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Edited by Eclipzse: 9/17/2014 11:42:15 AM
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Guide to 'Thorn' the Exotic Hand Cannon

Hey guys Essentially I decided to write this as during my experience I found partial bits of information here and there on how to get Thorn, after finally completing it, I figured I'd share my experience in detail so that it might help people understand. After handing in some of the daily bounties my clan and I do, I was given the choice between three Exotic Bounties. From the research I could gather (You can Google Exotic Bounties and there are some good info), one was for the Hand Cannon, the other was for a Pulse Rifle, and the third, which had the least information on it, was the one I decided to go for in hopes of the Auto Rifle (This was mere speculation and I later found out it was for Thorn. There is not, as far as I know, an Exotic Bounty for the Auto Rifle). The following were a series of Bounties I was required to complete in order to receive Thorn (Note that this sequence is one of many POSSIBLE to get Thorn, there are different sequences that achieve the same result): 1. Complete a Strike Without Dying 2. Get 500 Hive Kills 3. Kill 500 Guardians with Void Damage in the Crucible (Deaths will Hinder Your Progress) 4. Cleanse Yourself and Thorn 5. Find and Kill Xyor the Unwed in The Summoning Pits, Heroic Strike on Legendary Difficulty. The first point is pretty self explanatory and easy enough to achieve. The second, I found at first gave me quite an issue, and from what I've seen on the forums, it's given some others issues too. It wasn't until I found a strategy that worked that I was able to achieve it in 3 Games of Crucible. Firstly I'd like to state the conditions of this Bounty, it does say to kill 500 Guardians. That's false, it in fact is technically, '500 Points' whereby a kill with a void weapon awards 5 Points, and a death incurs a penalty of 2 Points. Summary, Kill +5, Death -2 and you require 500. How I achieved 500 Void Kills. [spoiler]Firstly your weapon load out, I use an Auto Rifle as my primary as it is the most reliable (for me) to get kills, however primaries aren't elemental, this is just your go-to weapon. The next was a Void Shotgun, or Sniper, depending on the map. Now, this is a crucial point, as I was able to achieve it so quickly only by being flexible. You can stick with one or the other, but it may take longer unless you get unlucky with your maps. My heavy weapon was a Void Light Machine Gun. I got my kills on the Control game variant as it has no Kill Cap, meaning you can get as many kills as you like without it (heavily) affecting the turn out of the game, unlike Clash. Once in the games, I would hover around, or in between my home flag (either 'A' or 'C' whichever we have capped) and the 'B' Flag, preferably more toward your home flag in the event of Heavy Ammunition spawns. Obviously playing objectives is the easiest way to find people and achieve kills, but it's also the easiest way to be killed and incur the penalty and not all of your kills will be Void, so it can be quite negative. So instead I would hover between the flags and for the most part, 'pick people off' using my Sniper, or in a close quarters map, the Shotgun if I know I'm about to run into someone head on. The style of play changed heavily with the map and whether or not we were winning, if you are winning, it's okay to be on the offensive in between flags, if you're not, you may be better off sitting near spawn and slowly making your way forward with your sniper. Once the Heavy Ammo spawned, I would go straight for it and use my much more reliable LMG in order to achieve kills, in this instance, I would be slightly more offensive. Don't be afraid to go back to your Auto Rifle when the situation doesn't permit the use of your secondary, or you don't have your LMG. Don't go trying to cross map people with your Shotgun just for the void kill, simply play smart, go back to your Auto Rifle, get the kill and move on, there will be plenty of kills and you shouldn't need to run around with your shotgun or sniper out in the hopes of finding someone, use it where the situation permits. If you do play a shotgun type style, then this should be easy enough, if you are a sniper, the same point. This is more for the generalised players. Just try not to die and play smart, use your secondary or heavy where you get the chance, don't go using your shotgun or sniper for everything, but put yourself in the position where you get the chance to get kills more often, if that makes sense (Snipers sit back, Shot gunners get in close quarters areas). Note that I can't guarantee the same kind of performance simply by adopting this strategy, I PvP often and am able to better utilize this strategy as it's familiar to me, others may take time to find their stride this way, but it's intended more as a documentation / helping hand to those who are interested in achieving their Exotic Weapon.