Season of Arrivals has recently released for Destiny 2, and with it, a new array of gear has been released for players to experiment with. From Artifact mods to new Exotic Catalysts, there are tons of ways to build your character this season.
With such a staggering amount of possibilities, creating a cohesive build can prove difficult. The theory-crafting pays off, however, allowing you to clear entire rooms worth of enemies or dish out a staggering amount of damage. From throwing hammers to harnessing chain lighting, here are 10 builds you need to try out in Destiny 2's Season of Arrivals. This list is in no particular order.
10 Ghoulish Lightning
Never has an Exotic Catalyst been as impactful as Trinity Ghouls. Season of Arrivals introduced an Exotic Catalyst for Trinity Ghoul that allows any Arc final blow to grant a Lightning Rod charge.
Despite rampant misinformation, the bow must be your currently held weapon when an Arc final blow occurs for Lightning Rod to proc. With that said, Trinity Ghoul itself can activate this. Stormcallers with Arc Souls or Striker Titans with Insurmountable Skullfort can get rampant chain lightning effects with this bow and have unprecedented add clear. Not even Riskrunner can match the lethality of this lightning-heavy setup.
9 Warmind Cell
Season of the Worthy introduced Warmind Cells into Destiny 2. Seventh Seraph weapons and—if Wrath of Rasputin is equipped—Solar splash damage can spawn these Cells.
In essence, Warmind Cells are orange orbs enemies drop that can be damaged to release an explosion of nuclear proportions. With these Cells in mind, combining Wrath of Rasputin with Sunshot or Xenophage turns those weapons into wave-clearing machines. Rage of the Warmind can then be added to make your Warmind Cells spawn more Warmind Cells! Combine this with Global Reach to make your Warmind Cells instantly kill all but the toughest of enemies. This build is perfect for the new Contact Public Event.
8 Protective Light
With gear sunsetting around the corner, now is a perfect opportunity to try out the arguably overpowered Protective Light build.
Protective Light is a Season of Dawn mod that grants a flat 50% reduction to all damage your receive when your shields break. It lasts for 5 seconds with one stack of Charged With Light, but it scales up to 20 seconds when it consumes 5 stacks. Use this season's Supercharged mods and a way to generate Charged With Light to get the most out of Protective Light. The payoff is nigh-immortality, especially when coupled with weapons and abilities that heal you.
7 Lucent Blade
Swords have taken the Heavy slot by storm ever since Season of the Worthy overhauled them. Season of Arrivals found a way to up the ante with its new Swords and selection of armor mods.
Lucent Blade is the star of the show, granting a massive 35% damage increase to your Sword for 5 seconds after damaging a target with a Sword. This consumes one stack of Charged With Light, so generating charges with Taking Charge is a good idea. Combine this mod with the Falling Guillotine Sword that has Dark-Drinker's heavy attack to instantly kill all but the toughest of foes. In those rare circumstances, use this season's Oppressive Darkness mod to further amplify your damage output.
6 Top Tree Voidwalker
Oppressive Darkness is finally back this season, which also means the lethality of Voidwalkers got a whole lot better.
A simple yet effective build for Grandmaster Nightfalls or Raids is to use top tree Voidwalker. This path allows you to overcharge your grenades for a massive damage increase. Oppressive Darkness will then make these grenades deal extra damage, and then you can combine Vortex Grenade with Controverse Hold to have infinite grenades. Soloing Dungeons or Nightfalls has never been easier.
5 Sentinel Support
Titans are fantastic support characters for pinnacle PvE content while also providing powerful suppression effects in Crucible.
Since Oppressive Darkness is back, Titans have once again become essential in all pinnacle content. Run top tree Sentinel to grant you and allies Weapons of Light. Then, equip Oppressive Darkness and now you can apply a strong debuff using your grenade. For PvP, use Magnetic Grenades and Armamentarium can instantly kill Guardians. Alternatively, you can use Suppressor Grenades to shut down Supers.
4 Sunbreaker Melee
It's hard to beat a Titan at melee range. Nearly every Titan spec has a powerful melee ability that can be further enhanced with an Exotic.
This season, there are Artifact mods on top of Exotics you can use. One of the most fun Titan builds you can try is a middle tree Sunbreaker using the Solar Plexus mod and either Wormgod Caress or Synthoceps. While the Exotic perk is active, the melee damage you deal while Roaring Flames is active can one-shot nearly every enemy in the game—including bosses if Brawler is an active modifier! It also instantly kills Guardians in PvP, although the setup in that sandbox is much more arduous.
3 Bottom Tree Nightstalker
Hunters are also much more powerful this season thanks to the Oppressive Darkness mod. This mod works best on the bottom tree path for Nightstalkers.
Debuffing targets with your grenade will cause your first Mobius Quiver shot to critically hit, dramatically increasing its damage output. Orpheus Rig pairs well with this, allowing your Shadowshot Super to match the damage output of Golden Gun. You also get a group-wide invisibility effect with your melee and the Heart of the Pack buff, granting maximum Mobility, Recovery, and Resilience and weapon haste to you and nearby allies for 20 seconds.
2 Witherhoard
Witherhoard is the new season pass Exotic introduced in Season of Arrivals. This Kinetic Grenade Launcher fires Blights that can stick to targets or the ground.
It works similar to Anarchy, causing any targets in the ground DoT to take continuous damage. Enemies struck by the Blight will also drop it on the ground on death. The damage output is respectable in PvE, but this weapon is overpowered in PvP. Guardians only need to stand in it for a second to die. Using any Subclass or High-Energy Fire to increase its damage will make this weapon exceed Anarchy's damage output.
1 Surprise Attack
Sidearms are frequently regarded as the strongest Primaries in Destiny 2 currently. Weapons like Breachlight and Last Hope dish out large amounts of damage, but this build takes that to the next level.
Surprise Attack is a new seasonal mod that consumes all stacks of Charged With Light when you reload or equip a Sidearm, converting the Charged With Light stacks to supercharged bullets. These rounds deal double damage, and are multiplicative with other buffs! In other words, combining this with a Well of Radiance or Weapons of Light can make your Sidearm deal as much damage as most Heavy weapons! Use Supercharged and any Charge-gaining mod to truly make Surprise Attack shine.