Must-Have Exotic Catalysts in Destiny 2
Exotic weapons in Destiny 2 are incredibly powerful items that are sometimes very hard to obtain. Their Exotic perks make them stand out from the other guns, making them a lot of fun to play. Only at one moment, it’s possible to notice that they aren’t effective enough. Yet, other players are dominating the battlefield using the same weapon as you. Wondering why? You may have taken notice that some even have additional traits. The main reason for this is, they got the Catalyst and upgraded it to Masterwork, which gives the usual Exotics new features and sometimes improves specific stats to make them even more effective.
This article is one big recommendation for you to get the best Exotic catalysts in Destiny 2. You’ll find out weapons for which you should definitely make a Catalyst at any cost. Among hundreds of guns, these ten will make your life a lot easier!
All Best Exotics to have Catalyst on!
Izanagi’s Burden
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
Let’s start our list with the Sniper Rifle. Yes, completing Catalysts for weapon type is very difficult, but hear us out. Izanagi’s Burden is one of those weapons that you should upgrade to Masterwork by all means. There are several reasons for this:
- It has incredibly high damage against bosses thanks to the Exotic perk. After activating it, the weapon enters an alternate fire mode, delivering one powerful bullet to fire instead of four regular bullets
- Izanagi’s Burden synergizes perfectly with Rocket Launchers
- Catalyst improves Sniper damage by consuming four rounds
These three facts lead to the point that if you have Izanagi’s Burden fully upgraded, then you’ll have the highest DPS in the fireteam by using it effectively.
Outbreak Perfected
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
The well-known Outbreak Perfected still maintains its cult status largely thanks to its Catalyst. The idea for this Exotic weapon upgrade at Destiny 2 is performing rapid hits or precision takedowns that create the so-called SIVA nanites. They hit opponents very painfully, and the more of them on the target, the stronger the weapon’s damage. The Catalyst, in turn, does a very simple job: it increases the harm from nanites, which is very useful for ad clear, and at the same time spawns more of them by defeating an enemy, increasing the damage of the rifle accordingly.
Fun Fact: Some players have even picked up Masterworked Outbreak in PvP since an additional trait of this Catalyst creates more nanites after defeating an enemy. Low-HP players won’t stand a chance against those flying bastards.
Witherhoard
- How to Get Catalyst: “The Bank Job” Quest from Banshee-44
If you were wondering about Catalysts for top-tier Exotics in Destiny 2 and this is the first time you hear about this Grenade Launcher, go and get it now. Witherhoard is by all means an S-tier weapon: when a projectile impacts, it creates a puddle that not only deals constant damage but also acts as a debuff if you hit the target, which is helpful during DPS Phases. The Catalyst makes an already great gun even better by boosting handling by 40 and gives the trait that reloads Witherhoard after some time while in a holster.
Ager’s Scepter
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
Ager’s Scepter isn’t mentioned as often as we would like, but it has a must-have Exotic Catalyst for you to utilize. The bottom line is that if you’re playing a subclass that has a relatively weak Super, then Ager’s Scepter is a great solution for this problem. Once you have fully accumulated your ultimate, you have the ability to activate the Alternate Weapon Action. It’ll double the magazine capacity and amplify the Trace Rifle’s damage, freezing and slowing the target. However, this will consume your Super, and Ager’s Scepter switches to normal fire mode when it finishes, or the ammo itself ends. This way, you’ll deal much more damage or eliminate more enemies than with Super, which is a pretty good result. If it strengthens in the future, you won’t have to worry about the catalyst not being made.
Osteo Striga
- How to Get Catalyst: Reach 10 Lvl on Osteo Striga
All of the weapons above are more than useful for high DPS, and some of them are effective at clearing mobs, but in the case of this SMG, it’ll come in handy for the second point. The Osteo Striga is just the perfect weapon for clearing combatants and killing champions due to its poisonous properties. If you put a Catalyst on it when crafting, it will turn into an even more intimidating monster, which is why it ended up in our Exotic Catalysts list for Destiny 2. Its stability will go up by 20 and Reload Speed by 30, but additionally, poison final blows will return ammo to the magazine and overflow it.
Trinity Ghoul
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
If you have used this Exotic and consider it weak, then you either misunderstood its essence or didn’t earn it a Catalyst. Because of it, Trinity Ghoul turns into the best weapon for Ad Clear, which doesn’t even require aiming.
