Graviton Lance maybe one of Destiny 2’s oldest Exotic weapons, but it now could be it’s best, given it’s recent mega buff in Season of the Deep. If you like to destroy rooms of enemies with void explosions, then this is the exotic for you. Today I’m going to take a closer look at Graviton Lance, but how to get it and it’s catalyst, plus put together some build recommendations in Destiny 2.

Originally introduced in vanilla Destiny 2 at the end of the Red War Camapign, Graviton Lance has long been a fan favourite. During that time Pulse Rifles have gone in and out of the meta in the game, plus the Red War Camapign has now been lost to time in the Destiny Content Vault. Recently in update 7.1.5 Bungie buffed Graviton Lance and now it’s an absolute monster in the game, and a must-have tool of destruiction for any Guardian.

How to get Graviton Lance

You can get this one from Xur, by grabbing his Exotic engram, or if you are lucky he’ll be selling it sometime soon. Xur has drop protection, meaning he should give you new exotics you don’t have, so if you have a stash of legendary shards then this is definitely a good way to spend them.

The Catalyst is a random drop from Strikes or Crucible matches and it’s well worth levelling up because it adds Vorpal Weapon to an already powerful Exotic Pulse Rifle. To upgrade it you’ll need 500 kills with the weapon, plus 1000 Cosmology Kills, which are the void orbs that rain after getting kills. The Cosmology kills are slightly harder to get, so I would focus on solo activities like Lost Sectors, where other Guaridans cannot steal compete for kills.

Graviton Lance

This is an Exotic Energy Pulse Rifle

• Black Hole – Second shot of a burst rips a hole through space-time, doing high damage and recoil with no falloff.
• Cosmology – Kills with this weapon cause enemy targets to detonate and spawn Void projectiles that track targets.

Looking at the stats we have Impact 29, Range 50, Stability 100, Handling 54, Reload Speed 57, Airborne Effectiveness 27, Rounds Per Minute 300, and Magazine 31.

Graviton Lance Buff

• Increased PvE damage by 67%.
• Removed the extra aim assist provided by the catalyst.
• Reduced the damage dealt to players by the Cosmology explosion by 40%. Damage in PvE unchanged.

Update 7.1.5 was mainly focused on PVP changes, but this one is huge for Graviton Lance. The Exotic Pulse Rifle had already been regaining traction recently, but this has shoved a rocket up the usage and now everyone is taking advantage of how explosive Graviton Lance is.

67% is a huge buff to a weapon in PVE content. While this is isolated to PVE content, that’s still a major buff, especially if you already like Void builds with your Guardian. Exotic primary weapons have been in the spotlight for some time, given the sandbox balancing wehn Lightfall released. Primaries have felt weak since that balance patch, however, this 67% makes Graviton Lance feel exotic once again. We want our exotic weapons to pack a punch.

You can now go into a crowded room with Graviton Lance and simply explode everything that gets in your way with headshots. This is going to be the tool to use if you want to clear rooms of red bar enemies in seconds.

Regarding builds, you’ll want to use your Void Subclass on whatever Guardian you are using, whether you’re playing Warlock, Titan or Hunter. I’m pairing up the Graviton Lance with a few elements, which focused on Void aspects, fragments, weapons and exotic armor.

First you want to kit yourself out with some good weapons. Gravton Lance of course in the Energy Slot, then you’ll want a good Special Ammo weapon in your Kinetic Slot. I’ve gone with a Chill Clip Riptide, which is my go to, given I get that elemental damage in the Kinetic Slot. You could use something else here, a shotgun or sniper, whatever works for you. In the power slot I am using a Void Machine Gun, Commemoration. I want to bolster my Guardian with as much Void damage output as possible, and this one is great.

For my Exotic Armor I’m using Nezarec’s Sin on my Warlock, where Void kills recharge my abilities faster. If you’re on a Hunter then the Gyrfalcon chest piece is great. Titan’s can use Doomfang or Ursa Furiosa, whatever works for you. Echo of Instability is where defeating targets with grenades grants volatile rounds to void weapons. Echo of Undermining weakens targets. Echo of Harvest is where defeating weakened targets creates an orb of power or Void Breach.

Graviton Lance on its own is fantastic now, but you can turn it up a level with these extra features by using other void weapons and exotic armor that compliment void builds.

Go out there, give it a try and let me know what you think.