Yesterday saw some huge news for Destiny fans: not only was the latest expansion for the game, Rise of Iron, leaked, revealing a September 2016 release, but it was accompanied by the possibility that the expansion wouldn't be coming to last-gen consoles.
However, there is now another leak concerning the game out in the wild, and it revealed something incredible: the Gjallarhorn, the veritable Cadillac of Rocket Launchers, will be making a return in Rise of Iron, and it will be sporting a brand new look once the game arrives.
This revelation was made known thanks to the Rise of Iron trailer being leaked via a Snapchat ad ahead of Bungie's planned live stream. As of this writing, the trailer is still available for viewing, but considering that Bungie and Activision swiftly removed the initial leak on the game's website, it's highly likely that this video won't be around for much longer.
The trailer, for the most part, doesn't offer anything that fans didn't know at this point. Rise of Iron will feature a new story campaign with Lord Saladin leading the charge against a Fallen army, updated quests, armor, weapons, crucible maps and new bosses. Furthermore, there will be a new raid and strike, and the maximum light level is set to increase once more.
However, the real bit of news comes at the end of the trailer, when it was revealed that the Gjallarhorn would be coming back with an all-new black finish.
For those unfamiliar with the game, the decision to have just one weapon in the spotlight would certainly seem odd. However, any fan of the game will tell you that the return of the Gjallarhorn is significant. Back in the day, the Gjallarhorn was among the strongest — if not the strongest — weapon in the game. What made it so desirable was the fact that, aside from being an awesome-looking rocket launcher, the Gjallarhorn had special mods that allowed for its rockets to split into tracking cluster missiles upon detonation.
While these properties made the weapon a highly-valued asset to any player fortunate enough to have it, those who didn't often found themselves refused entry into Nightfalls and other end-game content by other players.
Bungie soon addressed this by nerfing its damage somewhat, but that soon was overshadowed by another "nerf": when The Taken King arrived last year, the Gjallarhorn wasn't updated to match the damage levels new weapons (and old upgradable ones) had, making it more or less obsolete.
Now, with the Rise of Iron expansion on its way, a new Gjallarhorn will be coming, and it will be updated to match the damage levels of all other weapons. However, it remains to be seen if this new Gjallarhorn will be the same Gjallarhorn of yore, or if it will have some kind of adjustment so it doesn't become the go-to weapon for all modes of the game again.
Regardless of what is done with it, the new Gjallarhorn will no doubt be powerful, and now, players won't have to worry about RNG impacting their chances of getting it. Instead, they just need to preorder the game — something many players would do with or without this newly-revealed incentive.
Rise of Iron is set to launch on Sept. 20, but word is still out on whether this latest installment will be available on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
