Destiny 2 Touch of Malice guide: How to use, Exotic perks, and more

Along with King's Fall Raid from Destiny 1, the Exotic Scout Rifle, Touch of Malice has also made its way back into Destiny 2. Originally released with the Taken King DLC, players were expecting this weapon to feature one way or the other, and it was paired as an RNG drop with Oryx.

However, similar to some of the Raid encounters, Bungie has made some changes to the Exotic weapon as well. While players can get the same intrinsic perk in Destiny 1, the newest version of the weapon comes with a unique perk called "Charged with Blight."

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How to use the Touch of Malice Exotic Scout Rifle in Destiny 2 Season of Plunder

Touch of Malice has a lot of history among Destiny 1 veterans, as it was given out via the "Hunger Pangs" quest, which required players to run the King's Fall Raid as well. While there have been some mixed reactions from different players back in the day, the Destiny 2 version of the weapon is designed to function completely differently.

However, there is no guaranteed way to get the Touch of Malice to drop. You will need to run Oryx's encounter, utilize all three of your classes at different checkpoints, and hope for it to drop at the end chest. It's like any other Raid Exotics that came before, where you have a chance to get the weapon on the very first clear, or even hundredth.

One thing that is different on Touch of Malice, is the additional "Charged with Blight" perk. It states the following:

"Precision hits drain combatants' life force and charge up a ball of darkness. Press 'reload button' and then fire to unleash the blight projectile, shrouding combatants in darkness, and temporarily blinding them."

The intrinsic perk, Touch of Malice, states the following:

"The final round in the magazine deals bonus damage, drawing from the wielder's life force, and then regenarated itself. Rapidly defeating three targets restores health."

Judging by the aforementioned stats and descriptions of perks, you might have probably guessed that the reason behind the two perks is to function separately in both PvP and PvE. The following's how the intrinsic perk actually works in Destiny 2:

• The weapon comes with an in-built full-auto mode, so you can hold down your fire button to keep shooting.
• The base magazine holds 11 bullets, after which the weapon will drain your health bar if you want to keep shooting.
• The bullets that are using your health bar will deal 100% increased damage to enemies.

Touch of Malice Exotic Scout Rifle in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

You get a full auto Scout Rifle dealing double the amount of its base damage by drawing power from your health bar. However, using this without healing or any form of restoration will end up killing you.

Hence, having this as an alternate DPS option on Well of Radiance or restoration buff will be the best form of utilization.