Let loose thy talons upon the Darkness (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Saturday, September 05, 2015, 19:52 (3464 days ago)

I love the Hawkmoon quite a bit. In the coming days, the Xbox people are finally going to get it, so I’ve put together a mini guide and look at the gun here.

The first thing you will notice is that aiming might be a little strange. I think this is because the ‘wings’ on the gun rise higher than the sights on other hand cannons and throw you off. What I found, is to aim just a bit higher than you think you have to, and you’ll be hitting shots in no time. It’s not that hard to get used to, but it’s apparent right away.

As for the recoil, aggressive ballistics is definitely the way to go. Other options have less recoil, but it will vary between straight up and up and to the right. Aggressive ballistics will put the recoil consistently up and slightly to the right. It will recoil more than other hand cannons, but predictability I feels is key. Play with it, and you’ll get used to it.

I also had to teach myself not to reload compulsively. When you choose to reload can have a rather large impact on your ability to get quick kills with this gun, because of the holding aces perk. Think about it this way: if you get two lucky bullets in four shots, you’d want to reload when you can so you can get those two again. If you don’t reload and empty the mag, you’ll only have a shot for one bullet in your remaining 9 shots. Conversely, if you’ve gone 5 bullets without a lucky one, you don’t want to reload, since the remaining bullets have a good chance to do extra damage. Maximize your chance of getting lucky bullets, and track how many lucky bullets have activated in all your magazines.

I had to adjust a bit as well. With other legendary hand cannons, you’d go for a single headshot, then quickly land body shots since it’s a three shot kill as long as you hit at least one headshot. Body shots are easier, so once you get that headshot you can lay into them. Not so with Hawkmoon, because if your lucky bullet procs, you can get a two shot kill, but only if both are headshots. If you reload smartly, you can get two shot kills with decent frequency.

This gun is getting nerfed the least out of the exotic hand cannons. The only thing is the removal of the ability for all the lucky bullets to stack on a single shot, enabling a one shot kill. This happens so infrequently as to be an unnoticeable change. Post patch, this is going to be one of the best, if not the best PvP hand cannon.

I had to get out of pulse rifle mode, but once I did I got the groove and we went flawless in trials to the Lighthouse. granted for certain maps the Messenger is a better choice. But not for all.

In PvE, it is really good for taking out tougher higher level vandals and others in single shots where other hand cannons would take two. Against the Hive it’s a wash since other hand cannons can one shot the enemies too. If you can bear to replace your Gjallarhorn, it can be great for a lot of PvE activities. I found Hezen’s Vengance to a good replacement. The Mini MIRV rounds do more damage than a typical rocket launcher, but you give up tracking and proximity detonation.

Plus, is sounds so damn cool.