Destiny 2 fans uncover new Exotic Catalysts and 'Armsweek' event details

Ahead of its big Forsaken expansion, Destiny 2 is getting a smaller but significant update in July called the Solstice of Heroes. Among other things, we already know the Solstice update will bring prestige raid lairs and 6v6 Crucible quickplay. And after poking around Destiny 2's database and files, players reckon they've worked out another part of the update: a new weekly event called 'Armsweek', not to mention nine new Exotic Catalysts.

Destiny 1 players may remember a weekly event called Armsday, where you could order specific weapons from the Gunsmith using Legendary Shards. It looks like Armsweek will greatly expand on Armsday by turning into a weeklong event and adding in unique rewards and activities.

As Reddit user and Destiny sleuth u/eander points out, a quick search of Bungie's database shows four Armsweek Nightfall Strikes tied to specific Exotic weapons, plus an Armsweek Strike playlist "requiring a specific weapon loadout." Another entry containing a quote from Crucible master Lord Shaxx suggests an Armsweek Crucible playlist is also on the way, again locked to a "prescribed loadout."

In their digging, Eander and Reddit user u/aussie_halo also discovered several new Exotic Catalysts which can be used to upgrade Exotic weapons with better stats and/or new perks, with five seemingly coming from Armsweek activities and three others from prestige raids. Here's the full list:

Hard Light: improves weapon stability. Found in an Armsweek activity, possibly a unique Nightfall Strike.
Rat King: increases aim assist, reduces recoil, and regenerates health when Vermin invisibility effect triggers. Found in an Armsweek activity, possibly a unique Nightfall Strike.
Suros Regime: improves recoil and chance for kills to regenerate health. Found in an Armsweek activity, possibly a unique Nightfall Strike.
The Prospector: increases blast radius and ammo reserves. Found in an Armsweek activity, possibly a unique Nightfall Strike.
Fighting Lion: increases reload speed, and buffs precision damage of Kinetic and Power weapons after firing. Found in an Armsweek activity.
Legend of Acrius: increases reload speed and magazine size. Found in the prestige Leviathan raid.
Sleeper Simulant: reduces charge time. Found in the prestige Spire of Stars raid lair.
Telesto: increases ammo reserves. Found in the prestige Eater of Worlds raid lair.

An Exotic Catalyst for Sturm is also in the Destiny 2 database, but players couldn't find anything else on it. A spreadsheet compiled by u/aussie_halo suggests it will buff the hand cannon's range and handling, but it's unclear how it will be acquired.

That being said, while these sources have proved reliable in the past, all of this information should be taken with a grain of salt. We probably won't need to wait on confirmation for very long, though. The Solstice of Heroes update is due next month, so Bungie will probably share more details in the next few weeks.

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.