On Tuesday, we got the reveal for the latest Destiny expansion — The Edge of Fate. Preorders went up shortly after, and, as expected, there was a new exotic weapon bonus in the Ultimate package. But that weapon wasn’t exactly new — it was an old friend, from the days of the first Destiny game, in a new coat of paint.
New Land Beyond, the new iteration of the classic Destiny weapon, No Land Beyond, is a kinetic Sniper Rifle that packs a punch, to say the least. But, hidden behind a pre-order of a $100 package, is this gun actually worth getting to use? Well, I decided to spend my own money to find out, so I can let you guys know.
In this article, we’re going to look at New Land Beyond and whether it’s even worth picking up. While it’s difficult to justify preordering a $100 expansion to gain access to any singular weapon, if you’re on the fence and want to know if New Land Beyond lives up to the hype, this is the right place to find out.
Overview
Element: Kinetic
Ammo: Special
Magazine: 8
Reserves: 45
Rate of Fire: 72RPM
Perks:
- The Master: Scoring precision hits increases this weapon's damage until the wielder's defeat. Massively increases ammo reserves.
- Snapshot Sights: Faster time to aim down sights.
Catalyst?: A Catalyst is coming with the Edge of Fate Expansion, of which we have no details as of yet.
PvE Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PvP Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
New Land Beyond is a monster of a gun, simply put. It hits like a truck, it feels incredible to fire, and has a satisfying animation to load the bolt, and genuinely feels like a powerful gun to use whenever you do use it.
I’ve really enjoyed using this gun in both PvE and PvP from a fun standpoint, it’s satisfying to shoot, and the damage boost from Precision hits feels really valuable, especially in PvE.
How to obtain New Land Beyond?
New Land Beyond is currently only obtainable by pre-ordering the Year of Prophecy Ultimate Edition, which costs $100USD.
With this, you’ll also receive:
- The Edge of Fate Campaign + Raid
- Renegades Campaign + Dungeon
- Active Reward Pass All Year
- 3 x Reward Passes
- Dark Side Legends Bundle
- Astral Cartography Exotic Emote
- Exotic Sparrow
- Anisotropic Shell Ghost and External Sights Emblem (if preordered before July 15th)
PvE
When it comes to general usage, this gun is absolutely absurd. The ammo economy is insane right now, and will probably change over time, but a full 52 shots on a full rally is more than enough to keep you going, especially with bricks replenishing your ammunition.
The fact that the damage boost is permanent until you die is ludicrous, as it’s a massive buff to your damage even in a GM scenario, as long as you have survivability. The fact that it can do 300+ damage in one shot puts it a cut above other sniper rifles, and makes it a really strong option for champion and major killing.
The damage increase does fall off massively once you get from the Master buff to Grandmaster, but the fact that you can accumulate extra damage for free as you go along makes it still worth it to keep hitting precision shots even after this dropoff, which stacks up to 100. There are clips of this gun pushing 300k damage per shot on Reddit, and pretty much for free, using it throughout an activity.
Of course, this is provided that you can hit precision shots on every enemy, and it’s not that easy. While New Land Beyond hits like a truck, the flinch and recoil mean that once you’ve hit a shot, you’re a sitting duck for a second or two. And, pulling back the bolt does take a bit of time as well, so you need to consider that too. Otherwise, though, this is a really strong PvE gun that only gets better if you have great aim.
DPS
I tested out its damage on the Witness with just a singular Well of Radiance, and hit a damage number of 2,129,331 with no extra buffs or surges. For comparison, Queenbreaker got 3,563,385 in my testing with the same parameters, and Cloudstrike got 1,852,601.
Provided that I’m not amazing at damage testing, and that it’s a learning curve to be able to use this gun due to how difficult it actually is to handle, I don’t know how accurate these numbers are. But, I can say for sure that it impressed me in even getting over the 2 million mark, let alone less than 1.5 million damage away from Queenbreaker (which is a much easier option, and is a heavy ammo weapon).
I tested it in a rotation with Abberant Action and Hezen’s Vengeance, and it was generally awkward; it made the whole rotation slower and meant I wasn’t getting as many rockets out. So, I don’t think this works well in rotations at all, and I wouldn’t recommend it over a good Hezen’s rotation for pure DPS at this point.
