We are at a point in this guide where more than learning about the basics of Destiny 2, we need to utitlize some of the concepts we have already shared to create something new. This is not about the sum of different parts: it's about putting them together in a certain way to build something that's strong. So, let's make a build.
What we call a build is a sum of different parts: you class, your subclass and your gear, and how all of them fit together. The goal is to make the best possible combination that allow you to play they way you want. Do you want to play with a Void Warlock that hits very hard with Grenades? You need to build into that.
Check with Ikora
For starters, have you visited Ikora Rey at the Tower courtyard? She has a few builds already available for newer players that may probably serve you for a while or until you have completed Destiny 2’s story content. No matter what class, you have a build for each of the Light elements at your disposal. Choose wisely.
Choose Your Goals
Now, for making your own build. Our first recommendation is to have a clear goal of what you want to achieve with your Guardian.
Be hard to kill
Do you need survivability at all costs? You will need to invest in your Health stat as well as in Armor mods that restore health and a subclass that has a healing loop, like Solar with Restoration or Void with Devour. You can rely on your weapons for healing, too, and choose perks like Heal Clip.
Or you can try and find an Exotic weapon or armor piece that works that way too, like the Crimson Hand Cannon (heals on enemy kills) or the Assassin’s Cowl (heals on final melee blows and also make you invisible).
There are other ways to survive that don’t rely only in Health. You can increase your damage resistance with certain abilities and weapons, too. Overshield, Amplified, Frost Armor and Woven Mail are all focused on reducing the damage you receive from many sources, and most of them can be applied through abilities or weapon perks.
Do a lot of damage
If you are looking for damage above anything else, there are multiple options too. For starters, do you want to damage with your abilities or your weapons? Invest in the Grenade, Melee, Super, or Weapons stats depending on what you are looking for. Having above 100 in one of these stats guarantees that you’ll do more damage, on top of other benefits.
Some elements are more prone to heavy damage in a particular way; for example Striker Titans using Thundercrash cause massive Super damage with a single hit. Pair that with the Cuirass of the Fallen Star Exotic Chest and you’ll get even more Super damage.
Don’t sleep on your Primary weapons for damage. Although Special and Heavy Weapons often do more damage, there are ways to do a lot of damage with Primary weapons if you choose the right Exotic weapons and/or armor. Outbreak Perfected is a clear example of a Primary weapon that can do a lot of damage to bosses, while Lucky Pants are the Exotic Legs of choice for Hunters that love to use Hand Cannons for high damage.
Everything in Between
Most players will focus on being hard to defeat or being good at dealing damage. And that applies to both PvE and PvP! But you can build something that is effective in both with some caveats, of course. You may not have access to a lot of damage, but you can have good enough for most hard enemies while you are able to survive.
Destiny 2 is a game with a lot of flexibility. Your Hunter can be a healing machine, Warlocks can do a lot of damage, and Titans can be very agile. You can build your own take on each class with just a little investment and a lot of testing, so keep an open mind.
Choose a Subclass
We have already mentioned how important it is to choose the right subclass for your build. Each of them have their strengths, but some of them are more prone to certain playstyles than others.
Below, we’ll cover some general examples of what each subclass can do for Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans. There are many more options available, though, so don’t hesitate to experiment to find what suits your playstyle.
Solar
Solar is usually the element of healing and buffing allies for damage. All classes have access to the Cure and Restoration, but it’s also key to buff damage through Radiant and damage enemies with Scorch and Ignite.
Although Warlocks are the most proficient in granting them and maintaining them for the team (they have a class ability for directly healing, too), both Hunters and Titans can do that for themselves with the right Aspects and Fragments.
Hunters can use Solar for very high damage through their Golden Gun Super, particularly when paired with the right Exotic, and are also very capable when granting Radiant, as they have a class ability just for that.
As for Titans, Solar allows them to be near unkillable with the right combo of Aspects and Fragments and to stack very high melee damage. Add the right Exotic to become a one-Guardian army.
Void
Void is a very adaptable element that allows to stack damage resistance, healing, and invisibility with easy, although each of them is often easier to achieve for a particular class than the others.
For example, Warlocks can activate Devour just with final ability blows thanks to their Aspects, while at the same time have very high uptime for grenade damage with the right Exotic armor equipped. Contraverse Hold and Chaos Accelerant have been a fan-favorite pair for years now.
On the other hand, we have Hunters, which often use Void for invisibility. It helps with survivability in PvE, but also when fighting other players in PvP. Hunters can also debuff enemies with their Supers and with abilities when using Void, and they have one of the strongest Exotic armor chests to make enemies volatile (Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk).
Finally, Titans can give Overshield to themselves and the team with their class ability and the right Aspect equipped and can also protect the team with their Super in critical moments. But with the right combo, they are also great at making enemies Volatile.
