Destiny 2: Xur Exotic Armor, Weapon, and Recommendations for December 24

As the holiday season rolls forward, Destiny 2 players continue to be knee deep in content. Earlier in the month, Bungie released the special 30th Anniversary Update, which brought plenty of free content like Xur's Dares of Eternity activity, as well as premium stuff like the Grasp of Avarice dungeon and loot like the exotic rocket launcher Gjallarhorn.

Nearly a week later, Destiny 2's annual winter event known as the Dawning also kicked off, with Eva Levante once again arrived, bringing back the recipies and cookie sharing activities. Naturally, The Dawning has its own quest line and gear to obtain with a lot of it revolving around collecting ingredients for baking treats for the various NPCs, which are easily obtained through just playing the game. Thankfully, players can continue enjoying the anniversary content, while also scoring materials needed for The Dawning at the same time.

In the spirit of the holiday season, Xur has returned to Destiny 2 and brought plenty of gifts for players. 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 December 24, 2021.

Where is Xur?

This weekend, Xur is back inside of the Hangar at the Tower.

As usual, fast travel to the main Tower location and head left into the Hangar. Once there, take another left and move past the Dead Orbit section to find a metal staircase. Move up the stairs to find Xur on a platform overlooking the mountain range off in the distance.

Class Armor and Exotic Cypher

In Season of the Lost, Xur's role has expanded as the exotic merchant has weekly quests, exotics, and legendary gear. Not only are these quests required to purchase a second fated engram, but they're necessary to acquire legacy exotic gear from the Tower 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.

With Season 15, Xur is now selling even more gear outside of his usual content. In addition to his normal exotic gear, Xur now has Legendary Weapons and Armor for sale in exchange for Legendary Shards and Glimmer. Better yet, the stat rolls are pretty solid on the Black Armor gear for this week.

Exotic Armor

The Stag - Warlock helmet

Originally featured earlier this year, The Stag was originally a mediocre exotic item for Warlocks. However, the item has received a few changes since, including an adjustment in the big 30th Anniversary Update. Dearly Departed is the intrinsic perk that upgrades the Warlock rift to provide damage reduction to allied Guardians standing in it. In addition, it grants Rift energy when the wearer is critically wounded and drops a healing rift for the rest of the team when the wearer dies.

Ultimately, this isn't immensely useful for solo players as the main trait basically triggers after death, though this is a situational exotic that is strong in team based modes. Still, there are much better exotic Warlock items, though this week's roll is pretty solid at 64 and a 24 in Recovery.

Solar Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +8
Resilience +2
Recovery +24
Discipline +8
Intellect +2
Strength +20

Lucky Raspberry - Hunter chest armor

A classic exotic item from the base version of Destiny 2, the Lucky Raspberry remains a somewhat underwhelming exotic. This item specifically targets arc-bolt users, so they can be safely ignored for everyone else. Through the Probability Matrix perk, Arc Bolt grenades have increased chaining capabilities and also have a chance to recharge each time it deals damage. A full chain always recharges.

Naturally, this exotic offers zero value for players not using arc bolt grenades, so it remains pretty situational. Ultimately, there are better options available so this is another item players can pass on.

Solar Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +14
Resilience +9
Recovery +9
Discipline +13
Intellect +9
Strength +10

One Eyed Mask - Titan helmet

At one point, this was the go to exotic for all things PvP and Crucible related for Titans. In fact, it quickly became a scourge for Hunter and Warlock classes, so much so, that Bungie ultimately nerfed the popular One-Eyed Mask making it not quite as effective as it once was. Still, this class-neutral item is still valuable even if the roll this week isn't great.

The reason this item is a great Crucible item is due to its perk Vengeance. Any enemy that damages the wearer becomes highlighted and if the player can kill the marked player, they get an overshield. This weekend, the stat roll isn't as great as it has been in the past. With a total of only 60, this item may be a pass this week.

Arc Enhanced. Stat Values:

Mobility +12
Resilience +11
Recovery +10
Discipline +12
Intellect +6
Strength +9

Exotic Weapon

Unlike other grenade launchers in this class, The Prospector can fire its rounds as a fully automatic weapon by holding down the trigger. It's exotic perk is called Excavation which lets players hold the trigger to fire the grenade and then release it to detonate all live grenades simultaneously. In addition, grenades can stick to surfaces and set targets on fire.

Naturally, this weapon allows players to blanket large areas with grenades before detonating them all at once. It can be a little unruly with the full auto system, but once players get the hang of it, it can lay some serious damage on enemies. It's an older weapon but its likely that many newer players may not have it since it hasn't been in the spotlight in quite a while. It's worth spending the shards on.

Additional perks: