Destiny 2: The 3 Best Warlock Prismatic Builds for PVP

Build 1 – Ophidian Aspects

This build is fairly straightforward–no bells and whistles here. All you have to do is slap on Ophidian Aspect, your favorite PVP weapons, and go crazy.

Exotic Armor – Ophidian Aspect

Ophidian Aspect has always been an easy pick for any Warlock PVP build. This Exotic allows you to ready and reload your weapons faster, and also gives a boost to airborne effectiveness. Simply put, there is absolutely no downside to this. It also doesn’t require you to trigger an effect or do anything specific to work. Since many Exotics are just too complicated or PVE-reliant to work in PVP, it’s just nice to have something simple sometimes.

Fragments, Aspects, Abilities

Super: Song of Flame

Abilities: Phoenix Dive or Rift (Class Ability), Penumbral Blast or Chain Lighting (Melee); Coldsnap or Vortex Grenade

Aspects: Lightning Surge and Hellion or Weaver’s Call

Fragments: Blessing, Command, Dawn, Ruin, Purpose

How to Use This Build

As I already said, this build is really, really simple. You can switch up the fragments and such if you want, but I will say that most of the Prismatic fragments don’t do much in PVP. There are quite a few that do, though, so at least you won’t have to take any “useless” ones into the Crucible.

I really like the Stasis synergy with Facets of Command and Ruin, which allow you even more weapon synergy (reload speed and buffs) and increases the AOE of Stasis effects, respectively. There’s also some strong Radiant/Melee synergies thanks to Facets of Dawn and Blessing. Facet of Dawn allow you to use melee abilities to become Radiant, and Facet of Blessing makes melee final blows restart your health regeneration. It’s a simple build, which means there’s plenty of room to tweak it to your liking.

Build 2 – Transversive Steps

This build utilizes the speed of Transversive Steps to improve melee efficiency and create an explosive playstyle.

Exotic Armor – Transversive Steps

Transversive Steps is yet another simple Exotic, but there’s a reason those are so good in PVP. With an Exotic like Transversive Steps, you get all the benefits every time you respawn, no matter what. Personally, I think that’s one of the best traits a PVP Exotic can have, so I love to feature them. Maybe it’s just because I suck at PVP and need something easy, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with an easy option.

Fragments, Aspects, Abilities

Super: Whichever you prefer (I like the burst damage supers for Control, but Song of Flame for everything else)

Abilities: Phoenix Dive (Class Ability); Penumbral Blast or Chain Lighting (Melee); Storm Grenade

Aspects: Lightning Surge and Hellion or Weaver’s Call

Fragments: Blessing, Dawn, Dominance, Hope, Protection

How to Use This Build

For this build, I like a lot of Arc synergies since Transversive Steps itself already promotes running around a lot. If you can pair this with a good Amplified build, you can make a lot of use out of the Speed Boost for that. Also, Prismatic just has a lot of good built-in Arc synergies.

I love the Lightning Surge aspect because it’s fun to use and almost always nets a kill or two, and from there you can just stack on melee bonuses and such. If you wanted, you could also switch out Transversive Steps for Karnstein Armlets and really go wild with melee attacks.

Build 3 – The Stag

The Stag is an iconic PVP Exotic which pushes teamwork and makes capturing and holding objectives a million times easier.

Exotic Armor – The Stag

Where The Stag shines is when you’re trying to gain control over a specific area along with your team. For this reason, I really love it for Trials and Competitive playlists. It’s great because it allows you to buff your team with your Rift (even more than usual), and also plants a Rift every time you die. If your teammates are able to revive you in the game mode you’re in, this is an invaluable resource. It’s also great for helping teammates from beyond the grave, even if you’re not doing anything else. Whether you’re a great player who just likes its utility or someone who isn’t so great but still wants to help the team as much as possible, The Stag is an excellent choice in PVP.

Fragments, Aspects, Abilities

Super: Song of Flame or Nova Bomb

Abilities: Empowering Rift (Class Ability); Penumbral Blast or Chain Lighting (Melee); Coldsnap or Vortex Grenade

Aspects: Lightning Surge and Hellion or Weaver’s Call

Fragments: Blessing, Command, Dawn, Ruin, Purpose

How to Use This Build

Thanks to how much The Stag relies on Rifts, you’ll want to be very aware of where you are on the map. Picking a good spot to put your Rift is essential, because if you waste them you’re also wasting your Exotic.

Since this build is more focused on competitive gameplay, I like both Song of Flame (since it’s always good) or Nova Bomb (since it can clear out entire teams easily). Nova also has a quicker cooldown time, so you’re more likely to actually get to use it. Your abilities are mostly up to you, but definitely don’t forget to bring Rift instead of Phoenix Dive, even though it’s usually better in PVP.

The fragments here are the same as in the first build, because these are just the generically good PVP fragments that aren’t too dependent on anything else. Feel free to change them around though if you want to.