Sleeper Simulant

"Subroutine IKELOS: Status=complete. MIDNIGHT EXIGENT: Status=still in progress."

- Weapon Description

Destiny
Sleeper Simulant is an exotic Heavy-slot Fusion Rifle acquired in The Taken King. The weapon is based on a Dark Age weapon, the DVALIN FORGE Fusion Rifles, but with much more power behind it, and was forged by Rasputin to give directly to the Guardians as a result of the IKELOS subroutine. The weapon's lasers over-penetrate enemies and bounce off walls.

Acquisition
To trigger the quest to obtain the Sleeper Simulant, players need to collect four "Golden 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 must be turned into Banshee-44. Handing them over to Banshee-44 will also grant 200 Gunsmith reputation.

Once all four relics have been turned in, logging in to the game will trigger a new mission: The First Firewall. Upon reaching the heart of Rasputin's bunker, several waves of Hive Knights and Taken Knights will appear. The order in which they appear relates to codes that will be needed after the mission. At the final wave, an Ultra Hive Knight named Kandorak will appear. Kill him to obtain the Curious Transceiver. To activate it, input the correct codes based on the order that the Knights appeared (Hive representing the top row, and Taken representing the bottom row). The codes are as follows, with "1" signifying the top row and "2" signifying the bottom row:

1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1

After correctly entering all four codes, the next mission, Shadow Call, becomes available. The player has four minutes to reach the top of the Devil's Spire, open a chest, and kill the three Taken Wizards there. They will drop the IKELOS Fusion Core. To repair the core, the player needs to dismantle a legendary heavy weapon, complete The Archive on any difficulty, and complete a Warsat event on Earth, the Moon, and Mars, then select the corresponding nodes on the Core. Turn the Core in to Banshee, and wait until the next daily reset. The final stage of the quest requires completing a matchmade 280 Light version of Fallen S.A.B.E.R. to obtain a weapon frame. Give the frame to Banshee and he will reward the completed Sleeper Simulant, which comes in at 290 Attack.

Gameplay
Compared to a standard Fusion Rifle, the Sleeper Simulant has much more range and accuracy. Instead of firing seven individual bolts per burst, it only fires one. It has the pinpoint accuracy of a sniper rifle (though it uses a low-zoom sight), which is something most heavy weapons lack, and is capable of precision damage. Each beam fired has virtually unlimited range as well as no damage falloff, meaning that the damage inflicted, either at close or long range, will be all the same. On the subject matter of damage, the Sleeper Simulant inflicts extremely high damage per shot, making it a devastating weapon to use against bosses, and can even penetrate closed Shriekers. In the Crucible, it will kill any Guardian in one shot, even if that opponent has a damage-reducing Super active, such as Hammer of Sol (an Arc or Void Sword block, however, will keep a player alive). The ricochet of the laser can even come back and hit you if you aren't careful where you aim it.

Intrinsic properties:

 * Sleeper Simulant: Projectile over-penetrates enemies and ricochets once on hard surfaces. Projectile capable of dealing precision damage.

Barrel Upgrades

 * CQB Ballistics - Greatly reduced recoil. Significant penalty to range.
 * Smooth Ballistics - Increased recoil. Boost to range.

Support Perk:

 * Hip Fire - This weapon gains bonus accuracy while firing from the hip.

Stat Modifiers:

 * Speed Reload - Reload this weapon quickly.
 * Custom Optics - Precision glass for better zoom.
 * Injection Mold - Increased stability, faster handling. Reduced range.

Exotic Perk:

 * Activate IKELOS - Increases bounce count of projectile to 5.

Acquisition
The Sleeper Simulant can be acquired after completing the main storyline of the Warmind DLC. First, players must complete the World Quest Data Recovery; completing it will reward both the Nascent Dawn 1/5 and Violent Intel items, along with an IKELOS_HC_v1.0.1; the IKELOS HC is vital to acquiring the Sleeper Simulant, as Violent Intel is the first stage of The Machine's Gun questline, which ultimately rewards the player with the Sleeper Simulant.

Unlike the original, there is no puzzle required to unlock or acquire it, and far fewer steps overall, though the quest steps are moderately challenging as-of launch due to power levels.

For the first phase, the player must use an IKELOS weapon (of which there are five, counting the Simulant; aside from the Handcannon, three others may be earned from Escalation Protocol) and defeat 250 Hive and 100 Cabal on Mars' Hellas Basin region. Any kind of Hive and Cabal will qualify for the quest, though the Cabal must all be killed with Precision damage. From there, 50 Powerful Enemies must be defeated, though this can take place in any location. Once that step has been completed, the player must then complete five Heroic Strikes. From there, they must then complete three waves of Escalation Protocol (three seperate instances of the first wave will suffice) and open fifteen Sleeper Nodes (requiring four Resonant Stems each, for a total of 60). Once the requisite waves have been cleared and nodes opened, the player will need to complete a 360 Light Level version of Will of the Thousands; successful completion will award a Sleeper Simulant appropriate to the player's current Light Level.

Gameplay
In Destiny 2, Sleeper Simulant is classed as a Linear Fusion Rifle. It has an extremely limited ammo capacity of 2 shots and a reserve of 6 more (for a total of 8) but inflicts massive Solar damage on precision hits - upwards of 3 to 4 times its baseline damage - depending upon the user's power level, target's power level, and weak point struck. It excels at quickly disposing of powerful opponents, especially those with Solar-based shields; Hive Wizards and Cabal Centurions are especially vulnerable to it, as it can easily blast through all of their shield and most of their health in a single shot. However, it's very weak against enemies with no weak spots such as Cabal Thresher Gunships.

Whilst Linear Fusion Rifles fire a single energy bolt, the Sleeper Simulant's beam will fragment and disperse into five smaller beams upon striking a surface. As with its original incarnation, the Sleeper's projectiles can bounce back and strike the weapon's user.

Trivia

 * The weapon's magazine bears the same symbol used on Rasputin's Grimoire card.
 * The inspiration behind the weapon was the F117 Nighthawk, both visually and symbolically, as an advanced technological prototype with a rough, geometric appearance.

List of appearances

 * [Destiny]]
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Warmind