The Last Word has arrived in Destiny: Rising, and this iconic solar hand cannon is bringing serious firepower to players who master its unique mechanics. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about The Last Word, including its complete stat breakdown, exotic traits, catalyst upgrades, and optimal build recommendations to help you dominate in Destiny: Rising content.

Weapon Overview

The Last Word is a Solar elemental exotic hand cannon that rewards aggressive, skilled play with a dual-buff system that dramatically increases your damage output. What makes this weapon special is its ability to stack two separate buffs simultaneously—one for hip fire and one for aimed shots—allowing experienced players to achieve exceptional damage numbers.

This weapon excels in the hands of Diren Ward players specifically, though its mechanics make it a strong choice for any Guardian looking for a high-skill-ceiling hand cannon option.

The Last Word Exotic Hand Cannon — The Last Word - Legendary Solar Exotic Hand Cannon in Destiny: Rising

Complete Stat Breakdown

Before diving into mechanics, here are The Last Word's base statistics:

Core Combat Stats

Primary Combat Statistics

Element

Solar

DPS

534

Damage per Shot

2,494

Precision Bonus

1.6x (66% bonus damage on headshots)

Rate of Fire

225

Magazine Capacity

10 rounds

Handling Stats

Stat	Value
Reload Speed	80
Range	36
Stability	56
Handling	30

These stats place The Last Word in a strong position among exotic hand cannons, with particularly notable reload speed and a solid magazine size that supports sustained engagements.

Intrinsic Exotic Trait: Fan Fire

The Last Word's intrinsic trait, Fan Fire, is the core of what makes this weapon exceptional. This trait creates a dual-buff system that rewards both hip fire and aimed shooting styles.

Paid in Full (Hip Fire Buff)

When you land a hit on a target while hip firing, you gain the Paid in Full buff for 5 seconds. This buff gradually stacks, providing:

Up to 40% increased damage
Up to 40% increased reload speed

The key word here is "gradually"—the buff builds over multiple hits rather than applying instantly at maximum strength (though the catalyst changes this, which we'll cover below).

Settled in Turn (Aimed Shots Buff)

When you aim down sights and land precision hits (headshots), you gain the Settled in Turn buff for 5 seconds. This buff gradually provides:

Up to 60% increased precision damage
Up to 40% increased accuracy

Stacking Both Buffs Simultaneously

Here's where The Last Word becomes truly powerful: you can maintain both Paid in Full and Settled in Turn at the same time. The buffs operate independently, meaning skilled players can:

Start an engagement with hip fire shots to build Paid in Full stacks
Transition to aimed shots and land headshots to build Settled in Turn stacks
Maintain both buffs as long as they don't reload

Warning

Reloading your weapon removes both buffs entirely (unless you have the catalyst upgrade that prevents this—more on that below). This creates an important gameplay consideration where you must balance sustained fire against the need to reload.

Weapon Perk: Raised Wager

The Last Word features a secondary perk called Raised Wager that provides execution-style damage against weakened enemies.

How Raised Wager Works

When hip firing against enemies below certain health thresholds, torso shots will deal damage equivalent to precision (piercing) damage:

Enemy Type	Health Threshold
Base and Elite enemies	Below 75%
Boss and Powerful combatants	Below 50%

This perk essentially removes the headshot requirement for maximum damage once enemies are sufficiently weakened, making it easier to secure kills during chaotic combat situations where precision aiming becomes difficult.

The Last Word Catalyst

The catalyst for The Last Word significantly enhances its capabilities across multiple upgrade slots. Here's what each catalyst component provides:

Catalyst Slot 1: Instant Max Stacks

This upgrade fundamentally changes how the Fan Fire buffs work:

Effect: Landing a hip fire final blow OR landing a precision final blow while aiming down sights instantly grants the maximum number of buff stacks for the respective buff (Paid in Full or Settled in Turn).

Pro Tip

Without the catalyst, you must land multiple hits to gradually build your buff stacks to maximum. With this upgrade, a single kill immediately maxes out your damage potential. This changes the optimal playstyle—you may actually want to prioritize aimed headshot kills to instantly gain the full 60% precision damage bonus from Settled in Turn.

Catalyst Slot 2: Top Half Damage Bonus

Effect: The top half of your magazine deals an additional 30% damage.

This means rounds 1-5 in your 10-round magazine deal significantly more damage than rounds 6-10. This creates an incentive to reload frequently to stay in the "top half" of your magazine—which creates an interesting tension with the buff system that normally penalizes reloading.

Catalyst Band 2: Buff Preservation

This upgrade resolves the tension created by the previous perks:

Effect: Paid in Full and Settled in Turn stacks are preserved even after reloading.

Critical Note

This is a game-changing upgrade. With this catalyst band active, you can build up your damage buffs through combat, reload to refresh your magazine and regain access to the 30% top-half damage bonus, and continue dealing massive damage with all buffs still active.

For Diren Ward players specifically, you can use your dodge ability to instantly reload, immediately putting you back into the top half of your magazine while maintaining all your stacked buffs. This creates a devastating damage loop.

