Which Altars of Sorrow weapons should you be looking to add to your arsenal?

Half-way through the Season of the Undying the new Dungeon ‘Pit of Heresy’ was released alongside a new mode titled ‘Altars of Sorrow’, which takes place in Sorrow’s Harbor. With these new activities came a handful of new Hive themed weapons that Guardians can get their hands on. This includes a Sniper Rifle, Shotgun and Rocket Launcher. 

Click on the link embedded into the weapon names to head to our database page and see the in-depth stats and available perks for the weapons.

Sniper Rifle - Apostate

Apostate is a Rapid-Fire Sniper Rifle that deals Arc damage. Apostate is considered to be a must-have as due to its fire-rate along with high aim assist, handling, reload speed and low zoom level, it’s a monster in PvP in the right hands. The only downside to this weapon is that like all other Rapid-Fire Sniper Rifles it has quite a low Range stat. 

This isn't a deal-breaker on Sniper Rifles though as on most maps there aren’t sight lines long enough for the damage to drop off any significant amount. Range does effect aim assist though so be sure to note that the further away your target is, the less ‘sticky’ your reticle will be over them.

In regards to perks, there are really only a few good ones here, especially since Apostate is really only a PvP weapon. For the Barrel perks, there are actually quite a few choices as most give increases in the stats this weapon wants, such as Range, Stability and Handling, Apostate benefits from all of these. 

For the Magazine perk, like the Barrel Perk, its best to choose anything that increases Stability or Range as perks that increase the magazine size have little use.

For the first perk column though the flat out best perk to have is Moving Target. This will allow the user to hit enemy Guardians, and pick up clean headshots, that they wouldn't normally hit as the perk gives a significant boost to aim assist when aiming down sights while moving. Outlaw is also fine in this slot but it is nothing special as its rare to actually be able to use it with the low amount of special ammo that is given.

For the second slot, either Quickdraw or Snapshot Sights are both top tier. Quickdraw gives a massive boost to the weapon’s Handling when swapping to it, allowing the wielder to fire off an opening shot much quicker than they would normally be able to. Snapshot Sights also boosts the Handling of Apostate but only when aiming down sights. As most people tend to wait until they are fully zoomed in before firing, this means the wielder can be zoomed in and ready to fire much quicker than their opponent.

Recommended Perks:

• Barrels - Fluted Barrel, Arrowhead Brake, Corkscrew Rifling, Hammer-Forged Rifling, Smallbore, Polygonal Rifling
• Magazine - Accurized Rounds or Steady Rounds
• Perk 1 - Moving Target or Outlaw
• Perk 2 - Quickdraw or Snapshot Sights

Apostate also has a Bungie curated roll that has a small chance to drop in place of the random rolls. The perks are as follows:

• Barrels - Fluted Barrel
• Magazine - Accurized Rounds, Extended Mag
• Trait 1 - Shield Disorient
• Trait 2 - Rapid-Hit

This roll is fairly sub-par for PvP. Fluted Barrel and Accurized rounds are really nice but both Rapid-Hit and Shield Disorient are fairly sub-par. A case can be made for Rapid-Hit as it allows the wielder to reload much quicker than normal upon a successful precision kill but there are just much more useful perks in this slot. Shield Disorient is a dead perk in PvP as Guardians do not have shield type and so the explosion from the perk will never activate.

Shotgun - Blasphemer

Blasphemer is a Kinetic Precision Slug Shotgun, the first of its kind that isn’t an Exotic like The Chaperone. In terms of the weapon’s stats, it has extremely high aim assist for a Slug Shotgun with its value of 61 being almost double the next highest at 35 for Good Bone Structure. High Range also helps Blasphemer hit those long-range one-hit precision kills. Stability, Handling, and Magazine Size somewhat match those of other Slug Shotguns with middling values.

For the Barrel perk, there is a clear front-runner in Hammer-Forged Rifling as it will massively increase the Range and allow Blasphemer to hit more consistent one taps. Smallbore is also a good one as it gives a smaller bonus to more stats such as Handling, Stability and Range.

