Pirrha, the Rifleman

"Trust me, kids: Keep your eyes open, head down …and your Ghost close."

- Cayde-6

Pirrha, the Rifleman is a Baron of the Scorn who specializes in long-range combat. He is a Raider class Scorn.

Early campaigns
"He was unseen during the Wolves uprising, but many credit him with the assassination of the Queen's palace guard."

- The Lawless Frontier

The Rifleman was once discarded by his House for his blindness, only for him to cure his disability by implanting a cybernetic eye linked to the tracking system in his Scorn Launcher.

He quickly developed a proficiency with it and became capable crack-shot with his all-seeing eye. Due to his dependence of machinery, he is similar to other infamous Fallen who infused themselves robotics such as Taniks, the Scarred and House of Devils Splicers with SIVA.

Known as the "Ghost of the Hellrise Canyon", he lures unsuspecting travelers into an impenetrable security network before eliminating them from afar, while also removing any threats such as Corsairs to let his fellow Barons plan their next move. He was noted for the deaths of many Palace Guards during the House of Wolves uprising, and took part in the shootout at Pallas Falls where three Awoken Paladins lost their lives. Pirrha is also known to have destroyed multiple Ghosts.



After being imprisoned deep within the Prison of Elders alongside his fellow Barons, he was freed by Uldren Sov and was present at the murder of Cayde-6 - he shot the Hunter Vanguard's Ghost Sundance with a specialised Devourer Bullet that operated on an ontological level similar to the Weapons of Sorrow. He would return to Hellrise Canyon spreading his tyranny as a phantom.

Hunt for the Rifleman
"Or I mount your Ghost on my wall... next to Cayde's... [laughs]"

- Pirrha

In search of the Baron who murdered the Ghost of Cayde-6 and led to the eventual death of Cayde, the Guardians trace the Rifleman to Sorik's Cut. They locate his snipers nest above a tower with an abandoned Queenbreakers' Bow. The Baron interferes with their radio comms and mocks the Guardians by saying they are "good target practice".

By tracking his signal, he is located to the middle of Sorik's Cut and proceeds to battle the Guardians by teleporting to different positions. As he is about to be defeated the Baron makes a quick escape by activating his cloaking device and leaving behind a shadowy blue trail of Dark Ether.

The Ghost tracks his position to Jetsam of Saturn, where the Guardians eliminate the Rifleman, only to be mocked by him as it was a Decoy of him. After fighting through the Hive the Guardians retrieve the item dropped by his Decoy and learn that the Rifleman employs lightweight simulation tech to project his decoys.



As more of his decoys fall at the hand of the Guardians, he mocks them by saying Uldren wants them dead and he will personally deliver their bodies to Uldren while keeping their Ghost. He further ridicules them by saying he will sell their Ghost to the Spider or mount it on his wall next to Cayde's fallen Ghost. The Guardians retaliate by with more damage to him, only for him to escape again and be cornered within the deepest caverns of the Hellrise Canyon.

There he engages the Guardians in a full scale assault by summoning waves of Scorn and an army of his Decoys. His efforts to repel the Guardians would be in vain as they overcome his trickery and avenge the death of Cayde by killing him.

Personality
Pirrha is known for his mocking antics as he belittles the Guardian by calling them things such as "target practice" and hold them to low regard. He also an ego, as he frequently taunts the Guardian and continuously boasts about his kill count, Cayde-6 in particular. He also appears to see Ghosts as trophies, as he remarks on how he'll either sell the Ghost's shell to the Spider, a keen collector, or mount them on his wall as decoration.

Though a skilled hunter and assassin, Pirrha's overconfidence in his ability to kill the Guardian led to his death.

Gameplay


Pirrha's main weapon of choice is a Scorn Crossbow, which fires powerful charged Void arrows from long range that can easily hit their mark; their high damage can crack a Guardian's shield in an instant. When faced at closer ranges, he will teleport or smoke dash to evade and flank the player, and if cornered, he will stomp the ground to knock them back. His most devastating ability, however, is the use of solid-light decoys. The decoys can easily distract unprepared Guardians and overwhelm them with constant crossbow fire, although they are easily destroyed. If his use of numerous simultaneous decoys proves bothersome, one can deactivate them en masse with a few shots each from a high ammo capacity weapon capable of automatic fire, before focusing their firepower on Pirrha himself.

Quotes

 * "Go on, take out your Ghost. I need the target practice."
 * "Every shot I take adds another soldier to the Scorn army."
 * "Ah... Target practice."
 * "You... missed... hahaha..."
 * "King Uldren wants you dead. [laughs]"
 * I bring him your body... keep your Ghost. [laughs]"
 * Sell it's shell to Spider. [laughs]"
 * ...Or I mount your Ghost on my wall... next to Cayde's... [laughs]"
 * I... seeeee... you..."

Trivia

 * Pirrha is the fourth English-speaking Fallen observed in the Destiny series, behind Variks, the Loyal, the Spider, and Fikrul, the Fanatic.
 * Notably, Pirrha sounds more human when compared to the other English-speaking Fallen or Scorn.
 * He wears the pelt of a Cabal War Beast, as well as its mask.
 * Pirrha and Yaviks are the only Barons who can have a different death animation depending on what element was used to kill them, including kinetic.
 * In the Forsaken-themed playing cards pre-order bonus, Pirrha is erroneously named as "Sekris, the Blind", however this name belongs to another Fallen, who also highly skilled in cybernetics and Servitor mechanics and inspired generations of Fallen.
 * It's possible that Sekris would've made an appearance as the rifleman, but the idea was scrapped.

List of appearances

 * Destiny 2
 * Forsaken