[/spoiler] Cleansing myself and Thorn was simply speaking to the Speaker and spending one Mote of Light. Finding and Killing Xyor in itself was an 8 Hour journey. But that was with many mistakes, trial and error and a bit of time spent just generally wasting time. Xyor the Unwed, is a boss found in the Legendary (Epic) Modifier of 'The Summoning Pits' Strike which is only available to someone with the bounty to kill him. He appears as an additional monster or 'add' in the encounter with the final boss, Phrogath. Upon starting the encounter, waves of enemies are sent which you must take down. During this time, Xyor will be within the group of Adds sent in a wave. Killing him will finish the bounty and you're free to proceed (You don't have to kill Phrogath). In Depth: How my Fireteam managed to Find and Kill Xyor. [spoiler]First it's vital you understand how the mobs in the encounter (And the lead up to the encounter) work. In this instance, Knights are given Arc (Blue) Shields and Wizards are given Solar (Red / Orange) Shields. These shields CAN be penetrated by ordinary weapons, however it's much more efficient to use the corresponding weapon to break the shield and kill the mob. Meaning, using an Arc Sniper for example, is the best way to remove a Knights shield. In order to remain efficient, once we broke the shield, we would then go back to using our primary weapon as the monster itself is vulnerable to all weaponry, it's only the shield that needs to be broken, and trust me, you will want to save your ammunition as much as possible. On this note, it's a good idea to bring Ammo Synthesis with you as a just in case. Secondly, our team composition. In my opinion the team composition isn't vital, since within your class talents and weapons, you can more than make up for any weaknesses in your offense. The idea here to is make a composition of any 3 Class Guardians you want, but the Weapon and Subclass compositions that will work the best in this encounter. Classes themselves are interchangeable, they all have their pros and cons. It's important to note any kind of advantage you have in your subclasses, e.g Type of Grenade, or Type of Super. In my case, I'm a Hunter, I generally run a Bladedancer class and briefly used Gunslinger for the encounter, but ultimately changed back to Bladedancer on our final attempt. I changed back to Bladedancer in order to utilize the Arc Grendades and Invisibility perk to take down Knights and stealth revive my teammates. My weapon composition was a Hand Cannon primary (as it's accurate, does a lot of damage without you having to spend extended amount of time in open danger), an Arc Sniper / Shotgun and Solar Launcher. This meant I was relying more on my Launcher and team mates to kill Wizards, but I didn't have a Solar Sniper, otherwise I'd have used that and an Arc Launcher, but Stealth revivals proved valuable. Finally the strategy itself. During the encounter, Xyor is dropped in with the other adds. As far as I know, this is random, it's not a specific wave, however a good indicator is having a LOT of Wizards spawn in your wave. Upon reaching the encounter, we safely removed the initial enemies in the boss room (Do not shoot or go near the boss). After the room was clear and the boss remained in his chains, we put one of us into a safe position we could use as a 'spawn beacon' this does mean you're essentially doing the final part with just two people, but trust me, you don't want to have to restart if you happen to all die. Your safe spot is up to you, nut the place we used is likely to be removed, just under the aforementioned spot, there is a rock ledge that slightly protrudes past the actual encounter floor, you can fall onto it and sit beneath the floor safely. Having one person there as a spawn beacon can work well. Note that the people spawning never necessarily spawn on the 'Spawn Beacon' but on per-determined spawns in the room. Keep killing the waves of enemies until Xyor is dropped, (Don't kill Phrogath), he will appear as a powerful Wizard who often sits behind the others. Since we had a spawn beacon in the form of a hunter in our safe spot, we repeatedly rushed Xyor until we finally killed him and the Fireteam leader took us back to the tower as the Bounty was completed (You don't have to kill Phrogath)[/spoiler]. Finally I spoke to the Speaker and recieved Thorn. I hope this sheds some light on the process and helps a few people. Good luck!

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