Build variety in Destiny 2 has never been higher. With a wide range of Combat Style mods and Exotics to choose from, Guardians have a multitude of ways to master the game's toughest activities.
Season of the Chosen added even more gear for Guardians to mess with. The Bell of Conquest Artifact, elemental well mods, and new Exotics have added even more build options. Some might seem rather obtuse or lackluster to use in a build, but some of the builds you're about to see take these new mechanics to the extreme. Here are ten powerful builds that you have to try for Destiny 2's Season of the Chosen.
10 Elemental Fury
As the only class-agnostic build on this list, this build focuses on getting the most out of Season of the Chosen's elemental well mechanic without too much of a deviation from Destiny's core gameplay loop. Every six kills will grant an elemental well, providing the following buffs:
- 10% ability energy
- A 10% damage buff that stacks with other damage buffs
- 2 or 4 Charged with Light stacks
Those Charged with Light stacks can then be turned into a 20% damage buff through the use of the High-Energy Fire mod.
There's no weird gameplay loop with this, no fighting over who gets to blow up Warmind Cells, and no micro-managing your abilities. If you play this build, you'll get a massive damage boost that is almost always active. Should you convince your fireteam to run this build, expect much more frequent ability uptime and a permanent damage boost. Players that are sick of complicated Destiny builds should give this one a try.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Any Light subclass (Arc, Solar, or Void)
- Stats: Any
Gear
- Weapons: Any elemental weapons that match your subclass's element (pair Void with Void, Solar with Solar, etc.)
- Exotic Armor: Any
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Elemental Armaments, Elemental Charge, High-Energy Fire, Stacks on Stacks (optional), Supercharged (optional)
- Armor Mods: Any
9 Golden Age Gunslinger
Are you in love with Dead Man's Tale and can't stop using it? This build is for you, focusing on providing as many benefits as possible for chaining precision hits.
While using bottom tree Gunslinger, you gain access to a devastating Golden Gun Super and a powerful Precision Throwing Knife. Athrys's Embrace will activate from your rapid precision hits, making your Throwing Knife hit as hard as a Golden Gun round while staggering Unstoppable Champions.
If that wasn't enough, this build also takes advantage of Charged with Light mods to have a near-permanent 20% damage boost. Thanks to the Sundering Glare mod, you can also make enemies take 20% increased damage from a distance. Nothing will stand a chance against you and your trusty Scout Rifle.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Way of the Sharpshooter (Bottom Tree Gunslinger)
- Stats: Up to preference
Gear
- Weapons: Dead Man's Tale
- Exotic Armor: Athrys's Embrace
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Precision Charge, Charge Harvester, Stacks on Stacks, High-Energy Fire, Supercharged (optional)
- General Armor Mods: Scout Rifle mods, Sundering Glare (Class Item)
8 Volatile Thundercrash
Season of the Chosen's Volatile Conduction mod allows Titans to deal 30% more damage with their Thundercrash Super while damaged. Cuirass of the Fallen Star also doubles the damage of this Super, allowing you to one-shot most strike bosses. Apply an additional debuff with Tractor Cannon to annihilate every enemy in the game. To make your Thundercrash Super recharge quickly, consider using Charged with Light mods like Energy Converter.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Code of the Missile (Middle Tree Striker)
- Stats: 100 Intellect
Gear
- Weapons: Bad Juju, Masterworked guns
- Exotic Armor: Cuirass of the Fallen Star
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Energy Converter, Taking Charge, Supercharged, Charged Up, Stacks on Stacks
- General Armor Mods: Ashes to Assets (Helmet), Volatile Conduction (Class Item)
7 Stabile Chaos
More suited for PvP, this build focuses on recharging Chaos Reach as fast as possible. Geomag Stabilizers are a must, recharging the last 20% of your Super in a few seconds while you sprint. The other 80% can be sped up through a high Intellect stat.
