The Stag isn't the most complex of exotics, but many times I see people misunderstand what it does. With the introduction of its epic new ornament it was time to shed a little light on it. The Stag's exotic perk, Dearly Departed, states that: [quote]Grants Rift energy when you are critically wounded. On your death, creates a brief healing rift on your corpse.[/quote] Simple enough, but most people forget the first part of that. Any time the player's shield breaks they will receive a buff called [i]Nearly Departed[/i] and instantly regenerate 50% of their total Rift energy. Despite the fact this buff will persist for as long as the player remains at critical health, contrary to my expectations it actually has no additional effect besides the initial burst of ability energy. As soon as the player regenerates their health above critical (to where it turns white again) this buff disappears. However it only has a ~2 second cooldown and can be activated again to restore another 50% of your Rift energy. Because of this if the player casts a healing Rift a cycle of taking damage and healing from it can cause the Rift to be refunded near instantly. Interestingly enough this ability [i]can not[/i] be activated by self-inflicted damage such as from Grenades, Rockets, Skip Rounds, or environmental explosives. I can however be activated by fall damage and standing in environmental hazards. The other half of its ability, the one people typically associate with it, is that it spawns a Healing Rift when the player dies. This Rift will always be healing, even if the player's Rift is set to empowering. This Rift will appear at the first intersection of geometry where the player died (it used to appear exactly where you died, even in midair). So if you're flying around and get shot down the Rift will always appear on the ground. If you die while flying over a bottomless pit no Rift will appear. While the player's Rift ability lasts for 15 seconds, The Stag's Healing Rift will only last for 7 seconds, less than half. The Rift spawned by The Stag will not have any of the bonus abilities granted to the player's Rifts such as spawning Arc Souls when using the Stormcaller's [i]Attunement of the Elements[/i]. The Stag is best used in conjunction with Healing Rift and playstyles that involve frequently using your Rift. While the death Rift can be useful to teammates, particularly in PvP, and can help protect other players attempting to revive you, the true power of the stag lies in the Nearly Departed buff. Nearly Departed will ensure you will almost always have a Healing Rift when you most need it, granting the player increased survivablity. While the death Rift does not directly benefit from the [i]Attunement of the Elements[/i] ability Arc Souls, The Stag's Nearly Departed buff in conjunction with the path's own Electrostatic Surge ability will allow the player to spawn their own Rifts very frequently, and thus have a higher up-time on their Arc Souls.