Banshee-44

"Marks on my body tell me I've seen plenty of action. If need be, I'm ready for more. The Tower is my home. It suits me, and I'll protect it, no matter the cost."

Banshee-44 is an Exo Gunsmith, located within the Tower on the far right side of the Vault and the far left of the Cryptarch. He sells weapons for field testing, telemetries that increase upgrade weapons for a certain type of weapon, and ammo synthesis items for Guardians. He can also sell legendary weapons that arrive on Armsday, if the player has earned enough reputation by testing weapons for him.

Lives -1 Through -43
Banshee-44 is the Exo form of Clovis Bray I. His body was originally constructed as a personal assistant to Bray with high-spec components that drastically increase his strength, agility, and durability over other Exos. After his torture at the hands of Maya Sundaresh, Clovis I chose to upload his mind into two units: A copy with his memories intact became the controlling AI of the Deep Stone Crypt, while his assistant became Clovis-1, imprinted with his personality but reset per normal Exo protocol. Clovis-1 came to despise his former self, and joined his granddaughter in going to war against the Vex unleashed by Clovis I's research. After a number of resets well beyond the recommended limit, Elsie began to accept that Clovis-43 had changed for the better, only for him to request another reset at the end of their war, so that he would finally be free of the atrocities he committed as a human. To further accomplish this, he requested that Elsie replace the name in his imprint with a nickname he received, "Banshee."

Early Life in the Tower
As with all Exos, Banshee-44 has no recollection of his former functional purpose. In fact, he may have had his memory wiped multiple times, more than forty by his own reckoning and according to the suffix of his name. Still, he has some faint recollections of his past. Following reactivation, Banshee-44 made his way to the Last City, setting up a shop selling guns and ammo synthesis packs to Tower Guardians. At some point he was an active duty soldier, and saw action in the Twilight Gap.

Banshee-44 attended the funeral of the Warlock Albios on the moon of Io following the Guardian's last stand. He and Cayde-6 became bored during the long ceremony and he bet that Cayde could not make several risky jumps on the nearby mesas. Although Cayde broke both his legs, he won the bet, and Banshee gave him some loot in exchange.

The Rising Darkness
When a newly risen Guardian from the Cosmodrome in Old Russia arrived to requisition a new weapon, Banshee offered them a choice between a Marshal-A, Psi Umbra I, Trax Callum I, and a Duke Mk. 10. He reassured the Guardian that he kept them all cleaned and prepped so they would not jam.

The Red War and Aftermath


When the Red Legion assaulted the Last City at the dawn of the Red War, Banshee-44 came across the body of Voyc, Shadow of the Wilds, who had perished in an attempt to assassinate Dominus Ghaul during the assault at the behest of Emperor Calus. He recovered Leviathan's Breath from the Psion's body, recognizing the weapon from numerous legends he had heard of in his occupation as a gunsmith. With the bow in hand, Banshee successfully evacuated from the Tower as it fell to the Cabal. The Vanguard was able to liberate the Last City and set up a new command center at the New Tower. Banshee returned and set up a workshop, continuing to offer his services as a gunsmith to the Guardians and aiding them in upgrading their weapons.

When Lord Shaxx instituted a new ranking system in the Crucible, Banshee began workshopping ideas for a prototype weapon to arm one of the top-ranked contenders with. While watching one match, Banshee noticed a Exo Titan who scored numerous double kills and was informed by Shaxx that the Guardian was Redrix-3. As Redrix rose in the ranks of the Crucible, his skill with pulse rifles inspired other Guardians and resulted in Banshee being unable to keep up with all the new orders for weapons of that type. This inspired Banshee to begin construction on a pulse rifle, but he asked Shaxx to continue testing Redrix's skills in the Crucible. After Redrix passed his tests, Banshee and Shaxx provided him with Redrix's Claymore. Banshee subsequently began producing a successor to the weapon, which he dubbed Redrix's Broadsword, which would be awarded to Guardians who followed in Redrix's footsteps in the Crucible.

Restoring the Ace of Spades
"Rather lose every last memory in my head than know that little prince holds Cayde's prized cannon: the Ace of Spades. You gotta promise me. Put Uldren in the ground. And get the Ace of Spades back. If anyone should have the Ace... S'you."

- Banshee to the Young Wolf

In the aftermath of Cayde-6's murder at the hands of Prince Uldren Sov of the Reef, Banshee grieved the death of his close friend. As the Young Wolf prepared to depart from the Tower to hunt down Uldren in the Tangled Shore, Banshee spoke with them and admitted that while his memory was not what it used to be he would never forget Cayde. He also informed them that Cayde's will stipulated that whoever killed him got all his worldly possessions, but Banshee was outraged at the thought of the treacherous Prince of the Reef claiming ownership of Cayde's prized Ace of Spades, which Banshee had helped forge. He asked the Young Wolf to promise him that they would kill Uldren and recover the Ace of Spades.