While already powerful, Charged with Light mods can be used to make this even more absurd. Powerful Friends and Radiant Light will give you +20 Mobility and Strength and give allies Charged with Light whenever you cast your Super. If your allies also have Powerful Friends, you become Charged with Light as well. Use Stacks on Stacks and High-Energy Fire to make your 120 RPM Hand Cannon or Dead Man's Tale two-tap Guardians in PvP. While top tree Dawnblade is still a solid choice for high-end PvP, this build requires much less skill yet is just as devastating.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Attunement of Control (Middle Tree Stormcaller)
- Stats: 100 Intellect
Gear
- Weapons: Any
- Exotic Armor: Geomag Stabilizers
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Powerful Friends, Radiant Light, High-Energy Fire, Stacks on Stacks (optional)
- Armor Mods: Any
6 Squall's Savagery
Silence & Squall is a devastating Super for clearing out hordes of PvE enemies. This build focuses on making this Super active much more often, allowing you to summon these devastating ice kamas multiple times a minute.
This is done by utilizing two mods: Glacial Inheritance and Energy Converter. You'll cast your Super, killing enemies that will drop elemental wells. Grabbing a single well will grant four Charged with Light stacks. Throw a grenade afterward to gain 25% of your Super back. A few seconds after you cast your Super, you'll gain another 30-50% if Silence & Squall killed a few targets—closer to 50% if you're using Whisper of Bonds. With that Fragment and any weapon with the Thresh perk, you can charge your Super in as little as 30 seconds.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Revenant
- Aspects: Shatterdive and Grim Harvest
- Fragments: Whisper of Bonds, Durance, Shards
- Grenade: Glacier Grenade
- Stats: 40+ Intellect
Gear
- Weapons: Bad Juju, Masterworked weapons (preferably with Thresh)
- Exotic Armor: FR0ST-EE5
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Energy Converter, Elemental Light, Elemental Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged
- General Armor Mods: Ashes to Assets OR Hands-On (Helmet), Glacial Inheritance (Class Item)
5 Shadebinder's Eye
Taken Acolytes can summon Acolyte Eyes that act as turrets. Shadebinder Warlocks can do the same thing with the Bleak Watcher Aspect, converting their grenade into an ice turret. This build allows you to have three or four of these turrets up simultaneously, providing an absurd amount of crowd control.
Verity's Brow is the main reason this build works, providing an absurd amount of grenade energy whenever you kill a target with an energy weapon. Salvager's Salvo is great for this build, clearing out hordes of enemies with a single shot. You can also use Demolitionist instead of Chain Reaction if you want more grenades. While you won't be outputting a ton of damage, you'll be able to freeze dozens of enemies at once. For Master-tier Nightfalls and Lost Sectors, this is surprisingly useful.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Shadebinder
- Aspects: Bleak Watcher, Iceflare Bolts
- Fragments: Whisper of Hedrons, Bonds, Torment
- Grenade: Duskfield Grenades
- Stats: 100 Discipline
Gear
- Weapons: Salvager's Salvo; No Time to Explain is a fun Primary you can use
- Exotic Armor: Verity's Brow
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Firepower (x4), Taking Charge
- Armor Mods: Any
4 Support Siegebreaker
We mentioned this build in our Beyond Light build article, but this build is so much fun that we had to include it again. In essence, Code of the Siegebreaker can utilize Warmind Cells mods to become a hybrid between a DPS and support spec.
Wrath of Rasputin is the star of the show, allowing all Solar splash damage to spawn Warmind Cells. This includes Sunspots, your abilities, and weapons like Sunshot. Fireteam Medic and Warmind's Protection allow your Warmind Cells to act as support buffs. Pair this with Phoenix Cradle to provide even more benefits to your fireteam.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Code of the Siegebreaker (Bottom Tree Sunbreaker)
- Stats: Focus on Discipline and Strength
Gear
- Weapons: Sunshot, Xenophage, Ticcu's Divination, any Solar weapons with Dragonfly
- Exotic Armor: Phoenix Cradle, Hallowfire Heart
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Wrath of Rasputin, Rage of the Warmind, Global Reach, Warmind's Protection, Fireteam Medic
- General Armor Mods: Focusing Lens (Class Item)
3 Way Of A Thousand Rockets
You might have heard about pairing Two-Tailed Fox with The Sixth Coyote, allowing you to fire up to three rockets in quick succession. But what if you want to output even more damage?
