Is Izanagi’s Burden Going To Be The Best Exotic Sniper Rifle?

With the slew of new information for the new expansion coming to Destiny 2 on the 4th of December, Black Armoury, we’ve been given a look at 5 new Exotic weapons that are coming with it. Chief among these is Izanagi’s Burden, a brand new Exotic Sniper Rifle that has one hell of an Exotic perk.

But is this going to be the new best Exotic Sniper Rifle? The competition it’s up against is Borealis, D.A.R.C.i, and Whisper of the Worm. All of these are fine weapons, and so is Izanagi’s Burden, but we need to look deeper if we’re going to figure out just how good it is.

For the weapon’s stats we can only look at what’s on the image for now, at least until Black Armoury launches. So tentatively it looks as if the stats are as follows; Impact 80, Range 75, Stability 72, Handling 58, Reload Speed of 50, fires 90 Rounds Per Minute and has a Magazine Size of 4.

Compared to the competition Izanagi’s Burden’s stats are brilliant. They present a nice slope downwards, which indicates a huge hit power with fairly stable and easy to use handling. No Sniper Rifle has the best Reload Speed of all weapons, but even here the stats look to be quite high.

As for the Exotic perk, Honed Edge, it’s phenomenal! This perk allows you to combine all 4 shots in the magazine by holding the reload button. The resulting shot will kill an enemy with a body shot even in the Crucible. To me, that’s insanely overpowered, but then again it’s probably a Power Weapons so the chances of you having enough ammo to use it all the time in the Crucible are slim.

The Exotic perk on Borealis allows you to change the weapon’s element type. Good but not as good as having an all-powerful shot if you ask me. When it comes to D.A.R.C.I the Exotic perk simply gives you additional stats when aiming down sights. Again I’d say this is good but nowhere near as good as what Izanagi’s Burden offers.

Finally, we come to Whisper of the Worm. The Exotic perk brings up the base precision damage and refills the magazine after three precision shots. If you’re someone who’s great at landing those precision shots then this is the Sniper Rifle for you.

However, I’d argue that while each of the current Exotic Sniper Rifles offers something useful and unique to Guardians, Izanagi’s Burden offers the best and most powerful step up. Being able to slam all 4 shots together for a body-shot kill is something I’ve never seen before unless you count a full-auto shotgun with 4 rounds.

In conclusion, I’m saying that yes, Izanagi’s Burden has the potential to be the best Exotic Sniper Rifle in Destiny 2 from the 4th of December. But if there are any other Exotic Sniper Rifles sneaking around in this latest expansion we could well have something better on our hands.

Let us know at Destiny News Hub what you think in the comments.

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.