Warlocks in Destiny 2 may have the most diverse assortment of subclass and Exotic armor combinations. Unlike the Titan, which tends to focus on melee, or the ranged mobile builds of Hunters, the best Warlock builds in tend to fit everywhere in-between. This makes for some very unique character builds that are only elevated by your mod and weapon choices.
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So, which Warlock builds are best in Destiny 2? Let’s take a look at a few of our favorites.
October 2021 Update: Like the Titan and Hunter, the Warlock received some solid buffs in Season of the Lost. Between some changes to Stasis, Mod use, and Exotic armor—Warlocks are now all the better for mid-game neutral play. That means that most builds from previous seasons are still viable, but there are now some Trials-specific PvP options worth investing in.
Best Warlock Build for Raids
For successful Raid and Nightfall runs, you’ll want to focus on support abilities. The benefit is that anything you design your build around will simultaneously apply to you and your Fireteam. Here are a few options you can work with that focus on recovery, damage output, and delaying enemies.
Well of Radiance Warlock Build
Having the ability to heal your Fireteam with Well of Radiance or Divine Protection grenades is a must in any Raid or Nightfall encounter. Then it’s up to you to decide how you like to use those abilities. Running with the Phoenix Protocol Exotic will continuously regenerate your Super as long as you and your team get kills while inside the Well. Sunbracers, on the other hand, will boost grenade charges and automatically refill this ability with melee kills.
Either option is solid, but we’d recommend opting for the Super most of the time. That’s because you can also add Warmind-specific mods into the mix to create blinding and explosive orbs that can help maintain your kill count. Aside from that, focusing on boosting the regen of your chosen ability and recovery is a must.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Phoenix Protocol or Sunbracers
Weapons: [Kinetic] IKELOS or Seventh Seraph weapon; [Energy] IKELOS or Seventh Seraph weapon; [Power] Code Duellos or any Void-based Power weapon
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Discipline or Intellect and Recovery
Armor Mods: , , ,
Grenadier Warlock Build
This build will actually be useful in both PvE and PvP encounters, but for the purposes of this guide, it’s far more valuable when running Nightfalls and Raids. Like the Well of Radiance build, this is meant to help you and your Fireteam manage large groups of enemies. However, this isn’t done through consistent healing, but by slowing or freezing your enemies.
To make this work as one of the best Warlock builds in Destiny 2, you’ll want to run with the Frostpulse and Iceflare bolts Aspects, along with Duskfield Grenades and Whisper of Hedrons. Then be sure to have Eyes of Another World equipped to help boost ability regeneration, and either Monte Carlo or a Masterworked assault rifle to help do the same.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Eye of Another World
Weapons: [Kinetic] Monte Carlo or any Masterworked assault rifle; [Energy] Ticuu’s Divination or any pulse rifle; [Power] Martyr’s Retribution or Code Duellos
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Mobility and Resilience
Armor Mods: , , ,
Best Warlock Build for PvE
Going full offense as a Warlock may be rare, but it’s entirely possible. The key is to focus on boosting recovery and connecting Exotic Armor with Exotic weapon buffs. Here are your best options to go wild in PvE activities.
Voidwalker Warlock Build
Going all out with one of the best Warlock builds in Destiny 2 is incredibly fun. To do it best, you’ll want to focus on amping up your Void reserves. The more Void options you have, the more kills you can get, the more likely that you’ll activate the recharge rate boost from Nezarec’s Sin. Then, be sure you’re running a subclass with the Nova Bomb as your Super to help clear out the stragglers or bosses that remain.
If you’d rather opt for grenade recharges, you can also run Verity’s Brow and focus on Void Energy weapon kills instead. This is a lesser version of this build, but when grenade damage is boosted or you’re dealing with Void-heavy shield types, it helps get the job done. Lastly, be sure to again focus on the ability stats you want to regen faster and Recovery, as well as any mods that can buff your weapon damage or recharge rates.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Nezarec’s Sin or Verity’s Brow
Weapons: [Kinetic] Any Masterworked pulse rifle or scout rifle; [Energy] Hardlight, Graviton Lance, or Bottom Dollar; [Power] Falling Guillotine, Black Talon, or Bad Omens
Subclass: or
Primary Armor Stats: Intellect or Discipline and Recovery
Armor Mods: , , , ,
Necrotic Grip Warlock Build
For those that don’t want to stick with a Void subclass, the Necrotic Grip build is an excellent option, as long as you like running Thorn. The reason is that Thorn will help trigger the poison spreading ability of the Exotic armor without having to land a melee hit. And if you end up killing any affected enemies, it will spread your poison damage to anyone nearby, making this incredibly useful for taking out large groups of Minor enemies or actively damaging Majors or Bosses.
