Trespasser Exotic Review

  • Pros – Very high stability, reload speed, and mag size. Hitscan.
  • Cons – Below average aim assist.

Recommended Perks:

  1. SureShot IS
  2. Relentless Tracker
  3. Hand Loaded
  4. Unrepentant

The Trespasser is the newest exotic sidearm added in with Rise of Iron, and, although it functions similarly to the Dreg’s Promise by firing a burst of shots, it fixes many of the issues that made the weapon unpopular. For example, the weapon is hitscan, which means the projectiles don’t have travel time, and it does enough damage to kill in two bursts flat in its optimal range. On top of that, the exotic perk allows the weapon to fire one extended burst if you reload after a kill, which can take down a full armor Guardian in a blazingly fast 0.40s. As far as perks go, you’ll definitely want to choose the SureShot IS sight, to make up for the gun’s one flaw, its below average base aim assist.

Relentless Tracker is the only option in the next slot, which, although not the most useful perk, can be helpful in increasing your situational awareness in the height of battle. In the third column, you have to choose between Hand Loaded, Reinforced Barrel, and Quickdraw.

When testing the weapon, I found that the differences in damage drop off between the three perks equated to just a couple meters, with Quickdraw having the damage drop off start around 10 meters, Hand Loaded at 11, and Reinforced Barrel pushing it out to 12 meters. However, Reinforced Barrel nearly doubled the amount of recoil suffered by the gun, so it wouldn’t be the prime choice. You’ll have to decide between an extra meter before damage fall off sets in, or much quicker ADS and ready speeds on the weapon.

I found the extra meter of full damage to be more useful, especially when taking down charging shotgunners, so Hand Loaded takes the cake in this recommendation. The final slot is taken up by the exotic perk, Unrepentant. After getting a kill, you have approximately three seconds to reload, which then gives you a five second timer to fire one super burst. Basically, what this does is fire two bursts consecutively without a delay between them, making one extended burst of six rounds. It does not do more damage than a normal burst, but it does have the capability of killing a 10 armor Guardian if you hit four crits and two body shots from it. In practice, this was both incredibly useful and slightly annoying.



Playing with this gun provided me with another much needed answer to the constant threat of aggressive shotgun play in the Crucible. Its optimal range is slightly longer than the one hit kill range of even the most powerful Party Crasher or Matador, and is more on par with a weapon like the Lord of Wolves. Unlike the LoW, the bullets don’t completely disappear once a range limit has been reached, and instead suffer normal (if aggressive) drop off like all sidearms. This trades a slower optimal TtK (0.53s, four crits and two body shots) for the ability to continue doing damage once drop off starts, and I actually found it useful to be able to go toe-to-toe with primary weapons if necessary and three burst at distances outside of shotgun range.

That being said, the optimal engagement window is still pretty small, and it was difficult to consistently utilize it, so it became a viable strategy only when there were really no other options. To avoid those situations, the Trespasser pairs well with scout rifles or other longer ranged primaries, which will allow you to cover the distances this gun doesn’t excel at.

Overall, the weapon’s purpose seems to be predicated on its ability to function as a shotgun deterrent for when players are charging directly at you. The lack of aim assist and extended recoil of the burst can make it difficult to track players who side-step, strafe, or otherwise make attempts to get out of the way of the shots, but any player who can’t avoid them will be disintegrated in a hail of arc rounds. The exotic perk is interesting, and works in a very high risk/high reward fashion.

If you can land the shots from the burst correctly, it will kill Guardians without needing a follow up, something that is immensely satisfying to do. However, if you miss the super burst, you’re left firing off the remaining rounds, and waiting a total of nearly two-thirds of a second before you can fire again. Being cautious and careful with the super burst can alleviate this problem, but the five second timer doesn’t give you much time to look for the perfect opportunities.



Trespasser can be described in PvE simply: Not the best, not the worst. Although the exotic perk can activate and be put to use much more often in PvE, it didn’t really seem to be outstanding in most situations. Although it was a wonderful gun for melting through adds in any encounter that features arc shields or arc burn, it just doesn’t have enough oomph to make it worth using in the exotic slot. Sidearms really just aren’t the best weapons in this facet of the game, where putting massive damage on bosses or quickly taking down majors is generally the main point of special weapons. It definitely seems to be a more PvP focused gun.



Based off of the famed Robocop Auto 9 pistol, the Trespasser has a very unique, slightly brutish look. Like a gun from the past, it appears to be a weapon with a purpose, and that purpose is to kill. Nothing fancy or pretty about it. The two ornaments, Fallen Assassin and Crucible Assassin, continue in this vein, offering little in the way of aesthetic improvements, instead opting for subtle color changes.

As far as the sound goes, it has a slightly muffled ping when it fires, which, while distinctive, is certainly not the most intimidating sound to hear. You’ll know if you are someone on your team gets killed by the Trespasser, but you probably won’t hesitate to seek retribution.



The Good: An excellent counter for aggressive shotgun play, the exotic perk is incredibly satisfying to use well. Fast optimal time-to-kill and the fact that it’s hitscan allow it to compete with primary weapons at close range, and sometimes even outside of that.

The Bad: The exotic perk is high risk/high reward, and using it poorly often results in a failed engagement. Below average aim assist, extended recoil from the burst, and aggressive damage drop off make it less than optimal when compared to some other exotics.

Conclusion: If you’re looking for a weapon that combines the ability to kill quickly at close range with the possibility of still going up against primary weapons outside of that, then the Trespasser is the gun for you. Although it isn’t necessarily the best exotic special to use as a straight shotgun counter, the fact that it can be useful outside of point blank range makes it similar to TLW in the special slot, albeit with much more aggressive damage fall off.

You end up with a weapon that is a healthy mix of two playstyles, but isn’t the best at either. In close range, something like the Lord of Wolves outstrips it in terms of TtK, while past those distances the high damage reduction means you’d be better off using something like Plan C.