Accurized Rounds is another clear winner for the Magazine Perk as it again gives a large boost to Range. Assault Mag can also be used successfully if you don't trust your aim as much as it allows much quicker follow up shots if the first misses, or is only a body shot.

Since the Blasphemer is mainly used as a secondary weapon and is to be switched to when the time arises, its best to have Quickdraw as the weapon’s first perk. Like Sniper Rifles mentioned above, Quickdraw boosts the handling speed when swapping to the weapon allowing the user to fire off their first shot at a much quicker speed. Snapshot Sights is also fine in this slot as a faster zoom speed is always appreciated even though it can sometimes go unnoticed.

In this second slot, there is really only one perk of use and that's Opening Shot. Opening Shot increases the Range and Accuracy of the first shot fired from the weapon when in combat. With this perk, combined with other Range boosting perks, Blasphemer is able to one tap from a ridiculous distance considering its a Shotgun. The bonus Accuracy from Opening Shot also helps to keep the shot on target.

Recommended Random Perks:

• Barrels - Hammer-Forged Rifling, Corkscrew Rifling, Smallbore,
• Magazine - Accurized Rounds or Assault Mag
• Trait 1 - Quickdraw or Snapshot Sights
• Trait 2 - Opening Shot

Blasphemer too has a Bungie curated roll. Unlike the mediocre Apostate roll, Blasphemer has the perfect combination of perks in its curated roll. The curated roll is as follows:

• Barrels - Hammer-Forged Rifling
• Magazine - Accurized Rounds, High Caliber Rounds
• Trait 1 - Quickdraw
• Trait 2 - Opening Shot

This curated roll has every single one of the above-recommended perks meaning this is basically the best possible roll you can get for this weapon, bar some other perks that suit a certain niche playstyle better. This curated roll is certainly one to grind for.

Rocket Launcher - Heretic

Heretis is an Aggressive frame Rocket Launcher that deals Arc damage. Its Aggressive frame means it does high damage, with high recoil. 

Rocket Launchers have been out of favor for a very long time. Even though each individual rocket fired can do a fair amount of damage, it's the fact that all Rocket Launchers apart from Truth can only fire once before needing to be reloading. This causes Rocket Launchers to have abysmal damage per second when compared to some of the heavy hitters like Grenade Launchers and Snipers. 

This does not mean that you should ignore Heretic. Even though Rocket Launchers are sub-par at the moment, it does not exclude them from buffs in the future. Who knows where they will end up damage wise 6 months or even a year from now? 

For the Barrel perk, Hard Launch is a good option as it increases the Velocity of the round. Quick Launch is also another solid option as it increases both Velocity and Handling which is nice as most Rocket Launchers tend to how low Handling. 

Impact Casing is the best Magazine perk for PvE as it gives a decent damage boost when scoring direct hits on the target. Since most bosses tend to not move around that much it's basically a net increase in overall damage. 

For PvE the only perk in the first slot really worth mentioning is Demolitionist. This perk reloads your equipped automatically when dealing damage with your grenade and dealing damage with the weapon recharges your grenade. This allows the wielder to fire their first rocket, quickly sling a grenade at the target which will cause the automatic reload, and then a second rocket can be quickly fired. This is a large increase in DPS which is sorely needed with Rocket Launchers.

The second perk slot has to go to Cluster Bombs. A case can be made for Quickdraw but Cluster Bombs just adds so much free damage to the weapon that it's hard to pass this one up.

Recommended PvE Perks:

• Barrels - Hard Launch or Quick Launch
• Magazine - Impact Casing
• Trait 1 - Demolitionist
• Trait 2 - Cluster Bomb, Quickdraw

Heretic also has a Bungie curated roll that like the Blasphemer contains almost all of the recommended perks. The roll is as follows:

Curated Perks:

• Barrels - Volatile Launch/Quick Launch
• Magazine - Black Powder, Implosion Rounds
• Trait 1 - Demolitionist
• Trait 2 - Cluster Bomb