Ask any experienced raider in Destiny, and they will say that the exotic sword Dark-Drinker is an absolute must when it comes to taking out Aksis, the final boss in the Wrath of the Machine raid. But that may not be the only (or possibly, best) option.

That’s according to some Destiny fans crunching the damage numbers on a particular rocket launcher perk roll.

That rocket launcher in question is The Warpath from the Future War Cult vendor, which rolled with Cluster Bombs, Tripod, and Field Scout last week. Fans on the Destiny subreddit found that the Cluster Bombs caused extra damage to Aksis for the same reason Dark-Drinker works so well—each one of Aksis legs act as a damage area so the Cluster Bombs (like the Dark-Drinker’s special swing attack) hit multiple legs at once.

Of course, controversy broke out saying that the damage test for the rocket launcher’s Cluster Bombs did not take into account the commonly used Weapons of Light and tether combination that boosts damage of the Dark-Drinker. More tests were done, which showed that The Warpath matched or exceeded the damage done with the Dark-Drinker.

Interestingly, Weapons of Light used to not affect Cluster Bombs but now it appears that it does. One side note: one of the tests combined The Warpath and Black Spindle damage in comparison against a full Dark-Drinker damage phase, since the Warpath will run out of rockets.

But don’t take this to mean that Dark-Drinker should be thrown out and everyone should switch to rocket launchers with Cluster Bombs. More than anything, this just shows that there is more than one effective way to cause damage to Aksis. As shown previously, Dark-Drinker is still one of the most effective and consistent forms of damage for that particular boss.

Add to it that there are always many variables in play—like how many sword swings a player can get off, how many rockets a player can fire, the randomness of where the Cluster Bombs fall and what part of Aksis they damage, and many more. As a result, it's hard to definitively say that The Warparth is far and away better than Dark-Drinker.

But this information is good for players to know, especially if they have yet to complete the exotic sword quest for Dark-Drinker. Unfortunately, due to vendor weapons now being re-rolled weekly, The Warpath roll in question has been replaced. However, Dead Orbit’s Unto Dust 00 rocket launcher has an identical roll, and some players are saying its stats allow it to do even more damage than The Warpath.

This is timely advice, as Wrath of the Machine is the Featured Weekly Raid for the first time this week. Both Challenge Modes are active allowing players to earn the new exotic Adept elemental primary weapons from the raid.

Destiny: Rise of Iron is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.

Source: Destiny Reddit