When the Young Wolf returned after killing Uldren and retrieving the Ace of Spades, Banshee was pleased that the traitor was dead and Cayde's prized weapon had been recovered. However, he saw that the Ace had been badly damaged during its recovery and needed to be repaired before it could be used. Banshee revealed that Cayde kept spare parts for the Ace in his loot stashes that he had scattered throughout the solar system, which Banshee informed the Young Wolf were now theirs as well, and requested that they find the caches so they could use the parts to repair the Ace. After all the parts were located, Banshee utilized them to repair the Ace. Pleased with his work, Banshee began to ask the Young Wolf to remember something when using the gun, but lost track of what he was saying. Confused by the conversation, he asked the Young Wolf if they had seen Cayde around recently, unable to remember that his friend had perished.

A Thorny Issue
Several months later, the Young Wolf brought another broken hand cannon to Banshee for advice on fixing. Upon seeing the mangled husk of a Thorn, he remained quiet for a few moments before telling the Guardian that while he did not mind helping them, he would have to report the weapon to Ikora. Banshee also recommened just throwing the frame away and making a different weapon from scratch before dutifully providing the Young Wolf with a list of materials needed to fix the dreaded and forbidden weapon. Once he finished and the Young Wolf left, Banshee unfortunately forgot the details of the conversation and did not report the Thorn to Ikora.

Vex Offensive and Beyond
During the Vex invasion of the Moon, Banshee pulled the Young Wolf aside to offer them a weapon he'd been keeping in a secret workshop since the Red War, forgetting to mention how exactly to get into the workshop, except that Cayde knew the way in. The Young Wolf's Ghost would deduce that the entrance was in the Tower hangar, considering that Cayde spent much of his time there. Eventually, the Young Wolf would return to Banshee to inform him that they found the weapon, a heavy Bow, inside a display case with no way to get in. Unfortunately, Banshee would realize he forgot the code for the display case, and requests that the Young Wolf gather combat data in order to regenerate the code from scratch. After gathering all the data, Banshee would finish the code generation with biometric authentication, and the Young Wolf returned to the workshop to claim the Bow.

The Young Wolf would return to Banshee many times over the following year with a number of different weapons they acquired in their travels, to which he would offer to help improve them with his expertise.

Banshee would be commissioned by Commander Zavala to build a trophy for the Guardian Games. He would confide to the Young Wolf that he didn't care which Guardian class won the games, but was happy that everyone was discussing something that wasn't the approaching Almighty. However, shortly after, he would end up forgetting the Guardian Games entirely and mistaking it for the Revelry.

Shortly after the arrival of Pyramids in the system, Banshee would be asked by Commander Zavala to analyze a weapon that Eris Morn and the Young Wolf had obtained; the Ruinous Effigy. He would discover that the weapon is made of an unknown organic material, and that it consumes the user's Light to convert it into weaponized Void energy, noting that this didn't seem to be harmful to the user.

Lost Lament
During the Young Wolf's raid on the Deep Stone Crypt, Banshee suddenly fell unconscious, and woke up disoriented with scraps of his former life's memories returning. When the Young Wolf returned to the Tower, Banshee's senses went haywire once again. Believing them to be connected, Banshee asked them for assistance making sense of what he remembers. Upon wielding the sword he fought the Vex with in the war on Europa, he remembered his name and former life, a revelation which he is unnerved by but accepts.

Personality and traits
"Lotta folks only get one chance. I've had 44 to start over—to get it right. I feel like I've done it this time. Must have messed up the previous 43… I know I never want to see 45, that's for sure. If I have to give everything I have to save the people and home I care about, so be it. Might be time for a new generation, anyway."

- Banshee reflecting on his nature as an Exo

Banshee exhibits a somewhat depressed mood, but also shows a dry sense of humor. He regarded not knowing about his previous lives as a blessing, believing that he must have messed them up somehow, and had no desire to live a forty-fifth reboot. He also seems to be very forgetful, sometimes even mentioning people he has lost as though they were still alive. This is likely an unfortunate by-product of him having been rebooted so many times, as excessive memory wipes are known to degrade an Exo's mind.

Despite his memory issues, Banshee is extremely dedicated to the people of the Tower and the Last City, regarding them as his true home and is willing to fight and die to defend it. He views his work arming Guardians for their fight as the highest possible calling he could answer to help safeguard humanity. Banshee dislikes those who are driven by selfishness or greed and believes that only the good are worth helping.

In a slice of almost fourth-wall broaching humor, Banshee shows an awareness of the absurdity of Guardians repeatedly bringing him scraps and dismantled parts of guns, in the hopes he can piece together a new weapon to their liking. Oftentimes the products of his work don't match their specification, but they keep returning to the storied gunsmith for hopeful new creations.