The beauty of this build is that the rest is really up to you. You can run the rest of your favorite weapons that are best for damage output and look to increase stats for recovery and mobility. Your armor mod choices can then be weapon specific or mirror some of the other ability regeneration options found in our other PvE-focused builds.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Necrotic Grip
Weapons: [Kinetic] Thorn; [Energy] Any bow, scout rifle, or pulse rifle; [Power] Any sword or rocket launcher
Subclass: Any subclass
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery and Mobility
Armor Mods: , , ,
Best Warlock Build for Crucible
In Crucible, you need to focus on surviving long enough to lay out AOE damage. In this case, your subclass plays a far more important role in ensuring that you can eviscerate enemies in a single go. This does limit your options but makes room for some excellent builds.
Attunement of Conduction Warlock Build
This is another build that leverages the ability regeneration of Eye of Another World, but this time with Arc damage as the core focus. Similar to our build, this is all about keeping your grenades up. And running with allows you to consistently chain lightning, perfect for entrapping enemies in small rooms or pathways within Crucible.
Since this is Arc-focused, you can also opt for Crown of Tempests with this build. It will basically provide the same ability-recharge but exclusively focused on Arc ability kills. To assist with this, it’s recommended that you run Arc weapons, with Trinity Ghoul being one of the better options available.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Eye of Another World or Crown of Tempests
Weapons: [Kinetic] Any pulse rifle; [Energy] Trinity Ghoul or any Arc weapon; [Power] Any arc weapon
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery and Discipline
Armor Mods: , ,
Attunement of Sky Warlock Build
Building around allows you to build around current top-tier weapons and leverage a neutral skilled Exotic like Transversive Steps or Karnstein Armlets. Both of these options will help you lean into playing faster and getting up close while being able to dash away with your Burst Glide jump.
Like the other best Warlock builds in Destiny 2 on this list, the rest of your stats should be focused on Recovery and Resilience. But your mods should be attuned to the weapons that you intend to use. Right now, we recommend running this setup along with the Deadman’s Tale scout rifle, your favorite close-range weapon, and Temptation’s Hook. This will allow you to take full advantage of your speed, agility, and gliding ability to take on Guardians up close and at a distance.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Transversive Steps or Karnstein Armlets
Weapons: [Kinetic] Dead Man’s Tale; [Energy] Any shotgun or sniper rifle; [Power] Temptation’s Hook
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery and Resilience
Armor Mods: , , ,
Best Warlock Builds for Trials of Osiris in Destiny 2
A well-played Warlock can be crucial for laying down fire to deter and herd opponents in Trials. That means you’ll want builds that balance overall Resilience with ability regeneration and automated fire options. The more damage you can lay out alongside your weapon, the more likely that you can drain an enemy’s shield or push them back to play defensively. These will rely on specific Exotic and Subclass combinations that can be amplified by Mods and weapon choices to strengthen and balance your play.
Verity’s Brow Warlock Build
Stasis may have seen multiple tweaks over the last few seasons that make it less of an immediate go-to in PvP, but that’s not the case with this build. The key here is that you lean into using the Bleak Watcher Aspect which trades out standard Stasis grenades for an automated turret that freezes opponents. Running Verity’s Brow will allow you to stack the Death Throes Perk, leading to potentially infinite regeneration on your Grenade ability, which keeps the turret at your fingertips.
From here, it’s really up to you on how you’d like to personalize this build. It’s recommended that you lean into Stasis as much as possible, and try to run at least one Stasis weapon, like Peacebond alongside Mods that spawn elemental wells. This should especially be the case if you happen to roll a weapon with the Headstone Perk so that you can trigger Stasis Shards. Running this with the Whisper of Shards and Torment Fragments will further help with Grenade regeneration whenever you shatter or take damage.
You can also opt for other boosts that promote Super regeneration if you’ve landed armor with naturally high Grenade regeneration. The Eye of Another World Exotic is great for this, and with the right stat balance, you can still throw out plenty of Grenades while fueling your other abilities. In short, look for mixes that fit your playstyle and do whatever you can to keep that Turret running while boosting the damage and duration.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Verity’s Brow or Eye of Another World
Weapon Type: Peacebond, Vulpecula, or any other mid-to-long range Stasis weapon
Subclass:
Aspects: Bleak Watcher and either Iceflare Bolts or Glacial Harvest
Fragments: Whisper of Shards, Fissures, Durance, and either Bonds or Torment
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery and Intellect or Discipline
Armor Mods: , , ,
The Stag Warlock Build
Have you come across those teams who just have that seem to recover in an instant? They likely have a teammate running The Stag. This Exotic Helmet provides damage reduction to your Rifts to everyone on your team, even producing a healing rift on your corpse. This ability allows you to play far riskier without letting your team down in the process, with your ability to heal making dying an actual strategy.
