In Destiny 2, we're seeing a surge in build crafting unlike we've had in the past. With the revamps of the subclasses, the gear and weapons you use in the game have more cohesion. Today, we'll talk about the best Destiny 2 Warlock Build for Solar 3.0 to take on all content in the game.
We'll cover the armour, weapons, aspects and fragments that you'll want to rock these builds for all content in the game.
If you're looking for other Destiny content, check out our guide for Destiny 2 codes that you can redeem for the game. We're also going to have an updated Titan and Hunter guide coming soon, so stay tuned for those as well.
What's the Best Destiny 2 Warlock Build?
At the moment with Solar 3.0, the top build for Warlocks is the Starfire Protocol build. This build focuses on spamming your grenades to deal big damage by utilizing scorch and ignite. This build can be used in pretty much all forms of PVE content, from solo world content to raids.
This isn't the best PVP build, though. The PVP build uses either Ophidian Aspect, or Transversive Steps. These are generally good workhorse exotics, and so we'll detail what you need for these builds.
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+ 7Starfire Protocol
The Exotic that we're going to want to use here is Starfire Protocol. Its exotic perk is Fusion Harness, which gives our Fusion Grenades an extra charge, and recharge from empowered weapon damage.
A few things to note here about this exotic perk, in order to get "empowered weapon damage", we need to be using Empowering Rift, and Well of Radiance. Both of these will empower our weapons, as long as we are standing in them.
click to enlarge + 7Aspects and Fragments
Now let's take a look at our Aspects Fragments and abilities which synergize with our build. First, we have a set up for general day-to-day game play.
As stated above, we're taking Empowering Rift and Well of Radiance. For our melee ability, we're taking Incinerator Snap. This is great for dealing with adds, as it has a wide arc and it also scorches all targets hit.
For our grenade, we have to take Fusion Grenades to gain the benefit of Starfire Protocol.
For our first Aspect, we're going to take Heat Rises. It allows us to shoot, melee and throw grenades while we are gliding. Without this aspect, if we do any of those three actions, we'll immediately fall. It also gives us the ability to consume a grenade to heal ourselves. Since we're not using Healing Rift, this could come in handy.
Our second Aspect is Touch of Flame. This makes our fusion grenades explode twice. While it may seem simple, this is a huge part of our damage.
For our Fragments, we have (from left to right) Ember of Eruption for a bigger ignite explosion, Ember of Singeing to help regenerate our rift when we scorch targets.
Then, we have Ember of Solace, which increases the duration of our Restoration effects. This will play into some of our mod choices as well. Lastly, we have Ember of Searing, which gives us melee energy when we scorch targets.
click to enlarge + 7For high-level play, including Solo Dungeon runs, Master Raids and Grand Master Night Falls, we're using a very similar set-up. The only difference here is that we're taking Ember of Char over Searing.
Since adds in higher-level content will not die nearly as quickly, the Scorch spread that Ember of Char provides will actually be useful.
Weapons
For weapons, you can pretty much use whatever your heart desires for the most part. There are a set of weapons that we'd recommend to maximize damage output. We'll detail the weapons and how we're going to use them at the end in our game play loop.
click to enlarge + 7For our primary, we're going to want a masterworked Witherhoard. Witherhoard does incredible work, being a ticking dot on direct hit, and a damage over time pool if it hits the floor. We want it masterworked, as it gives the weapon Autoloading Holster.
click to enlarge + 7For our Energy Slot, we have a Calus Mini-Tool with the Incandescent perk. Incandescent is a new perk in Season 17, which when we kill an enemy, spreads scorch to nearby enemies. We definitely recommend this weapon over much else for day-to-day game play. It puts out great damage, has solid range, and can be farmed fairly easily.
click to enlarge + 7For our heavy slot, we recommend any Autoloading Holster Rocket Launcher. Some easily farmable options include the Palmyra-B or Hothead if you're running Nightfalls. For end game content, a Triple Tap, Firing Line Stormchaser, or Bait and Switch, Focused Fury Cataclysmic are great for boss damage.
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Our gameplay loop for bosses is that we'll throw our grenades first. Then we'll want shoot our Witherhoard at the boss, followed by dropping our Rift or Well. Next, switch to your rocket and fire. Then switch to your Mini-Tool, and pump the damage. When your grendaes come back up, toss them, rinse and repeat.
If you have one of the two aforementioned Linear Fusion Rifles, you'll want to empty your clip and reload. Then you'll want to refresh your Witherhoard, and spam your grenades. You'll end up using Mini-Tool as filler.
click to enlarge + 7Stats and Mods
Now let's talk stats. Since our build is based around spamming grenades, melee and rifts, we have to account for the appropriate stats. Mobility is going to be our lowest priority stat.
Resilience and Recovery are going to be key for us. The damage reduction and life regen speed is very important for keeping us alive. Recovery also assists in reducing our rift cooldown.
As for Discipline, Intellect and Strength, I'd say keeping these above 50 is going to be where you want to be. While our fragments and mods (which we'll cover next) help reducing all the cooldowns of our abilities, reducing the base cooldown as much as possible just helps smooth out game play.
For our Mods, here's what we'll want for each of our armour pieces.
- Helm (Solar): Ashes to Assets x2 (or x1 + an Finder Mod), Explosive Well Maker
- Arms (Arc): Momentum Transfer, Fastball, Seeking Wells
- Chest (Any): Resist Mods of choice, Font of Might
- Boots (Solar): Either Absolution X2 or Innervation + Scavenger Mod, Elemental Ordnance
- Class Item (Solar): Classy Restoration (Seasonal Artifact Mod), Well of Ordnance (If you don't have Classy Restoration, then use Bomber X2 and Well of Life)
What is the Best Destiny 2 Solar 3.0 Warlock PVP Build?
As we mentioned earlier, there really isn't a "build" for PVP. We recommended either Ophidian Aspect or Transversive Steps as your exotics of choice, as they have generally good exotic perks. Here's what you'll need for this set up.
- Super: Daybreak
- Rift: Healing Rift
- Melee: Celestial Fire
- Grenade: Healing or Firebolt
- Aspects:
- Heat Rises
- Icarus Dash: Icarus Dash provides great mobiltiy in PVP for general movement and for disengaging fights.
- Fragments
- Ember of Combustion: Creates Ingitions on super kills, which provides potential splash damage on enemies. Also bumps up Strength for your Melee.
- Ember of Blistering: Your Ingintions give grenade energy, which is free grenades in your super.
- Ember of Solace: Extends duration of healing from either your Healing Grenade or Classy Restoration
- Ember of Beams: Gives you an Intellect boost and increases tracking of your super projectiles.
- Recommended Mods:
- Classy Restoration
- Utility Kickstart: Refunds rift energy when you use a rift
- Grenade Kickstart: Refunds Grenade Energy when you use one
- Stat Priority
- Recovery: Provides cooldown for your rift, which is big for helping you survive. Also helps with recovering health in skirmishes.
- Discipline: Grenades are a big part of your kit, so trying to reduce that cooldown is always a good choice.
- Resillience: Damage Reduction in PVP is super important. While you have other ways to help recover health, having high resillience can help avoid one or 2 shots. It also helps with Flinch resistance, so depending on your playstyle, this could be relevant.
Overall, the Warlock's Solar kit is incredibly fun to play. If you end up with the double Autoloading set up with Witherhoard and a rocket launcher, the game play is super smooth and very satisfying. If you're looking for Witherhoard, check out our guide for Destiny 2 exotic ciphers, because you'll need one.