I have been digging through to see what Bungie has given us for gems to replace our favorite Year 1 weapons that many of us are still clinging tight to and have mounted as trophies in our vaults. With Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris fast approaching, everyone will be frantically looking to get a Year 2 loadout that they can be comfortable with to wreck fellow guardians in the weeks to come. I have noticed in crucible, a lot of people are still running with their same old weapons so it may be a rough IB when we are forced to jump into non-balanced loadouts in crucible. If you have yet to find a sniper/shotgun please check-out my other articles: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1148011/158616478/0/0]Shotguns[/url] or [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1148011/158537770/0/0]Snipers[/url]. My next undertaking will be primary weapons, but since they are a much broader topic due to preference I have procrastinated it. For now, here are the hard facts and my thoughts on what we should be looking at with them. #O# Jolder's Hammer #E# Thunderlord #1# The Unseeing Eye - Trials of Orisris #2# Ruin Wake - Crucible Quartermaster #3# Harrowed Qullim's Terminus - King's Fall Raid #4# Bretomart's Stand - Iron Banner #5# Objection IV - New Monarchy O E 1 2 3 4 5 RoF 59 66 66 66 66 66 66 Impact 61 53 53 53 53 53 53 Range 28 32 15 15 15 15 20 Stability 20 51 60 60 60 60 51 Reload 30 46 29 39 16 26 33 Magazine 26 38 78 39 58 35 87 Aim Assist 13 90 70 67 65 74 65 Equip Speed 31 60 26 26 54 26 35 Recoil 77 70 78 73 75 77 70 Zoom 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 If we were to try and produce a Jolder's Hammer from Y2 weapons, likely the closest we are going to get base-stat wise would be Objection IV. Let’s take a quick stat by stat comparison on the new guns: [b]RoF/Impact –[/b] As of Taken King, the low RoF High Impact class for HMGs has received a bit of a nerf. There are no longer any guns spec’d higher than Thunderlord; which therefore removes Jolder’s class entirely. The low RoF now only goes down to 66 (as opposed to 59) and high impact only goes up to 53 (as opposed to 61). [b]Range –[/b] Jolder was never great for it’s base stat here, but all range for this class has suffered a major nerf as well. The closest base stat for this category is 20 (instead of 28) which is held by Objection IV only, the rest all are set at 15. [b]Stability –[/b] Jolder had some awful stability as well (down at 20) so matching that stat is easy. Objection IV has it beat at 51, and the rest are even better all tied at 60 (which is also better than the Thunderlord). [b]Reload –[/b] Best in class for legendary on reload is Ruin Wake, runner up is Objection IV which are both the only ones higher than Jolder. [b]Magazine –[/b] Objection IV takes the cake on this one, with a mag that is even larger than Jolder with Field Scout modifier enabled; enough said. [b]Aim Assist –[/b] Jolder was super low in this category so once again, any choice from this group will blow it out of the water as far as this base stat goes. Best in category is Bretomart’s Stand and runner-up is The Unseeing Eye. [b]Equip Speed –[/b] Top of class for this category is Harrowed Qullim’s Terminus. As far as beating Jolder out, the only 2 that do are the aforementioned Terminus and Objection IV. [b]Recoil –[/b] highest in class is The Unseeing Eye at 78, and lowest is Objection IV at 70 (tied with Thunderlord). Jolder landed 1 less then highest and tied with Bretomart’s Stand. [b]Zoom –[/b] no variation here Now that we have the cold hard facts, what I always like to look for in a HMG are: High Impact, Low Rate of Fire, Large Magazine, and High Stability. IMO, these are the most important stats as they will allow you to land those headshots consistently and down your enemies in the shortest time possible and then get the hell outa there! I cannot emphasize the “Time to Kill” enough as there are likely guardians running around with rockets during the heavy round so you are always seconds away from the end