Season 16 of Destiny 2 has seen the return of many older catalysts for Exotic weapons that haven't really had any attention on them up until now. The Outbreak Perfected Exotic pulse rifle is among these Exotic weapons and was actually considered by many players their go-to primary weapon in the raid contest mode.
The Outbreak Perfected pulse rifle may have had a bit of a memey status in season 15, but it's officially making a comeback now that players can get their hands on its catalyst. Whether players are completionists or looking to make their go-to Exotic PVE primary stronger, they'll want to know how to get the catalyst and what it does in Destiny 2.
How To Get The Outbreak Perfected Pulse Rifle In Season 16
The Outbreak Perfect Exotic pulse rifle is among the many Exotic weapons that can now be purchased from the Monuments to Lost Lights. It has a distinct appearance similar to that of some of the Ikelos weapons, as well as the Sleeper Simulant, so it's hard for players to miss.
Navigate over to the Red War Exotics tab to find the pulse rifle. Players will need to gather the following resources and Glimmer in order to be able to afford it:
- 1 Exotic Cipher
- 150,000 Glimmer
- 250 Dusklight Shards
- 2 Ascendant Shards
What The Catalyst Does
- Disease Vector: Nanites have higher damage. Enemies that die surrounded by nanites will create more nanites.
The quirk with Outbreak Perfected is its nanites. The pulse rifle's Intrinsic perk The Corruption Spreads will create a bunch of red, tiny particles called nanites which will attach to enemies. To create nanites, players will need to land either precision hits or rapid hits. Its Parasitism perk boosts the damage to any enemies that have nanites attached to them.
In that sense, the catalyst's added perk is a perfect damage boost and creates an almost neverending cycle of more nanites upon death. Players will want to keep the nanites active for as long as possible on targets to reap the benefits of the weapon consistently.
How To Get The Catalyst
- The catalyst drops randomly from playlist activities, such as Vanguard Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit.
Like some of the other returning catalysts for season 16, the Outbreak Perfected catalyst can be acquired from playlist activities. While this makes the catalysts accessible to everyone, it can also be quite annoying to grind since the drops are random and require excellent RNG. Though, it does seem like the game seems to prioritize dropping the newly returning catalysts to players.
The best approach is to grind these activities normally, perhaps while working on another catalyst that requires kills in strikes or in Crucible or to just complete any of the Pinnacle matches for these activities. Eventually, players are bound to get lucky.
- Players must score precision final blows to upgrade the catalyst.
Outbreak Perfected's catalyst can be a bit tricky to upgrade because it requires precision final blows. The SIVA nanites can actually mess with this process, so what players will want to do is take their time and wait for the nanites to fade before killing another target. Though this can be annoying to do, it will make the process significantly faster and easier.
The estimated number of kills needed for the Outbreak Perfected catalyst hovers around 500. That said, it's a primary kinetic weapon, so players won't need to worry about ammo at any point. Simply slot in the weapon and complete any normal activities that feature a ton of enemies, from strikes to Dares of Eternity to the Altars of Sorrow.
Players who want to rush the catalyst can load up the Grasp of Avarice dungeon and farm the endless wave of enemies in the first part of the activity outside of the loot cave entrance.
Is The Catalyst Worth Grinding For?
Some players might be skeptical about how good Outbreak Perfected is, but given that Bungie has buffed the damage of Exotic primary weapons by 40% at the beginning of season 16, Outbreak Perfected is a perfectly valid choice. It has great potential for even more difficult activities like raids, where killing a bunch of ads quickly is key.
Pair this up with higher damage from the catalyst, and there's really no reason to say no to this pulse rifle. If anything, the meta has changed favorably towards Outbreak Perfected. Moreover, pulse rifles are also included in the seasonal artifact as one of the go-to anti-Unstoppable Champion weapons. It's a perfect choice over glaives, which can feel limiting, and hand cannons, which can be slow and at times underwhelming, unless players have the perfect Fatebringer roll.
Overall, with Exotic primaries in such a good state, it's a catalyst every player should definitely prioritize, no matter what future metas hold in store.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.