The Lightning Rod perk makes your next shot after Precision Final Blow a chain-lightning one. Nevertheless, Catalyst replaces this annoying condition with any Arc Damage Final Blow. The icing on the cake is the 108ms reduction in Draw Time, which causes the Exotic Bow to be even better.
Cloudstrike
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
Cloudstrike wasn’t very popular before Catalyst, although it had massive potential in PvE and PvP. But after its introduction, this Sniper Rifle consistently occupies the Top 10 Most Used Weapons in Trials. It’s also often taken in Raids and Dungeons, and that’s not the only reason it’s featured in our Exotic Catalysts guide for Destiny 2!
The essence of this Sniper Rifle is the ability to create a Lightning Storm in the target’s place by making Final Blows or Rapid Precision hits. And it so happens that Catalyst simultaneously significantly enhances it in PvE due to the Triple Tap perk, which returns ammo for three quick hits on a crit, as well as in PvP due to a significant increase in Handling.
Gjallarhorn
- How to Get Catalyst: Puzzle in Grasp of Avarice Dungeon
Most of the DPS phases won’t be so effective if someone forgets to pick up the Gjallarhorn, especially with the Catalyst. Getting it in itself is simple because you need to complete Grasp of Avarice Dungeon and open three secret chests in it. We’ll not discuss this in detail now because there are many good video guides. Once you start unlocking and upgrading Exotic Catalyst in Destiny 2, Rocket Launcher gains the More Wolves perk, which gives an extra round to the magazine, and final blows create a faster, more powerful missile at the target’s location.
Sleeper Simulant
- How to Get Catalyst: Nightfall Playlist
We must say right away that without Catalyst, we don’t recommend using Sleeper Simulant in DPS. But why is it so? Sleeper Simulant has a highly long Charge Time and low ammo reserves. But Catalyst smoothly fixes these shortcomings, which is why this Exotic has become one of the best Heavy, especially for F2P players. Sleeper Simulant is a great example of the best Destiny 2 Exotic Catalysts.
Thunderlord
- How to Get Catalyst: Complete Vanguard, Crucible or Gambit activities
Thunderlord Machine Gun has always been good for annihilating crowds of mobs. Still, you could often find it even in DPS Phases after the entire weapon class got buff and the appearance of the Catalyst. It’s somewhat similar to Cloudstrike because of the generating lightning strikes for Final Blows or continuous damage. The Catalyst itself returns ammo to the magazine every time after lightning, which will never be superfluous. And although we have described where to find the Exotic Catalyst in Destiny 2, you’ll need quite a bit of time due to the randomness of this process.
Leviathan’s Breath
- How to Get Catalyst: Defeat Powerful Enemies with Leviathan’s Breath
Oh, Leviathan’s Breath has seen a lot of changes in the last couple of years. However, all this was worthwhile because now it’s a great Exotic for Endgame Activities. Yet, the situation is similar here, as with the Sleeper Simulant: this gun is much worse without the Catalyst. In addition to improving reserves from 10 to 15, which is already great, Leviathan’s Breath obtains the Archer’s Tempo perk, significantly reducing Draw Time per Precision Hit. The main problem is boosting the Catalyst, which can take a very long time, but it’s definitely worth it.
How to upgrade Catalysts easily
We have explained Exotic Catalysts, but you may come to the realization that you’ll suffer long and painful hours of farming for their Masterwork. Alas, you cannot avoid the process, but there is a simple way to speed it up.
First stop is the Last Wish Raid. The second encounter with Shuro Chi spawns a bunch of enemies at the very beginning. Another method is to go to Grasp of Avarice Dungeon, where a huge amount of enemies will be in Loot Cave with teaching mechanics. In these two places, you can efficiently upgrade almost any Exotic in a matter of minutes. All you need is to get a bunch of flags, remember to take required guns, be patient and obtain a checkpoint on one of the Destiny 2 sites (the checkpoint needs to be entered in the internal game chat).
Final Words
That’s all we can recommend in our Exotic Catalyst guide for Destiny 2. We could suggest even more weapons, but the list contains the most important ones that you should undoubtedly acquire. The best advice for you is to improve the rest of the Exotics if possible or as you wish.
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Thanks for reading! Owl is flying away.
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