Where is Xur this week and what is he selling?

Folks, I regret to report that Xur is back, and he's still bugged. This week, the extra-terrestrial Destiny 2 gear merchant is loitering in the Watcher's Grave area on Nessus. Head straight forward from spawn, clamber up the big tree, and you'll find him on the first branch. If in doubt, look for a clump of player names also paying him a visit.

Xur arrives at 1:00 PM EST / 9.00 AM PDT / 17.00 PM GMT, and leaves when the game resets the following Tuesday. This week's wares can be found below, along with my recommendations. Since The Witch Queen launched, Xur has been bugged and is only selling armor (exotic and legendary) with low stat rolls. Therefore, for now, I advise only picking up exotics you don't already have.

Oathkeeper

Hunter exotic gauntlets
Mobility: +7
Resilience: +10
Recovery: +7
Discipline: +6
Intellect: +6
Strength: +10
Total: 46
Exotic perk: “Bows charges can be held indefinitely.”
Recommendation: I literally only use these in combination with Le Monarque to guarantee its perfect draw poison effect, which can itself feel like overkill now that we have the Volatile Rounds perk. They do look dope though, and what's not to like about making everything die to fizzing purple explosions?

Contraverse Hold

Warlock exotic gloves
Mobility: +6
Resilience: +6
Recovery: +12
Discipline: +12
Intellect: +6
Strength: +6
Total: 48
Exotic perk: “Resist incoming damage while charging your Void grenade. Charged Void grenades return grenade energy on a hit.”
Recommendation: Indisputably one of the best exotics for Voidwalkers. Pair with Vortex grenades and the Chaos Accelerant aspect, spec for max discipline, and you'll be able to achieve almost infinite uptime with your grenades.

Helm of Saint-14

Titan exotic boots
Mobility: +2
Resilience: +11
Recovery: +11
Discipline: +6
Intellect: +12
Strength: +6
Total: 48
Exotic perk: “Targets that enter Ward of Dawn are blinded, while allies that pass through gain a Void overshield. Guarding with Sentinel Shield blinds nearby targets.”
Recommendation: An absolute stalwart exotic of the Sentinel Titan class since Destiny 1, the Helm shines in high-level content where the blinding effect and ability to carry an overshield out of your bubble both increase survivability dramatically.

Tractor cannon

Exotic void power shotgun
Exotic Perk: “Impulse push that suppresses enemy abilities.”
Recommendation: Affectionately known as the 'boop cannon', Tractor provides an on-demand suppression effect that also weakens enemies (ie applies a debuff effect). It's normally considered clutch for team content with DPS phases, but as Ehroar showed in this recent video, it can also deal surprisingly substantial damage when you're running solo.  

Legendary armor and weapons 

Each week, Xur brings a range of armor that's no longer acquirable in-game. Perfect for transmog purposes, as we all know that creating killer fits is the true endgame. Unfortunately, as with the exotic armor pieces, these have been rolling with unusually low stats—hence 48s across the board below. Hopefully Bungie will address the issue soon. 

This week's set is the Ancient Apocalypse gear from Gambit. Not bad if you're going for a dusty scavenger look.

He also has a grab bag of weapons for sale, which thanks to his random nature can occasionally include a god roll perk combo. Both the guns and the armor cost 50 Legendary Shards and 1,000 glimmer per purchase.  Pick of the bunch this week is the Gnawing Hunger void autorifle, which has a ton of stability plus the Rampage damage perk. There's also a decent Wishbringer shotgun for PvP purposes.

Finally, squidface sells a randomly rolled version of Dead Man's Tale and Hawkmoon (i.e. some of the perks change each week), which can be found on the second tab of his inventory. 

These weapons were previously only obtainable via their own secret missions, which have since been sunset. Their cost is punitively high at 125k glimmer, 200 Legendary Shards, 1 Ascendant Shard and an Exotic Cipher. However, they're both great weapons, so if you didn't snag either when they were available, or Xur is selling a better roll than the one you have, it's still worth ponying up.

Dead Man's Tale

Exotic 120 RPM scout rifle
Barrel: Smallbore
Magazine: Armor-Piercing Rounds
Perk: Subsistence
Stock: Composite Stock
Exotic Perk: “Chaining precision hits grants bonus damage and quickens reload speed.”
Recommendation: This is a decent roll if you're primarily looking to use your DMT to clear trash mobs because Subsistence will ensure you rarely have to reload. Composite Stock and Smallbore provide nice stat bumps without any downsides, and AP rounds is also handy when it comes to stunning barrier champions.

Hawkmoon

Exotic 140 RPM kinetic hand cannon
Barrel: Smallbore
Magazine: Alloy Magazine
Perk: Hip-fire grip
Grip: Polymer Grip
Exotic Perk: “Final blows and precision hits with Hawkmoon grant stacks of Paracausal Charge. The final round in the magazine deals bonus damage based on the number of stacks. Stowing Hawkmoon on the final round removes this bonus.”
Recommendation: Hip-fire grip is an absolute no-no. Hawkmoon is not the kind of gun you want to fire without ADS-ing.

Before you go, don't forget to pick up the Exotic Cipher quest if you don't already have it. It's free, and will enable you to earn a random exotic just for completing a set amount of playlist activities.  See you next week, on the next episode of 'Bungie Y U no fix Xur?'