Destiny 2’s one-shot Exotic is back to terrorize PvP in Revenant – but only for one class

Destiny 2’s PvP sandbox is facing upset once again due to a new one-shot combo, and only one class can pull it off.

Eriana’s Vow, the first-ever Exotic to be introduced via the looter shooter’s season pass model, has ping-ponged between meta-defining and utterly useless since its introduction.

The Hand Cannon’s relevance had increasingly waned as its built-in ability to stun Barrier Champions was made available elsewhere and had its ability to one-shot other Guardians in Crucible reined in.

As of Episode Revenant, however, Eriana’s Vow has received a second wind as the perfect accompaniment to Sanguine Alchemy. The latter received the following buffs with the release of Revenant:

• Now marks targets you damage while standing in a Rift. You deal 10% extra damage from any source against marked targets.
• Now provides Surge x4 to weapons that match your Super damage.

Both perks provide substantial damage buffs to any Warlock using their Class Ability, which can be boosted even further with an Empowering instead of Healing Rift.

Paired with Eriana’s Death at First Glance perk, which grants bonus damage to the gun’s opening shot while ADS, you’ve got yourself a one-shot combo.

How it works – Meta analysis

The gameplay loop to ensure Eriana’s Vow one-taps other Guardians is remarkably simple in practice, though there’s some caveats you should be aware of.

With Sanguine Alchemy equipped, deploy your Empowering Rift and remain within its radius to maintain the x4 Surge buff, guaranteeing one-shot kills on any headshot.

Do remember, however, that you must be using either a Solar subclass or Prismatic with Song of Flame as your Super to benefit from Sanguine’s Surge buff.

Likewise, as a Special Ammo Hand Cannon, you’ll need to pair Eriana’s with a strong primary. In testing the combo, Destiny 2 content creator Aztecross found success with reprised Auto Rifle, Chroma Rush.

So, is this a worthwhile build or something of a novelty that’s fun to mess around with from time to time? The answer, predictably, is it depends.

If you’re not used to using Hand Cannons – especially one with very low handling like Eriana’s Vow – or the requirement to root yourself in a rift, you could struggle.

Likewise, this all only works on Warlock, and even for players who main the space wizard class, using Sanguine means sacrificing PvP mainstays such as Transversive Steps or Ophidian Aspect.

It’s certainly a viable option, however, and it’ll be interesting to see if the build becomes dominant enough to warrant a nerf.

For more Destiny 2 content, check out our guide to the best craftable weapons and read about incoming nerfs to one of the meta’s most popular weapons.