Destiny 2 Xur location and items, Jan. 12-15

If you played Destiny, you may be familiar with Xur, the weekly exotic item merchant. In Destiny 2, he’s back, and he can now appear all over the map. This week, he’s north of the Winding Cove landing zone on Earth, and there’s a helpful icon on the planet map to show you where he is. You can find Xur hiding out under a Fallen Ketch.

Xur’s inventory this week consists of the following:

• The Colony, grenade launcher: 29 Legendary Shards
• Shinobu’s Vow, Hunter gauntlets: 23 Legendary Shards
• Mk. 44 Stand Asides, Titan boots: 23 Legendary Shards
• The Stag, Warlock helmet: 23 Legendary Shards
• Fated Engram: 97 Legendary Shards
• Three of Coins: 31 Legendary Shards

Each of the items comes at a maximum power level of 270 — a base power of 265, plus a Legendary (purple) mod that raises the value by five. This scales to your character’s power level, so make sure you’re buying Xur exotics on your highest level character.

The Colony

The Colony is a new grenade launcher introduced in the Curse of Osiris expansion. Its exotic perk, Insectoid Robot Grenades, causes missed shots to turn into little robots that track down nearby enemies. Its secondary perk, Serve the Colony, automatically reloads the clip if the weapon is stowed for a short period of time.

This gun is extremely fun to use and packs a punch in PvP. Like Sweet Business, Coldheart and a few other weapons in Destiny 2, The Colony really feels like it earns its exotic title. It’s unique and a blast to carry around with you on a regular basis. No matter what you enjoy doing in Destiny 2, Legendary Shards spent on The Colony will be Shards well spent.

Shinobu’s Vow

Shinobu’s Vow are new gauntlets added in Curse of Osiris. Their exotic perk, New Tricks, improves your Skip Grenade and grants you an extra Skip Grenade charge. The worth of this exotic comes down to personal preference. Anything that gives you an extra grenade charge is great. However, this extra grenade charge is only for Arcstrider hunters, the least popular hunter spec. If you like playing Arcstrider and prefer using a grenade-boosting exotic rather than the Raiden Flux chest piece, pick up these gauntlets. If that doesn’t apply to you, skip it.

MK. 44 STAND ASIDES

Although they’re technically returning exotics from Destiny, the MK. 44 Stand Asides are new exotic Titan boots in Curse of Osiris. Their main perk in Destiny 2 is Seriously, Watch Out. If Titans have Seismic Strike, Hammer Strike or Shield Bash equipped and have max health, they get an Overshield if sprinting at max speed. Striking an enemy with those abilities quickly recharges your melee energy. This perk is great for aggressive Titan players, especially in PvP. If you have a Titan, pick these up regardless of which activities you play.

The Stag

A returning exotic from Destiny (in name and look at least), The Stag’s exotic perk, Dearly Departed, gives you Rift energy when you’re close to death. When you die, you’ll also drop a healing rift under your feet. This exotic has some great stats and some interesting perks.

Perks that force you to die to be useful usually aren’t great. However, this helmet has potential to help you learn difficult encounters. If you’re a serious Trials player or want some extra survivability when learning the next Raid Lair, this helmet is worth your Legendary Shards.

Fated Engram

The Fated Engram is new as of the Dec. 12 update. Buying one may be expensive, but it guarantees you an exotic that you don’t have. If you find yourself drowning in Legendary Shards and missing a few key Exotics, this is a pretty great way to spend your Shards. You can only get one per account, once a week. However, some players are reporting that the Fated Engram is failing to give them new exotics. Buyer beware.

Three of Coins

This old farming buff has returned from the Destiny graveyard to help you farm exotics. Also new as of Dec. 12, Three of Coins is a four-hour buff that increases the odds of Exotic engrams dropping in the wild. Bungie clarified their effectiveness, and they don’t seem particularly worth the steep Legendary Shard cost at the moment.