The primordial days of the original Destiny began with a Ghost inexplicably voiced by Peter Dinklage, a wizard that may or may not have come from the moon, and exactly one gun: the trusty, rusty Khvostov assault rifle. In The Final Shape, which has capped off this MMO's 10-year Light and Darkness saga, Bungie's given this iconic weapon yet another chance at life as a Destiny 2 Khvostov Exotic, this time as the 7G-0X model, because it's always 7 with Bungie. And what do you know, it's an absolute terror in PvP.
Reliable Crucible analyst Trials Report points out that 24% of all kills in Destiny 2's latest Trials of Osiris PvP event were scored by the Khvostov 7G-0X. For context, Trials Report adds, this rivals the 37% put up by the Ammit AR2 back in Destiny 2's "funny guns" era. You know, when players abused an exploit to turn guns into hair-trigger abominations spitting out a bazillion rounds a minute. In other words, the closest comparison to this gun's performance at the highest level of PvP is a game-breaking rifle forged in lag furnaces.
Khvostov 7G-0X is good, and people know it. It has the handy Shoot to Loot perk to automatically scoop up Orbs of Power and ammo bricks, but its real claim to fame is a combination of its Exotic perk and extremely high base stats. This is a 600 RPM auto rifle with all the recoil of a phone on vibrate. It is a laser beam with a competitive time to kill out of the box, even before factoring in its special perk.
That perk, The Right Choice, causes every seventh bullet fired to deal extra damage and ricochet to nearby targets, including other players. This can give the gun indirect AoE, and many players have reported seeing rounds ricochet back to the Guardians they're actively shooting at in PvP, shortening the TTK further. And yes, people will pre-fire six rounds to cook a special shot. On top of that, its second unique trait, Eyes Up, Guardian, buffs that ricochet effect whenever you collect an Orb of Power, which brings us back to Shoot to Loot.
This incarnation of Khvostov is a workhorse in PvE and a true threat in PvP. Bungie is known to rebalance weapons based on usage rate outliers, so with Khvostov eating 24% of the Trials pie, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes a swing from the nerf bat soon enough. What a comeback for the gun that started it all.
I've become a proper MMO healer in Destiny 2 thanks to a new gun and Exotic helmet, despite massive Well of Radiance nerfs.
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Austin Wood
Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.
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