Many Exotic weapons in Destiny 2 are paired up with Exotic Catalysts, upgrades that make them even more effective and fun to use. However, there are currently nearly 30 weapons that still don’t have Catalysts. Here, then, are some of the Exotic Catalysts I’d like to see added to the game, along with my thoughts on how they might work. I tried to focus on weapons that don’t see a lot of use and that could be improved by an Exotic Catalyst — sure, a Last Word Catalyst might be nice, but it really doesn’t need it at the moment.
Bastion — Bastion was a ton of fun when first introduced, but ever since it’s kind of languished. It has its uses, but with the addition of Legendary Kinetic slot Fusion Rifles it’s lost a lot of what makes it special. An Exotic Catalyst could rectify that, say, by giving it Firing Line, making it a much more useful anti-Champion weapon in Nightfalls and other high-level PVE activities.
Queensbreaker — Let it create a blinding, slowing burst akin to Fallen mines/grenades. That would give it a special use case in higher-level PVE activities that would differentiate it from other Linear Fusion Rifles.
One Thousand Voices — My unlikely hope for a One Thousand Voices Exotic Catalyst would be for it to do reduced damage to the wielder with its explosions, because I think I’ve killed myself more with this thing than with any other weapon in Destiny 2. Probably most people aren’t as careless as me, though, so a 1KV Catalyst could instead give it, say, Successful Warm-Up.
Devil’s Ruin — Ah, little 10 Voices. Devil’s Ruin could benefit from an Exotic Catalyst that grants a reload perk, but anything that actually refilled the magazine would make it a little too close to Trespasser. Rather than that, Killing Tally could be interesting and would further play into the design of firing off small shots before firing the huge laser near the end of a magazine.
Monte Carlo — Lean into the melee-focused design of Monte Carlo by giving it an Exotic Catalyst that adds the Well-Rounded perk.
Two-Tailed Fox — The world of Destiny 2 Exotic Rocket Launchers is an extremely competitive one. Ever since it was reintroduced, Gjallarhorn has been the top banana, and its perk synergizes best with Legendary Rocket Launchers rather than Exotic ones. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use Two-Tailed Fox, which sits below Deathbringer, Truth, and Eyes of Tomorrow on most people’s rankings. Giving it an Exotic Catalyst could give it some niche utility, if nothing else. How about letting it stagger Unstoppable Champions? While it wouldn’t become a top pick overnight, it could be useful in Legendary Lost Sectors, given that it already covers two shield types.
Malfeasance — Just give it Frenzy or Surrounded, I think. Or, maybe it’ll get a rework in a future Darkness subclass update, like Skyburner’s Oath did with Scorch and Solar 3.0.
Salvation’s Grip — Honestly not sure how any single Exotic Catalyst could make this meme gun actually useful, but it could make it more funny, which is almost as good. Let it regenerate ammo in PVE and give the crystals it creates a longer duration, just to make it a better tool for people using it to get out of bounds.
