Comprehensive Breakdown of Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades
While much attention in the Renegades expansion rightly focuses on the Praxic Blade, the new Exotic Crossbow, Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades, is arguably one of the most devastatingly hard-hitting weapons introduced this season. This special ammo Solar crossbow—which clearly draws thematic inspiration from space-faring adventures—brings a unique Heat mechanic to the weapon sandbox.
The intrinsic system requires players to manage Heat consumption with every shot. The weapon gradually cools when not fired and can be manually or automatically vented if it overheats. This mechanic functions similarly to blasters in other space-themed games, establishing a rhythmic gameplay loop where mastering the perfect vent window maximizes uptime.
Exotic Traits and Base Performance
The Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades features two core Exotic traits that define its utility as a primary anti-Champion tool and an offensive heavy hitter.
Intrinsic Trait: Bone Throne
Functionality: This trait allows the weapon to fire high-powered, explosive Solar bolts.
Anti-Champion Role: It offers heavy anti-Champion support by being able to stun, and most likely kill, Unstoppable Champions in a single shot.
Base Damage: An uncharged standard shot deals 823 damage (headshot) to a target in the firing range. Since the bolt is explosive, this damage will be split between direct-hit damage and area-of-effect (AoE) damage.
Exotic Perk: Big Game Hunter
This important perk opens up great damage potential for this weapon:
Functionality: Aiming Down Sights (ADS) now charges up the next bolt for increased damage and AoE radius, with a visual and auditory trigger to alert the player that charging has occurred.
Charged Damage Potential:
One Bar Charge: sim26% damage increase.
Two Bars Charge: sim50% damage increase.
Full Charge: Grants a whopping mathbf 116% damage increase compared to uncharged shot, with mathbf 1,770 damage on a Critical Hit. Such a damage potential makes it on par with some Legendary Heavy Crossbows, even if Heirloom uses Special Ammo.
Heat Consumption: Charging heavily consumes the Heat meter (up to 82% on full charge), thus implicating the weapon's core mechanic.
Personal Testing Interactions & Damage Scaling:
From testing, I noticed that the damage scaling is immensely granular throughout the whole charging meter, and is not relegating itself to any set "tier". Being able to rival Heavy damage using Special Ammo—while retaining the intrinsic Unstoppable stun—immediately set this Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades as one of the premium special weapons for any kind of challenging PvE content.
The Catalyst and Solar Synergy
Acquiring and enabling the Exotic Catalyst is mandatory to unlock the weapon's complete potential as Solar glory.
Catalyst Effect:
Direct hits with short (uncharged) shots apply Scorch to the target.
The weapon deals increased damage against Scorched targets.
Scorch and Ignition Mechanics
Scorch Scaling: The amount of Scorch applied is directly proportional to the charge level of the bolt. A fully charged shot applies significantly more Scorch than a short shot.
Ignition Potential: The Heirloom can consistently self-proc Solar Ignitions. With concentrated fire (usually three well-aimed, fully charged shots), the Scorching effect reaches 100 stacks, triggering a massive Ignition explosion.
Damage Bonus: When fully charged and hitting a Scorched target, the damage jumps significantly to over mathbf 2,013, representing a 13% increase over a normal fully charged shot and a total increase of mathbf 145% over the base damage.
This combination creates a Special Ammo weapon that simultaneously stuns Champions, clears groups of adds with explosive Ignitions, and delivers damage comparable to Heavy weapons, ensuring the Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades holds a dominant spot in the meta.
Subclass and Artifact Combos
The Heirloom shines when paired with certain Solar subclass fragments and the seasonal Artifact mods.
Solar Subclass Synergy (Recommended Fragments):
Ember of Ashes: Increases the number of Scorch stacks applied, leading to faster Ignitions.
Ember of Rupture: Increases the area of effect of Solar Ignitions (great for clearing adds).
Ember of Blistering: Defeating targets with Solar Ignitions grants Grenade Energy.
Ember of Searing: Defeating Scorched targets grants Melee Energy.
Prismatic/Artifact Synergies: The weapon benefits from any Artifact mods that enhance Solar or Explosive damage, particularly those that increase the AoE radius of Solar Ignitions (like the Facet of Ruin fragment in Prismatic).
While certain other Exotic armor pieces (like Oathkeepers for Hunters) do not synergize due to the weapon's unique charge mechanic, the high intrinsic damage and Scorch/Ignition loop guarantee that the Heirloom in Destiny 2 Renegades is an effective choice across all classes.
