Black Armory may not be live in Destiny 2 until Tuesday, but players may already notice that it’s leaking into the game already. In addition to the new pinnacle weapons, it turns out there’s something else to grind for.
That would be a number of “Forge Saboteurs” that are appearing around the map in patrol mode. They’re regular boss enemies with a huge chunk of health, but guarded by a new mechanic, little drones orbiting them that produce a shield. Shoot the drones, take down the enemy itself.
These bosses also appear with chests guarded by a drone each, but those are all empty right now, and I assume they may contain some sort of Forge material when Black Armory is live. But the bosses? They’re not empty.
These Forge Saboteurs have the chance to drop new Black Armory weapons that are…reskins of old weapons, but are at least up front about it, and they look cool because of the new Black Armor black/red shader theme.
I’m still puzzling out how big the entire pool is. In about 30-40 boss kills, I’ve gotten three of the same sniper, a shotgun, an SMG and a sidearm. I’ve heard there’s a scout, hand cannon and rocket launcher too.
I have been doing the “optimal farm” for this, something that to me, feels like a flashback to the Loot Cave, or perhaps more closely, the House of Wolves key farm. Let’s call it the “Loot Cliff.”
Step 1) Go to Artifact’s Edge in Nessus, wait by the crashed ship.
Step 2) Kill the Minotaur Forge Saboteur when it spawns and be careful not to blast it off the edge with a super like Blade Barrage.
Step 3) Immediately race to the Hallows where there will be a Centurion Forge Saboteur spawning right as you get drop down the pit there. Kill him. I’d probably save your super for him instead of the Minotaur, because you will change instances and lose everyone you’re with if they’re randoms, so you may have to solo him. I’ve been using Chaos Reach Warlock to burn him down to about 25% with that alone.
Step 4) Warp back to Artifact’s Edge, wait, and repeat. The Saboteur can appear during the public event.
Perhaps the best bonus you can get from doing this is that if you do land a weapon that sucks, you can dismantle it and possible get that cool new black/red shader for yourself. And once you have one copy, now you can have infinite copies as it’s unlocked in collections, so you can deck out all your gear early. I’ve heard rumors of an animated shader that appears very infrequently from dismantles, but I haven’t seen it. Also, you’ll sometimes get “Black Armory Schematics” which show up in your inventory as a blank item, but clearly that will be something later.
How’s the loot? My rolls have been pretty terrible. One of my Show of Force snipers has Snapshot and Outlaw, which is okay I guess. I hate the Baligant shotgun with a passion due to its ridiculously slow fire rate. And I’ve never liked the Dead Man Walking sidearm archetype even though I love almost all other Sidearms.
So yeah, this is loot recycling, but there are actual new weapons coming. This is just rounding out the loot pool with different drops which lord knows the game desperately needs right now.
Unlike what happened with the Forsaken launch, where one specific milestone was accidentally given out some Scatterhorn/Tangled Shore loot early, I do think this is being done on purpose for hype generation. And it’s working, because in this Nessus spot there are always about 5 people in my instance standing around like we’re waiting for the loot cave again. There’s less loot, as drop rates are low, but to be fair, most of the Loot Cave loot was bad too.
I don’t know, it’s fun. It’s pointless, sure, because all this gear will start dropping everywhere in a few days, but it’s a relaxing farm and a break from my Gambit Breakneck grind. Try it out for yourself and see what you get.
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