This defensive ability is only augmented by the ability to spawn an Arc Soul. This can be applied to the rest of your teammates, providing multiple automated turrets. So, have everyone stagger in a rift and start firing, more than likely you’ll force your opponents to divert or take anyone down that’s willing to go head first.
Everything else about this build is about ability regeneration, recovery, and adding additional damage. Look for options that spawn elemental wells, focus on general defensive stat boosts and run mid-to-long range weapons with high accuracy. It may also be wise to have a short-range powerhouse ready, like Felwinter’s Lie, or an explosive weapon like Salvager’s Salvo to help take out enemies disrupted by your Arc Soul.
The Build
Exotic Armor: The Stag
Weapon Type: The Messenger, No Time to Explain, Felwinter’s Lie, or Salvager’s Salvo
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery, Discipline, and Resilience
Armor Mods: , ,
The Getaway Artist Build
So, this build likely looks similar to the last one. It’s an arc-focused build that tries to make the most of your ability to spawn Arc Souls. However, while the Stag was more about grouped defense, this build is all about pure offense. That’s thanks to The Getaway artist, that supercharges your Arc Soul with the Dynamic Duo Perk.
Were also going to switch our Subclass focus to to help refine our focus on spawning elemental wells and grenade energy. This provides a slightly more powerful and longer-lasting Rift, while also improving our melee benefits with ability regeneration. Throw in mods that provide benefits for grenade kills, spawn tons of elemental wells, and damage buffs for becoming Charged With Light, and you have yourself a rotating door of ability regeneration.
Lastly, your weapon choices are really up to how much you want to run Arc weapons. It also may be wise to run with No Time to Explain to take advantage of the Rewind Again and Time Slip Perks alongside your Arc Soul.
The Build
Exotic Armor: The Getaway Artist
Weapon Type: No Time to Explain, Salvager’s Salvo, Temptation’s Hook, or Trinity Ghoul
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Recovery, Discipline, and Resilience
Armor Mods: , , ,
Best Warlock Build for Gambit
Your builds for Gambit should be fairly similar to your PvE options. You want highly offensive skillsets that can be combined with recovery and resilience buffs to keep you in the fight. These may not be as effective in PvE but should be your go-to options in this hybrid game mode.
Warlock Starfire Protocol Build
If you like rifts, this is one of the best Warlock builds in Destiny 2 for you. Running Starfire Protocol with will keep your grenades flowing. Any grenade kills recharge your rifts, and as long as you make those kills within an active Rift, you shouldn’t run out of ammo or grenades.
To truly make the most of this setup, be sure that you run Power weapons that track enemies or lay out splash damage. The rest of your stats and mods should focus on boosting your overall health and grenade recharge rate. This can help you avoid losing your Rift benefits when you inevitably have to move by having your abilities primed and ready to go.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Starfire Protocol
Weapons: [Kinetic] Any rapid-fire weapon; [Energy] Ticuu’s Divination or any hand cannon; [Power] Code Duello or The Colony
Subclass:
Primary Armor Stats: Intellect and Resilience
Armor Mods: , , ,
Warlock Stormcaller Build
The more you can fire, the better when it comes to Gambit. No Time to Explain, especially when Masterworked, is already useful in this capacity thanks to the time looped bullets that emerge after a few accurate shots. Add in the Getaway Artist Exotic when running Stormcaller, and you suddenly have two active turrets running.
This is a ridiculous Minor enemy destroyer and a helpful method for trimming down Guardian and Major enemy health. You do have to sacrifice a grenade to make this work, but it’s honestly worth it for the automatic fire you gain.
The Build
Exotic Armor: Getaway Artist
Weapons: [Kinetic] No Time to Explain; [Energy] Choose your favorite; [Power] Choose your favorite
Subclass: Any Stormcaller subclass
Primary Armor Stats: Mobility and Discipline
Armor Mods: , , ,
Become a High Grounder
With Warlocks being such a well-suited support class, almost any of the above builds will work across every game mode — it really depends on which subclass you want to run. To make sure the Warlock on your Fireteam knows which build to focus on, be sure to share this article on your favorite social platform. And for the latest on Destiny 2 subclasses, armor, and weapons, sign up for our newsletter.
Happy gaming!
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