Funnily enough, Two-Tailed Fox's Solar rocket applies a burn debuff on enemy targets. While the damage itself is nothing substantial, this activates middle tree Gunslinger's Burning Edge perk, causing your dodge to recharge in three seconds! Fire a rocket, dodge, fire a rocket, dodge, fire a rocket, dodge... Your damage potential is only limited to how many rockets you can carry. If you want to output even more damage, throw on High-Energy Fire for a 20% damage boost. While you can use Argent Ordnance, Two-Tailed Fox consumes two stacks of Charged with Light per shot. It's not worth it.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Way of a Thousand Cuts (Middle Tree Gunslinger)
- Stats: 100 Mobility
Gear
- Weapon: Two-Tailed Fox
- Exotic Armor: The Sixth Coyote
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Taking Charge, High-Energy Fire, three mods of your choice
- General Armor Mods: Rocket Launcher mods, Sundering Glare (Class Item)
2 Harmony Of Destruction
Voidwalkers are back and better than ever in Season of the Chosen! This season's new Warlock Exotic, Mantle of Battle Harmony, is a much stronger alternative to Nezarec's Sin. When you defeat enemies with any weapon that matches your subclass element, you gain a major boost in Super energy. If your Super is full, you gain a 20% damage boost.
This can be paired with the Energy Converter mod to gain your Super incredibly quick. To make it even faster, use bottom tree Voidwalker to obtain the Devour buff, enhancing your ability and Super regeneration while active. It also fully heals you after a kill, making this build great for solo content. Weapons like Palindrome, Graviton Lance, Coriolis Force, and Gnawing Hunger are fantastic here. If you really want to boost your Super energy, run a Coriolis Force with Thresh to gain your Super in as little as 15 seconds; it's absurd.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Attunement of Hunger (Bottom Tree Voidwalker)
- Stats: 100 Intellect
Gear
- Weapons: Any Void weapon
- Exotic Armor: Mantle of Battle Harmony
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Energy Converter, Supercharged, Taking Charge, Charged Up (optional), Stacks on Stacks (optional)
- General Armor Mods: Ashes to Assets (Helmet)
1 Behemoth Unleashed
Tuned for PvE, this takes last season's Heart of Darkness build and cranks it up to 11. If played properly, you'll always have your abilities charged, permanent Shotgun ammo, and absurd add clear.
Using the Heart of Inmost Light Exotic chest plate, you gain a dramatic boost to your ability regeneration after using two abilities. Thanks to Stasis Aspects and Fragments, you can gain 50% of our melee back instantly and 70% of our grenade after breaking a Glacier Grenade by sliding or Seismic Striking it. When paired with Inmost Light's regen boost, this is enough to maintain our grenade.
Charged with Light mods take this aggressive playstyle to the extreme. Heavy Handed will refund half of your melee energy after using Seismic Strike, allowing you to instantly regenerate your melee after breaking a Glacier Grenade. This also means you gain Shotgun ammo after killing a target while surrounded. Running triple Shotguns is not only viable but encouraged on this setup. Finally, you can use either Protective Light or Reactive Pulse to give yourself some breathing room during intense firefights.
Subclass Specs And Stats
- Subclass: Behemoth
- Aspects: Tectonic Harvest and Cryoclasm
- Fragments: Whisper of Fissures, Shards, Chains
- Grenade: Glacier Grenade
- Stats: High Resilience and Intellect
Gear
- Weapons: Triple Shotguns, one of which should be Tractor Cannon
- Exotic Armor: Heart of Inmost Light
Armor Mods
- Combat Style Mods: Reactive Pulse OR Protective Light, Heavy Handed, Elemental Ordnance, Supercharged, Stacks on Stacks
- General Armor Mods: Ashes to Assets (Helmet), Shotgun mods, Glacial Inheritance (Class Item)