Destiny 2: The Final Shape is going to offer no small number of all-new goodies, upgrades, abilities, and gear, but a particularly notable aspect of it for Destiny veterans will be the returning Exotics from the original game. Indeed, Bungie has decided that it’s going to bless some of its longest-lasting fans with a small number of fan-favorite Destiny 1 Exotics.
It’s certainly worth pointing out that the community isn’t too thrilled about The Final Shape for the time being. On top of Bungie’s recent blunders, the studio has also revealed that the new abilities featured in the 2024 DLC will, in fact, be new Light-based Guardian Supers instead of an all-new Darkness subclass, which many had been hoping to see. Destiny 1 Exotics coming back doesn’t necessarily alleviate that particular concern, but it’s good news nonetheless.
Destiny 1 Exotics coming back in Destiny 2: The Final Shape
All of the information discussed here was made available as part of Bungie’s latest Destiny 2 Showcase, where some of the studio’s devs either outright stated that certain Exotics would be coming back, or it was hard to miss the guns in the promotional materials themselves. More specifically, we now know that Dragon’s Breath, Khvostov, and the Red Death would all be returning as part of The Final Shape. As an additional bonus, the revered Necrochasm is coming back in Destiny 2 Season 22‘s featured Raid: Crota’s End.
It is a given, however, that each of these returning Exotics will be changed for the purposes of Destiny 2‘s meta. The specifics are not known at this time, though Bungie is expected to reveal more details about them as time goes on ahead of The Final Shape‘s February 27, 2024 release date.
Khvostov 7G-0X in The Final Shape
The Khvostov auto rifle had two different forms in Destiny 1: the broken white version (7G-02) and the upgraded, customizable Exotic version (7G-0X). Though the white Khvostov’s already available in Destiny 2 as the Guardians’ new starting primary, the fan-favorite Exotic weapon hadn’t returned until now. Bungie showed off a concept art version of the 7G-0X as part of the recent showcase, betraying some drastic changes in its design. The functionality, however, should stay the same, as devs have promised 7G-0X would be as customizable and flexible as the original Destiny 1 Exotic was.
Red Death in The Final Shape
The Red Death was, lore-wise, melted down and rebuilt into the burst-firing Crimson hand cannon before the events of Destiny 2, but Bungie has decided that the time was right for the original weapon to come back in The Final Shape. There aren’t any demos available for it right now, but devs did clarify that it’d still be a pulse rifle trapped in an auto rifle’s body, except this time, it’d be a Solar weapon to boot. In Destiny 1, Red Death was a formidable primary that healed the user whenever they killed someone in combat.
Dragon’s Breath in The Final Shape
The Solar Dragon’s Breath rocket launcher was one of Destiny‘s more prominent and popular Exotic heavy weapons. On top of its impeccable WW2 airplane aesthetic, the Destiny 1 version of the weapon could load up to three Napalm-loaded rockets in its tube/magazine. Upon launching one, the rocket would leave behind a Solar flare at the place of its detonation, making it a stellar DPS choice.
These are all the known returning Final Shape DLC Exotics that Bungie’s revealed so far. It is possible, however, that the devs intend to reveal more of them ahead of the DLC’s 2024 launch window. Should that be the case, this article will be updated to reflect that.
