Vanilla Destiny 2 Exotic is guaranteed to be meta with Episode Revenant buffs

One of Destiny 2’s OG Exotics is getting a substantial buff with the release of Episode Revenant on October 8, tying in nicely with the seasonal artifact’s emphasis on Grenade Launchers.

In a livestream hosted on October 1 previewing new content included in Revenant Act 1, Bungie revealed that Fighting Lion, currently the only primary ammo Grenade Launcher available in-game, will be joined by another Exotic in the form of an unnamed Stasis alternative.

While demoing the latter, the studio briefly touched on adjustments coming to Fighting Lion, including confirmation that, following the update, it’ll “make enemies Volatile when it hits them.”

Whether the weapon will gain the Destabalizing Rounds perk (final blows cause nearby targets to become volatile) as a standalone buff or only trigger the effect on direct hits isn’t clear, but it’ll be a substantial improvement for Void builds, whichever case proves true.

In the current meta, Graviton Lance and Choir of One are two of Destiny 2’s strongest Exotics due to their ability to inflict Volatile or an equivalent effect, so Fighting Lion joining their ranks post-buff is likely.

In addition to that welcome power bump, Revenant’s seasonal artifact features several mods intended to give the entire weapon archetype worthwhile improvements. One of these, Rapid Impacts, grants temporarily increased reload speed for Grenade Launchers after dealing damage.

Paired with Fighting Lion’s Thin the Herd perk, which grants faster reloads after dealing damage and magazine refills from rapid final blows, the single-shot launcher will be lightning-fast to reload.

The only potential caveat here is that Bungie may not allow these perks to stack, though based on previous interactions between mods and perks, this pairing should work.

That’s a wrap on this early meta pick, but if you’re looking for more information about Episode Revenant, check out our overview of everything being added when the season launches on October 8. Alternatively, read more about how weapon crafting is changing and Bungie’s plans for overhauling armor in Frontiers.