Guardians, the wait for the new Destiny 2 Exotic bow ahead of The Final Shape is finally over and we’re well into Bungie’s new Season of the Wish update – for better or worse. Whether you think you’re using one of the best guns available or not, you need to hop into the newly-released Starcrossed quest and unlock the Destiny 2 Wish-Keeper – an Exotic bow with the ability to trap and suspend your enemies. It’s this FPS’ first Strand element Exotic bow and, from what we know so far, has the potential to be very over-powered when you get your hands on it.
We know it’s been a little while since the Destiny 2 Season 23 release date and the latest major Destiny 2 content update, but Bungie’s Season of the Wish isn’t done with you just yet. The Starcrossed Exotic quest is finally available – well, it’s available following the daily reset at 09:00 PST / 12:00 EST / 17:00 GMT on December 19 – and you can finally get your hands on the new Wish-Keeper Exotic bow. Sure, it’s a shame that the upcoming Destiny 2 The Final Shape release date has been pushed back, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t one of the best FPS games out there and an easy alternative to all the new PS5 games and new Xbox games released over the last handful of months. If, though, you think otherwise, this new Exotic might just change your mind.
Now, we know saying that the Wish-Keeper is going to be one of the best Destiny 2 weapons available at the moment is jumping the gun (or, in this case, jumping the bow) just a little bit, but it really does look like that will be the case. As this breakdown on Light.gg shows, this Exotic will take advantage of both the Snareweaver and Silkbound Slayer Exotic perks; this means this weapon will be able to “create a pattern of traps that suspend nearby targets” and then deal additional damage to those same suspended targets. At a base level, it has an impact of 76 and a draw time of 684; this is the same as other decent bows like the Strident Whistle, but ever-so-slightly weaker than weapons like the Trinity Ghoul.
We know that might not be what you want to hear, but when you think about how effective the Suspend debuff actually is right now, it’s certainly going to be the better option. And, it means you can take advantage of this debuff without actually needing to use Strand as your class element – although, this will make the Wish-Keeper even more effective. In fact, alongside the Quicksilver Storm auto rifle Exotic, we can’t think of a better option for Strand element users right now.
If you look at around the 01:15 mark in the trailer below, you’ll see the Wish-Keeper Exotic bow in action – and a group of Taken affected by Suspend when it’s used.
The Suspend debuff, for those of you yet to dabble with this element, does exactly what you think it does; hitting an enemy with Suspend will suspend them off the ground and disable them for a short period of time. This both offers you a brief repireve from oncoming attacks and opens up your enemy to attack; it’s a win-win and extremely effective, even after its nerf.
If you want to unlock the Wish-Keeper Exotic, all you need to do is finish the Starcrossed Exotic quest in the Dreaming City. The first step of this quest involves defeating an enemy called the Withdrawn Mind – likely a Vex boss, but an enemy we still know very little about ahead of the update. After this, you’re going to have to hunt down another enemy called the Temporal Progeny – again, most-likely a Vex boss but someone we don’t have the details on ahead of this quest’s availability.
Then, as Blueberries.gg suggests, you’re going to have to “find the Heart” – something that seems to be referring to the Black Heart in the center of the Black Garden. We don’t think this will be a walk in the park, so expect to come across more enemies throughout and (probably) a few tougher enemies towards the end of this section. Thankfully, looking at datamined information, this seems to be it. So, while the fights will be tough, it shouldn’t actually take you too long to unlock the Wish-Keeper; there doesn’t seem to be any puzzles to navigate, at least.
If that’s not quite enough to sway you on the Wish-Keeper, though, there are several new Destiny 2 Season 23 Artifact perks you can unlock that would work excellently when using this weapon.
The tier 3 perk ‘Torch’ increases the damage dealt against enemies affected by Strand debuffs while Radiant (which you can pair with ‘Flint Striker’ and a Solar weapon to get Radiant quicker) and ‘Unravelling Orbs’ gives all your Strand weapons Unravelling Rounds when you pick up an Orb of Power.
The tier 4 perk ‘Dragon’s Bite’, as the latest This Week In Destiny blog post explains, improves the chance that a Strand (or Stasis) weapon will Suspend (or freeze) and enemy when you break their shield using that weapon – and, wearing the Season of the Wish armor will actually improve the chance that this happens. With bows like the Wish-Keeper often dealing high amounts of damage per projectile, you should have no trouble breaking enemy shields while using it – which means you should definitely be working towards unlocking this Artifact perk as soon as you can.
One weapon, however powerful that weapon might be, isn’t the only thing you need to think about when you’re jumping into your next Destiny 2 activity – be that a PvE activity or a PvP experience like the new Destiny 2 Season 23 Sparrow Control mode. So, we recommend you check to make sure you’re using the best Destiny 2 Titan build, the best Destiny 2 Warlock build, or the best Destiny 2 Hunter build when you can. Whichever one of these classes you use, though, the Wish-Keeper will be worth getting your hands on. If you’re using (or planning to use) the Strand element, this statement is doubly true.