Arc
Arc allows Guardians to do damage fast and in great amounts, although it’s not that proficient at protecting you. Amplified helps a bit with damage resistance and gives you a bump in speed, though.
Warlocks have both an explosive Super for single target damage (Chaos Reach) and add clear (Stormtrance), but they can also Jolt and Blind with ease through the right Aspects and Exotics, like the Getaway Artist Exotic Arms. And if you like using your melee, they have a unique Lightning Surge aspect that allows you to blink forward and do high damage.
Hunters have a unique melee setup for Arc, where they can stack a lot of damage and healing just by punching around. Don’t sleep on their capabilities to Amplify the team, either. Even though Arc is not the best element for survivability, Hunters can use it that way when paired with certain Exotics (like Gifted Conviction).
Arc Titans are mostly known by one thing: their incredibly high Super damage thanks to Thundercrash and Cuirass of the Fallen Star, but they can also get stronger and additional grenades, and they have a very unique class ability (Thruster) that is very good in the right hands in PvP.
Stasis
The first Darkness element shines in crowd control; use it when your goal is to stop your enemies on their feet. All classes can be very good at that, while also adding their own spin on the idea.
Warlocks are very good at controlling the battlefield with their Bleak Watcher turret (you can get two charges if you use the Osmiomancy Gloves Exotic Gauntlets), and they are a menace in PvP because they can freeze you on the spot with all three of their abilities. And they are are near unkillable when using their Super.
Hunters are great at slowing enemies with long range melees (try them with Mask of Fealty) but can also produce Frost Armor for damage resistance with just one Aspect. And again, if you can use it right in PvP, the enemy team will hate you, particularly if you use Mask of Bakris for extra mobility and damage.
Titans are near unstoppable at creating Stasis crystals and shards that buff them and their team. Great for crowd control, but also potentially for single target damage. A skilled PVP Titan can both be extremely agile and block your adversaries’ movement with abilities that quickly recharge.
Strand
The second Darkness element adds very specific identities to each class but also allows for a lot of adaptability and individual and team proficiency.
For starters, Warlocks can create Threadlings with ease; these critters fight enemies on their own butalso has great options if you want to Suspend enemies (and heal while doing so with the Deimosuffusion Exotic Helmet). Their Super is also very good at single target damage.
Hunters can become a menace with their double Grapple Grenade setup for PvP and they can also create floating spots for other teammates to grapple. In addition they can also Suspend enemies and get Woven Mail if they want to constantly buff themselves and be harder to defeat. Add the Cyrtarachne’s Façade Exotic Helmet to seal the deal on that.
For a long time, Strand Titans have been both the default melee and healing ally thanks to the Banner of War Aspect. But they can do much more, like being the most annoying enemy in PvP thanks to their easy access to Suspend or doing single target damage with the Flechette Storm and Wishful Ignorance combo.
Prismatic
The most versatile class, since it allows to get the best of both Light and Darkness elements and pair them for a plethora of very effective ways to play. Since all classes can do a lot of things with Prismatic, we recommend you experiment and try to create your own playstyle based on these combined effects.
Check your Stats
This step is easy. Armor stats in Destiny 2 work in a very direct way, so if you want more grenade damage and uptime, you increase your Grenade stat all you can by choosing Armor with the Grenadier perk and put on Grenade Armor mods. This works in a similar way to all stats, except Health and Class, that increases your uptime, but not the damage you do.
Of course, you can’t have all stats up to 200, so you need to choose your priorities. Again, a build that focuses on grenade damage maybe doesn’t need as many points Melee or Weapon. Find a balance between all six stats so your build not only excels in its primarygoal butt is not too weak in other aspects.
Here’s a refresher of how Armor Stats work:
Health
- 1-100
- Grants from 0 to 70 healing when picking up an Orb of Power.
- Grants from 0 to 10% flinch resistance.
- 100-200
- Shields start recharging 0-25% more quickly and take 0-50% less time to fully recharge.
- From 0 to 20 additional shield capacity vs combatants.
Melee
- 1-100
- Improves the base cooldown of your melee ability.
- Improves the amount of melee energy gained from external sources and any melee regeneration speed scalars from other sources.
- 100-200
- Increases melee ability damage.
- This includes powered, unpowered, and Glaive melees.
Grenade
- 1-100
- Improves the base cooldown of your grenade ability.
- Improves the amount of grenade energy gained from external sources and any grenade regeneration speed scalars from other sources.
- 100-200
- Increases grenade ability damage.
Super
- 1-100
- Improves the Super energy gained from damaging targets.
- It does not change the base cooldown time of your Super.
- Improves the amount of Super energy gained from external sources and any Super regeneration speed scalars from other sources.
- 100-200
- Increases Super ability damage.
Class
- 1-100
- Improves base cooldown of your class ability.
- Improves the amount of class energy gained from external sources and any class regeneration speed scalars from other sources.
- 100-200
- Grants from 0 to 40 HP Overshield (0-10 in PvP) on casting your class ability.
