Destiny 2: Xur Exotic Armor, Weapon, and Recommendations for July 23

This week in Destiny 2, another leak likely revealed a bit more information than Bungie would have liked. While very much unverified, fans have been dissecting a recent image that surfaced online, seemingly depicting the Witch Queen Savathun. While the Hive leader has been a central figure for much of the recent storylines in game, she's never made herself known to players, giving her this aura of mystery. If the leaked image is indeed true, fans may be able to get an early look at the upcoming villain.

In other news, Bungie's latest blog post highlighted another major change coming in a few weeks inside of Season 15. After tons of fan feedback, Bungie is making a big adjustment to the way the Armor Synthesis process works, essentially removing the resource known as Synthstrand completely. Instead of collecting it by defeating enemies, players can now just spend 10,000 glimmer to purchase Synthweave bounties from Ada-1 directly. This should help speed up the process and reduce the already considerable amount of consumables in game.

For now, the Season of the Splicer continues towards its inevitable conclusion and the exotic merchant Xur is back for his weekend visit inside of Destiny 2. Follow this guide for his most current weekend location, news on his exotic cypher quest, as well as a review of all the exotic gear he's brought for the weekend of July 23, 2021.

Where is Xur?

This weekend, players will need to head to the Tower hangar to find Xur overlooking the snowy mountains.

From the default landing zone, immediately head to the left and following the path down into the Hangar. After entering the hangar, head left again past Arach Jalaal and his Dead Orbit crew and up a metal stair case. Xur is standing on a metal platform at the back of this room overlooking the mountain ranges below.

Class Armor and Exotic Cypher

While Xur's role is essentially the same as it was prior to the Beyond Light expansion, the exotic merchant also has weekly quests that players can acquire to unlock an exotic cypher. Not only are these required to purchase a second fated engram, but they're necessary to acquire legacy exotic gear from the new kiosk. Players can earn a new cypher by completing strikes and winning crucible or gambit matches. Gain bonus points for playing with clanmates or finishing more challenging activities.

Other than that, here are Xur's three gear pieces this weekend:

Karnstein Armlets - Warlock gauntlets

It's been about half a year since players last saw them with Xur, but this weekend, the Karnstein Armlets are back in stock. These are a strong Warlock exotic item, that gives the player added survivability thanks to its exotic perk. Upon a melee kill, Vampire’s Caress restores a large portion of health while also continuing to restore health for a short duration afterward.

This is an item that all Warlocks should have as it’s a very strong item in PvE situations and activities like Gambit, Escalation Protocol, or Blind Well where there are large groups of enemies to overcome. There are much better options for PvP players, but it's a fun exotic to play around with otherwise. The stat roll may not be ideal, but it's still better than the Collections version.

Void Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +7
Resilience +7
Recovery +16
Discipline +2
Intellect +21
Strength +6

Liar's Handshake - Hunter gauntlets

At one time, this armor was the source of a major damage bug, giving Hunters the ability to yeet enemies as well as obliterate bosses. While those issues have since been patched, this armor can still be fairly strong in the right hands. Cross Counter gives players the chance to follow up with an extremely powerful counterpunch that also heals after using an arc melee ability or being hit by a melee strike.

They're no longer top tier, but this is still an extremely fun exotic to use. Hunters also have the highest stat roll this week, coming in at a 65 total. However, the mobility is extremely low which may push some players away.

Arc Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +4
Resilience +10
Recovery +22
Discipline +13
Intellect +2
Strength +14

Mk. 44 Stand Asides - Titan leg armor

Originally introduced inside of Curse of Osiris, the Mk. 44 Stand Asides are for Titans who like to run. Seriously, Watch Out is the armor perk on this exotic gear and with it, players get an overshield while sprinting with Seismic Strike, Hammer Strike, or Shield Bash equipped. In addition, hits with these abilities recharge a portion of the player's melee energy.

The value of these boots are based entirely on play style. They're certainly not the best option out there, but could certainly be useful under the right circumstances. As such, they're difficult to recommend for normal play. The stat roll is pretty good this week, which may be beneficial for those players looking to replace a low stat roll version from the Collections menu.

Void Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +17
Resilience +3
Recovery +12
Discipline +9
Intellect +11
Strength +10

Exotic Weapon

For the second time this month, The Huckleberry is back on sale with Xur. This exotic SMG is a primary slot weapon capable of dealing large amounts of damage very quickly thanks to its intrinsic perk Ride the Bull. While the trigger is held down, the weapon gains an increased rate of fire and recoil. In addition, any kills with the weapon will reload a portion of the magazine as well. The weapon also comes with rampage, which gives it increased damage (holding up to 3 stacks) after a kill, and Ricochet Rounds which causes bullets to bounce and redirect off hard surfaces.

Naturally, this is a great weapon for clearing out large groups of enemies, which means it truly shines in PvE activities. It can be a chaotic especially as it gets going but once players grab the catalyst from completing Strikes, Crucible rounds, or Gambit matches, the gun becomes even better. For those who don't have it, this is absolutely worth a pickup this week.

Additional perks: