When I am not out and about killing any manner of enemies in the Destiny universe, I dabble in the creative hobby of designing exotics. Some of you may be familiar with some of my other ideas (Like the Ahk Morn Pulse rifle listed here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/191977119/0/0 or the Magnatar Armament Defender-Exclusive Gauntlets listed here: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/203535276?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1 ). I wanted to go back and revisit one of my slightly less popular exotic ideas and see if I could fine-tune it with the input of the community. Name: Aegis Armada Weapon Category: Special Weapon Type: Shield Element: Solar The inspiration for the origins of this weapon comes from the mission "Wolves' Gambit" wherein Skolas leads the House of Wolves into the Vault of Glass to steal its contents. This exotic assumes that the Aegis fell into Fallen hands during or shortly after this incursion. Not knowing its purpose, the Fallen would have attempted to both modify and incorporate it with their own technology, leading to the creation of the Aegis Armada. In effect, Aegis Armada is what happens when the Fallen successfully manage to steal technology from the Vault of Glass: An artifact of light, corrupted by the the Fallen, and transformed into a weapon influenced by the battle tactics of the Cabal as the wolves sought to make a new home for themselves on Mars following the fall of Skolas. Speed: 21 Impact: 42 Range: 38 Efficiency: 50 Defense: 40 Energy: 50 Magazine Size: 35 As the stats above indicate, Aegis Armada would operate in the same vein as Swords do: Providing a defense bonus while equipped and possessing the ability to "block", but has damage on par with a shotgun at a slightly higher effective range and lower overall speed. Unlike swords, which are designed to be Offensive weapons, Aegis Armada is designed to be Defensive weapon and reward players for playing defensively. Just having this weapon active provides twice the level of damage reduction as using a sword. The basic skills of this weapon are Blastwave and Null Field. [b]Blastwave[/b]: Swings your arm forward in a wide arc, unleashing a torrent of solar shards in a cone in front of you. [b]Null Field[/b]: Reduces incoming damage in a radius around the wielder. Blastwave is, essentially, a wide-angle shotgun with a radius equal to that of a shotgun in an archetype similar to Invective when optimized for range. It affects a cone with an area of 120 Degrees in front of you. Like a shotgun, it suffers from damage drop off and is suited for close-quarters engagements. Projectiles launched by Blastwave have travel time similar to Lord of Wolves. Null Field is the same as the sword's Guard ability but does not have an element to which it is strong or weak against. In effect, it provides 33% damage reduction to all allies inside its area of effect, less than 50% experienced by Swords against their strong elements, but higher than the 25% against their weak element. The radius of this effect is the same as experienced by activating the cleanse/shield effect of Aegis during the Vault of Glass. Null Field consumes ammo at the same rate as guarding with a sword does (1 Ammo per second). It should be noted that, like swords, this damage reduction stacks with the innate damage reduction provided by having this weapon active. The first fixed perk is called [b]Shieldbearer[/b]: "Defending or Reviving allies grants bonus ammo". This is intended to encourage defensive/clutch plays. Also, this is not the simple "I activate my guard to take damage for you and I get ammo out of the deal" defend. Instead, you need to prevent an ally, who is near death, from dying by killing their attacker. This triggers the "You Defended Someone" message. If you do this or revive a downed ally, it will net you 5 bonus ammo. Additionally, this trait is always activated when the conditions are met, similar to Rescue Mag, so the weapon need not be active in order to benefit from this effect. This both expands and limits the effectiveness of this perk as players are more likely to get Defends and Revives in PvE while they are far less likely to get a Defend in PvP and can only revive allies in specific game modes. In the first selectable column, you have Sentinel and Zealot. [b]Sentinel[/b]: Null Field can be used while Sprinting. Increases Defense. [b]Zealot[/b]: Increases the range of Blastwave. Kills with this weapon grant bonus super energy. Both of these perks expand the capabilities depending on the user's play style. Defensive players can use Sentinel to add a new strategic element to the game unseen by any other exotic (Guarding while Sprinting) while also granting an additional 10 Defense. Aggressive players can use Zealot grants +10 range, effectively upgrading it into the Felwinter's Lie Archetype while also providing a large bonus to super energy on kill. The bonus amount is intended to be higher than the bonus provided by an effect like String of Curses. The 2nd fixed perk for this weapon is called [b]Counterforce[/b]: "Taking damage while Null Field is active greatly increases the range and damage of Blastwave for a short time." Counterforce can work for defensive or offensive play styles. When Counterforce is active, the damage and range of Blastwave is increased by 30%. In effect, it lets you defend or revive an ally and then turn right around and rail someone in the face for extreme damage. Depending on if you are using Sentinel or Zealot, the capabilities of the weapon drastically shift with Counterforce. If you prefer to charge in headlong, you can use Sentinel to Guard while closing ranks against your opponent and sometimes gaining bonus ammo, then unleash Blastwave to lethal effect (Akin to how Striker Titans currently use Shoulder Tackle). Likewise, if you choose to go with Zealot, Blastwave's range can be on par with the effective range of a low-range Hand Cannon, allowing for some rather terrifying longer range encounters. This effect lasts for 5 seconds and the duration is refreshed with every damage instance while Null Field is active. In the final selectable column, you have Reserve Ether and Damage Converter. Reserve Ether: Increases ammo capacity. Damage Converter: Taking damage while Null Field is active has a chance to grant bonus ammo. Much like the first selectable column of perks, the intent here was to expand the capabilities of the weapon to provide an offensive and defensive option. Players who want to run with Zealot will find Reserve Ether is their go-to option as it adds 10 additional ammo, while players who run with Sentinel will find that that Damage Converter gives them extra staying power as every damage instance has a 33% chance to grant 5 bonus ammo. Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long post. I welcome any and all feedback, good or bad. Edit: I reverted Counterforce back to the original design. I really didn't like the stack mechanic.