SGA request: IB Hand Cannon edition (Destiny)

by squidnh3, Thursday, January 07, 2021, 09:12 (1420 days ago) @ marmot 1333

I am on the IB quest step to get 15 HC kills. I am very, very bad with HCs; I basically never use them (even in PVE) and I want some advice on what to use for Iron Banner.

What HCs are good for Iron Banner? What armor perks should I check out? Weapon mods?

Thanks in advance.

#nopromises, but:

For Iron Banner, obviously try to make sure it's at a higher power level.

This season, "Hand Cannon Targeting" is one of the Artifact Mods, so I'd make sure I have it enabled on the Artifact and put it on your Helmet. You can do this with a normal mod as well, but hand cannon mods tend to require quite a bit of energy, so you may have to sacrifice some other mods to accommodate them. "Unflinching Hand Cannon" on your Chest is also a good choice, and maybe "Hand Cannon Loader" or "Hand Cannon Dexterity" on your Gauntlets. I'd also recommend putting a targeting adjuster on the weapon itself, if not Exotic.

Hand cannons come in a wide variety, especially when you take into account Exotics. If you don't like hand cannons, the hand cannons that behave least like hand cannons are Last Word (sidearm-esque) and Crimson (shoots like a pulse rifle). Malfeasance is also a bit strange, but not particularly effective.

If you do want a more hand cannony hand cannon, the next decision would be ROF. I personally enjoy the low ROF/high impact hand cannons (120 RPM as of this season). Good examples would be Drang, True Prophecy, Crimil's Dagger (from Iron Banner last season) and The Steady Hand (this season's Iron Banner). The idea with these is that they do huge bursts of damage, but are punishing to miss shots, so what you want to do is peak shot, e.g., use cover to hide between shots. They are also incredible at cleaning up kills, even at long ranges. Think of these as the M6D from Halo 1.

For higher ROF hand cannons, there are the 140s, and the 180s. The 140s are sort of a utility style, they can still kill from range but might not finish enemies off quite as quickly. Ace of Spades or Hawkmoon are good choices. 180s start getting closer to sidearms with more range, they usually have higher stability and aren't so punishing for missing shots. I'm only seeing the Seven Seraph Service Revolver here as a non-sunset option.