- Duration is determined by the ability used.
Choose the Right Gear
Weapons and Perks
Destiny 2 has a lot of very different weapons with even more unique perks that change how they work. Using a Hand Cannon that requires precision and that has perks that benefit from headshots is a very different experience from using an SMG that requires multiple kills to increase its ease of use.
The rule of thumb for picking the right weapon and perks for your builds is to focus on the synergy with your playstyle. If you want a lot of damage, you need damage perks like Rampage, Target Lock, Kill Clip, or Frenzy. All of these perks have different requirements to activate their effects, so check out their descriptions and keep an eye on how they work in practice so you can supplement how you play and what activity you are in. Kill Clip, for example, is not that good for boss damage, but in PVP it’s is one of the best perks ever. At the same time, Rampage increases damage by a lot, but it’s hard to keep active in harder activities, something that Frenzy or Target Lock can do with ease.
Not all perks are focused on doing more damage. Others allow weapons to use more ammo without needing to reload, which is good when doing single-target damage. Others make using weapons easier and increase aspects like stability, handling or reload speed. Keep an eye on all of these so you know what weapons to use in every moment. A Sniper Rifle that reloads when hitting headshots is very good for boss damage, but maybe not for PvP.
Finally, look for the best synergies with your subclass. Weapons in the Energy slot often have perks like Burning Ambition that pair very well with Solar subclasses to Scorch and Ignite enemies. Other weapons Jolt and activate certain Aspects and Fragments from Arc subclasses, while others may be useful even when you are not using their subclass, like a weapon that makes enemies Volatile. But more often than not, pairing a weapon and a subclass of the same element is very effective.
Armor and mods
We have mentioned a few Exotic armor pieces already in the sections above, but it’s worth pointing out that Exotic armor are often the final key to unlock a build’s absolute potential. So be mindful of what you are using. If an Exotic Armor buffs a specific element, Super or ability, equip those elements, Super, and abilities! It makes no sense to use an Arc subclass if your Exotic only buffs damage from Solar weapons.
There are of course Exotic armor pieces that are more agnostic with the subclass but require you to use certain weapons. Pairing the Peacekeepers Exotic Leg Armor as a Titan with a Submachine Gun is a great example because it buffs their damage by a lot!
Same thing if your build is focused on using a lot of abilities but you don’t have the right stats to empower them. A build that focuses on grenade damage requires a high Grenade stat so you can both have them recharge faster and do the most damage possible.
Lastly, when you are choosing your armor, you also need to choose the right Armor Mods to support your playstyle. Although not as critical as weapons or abilities, they usually add an edge. Each armor slot has unique perks, so investigate what each mod does and experiment so you can have the best effects applied to your build.
So, for example, if you want to make a lot of Orbs of Power with your melee, you need to have as many Heavy Handed mods on your Arms as possible. Do you want extra damage against a boss? Put on Weapon Surge mods of the right element on your Legs. Do you want to generate more ammo? You need Ammo Finder mods. The list of mods is long!
Adjust the Artifact
The Artifact is the cherry on top for many builds. There are many builds that are good on their own, but when you add some Artifact perks on top, it might become the only thing you use for a while because everything else pales in comparison.
Treat the Artifact perks similarly to how you work on your Aspects and Fragments in your subclass: choose the ones that have the best synergies with verbs or elements, but also include others that may help with ammo regeneration, extra Super damage, new effects on top of others, etc.
Artifacts change every season, so we can’t make a list of recommendations here. Our best advice is that you experiment and use your knowledge of how elements and weapons synergize to find the best effects.
Save Your Build
Now that you have a build that you think is strong and will work to your advantage , only two things remain. The first of them is to save your build.
On your Character screen, you have access to a side panel on the left that allows you to save up to 12 builds and that can be accessed even in the middle of battle to rapidly switch between to builds. You have different names, colors and icons for each slot, so use them in a way that allows you to remember what each build is for.
To unlock all your build slots, focus on completing your Guardian Ranks.
Try it Out
The second thing left is to try your build! Go out there, defeat enemies, try different ways to play, make adjustments if you need to, swap between weapons that you think may be effective. The sky is the limit. You have a wonderful Shooting Range in the Tower to try these builds in a safe environment and to see how much damage you do, so maybe you can start there!
Don’t feel bad if a build you’ve put together is not as effective in the practice as you thought it would be on paper. We’ve all been there. Try again, maybe this build you like very much is not effective in very hard activities with a lot of mechanics, but it’s fine in easier, more approachable ones.
There are many resources out there that we can’t share here as it would make this chapter of the guide even more complex and longer than it already is. Content creators and Destiny 2 communities with a lot of experience have very well put guides and examples of builds that you can try once you have earned the abilities, weapons, and Exotics they use. When it comes to creating builds, a little research, and a lot of experimentation, goes a long way. Happy building, Guardians!
