Destiny: History of the Gjallarhorn Weapon Explained (2024)

The Gjallarhorn rocket launcher is one of Destiny’s most prestigious weapons. Across allDestiny and Destiny 2 content, expansions,and seasons, fans would be hardpressed to find a gun that is as legendary and powerful as Gjallarhorn was. As an exotic rocket launcher, it was one of the hardest weapons to get in the first Destiny game. Even though it dropped from the Vault of Glass, Crota’s End, the Prison of Elders, Crucible matches, or as an exotic engram, it could still be difficult to obtain.

Gjallarhorn's only saving grace for players that wanted it was that it also made an appearance in Xur’s set of wares on two separate occasions. The first time that Guardians were able to buy the rocket launcher was the second week of Destiny’s life. At a time when strange coins were a rare currency for many players, not everyone opted to purchase the weapon. Some saw the rocket launcher as too weak as Gjallarhorn’s legendary Wolf Pack rounds would not realize their full potential until it was already a staple in the community. The second time Xur sold the weapon was weeks before Destiny'ssecond year started, and it was already booming in popularity.

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Gjallarhorn in Destiny

Gjallarhorn would go onto dominate almost the entirety of Destiny’s lifespan in PVE activities. The more Guardians that used the rocket launcher, the more players realized how much of an asset it was. Many of the post campaign PVE activities such as raids and the difficult Nightfall strikes would list the weapon as a requirement on Looking for Group pages.

Even now, videosof Gjallarhorn’s power are scattered across the internet as players showed off how it was used to lay waste to enemies. As a strong option against bosses and the ultras scattered throughout raids, it was an easy way to melt down those enemies that players didn’t want to hassle with. The weapon's success stems from the way all its parts made a whole; as an exotic, it was a gun that was a walking God Roll for Destiny. The ability to fire two rockets before needing to reload, the tracking rockets with Wolfpack Rounds, and the maximum range it put between players and enemies would let Guardians reduce the length of long boss fights to mere minutes.

The effectiveness of the weapon's perks led to it receiving nicknames, praise, and criticism for how overpowered it was. Dubbed Baller-horn by many in the Destiny community, the weapon would take a short break from prevalence after year 1. Following the Vault of Glass and Crota’s End raid, there were changes to how weapons progressed through the game. For Destiny as an evolving series, this was inevitable, but it took away one of the community’s most beloved weapons. Gjallarhorn would return in year 3 as a preorder bonus for the Rise of Iron expansion with a special Iron Gjallarhorn variant.

Gjallarhorn's Lore

In Destiny,lore is important, and the weapon's creation is just aslegendaryas it was to the players that used it in game. The Gjallarhorn rocket launcher was crafted by Feizel Crux of the Crux/Lomar foundry. Though the foundry made many common weapons, it released three exotic rocket launchers: Dragon’s Breath, Truth, and Gjallarhorn. Feizel Crux’s Gjallarhorn rocket launcher wascrafted as a gift to the Guardians that fought during the Battle of Twilight Gap.

During the battle, the Guardians of the City rebuffed a unified offensive by three of the four Fallen houses. The House of Devils, House of Kings, and House of Winter had unified in an effort to overtake the last City and capture the Traveler. This battle cost both sides tremendous casualties and after the Fallen had retreated Feizel Crux decided to craft Gjallarhorn.

Using the armor of the Guardians that fell in battle as the necessary materials, Feizel built a weapon of his own genius design. Once the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher was finished, Feizel Crux gifted it to the Guardians that did not perish as a symbol of honor and survivalas well as in remembrance of those that fell at the Battle of Twilight Gap. When fired, Gjallarhorn howls with the Light of those fallen Destiny Guardians and easily hunts down any prey it tracks.

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Will Gjallarhorn Be In Destiny 2

Gjallarhorn’s history withDestiny's community continues now as many veterans of the franchise would like to see it return to the game. While the weapon was considerably overpowered in the original Destiny, there is no reason it could not be adapted for Destiny 2. It would be wasteful to strip the rocket launcher of its iconic perk, but there are a few ways that it could be worked into the game. This is especially true with content like the Forsaken expansion being vaulted and the chance for older content to return.

The first obstacle that Gjallarhorn would have to overcome is how it is obtained. The path that seems most likely would be the same way that Hawkmoon, a fan favorite exotic hand cannon, was reintroduced. Offering it as a reward for purchasing one of the season passes or an expansion would likely push sales of the item and make Gjallarhorn a weapon that is not left entirely up to chance.

This could split some of D2’s player base though as not everyone is going to be a fan of shelling out real-world money just to get an exotic item that had been free in the previous game. This could belike the Pain and Gain exotic weapon questthat hasgamers play difficult content like Nightfall to obtain the weapon.

Another Option for Gjallarhorn

The second option is to introduce it in future content and keep it free or accessible through a specific vendor like Xur, Ada-1, or Banshee. This option feels like it would be heavily reliant on the weapon’s rework, buta reworkseems necessary to introduce Gjallarhorn either way. Two of the best ways that the rocket launcher could be reworked and still feel good is to a reduce its magazine size and its reserve ammo pool. This would allow it to still be a fast-firing rocket launcher without making it overpowered.

With only one rocket chambered at a time and reduced ammo, it would still be the blitz weapon it's known as without outpacing the competition. This would also make it a great gun to pairwith Destiny 2 weapon mods and not blow the rockets effectiveness out of proportion.

As of right now, there has been no sign that Gjallarhorn will make its way back into the hands of Guardians through either of these methods. While a few fake leaks and rumors have kept hope alive since Destiny 2'srelease, it is not a weapon Bungie has seemed enthusiastic to bring back, as although it dominated activities and players loved it, Gjallarhorn also led to gatekeeping of those activities. For a community driven MMO experience, this is an aspect for the Baller-Horn that hurt the game and community far more than it helped.

Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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