-Exotics- Before going into this section, I just want to say that I am rather disappointed at the exotics that exist for Nightstalkers to use. In Year 2, Hunters saw certain old exotics fall from grace (Don’t Touch Me), New Exotics that become new must haves (ATS/8 Tarantella), and a whole roster of relatively blah gear. Let’s go over the ones NIghtstalkers might find favorable. Skyburners Annex is an Exotic Helm that I wanted to hate. It is not a helm with any particular subclass in mind, but is synergizes oddly well with Nightstalker’s Light of the Pack Perk. The core abilities on this are Versatile Shooter (Heavy Weapon kills have a chance to generate Orbs of Light. Orbs collected while your super is full have a chance to grant special ammo) and Heavy Lifting (Gain bonus super energy from heavy weapon kills on minions of the darkness). Versatile Shooter has an excellent activation rate, sitting at roughly 50% from my own testing. This works oddly well with Heavy Lifting because you can use your heavy weapon to kill enemies, generate orbs from your allies, and recharge you super quicker. I said that Nightstalker’s Light of the Pack perk synergized with this helm very well and that remains true. The orbs generated by this helm do not count against the orbs generated with Light of the Pack, so you can generate 2 orbs from the same enemy. It will record in the log as two separate 1 orb drops. This exotic lends itself more to a Rocket Launcher than a Machine Gun, especially with Light of the Pack since you want to down as many enemies as possible as quickly as possible. Based on the size of the pack, you can get back as much as 30% of your super with a single rocket. This is definitely a raid-worthy exotic. Graviton Forfeit is an exotic helm for Nightstalker that is pretty unremarkable given the flaws that Shadestep has. Like Skyburners Annex, this also comes with Heavy Lifting, but the main perk of this is called Elusive Shadow, which gives you Shadestep for free. I honestly cannot recommend this helm to anyone outside of a solo or PvP Nightstalker since Shadestep is really unremarkable. It does allow you to have a ‘defensive’ skill and Keen Scout at the same time, so it isn’t like its terrible, but it isn’t really worth using your exotic armor slot for this. Sealed Ahamkara Grasps is another non-class specific exotic with some extreme power behind it. Its core perks are Nightmare Fuel (Grants an additional melee charge. Melee Damage has a chance to automatically reload your primary damage) and Switchblade (Decreases Melee Attack Cooldown). These two perks work excellent together. Gunslingers don’t really need this, especially since they already have Gambler’s Dagger, but it does free up that trait for something else like Chain of Woe. Bladedancers would probably enjoy this one a lot for the extra blink strike, but its bonuses don’t make it worth using over Khepri’s Sting or Mask of the Third Man. Like Skyburners Annex, this helm is really geared more toward Nightstalker, who can easily turn Smoke into its own build using this exotic. Depending on your style of play, this might be a Raidworthy exotic. Fr0st-EE5 are a pair of non-class specific exotic boots. They come with the perk Rapid Cooldown, which gives you a tighter turning radius while sprinting and also reduces your melee and grenade cooldown while you sprint. On paper, these sound pretty terrible. I only know one other player who has them, and according to him, your cooldown rate is doubled while you sprint. That is pretty neat, but the use of this exotic is extremely limited. During heavy firefights, you will probably either be hiding behind cover, jumping around to avoid splash damage, or running for cover. That leaves these boots really only helping out between skirmishes or that brief two-to-three second period where you are running for cover. That’s kind of sad. I would honestly consider these to be non-raid worthy, and not worth your exotic slot…. until you consider PvP. For most of us, PvP is all about spawning in, Running to a control point/choke point/hiding point/main skirmish, fighting and/or dying, respawning and doing it all again. Since your skirmishes are only lasting maybe 10-15 seconds and you are running around 70% of the time, these boots might actually be really good. It means you can go into every skirmish with a grenade and a melee available most of the time, something that can’t happen otherwise. In the case of PvP, these might actually be better than Sealed Ahamkara Grasps. Moving into the year 1 Exotics that were brought forward, we have quite a few exotics that Nightstalkers might want to use for one reason or another. On this list, we have Knucklehead Radar, Crest of Alpha Lupi, Don’t Touch Me, Bones of Eao, and Radiant Dance Machines. While all of these pieces have unique effects that are helpful, most of these are simply not worth using. Knucklehead Radar: Keeping your radar active when you aim with your primary weapon is decent, but the best thing about this helm is Inverse Shadow, a perk discernibly missing from Year 2 gear. Unless you need the radar or absolutely demand Inverse Shadow, there is no reason to use it. Crest of Alpha Lupi: This will allow you to revive others and be revived yourself in 2 seconds instead of 4. That’s a pretty decent effect. However, it also allows you to generate an extra orb with your super. With newer exotics being able to generate more orbs more often, this effect takes a back seat to something like the Skyburners Annex in PvE. It’s still good for ToS, but otherwise not worth it. Don’t Touch Me: Prior to the launch of TTK, I would have argued that this would be the best exotic for Nightstalker. Gaining stealth when hit when a melee skill is a neat, if weak effect. It’ll get you out of trouble. The real reason I would have argued this to be the most powerful Exotic is that the year 1 version of these gauntlets had Inverse Shadow on them. That freed up a perk on your helmet so you could effectively double-dip for super generation. Sadly, the Year 2 Version of this exotic does not have Inverse Shadow. It does have Switchblade, so this exotic is not a complete waste, but it takes a back seat to the Sealed Ahamkara Grasps which also has Switchblade and gives you a 2nd Melee Charge. Again, this exotic is not worth it. Radiant Dance Machines: Back in year 1, these were a love-it-or-hate-it Exotic. In Year 2, I don’t think it is possible for anyone to defend it anymore. Since Bungie put out Dunemarchers for Titans, which are effectively Radiant Dance Machines on Steroids, this effect finally looks as lackluster as it feels. Yes, you can maintain walking speed while scoped, but that just isn’t enough to merit your exotic slot. There is nothing remarkable about these boots, and you shouldn’t waste your exotic slot on them. Bones of Eao: Of all the Year 1 Exotics coming forward, Bones of Eao might be the only one worth having on hand. It remains unchanged from year 1, even though it gained an elemental Double-Down perk. It is still nice to have a spare jump if you need it, but for the most part, this is a forgettable exotic. As a nightstalker, you don’t stand to gain anything from it outside that 1 extra jump which has limited situations where it will come in handy.