Inventory
Banshee-44 has a rotating stock of weapons available, from Common to Rare in quality. He also sells consumables for players to give them some much-needed help in firefights, such as ammo synthesis, which refills ammo for a weapon with varying cooldowns, or weapon telemetries, which speeds up weapon upgrade progression.

Destiny 2
Banshee-44 serves as a vendor with his own reputation rankup packages. Gunsmith Materials (earned from dismantling rare, legendary and exotic weapons and armor) and Gunsmith Telemetry (earned by getting a certain amount of Arc, Solar or Void kills while an appropriate Gunsmith Telemetry Ghost is equipped) could be turned in to Banshee-44 to receive weapons. The launch of The Witch Queen changed this so that reputation was gained immediately from dismantled items. In addition to a rank rewards track where he offers upgrade materials, he will grant a random legendary weapon currently in the world or core playlist loot pools.

Inventory
In Destiny 2, Banshee-44 sells random legendary weapon mods, rotating on a daily basis. He also sells upgrade modules and random weapons which rotate on a weekly basis.

† Upgrade Modules can be bought with a choice between two types of Planetary Materials to pay, which rotates weekly.

Destiny 1
Players can gain reputation with Banshee by field testing weapons in different situations. Banshee offers a selection of five random experimental weapons to test in the field each week. So long as the player is at least level 38 and has room in their inventory, the player can take as many as they want. These weapons act as their own bounties, requiring use under a specific set of conditions. Upon completing the bounty, the weapon will automatically grant +250 Gunsmith reputation and can be dismantled or kept for future use. Test weapons and their possible challenges include:


 * Häkke Test-A (Auto Rifle)
 * Kill Fallen enemies
 * Kill Cabal enemies
 * Häkke Test-A (Hand Cannon)
 * Score double-kills
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Häkke Test-A (Pulse Rifle)
 * Score precision kills
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Häkke Test-A (Shotgun)
 * Kill Hive enemies
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Häkke Test-A (Sniper Rifle)
 * Score double-kills
 * Kill Cabal Centurions
 * Omolon Test FR1 (Fusion Rifle)
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Kill Vex Minotaurs
 * Omolon Test HC1 (Hand Cannon)
 * Score precision kills
 * Kill Vex targets
 * Omolon Test RR1 (Sniper Rifle)
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Kill Fallen Captains
 * SUROS TSA-10 (Auto Rifle)
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Score precision kills
 * SUROS TSP-10 (Pulse Rifle)
 * Kill Hive enemies
 * Kill Vex enemies
 * SUROS TSR-10 (Rocket Launcher)
 * Score kills in the Crucible
 * Kill Major or Ultra-rank enemies

Armsday
At reputation level 1, Banshee will allow players to purchase with 2500 glimmer (as opposed to Legendary Marks) a legendary weapon that will arrive on the next Wednesday with randomized perks. For each reputation level, Banshee-44 will allow players to purchase another weapon for armsday, as well as increase the number of roll options for Armsday. For example, at rank 3, a player can purchase 3 weapons, and when armsday comes around, they have three different choices per weapon for what modifiers they want.

Reforging
Any weapon with the "Reforge Ready" perk (mostly House of Wolves and Iron Banner weapons) can be taken to Banshee-44 to have its perks and elemental modifier (if any) randomized, at the cost of resetting upgrade progress. This costs one Mote of Light, 3 Weapon Parts, and 250 Glimmer.

Destiny 1
Banshee plays an important part in acquiring multiple exotic weapons through exotic quests personalized by what class you play as.

Back in the Saddle
At rank 2, Banshee-44 will have a Quest for a class-specific legendary special weapon. This must be completed to enable the exotic weapon quest. Hunters receive Stillpiercer, Titans receive Immobius, and Warlocks receive Susanoo.

Upon reaching Gunsmith rank 3, Banshee-44 will offer the player a quest which will reward one of three Exotic weapons depending on the player's class. Hunters will receive Ace of Spades Hand Cannon, Titans will receive Fabian Strategy Auto Rifle, and Warlocks will receive Tlaloc Scout Rifle.

Imprecation
At rank 5, Banshee-44 will have a new quest. He will require the player to get kills with Hand Cannons while a telemetry is active. Then the player has to wait until Armsday to pick up a field test weapon called Imprecation. They must infuse the weapon, get kill sprees with it, and then precision kill sprees. They must then wait for another Armsday delivery to get The First Curse.

Reward: The First Curse

Sleeper Simulant
To trigger this quest, players need to find and collect four "Dark Age Relics" that randomly drop from Major and Ultra enemies; the relics appear as Legendary Fusion Rifles (labeled "DVALIN-RAS8711-FR00x", with the "x" being a number between 1 and 4) that are added to the Mission items section of the player's inventory. These items can be given to Banshee-44 for 200 reputation each.

