Titans Rise: The Game-Changing Banner of Battle and Slayer’s Fang Take Destiny 2 by Storm

The Destiny 2 designer responsible for the formerly game-altering Titan ability, Banner of Battle, was also leading the charge on the game’s newly introduced Exotic shotgun, Slayer’s Fang, which, while not game-breaking, is definitely pretty awesome.

This developer is associate designer Danny Nanni, who typically focuses on abilities but eagerly seized the opportunity to craft his first Exotic weapon. Various members of Bungie contributed to its design and creation, but it was Nanni who was driving the vision.

“I really drew a lot of inspiration and insights from our abilities,” Nanni shared with GamesRadar+. “When the chance to collaborate with the weapons team for this release surfaced, they approached me and said, ‘We need someone who’s excited to create a vampire shotgun.’ And I was like, absolutely. There’s nothing else I wish to work on. Please let me take the lead on that.”

The outcome is Slayer’s Fang, a unique, magazine-fed shotgun that focuses on precision damage while emitting scattershot, which seeks Void crystals capable of inflicting the Weaken debuff. It also features built-in anti-Overload Champion technology (although regrettably, it doesn’t stack with this season’s anti-Barrier shotgun Artifact perk). Shotguns face inherent challenges in high-level Destiny 2 content, as getting too close with a shotgun could lead to a swift demise, but especially after recent PvE buffs, the weapon class has found new moments to excel. Slayer’s Fang fits nicely into that niche, particularly when paired with builds like Gyrfalcon Hunter and No Backup Plans Titan. For Warlocks, Void synergies are working beautifully for me.

“The vampire hunter concept really drove the entire design from the beginning,” Nanni explains. “The intended use case, I believe, is to secure a kill on a smaller enemy and then switch focus to a boss or a larger foe, because after that initial kill, the weapon significantly amps up. There’s also a distinct twist – instead of firing a traditional bullet, our approach was: what if it shoots a Void crystal, akin to a stake through the heart?”

The unique firing mechanism of Slayer’s Fang introduces an element of strategy. The ricocheting shots bounce more while you maintain the on-kill buff, and it enhances the environment. “It’s not mentioned anywhere, this is a little secret that players will probably discover, but if you get a kill, you spread the buff to everyone else also wielding this gun,” Nanni confirms.

As a delightful touch, Slayer’s Fang includes a bit of flavor text nodding to a Destiny 1 Exotic called Voidfang Vestments. Lore enthusiasts might recall that Exotic’s inscription: “You will dream of teeth and nothing else.” It is no coincidence that Slayer’s Fang states: “Fear neither dreams nor teeth.”

“Since this is the vampire-slaying gun, I wanted the flavor text to reference that,” Nanni affirms. “It’s a nod back to D1, and we managed to incorporate that. It was just a concept I had, and the narrative team collaborated to make it happen.

I asked how Slayer’s Fang would stack up against Conditional Finality, a dual-purpose Exotic shotgun that my friends and I simply refer to as The Shotgun. It seems it has more secrets and strategies in store. “It’s designed to be slightly more effective against Fallen and Scorn,” Nanni states. “There’s a hidden little bonus for this weapon that I’m sure players will uncover over time.”

“If you truly wish to focus on Weaken effects and Overshield for enhanced survivability, this will be the shotgun for you, and it will synergize exceptionally well within those setups,” he contends. “I believe that synergy is incredibly strong. However, due to its nature as a slug shotgun, there are DPS advantages against bosses here that Conditional Finality cannot match because it isn’t built for that. … There are definitely different scenarios for usage. We never want to undermine anyone’s weapon choice. If Conditional Finality is your favorite? That’s fantastic. We respect that. But I think there are appealing opportunities elsewhere for you to explore with this gun.”

Slayer’s Fang also had the responsibility of following in the footsteps of Choir of One as a Void-themed Exotic. Choir has barely left my loadout since its release, and Nanni shares that it was his personal weapon during the Final Shape development cycle, so he understood the expectations surrounding his weapon. “I thought, I need to live up to this, especially since it’s my first gun,” he recalls. “So I believe it will comfortably coexist with it. They are quite different … and I love that they support various builds.”