Super Pox VLO Super Pox VLO first person view Super Pox VLO ADS view Defender Titan holding Super Pox VLO

The design philosophy behind this weapon is to find something that lands somewhere between the philosophies of Redrix’s Broadsword in Destiny 2 and No Time to Explain in Destiny 1. Where Redrix’s is about using precision kills to gain a burst of increased effectiveness up close and switch to aggressive playstyle, Super Pox is about precision kills and making a mini-game of activating and using the Secret Round against strong enemies (Guardians included), and engaging in a “marathon” of sustained fire against weaker enemies.

The weapon was originally one of several references to Bungie’s Marathon series from the mid-1990s inserted into Destiny 1, and the reprise of Super Pox doubles down on this with both the Marathon perk and the Lore tab. The recurrence of 7s was a big thing in Marathon, and the pinnacle Super Pox’s optimal usage revolves around a 7th round, in the 7th season.

The inspiration comes from the Hammer Forged/Perfect Balance/Secret Round/Full Auto Super Pox VLO which dropped for me very early on in vanilla Destiny 1 and was such a unique and interesting weapon, not to mention effective, that it accompanied me throughout the game’s history, including quite a few flawless Trials runs, raids, you name it. It was a precision weapon for a skilled shooter that rewarded a good aim tremendously, and the original behavior of Secret Round boosted the effective magazine capacity by quite a bit, allowing much higher sustained DPS than you’d normally believe just from looking at the stats.

This is also a weapon for folks who loved the Machina Dei 4 in D2Y1 and want to see another extreme range high impact pulse rifle that brings something unique to the table. It also creates a pulse rifle to directly challenge a well-rolled Blast Furnace. Although I’ll acknowledge Secret Round’s damage might need to be dialed down in PvP only as it might end up a little OP otherwise.

Season 7 Pinnacle Vanguard Pulse Rifle: SUPER POX VLO

“Found in a null-g hangar, drifting alongside fourteen limbless and decapitated Fallen corpses.”

Archetype: Pulse Rifle, Kinetic, High Impact

Impact: 33 Range: 82 Stability: 58 Handling: 40 Reload Speed: 55 RPM: 340 Magazine: 30 Recoil Direction: 70

Stability Masterwork: +10 Stability

Perk 1 (Optic):

• Red Dot-ORS (Accurized for precise fire): General purpose precision work. Changes recoil direction to fully vertical, adds additional aim assist.
• Focus Lens FLS2 (Agile, medium zoom, light and snappy): Fighting at the edge of pulse rifles’ extreme range. Boosts range, decreases handling.
• Quickdraw IS (Agile sight, lightning-fast handling): Up close fighting with extremely quick handling. Very low zoom, large boost to handling, reduces aim assist and range.

Perk 2 (Ammo):

• Accurized Rounds (+10 Range)
• High Caliber Rounds (+5 Range, causes additional stagger/flinch)

Perk 3 (Special Perk):

• Secret Round: Original Destiny 1 behavior: Missing one round of a burst fires a fourth round but consumes 3 rounds of ammo. Hitting all 3 rounds from a burst only consumes 2 ammo. Additional Destiny 2 pinnacle behavior: Hitting all critical hits on one burst of 3 causes the following burst to always fire 4 shots whether one round misses or not.

Perk 4 (Special Perk):

• Marathon: Combination of Full Auto and the as-yet-unused Hailstorm perk. Weapon fires full auto when the trigger is held down. Kills increase the weapon’s damage and begin to steadily reload the magazine from reserves until you stop firing.

Lore Tab:

Seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses float inconspicuously around the inside of hangar ninety six. I say that they are inconspicuous because it is their arms and legs which demand my attention. I did this, or I could have stopped it. Which is it? It doesn't matter now. I did this and could have stopped it, but nothing in nature ever follows a gaussian curve. Sure, they'll tell you that it does. They say that every five minutes someone dies in a car accident, but how often are there seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses in one hangar?

IR: This is the third weapon design now to originate from the same alternate timeline. That doesn’t bother you?

ZV: Ikora, everything the Vex do “bothers” me. But if the end result is through our enemies’ missteps we discover unconventional tools that will enhance our Guardians’ ability to defend this City and keep our people safe, then we will make full use of whatever good fortune we come across.

IR: The MIDA weapons’ logs seemed to indicate multipurpose survival tools, but this… this is something else. Have you seen the final log? Nevermind the Fallen who were found dead alongside this weapon. At its origin point, seven hundred and sixty one dismembered corpses floating inside a zero G hangar. The last known user was “Recon Fifty-four.” Presumably that was his handiwork. Zavala, it’s macabre.

ZV: Maybe. Who knows the state of things wherever this rifle comes from. More to the point, I can’t help thinking what if all of our Guardians were capable that kind of surgical precision? I’m forwarding the design to Banshee, and we’ll distribute initial prototypes to our best sharpshooters for field trials. They’re always looking for an edge. The Vanguard is going to step up and give them one.

IR: A pox upon our enemies, then?

ZV: A Super Pox.