks of things, the Exotic effect is built up by achieving kills or precision kills. It also looks like Guardians must trigger the effect, typically done in-game with a special reload, as evidenced by the Hunter going into a unique animation just before shooting the empowered shots. While many Hunters’ first question might be whether this works with the Golden Gun-empowering Celestial Nighthawk Exotic helm, players will just have to wait until The Final Shape to see.

Microcosm Exotic trace rifle

The Microcosm Exotic is the first Heavy trace rifle. This meaty weapon is red and gold with a trident-like design at the end of the barrel. The Exotic Perk on this weapon lets it quickly decimate enemy shields, obliterating the foes shown in its preview. Interestingly, if viewers watch closely, they can see different elemental death animations for enemies defeated by the weapon.

While the Exotic Heavy trace rifle looks to, and should, do quite a bit of damage, the unique trait initially seems a bit underwhelming. A bonus to shield damage won’t hurt anyone, but since Destiny 2‘s removal of the Match Game modifier (making it much harder to destroy enemy shields that weren’t the same element as your weapon), shields aren’t really an issue.

Of course, we don’t know what’s to come in The Final Shape, and there’s always the chance enemy shields could play a much more significant role than they do now. I don’t know what to make of the enemy death animations showing different elements. Microcosm may have another Exotic Perk like The Fundamentals (allowing Guardians to switch elemental damage types), or it could be something else entirely. Only time will tell after The Final Shape releases.