Catalyst Stat Boosts

The catalyst provides numerous stat improvements across its upgrade nodes:

Handling increases
Magazine Capacity increases
Stability increases (multiple nodes)
Accuracy increases (multiple nodes)
Range increases (multiple nodes)
Weapon Hit Damage Bonus (multiple nodes)

The catalyst is notably heavy on Weapon Hit Damage Bonus nodes, making it a significant overall damage increase even beyond the perk effects.

Build Recommendations for Diren Ward

The Last Word performs exceptionally well on Diren Ward due to the class's ability to dodge-reload, which synergizes perfectly with the catalyst's magazine mechanics.

Primary Recommendation: The Last Word + Octane Riot Disperser

For players seeking maximum burst damage potential, pairing The Last Word with the Octane Riot Disperser creates devastating burst windows.

Why This Pairing Works

The Octane Riot Disperser provides massive instantaneous burst damage
You can use Diren Ward's dodge to instantly reload
After dodge-reloading, your next shot is guaranteed to be a precision hit
This creates a loop of consistent, high-damage precision shots

Playstyle Tips

Build your Paid in Full and Settled in Turn stacks through combat
When you need burst damage, switch to Octane Riot Disperser
Use dodge to reload and guarantee precision hits
Melt targets with the combined buff bonuses

Note

This setup consumes ammunition very quickly when using burst mode. If ammo economy is a concern for longer activities, consider switching the Octane Riot Disperser out of burst mode to conserve resources.

Alternative Build: The Last Word + Thermal Prey 80

For players who want to run double mythic weapons, you can pair The Last Word with the Thermal Prey 80. However, if you're going to use Thermal Prey 80, you might actually get more value running either Crimson or The Last Word as your primary exotic hand cannon rather than splitting focus.

Mythic Weapon Comparison

If you don't have access to The Last Word or prefer mythic options, here's how the alternatives stack up for Diren Ward:

Empty Fort Strategy emerges as the best mythic choice for Diren Ward players. In testing, it:

Provided the fastest kill times among mythic options
Dealt the highest sustained damage over time
Felt the most responsive in actual gameplay

This makes Empty Fort Strategy particularly valuable for:

Higher-level content where eliminating dangerous enemies quickly matters
Speedrun attempts where time-to-kill is critical
Activities where powerful enemies (like Impact Shikika) need to be eliminated as fast as possible
Raid content (it saw significant use during the Eclipse Raid)

Exotic Hand Cannon Comparison

In testing against other exotic hand cannons and mythic weapons, The Last Word outperformed nearly all competitors in time-to-kill metrics.

The Last Word vs. Crimson

Crimson stands out as the only exotic hand cannon that competes with The Last Word in raw performance. Here's how to decide between them:

Choose The Last Word if:

You're willing to invest in maxing out the catalyst (requires multiple copies from the battle pass)
You enjoy the hip fire/aimed shot switching playstyle
You want maximum damage potential with full buff stacks

Choose Crimson if:

You already have Crimson fully built
You're a free-to-play player who doesn't want to invest heavily in the battle pass
You prefer a more straightforward hand cannon experience

Note

Maxing out The Last Word's catalyst band requires obtaining multiple copies of the weapon through the battle pass. If you're not planning to invest in the pass, Crimson offers competitive performance without requiring that investment.

Other Exotic Hand Cannons

Other tested exotic hand cannons showed significantly slower time-to-kill compared to The Last Word. While they may have niche uses, The Last Word and Crimson clearly lead the pack for Diren Ward players focused on optimal damage output.

Weapons to Avoid: Chaperone

For players considering exotic shotgun options, Chaperone is not recommended. Testing revealed it to be the weakest option among available shotguns. Players should invest their resources elsewhere rather than building Chaperone for endgame content.

Quick Reference Summary

The Last Word Key Points

Aspect	Details
Element	Solar
Weapon Type	Exotic Hand Cannon
Best Class	Diren Ward
Key Mechanic	Dual buff system (Paid in Full + Settled in Turn)
Catalyst Priority	High (enables buff preservation on reload)
Best Pairing	Octane Riot Disperser (burst damage)
Main Competitor	Crimson (more accessible alternative)
Playstyle	Aggressive, rewards skillful shooting

Buff Quick Reference

Buff Name	Trigger	Maximum Bonus
Paid in Full	Hip fire hits	+40% damage, +40% reload speed
Settled in Turn	ADS precision hits	+60% precision damage, +40% accuracy

Final Verdict

The Last Word earns its place as one of the premier exotic hand cannons in Destiny: Rising. Its dual-buff system rewards skilled players who can manage both hip fire and aimed shooting, while the catalyst transforms it into a sustained damage powerhouse that doesn't sacrifice buff uptime for magazine management.

For Diren Ward players especially, the synergy between dodge-reloading and the catalyst's buff preservation creates one of the most satisfying and effective hand cannon experiences in the game. While the investment required to fully upgrade the catalyst is significant, players who commit to The Last Word will find themselves wielding one of the most powerful primary weapons available.

Whether you're tackling high-level content, chasing speedrun times, or simply want the satisfaction of a well-designed exotic weapon, The Last Word delivers on its legendary reputation.