From there, the player will have to perform a series of missions and puzzles involving recovered artifacts. See Sleeper Simulant for more details. Once these puzzles are complete, Banshee-44 will take the completed IKELOS Fusion Core and will have the player come back at the next Armsday.

Reward: Sleeper Simulant

Destiny 2
Similar to Destiny 1, Banshee-44 plays an important role in several exotic weapon quests.

Sight, Shoot, Repeat
Upon receiving the MIDA Mini-Tool from Devrim Kay in the EDZ World Quest "Enhance" (or alternatively, transferring the MIDA Mini-Tool from another character), Banshee will have this quest for you.


 * Step 1 - Eliminate 50 enemies with a scout rifle + Eliminate 25 groups of enemies without reloading.
 * Step 2 - Dismantle 5 rare or legendary scout rifles.
 * Step 3 (The Fall Will Kill You quest) - Kill 50 enemies with an SMG while airborne (this can be done while standing on anything that isn't the ground. Walls, rocks, cars, etc. all count as being airborne).
 * Step 4 - Return to Banshee to receive your MIDA Multi-Tool.

Cayde's Will
"You gotta promise me. Put Uldren in the ground. And get the Ace of Spades back. If anyone should have the Ace...S'you."

- Banshee-44 to The Guardian

After the death of Cayde-6, Banshee challenges players to take the Ace of Spades Back from Uldren.

Quotes

 * "Looks like you had a rough night." (if approached by a Guardian during the night)


 * "That got the range you need, Hunter?" (if selling a sniper rifle to a Hunter)


 * "That gun belongs in an Exo's hands." (if selling a weapon to an Exo guardian)


 * "Had these with us at Twilight Gap. Went pretty badly. Not the gun's fault." (after purchasing a weapon)


 * "Careful where you point that thing!" (after purchasing a weapon)


 * "I'll remember you...maybe." (after completing transactions)


 * "Reef work, alright not bad. Too fancy. I can fix that."


 * "Shotty, as if I wouldn't notice. All my wipes, seen all the tricks."


 * "Late shipment again. Strikes, shortages, always some excuse."


 * "What was the name of that officer? Only I remember her, and so little. How her rifle jammed, then gone."


 * "The fires below us as we dropped on the coast."


 * "Are those teeth marks? Nasty."


 * "Wolk Howling, on the field where he fell. Never gets better for some."


 * "Told him it wouldn't stop Cabal. Some men never listen."


 * "What was her name. Fierce eyes, full of light. The hell was it."


 * "Nadir aren't what they used to be. I remember the new guy's grandfather."


 * "Exos don't dream, he said. But what's dream, and what's memory?" *grumbles* "Just fix the gun, Banshee."


 * "Very good. Must let Cassoid know this is adequate. But don't let it get to their heads."


 * "Of course I can. Forgotten more about guns than she's ever known."


 * "How many times has my system been wiped. 41, 42, 43?"


 * "All these lives on the line, and Daito wants more Glimmer. What goes through their heads down there?"


 * "Best Exo I ever served under up and vanished one night. That's war."


 * "First time was incompetence, this time it's sabotage. Get to the bottom of this."


 * "Say what you like about the Cabal. They know guns."


 * "Nice marks on your armor. Never seen them before. What made them?"

Trivia

 * Banshee-44 is voiced by John DiMaggio.
 * Banshee has, in fact, been rebooted 44 times.
 * Banshee seems to have a past where he smuggled weapons that the Vanguard didn't know about to Cayde-6, judging by his line in the Grimoire card for the Ace of Spades.
 * Until the completion of the Destiny 2 campaign, Arcite 99-40 takes his role as a gunsmith at The Farm.
 * Banshee takes on an alternate pose in his vendor screen for the duration of the Forsaken story, crossing his arms and brooding while looking off into the distance. He reverts back to performing maintenance on a SUROS auto rifle after the player restores the Ace of Spades back to its former glory.
 * As a human, Banshee developed a habit of scratching the back of his head, which took fifteen reboots as an Exo to break.
 * Banshee may have a limp, although it is never seen in game.
 * In Season of the Haunted, the weapon Banshee is seen working on changed from a SUROS auto rifle to Telesto. This change coincidentally accompanied the introduction of several bugs to the Tower, such as NPCs disappearing, the Telesto itself disappearing, and game crashes when interacting with Banshee.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Taken King
 * Rise of Iron
 * Destiny 2
 * Forsaken
 * Black Armory
 * Joker's Wild
 * Shadowkeep
 * Season of Dawn
 * Season of the Worthy
 * Season of Arrivals
 * Beyond Light
 * Season of the Chosen
 * Season of the Splicer