I don’t think this is going to make many waves in the DPS meta as a whole, as it’s awkward to use and it doesn’t really work well in rotations, but in a loadout with Scintillation or any other legendary DPS heavy, this is a really good secondary DPS option if you need the extra damage (and have it equipped for general clear), and has the damage to back it up.
Is it worth it for PvE?
So, what are the benefits of New Land Beyond?
- Great ammo economy: This thing has insane reserves.
- Lots of easy damage: Even in DPS scenarios, it can perform decently well, with a very easy way to stack damage.
- Feels fun to use: The gun just generally feels quite unique and fun to use, in my opinion.
There are several alternatives here that you don’t need to preorder a whole expansion for, including Rocket Sidearms, Fusion Rifles, and other Sniper Rifles.
However, if you are okay with spending the money to preorder and would like to, but you’re unsure whether the gun is fun or good enough, let me tell you — it’s one of the funnest guns I’ve ever used, and the gun is really good. I don’t exactly know what I’m going to use it in yet, but there are loads of places where I think it can shine.
It’s not the easiest gun to use, and there’s a steep curve in making sure you can hit precision shots with such an unruly beast to tame, but I really do recommend getting your hands on this if you want to and like the look of it.
PvP
In PvP, New Land Beyond is probably my favourite sniper rifle. Once again, it’s a little difficult to use, especially compared to Cloudstrike, but I just think it’s immensely powerful and satisfying to use.
Firstly, it’s in the Kinetic slot, meaning that I can use this alongside an Energy SMG or Hand Cannon — before, this was difficult as the only good Exotic PvP Sniper was Cloudstrike, which was also in the Energy slot.
Secondly, it’s a one-shot crit from practically any range (that I could measure), meaning that as long as you can hit headshots, you’re going to be able to absolutely ruin your opponents in the Crucible.
I’d compare it to Cloudstrike, but I think this feels a lot better to use and also generally works better in a lot of scenarios — I love the multikill ability on Cloudstrike, but it’s worse for double-shotting, where New Land Beyond thrives. Even a body shot will fully take out an enemy shield and then some, meaning you can easily shoot and then find cover to reload as your teammates finish them off if you didn’t get the kill.
Obviously, the massive tradeoff here is that once you’ve shot with it, reloading it is a death wish, and you’ll have to quickly change to your other weapon to not be a sitting duck. On top of this, it once again is generally a lot to handle, and aiming is nowhere near as easy as with Cloudstrike.
Competitive and Trials
Generally speaking, in Competitive and presumably Trials of Osiris (which hasn’t been on in the time since its release), this gun is going to be a very popular choice. It feels a lot like the AWP in Counter-Strike, and I feel like it’s made for holding down lanes and lines of sight in the same way.
I generally think that this is more of a tactical gun than Cloudstrike’s quickscope potential. Of course, there’s a distinct danger in using this gun, and you need to be aware of this before taking it into Competitive PvP — I paired it with Exalted Truth to be able to body shot and then quickly finish the job.
I am very excited to see this in Trials, though, as I think that it’s a pretty skill-expressive gun and it’s going to become a Crucible mainstay in the long term.
Is it worth it for PvP?
Generally speaking, while I do enjoy the gun and I’m glad I’ve got it, I do think that Cloudstrike is already good enough, and you don’t need to 100% worry about the FOMO of not having access to New Land Beyond.
But, once again, if you were already intending on preordering and just wanted to know if New Land Beyond is good enough as a pre-order bonus, the answer for PvP is a yes, provided you want to learn how to use the gun and get good with it. It’s not a plug-and-play option, the gun is very unforgiving, and so learning how it works will be vital.
Closing Time
New Land Beyond is a great gun and really fun to use. Whether it’s worth the preorder is a question of whether you want to preorder the new expansion, but if you already do, then this is a great bonus. I don’t think that it’s essential, though, and you definitely shouldn’t get swept up by the hype and FOMO that comes with a pre-order bonus.
In any case, what do you think? Let me know if you agree about how great this gun is, or how awful it feels to use if you’re not a fan. Otherwise, go and check out the rest of our coverage on The Year of Prophecy and Rite of the Nine to get up to date with everything else recently.
Thank you so much for your time, and I’ll see you in the land beyond.