of your heavy spree. I like the low RoF to ensure every shot counts and the high stability ensures you are more easily able to lock onto that tiny little head across the room, high impact allows 2-3 headshots to finish a guardian from full health, large magazine ensures I don’t need to reload and can string together those kills for a super long time (say average 10 shots – which is generous – per guardian gives you 8+ kills in one clip; do that with a RL). Now with the added bonus of some decent aim assist on these HMGs I look forward to easier head tracking for some more ammo conservative heavy runs! What I am going to look to improve on my HMG with scopes/perks will be range as my top priority and then stability if I can get both of those jacked as high as I can. All this being said, if you loved Jolder (or if you never really gave it a chance) I strongly recommend you run down to New Monarchy and pick up the Objection IV. These low RoF High Impact HMGs chew through bosses in PvE (are great alternative when you run out of sniper ammo in King’s Fall), and wreck in PvP. If you are a regular rocket junkie in PvP, might be worth a shot to consider that due to massive magazine sizes and potential 2-3 headshots to kill with an HMG, your heavy rounds can string on forever in PvP! It is true that a rocket can quite easily end a face-to-face gunfight with an HMG, if you play smart their 3 rockets per pickup wont net them nearly as much as your 87 rounds in your Oblivion IV. Now that base stats are established, many people’s gun preference is likely going to come down to perk choice. Here are the perks available on the weapons listed above: [i][u]NOTE: [/u]The Unseeing Eye, Ruin Wake, Bretomart’s Stand, and Objection IV all have the same roll-able perks. That being said, perks will not set one of these guns apart from any of the others, but an individual roll certainly can based on preference. I have listed all of these weapons in the chart below as being “Same Class Legendaries”. [/i] #O# Jolder's Hammer #E# Thunderlord #1# Same Class Legendaries #2# Harrowed Qullim's Terminus - King's Fall Raid Barrels: O -> AccurizedBallistics / CQBBallistics / AggressiveBallistics SmoothBallistics / LinearCompensator / SmartDriftControl SoftBallistics / FieldChoke E -> AccurizedBalistics FieldChoke LinearCompensator 1 -> SAME AS JOLDER 2 -> LinearCompensator AccurizedBallistics FieldChoke Slot 3 Perks: O -> CounterBalance / HipFire / Rangefinder / Rodeo / SprayAndPlay / Persistence / TakeAKnee E -> FeedingFrenzy 1 -> GuerillaFighter / Underdog / EyeOfTheStorm / LifeSupport / DangerClose / Surrounded / HipFire / SprayAndPlay / CounterBalance 2 -> Cocoon Slot 4 Perks: O -> PerfectBalance / SinglePointSling / HighCaliberRounds Snapshot / FieldScout / HammerForged Quickdraw / FlaredMagwell / SkipRounds E -> PerfectBalance FieldScout FlaredMagwell 1 -> PerfectBalance / FittedStock / SpeedReload / HighCaliberRounds / SkipRounds / Quickdraw InjectionMold / OiledFrame / Hand-LaidStock / BracedFrame ArmorPiercingRounds / RifledBarrel / ReinforcedBarrel / SmallBore 2 -> ExtendedMag LightWeight SmallBore Slot 5 Perks: O -> CrownControl / Grenadier / FeedingFrenzy / ReactiveReload / Surplus / Who'sNext? E -> LightningRounds 1 -> Rangefinder / LastResort / HotSwap / ArmyOfOne / Persistence / Grenadier / HiddenHand / CrowdControl / FeedingFrenzy 2 -> LifeLeech / ArmyOfOne / EyeOfTheStorm / Persistence Also, worth noting is that Harrowed Qullim’s Terminus is the only HMG that can get LifeLeach on it. This could quite potentially make it outstanding in PvP for putting it into the same playstyle as Red Death. Other than that, I think Cocoon will be a bit of a wasted perk in PvP so this may not be the most popular choice for PvP solely due to the other great perk options in that third slot. I hope you found this information helpful, and if you have any questions/comments/critiques I am open to hearing them. I would also love to hear which HMG you are going to tote in PvP/PvE and the reasons for choosing, or the God-Rolls you are aiming for or have found.