WARNING: The Final Shape brings a lot of changes to builds, Exotics, classes and subclasses. Therefore, many elements of this guide are subject to change. When the expansion goes live our team will test them extensively and update accordingly. Remember to use the "pin the post" feature to be notified of new updates then refresh your page and check the changelog at the bottom of the guide to learn more!
Welcome to the Fallen Sunstar Arc Warlock build guide! Harness the power of electricity and lightning to devastate your enemies and support your allies. With this build, you're able to generate a significant amount of Ionic Traces, regenerating ability energy every time you pick one up.
This Arc Warlock build is centered around the Exotic armor piece Fallen Sunstar and it's ability to provide you with an aggressive ability spam playstyle while still offering some support to your fireteam. With this Exotic helmet, you gain double the normal ability energy when picking up an Ionic Trace and nearby allies also gain a portion of the energy returned!
The main disadvantage of the build is your Super ability, Chaos Reach, and its long channel time. Chaos Reach is useful for both boss damage and general ad clearing. It also has the capability to Jolt targets, which is great for stunning Overload Champions.
WARNING: You must own The Witch Queen DLC to unlock the Fallen Sunstar Exotic helmet armor piece.
Pros
- High ability uptime.
- Fast and satisfying playstyle.
- Hybrid offensive and supportive build.
Cons
- No self healing outside of Healing Rift.
- Super ability has low damage output and long cast time.
Gameplay Loop
Start off by casting your Healing Rift to activate Arc Soul. This aspect creates an Arc familiar that fires projectiles at enemies. The sentient ball of Arc energy is particularly useful for clearing weaker enemies when they surround you. Projectiles from Arc Soul are considered an Arc ability, proccing your second aspect, Electrostatic Mind. This is where the Ionic Traces start coming into play. Collecting an Ionic Trace gives a moderate portion of ability energy to your Pulse Grenade, Chain Lightning and Healing Rift.
Fallen Sunstar causes these Ionic Traces to move much faster and grants you additional ability energy when compared to a normal Arc Warlock. Your fireteam benefits from the ability regeneration as well, but at a lower rate than your personal returns. This helmet allows you to play fast and loose with your abilities while still providing a decent amount of support to allies in need.
Delicate Tomb has the ability to both create and profit from your Ionic Traces. Your fusion rifle's next shot is overcharged and applies Jolt to your subsequent targets. These traces of Arc energy also partially reload the magazine when the Delicate Tomb Catalyst is completed. Because of Electrostatic Mind, picking up an Ionic Trace grants Amplified.
While Amplified, your movement speed and weapon handling are greatly increased. Spark of Beacons causes Delicate Tomb to provide you with a Blind effect on special weapon kills, a form of crowd control which is useful for stunning Unstoppable Champions. Even though this build lacks self healing, it is incredibly potent at destroying your enemies quickly and takes advantage of all of the Arc subclass traits. Keeping all of your Arc Warlock abilities topped up is almost as easy as using them, thanks to Fallen Sunstar and Ionic Traces.
Ability Breakdown
Super
- Chaos Reach
- Charge up and then channel a long range beam of concentrated Arc energy. When damage is sustained on a single target, this Super ability applies Jolt. When you cancel the cast, you receive a refund of some Super energy. The amount of energy you get back depends on how early you cancel your super.
Abilities
- Healing Rift - When inside of the rift, you and allies are healed for 40hp per second. When you are at full health, it converts to an overshield.
- Burst Glide - Your jump ability is up to you, but for the sake of the build we are taking Burst Glide.
- Chain Lightning - A short range melee ability that applies Jolt and chains lightning to nearby targets. Being Amplified creates an additional set of chains.
- Pulse Grenade - This grenade periodically damages targets within it's radius. The duration is increased by Spark of Magnitude and damaged enemies are Jolted through your Spark of Shock fragment.
Aspects
- Arc Soul - Modifies your Healing Rift to create a sentient ball of Arc energy that fires projectiles at nearby targets. Allies can also pass through your Rift to gain an Arc Soul. While Amplified, these turrets are supercharged and gain an increased rate of fire. Nearby allies cause your Rift to recharge faster.
- Electrostatic Mind - A more passive aspect, defeating targets with Arc abilities or defeating Jolted targets, creates an Ionic Trace. Collecting an Ionic Trace makes you Amplified.
Fragments
- Spark of Magnitude - Your Pulse Grenade has an extended duration.
- Spark of Shock - Causes your Pulse Grenade to apply Jolted to damaged targets at the cost of Discipline.
- Spark of Beacons - While Amplified, kills from Delicate Tomb create a Blinding explosion.
- Spark of Amplitude - Rapid final blows creates an orb of power when you are Amplified.
Gearing
Required Gear and Weapons
Fallen Sunstar - Ionic Traces move faster and grant additional ability energy. Nearby allies also gain ability energy when you collect an Ionic Trace.
WARNING: You must own The Witch Queen DLC to unlock the Fallen Sunstar Exotic helmet armor piece.
How to acquire:
- Farm the expert lost sector on Helmet armor days.
- Complete the Vex Strike Force Public Event on Neomuna.
Stat Priorities
- Resilience > Discipline > Recovery.
- Resilience is always the most coveted stat when in a PVE environment. It increases your damage resistance and shield capacity. Your goal is 100 Resilience.
- Discipline decreases the cooldown on your grenade ability, allowing it to charge faster.
- Recovery governs the cooldown on the Warlocks class ability and decreases the time it takes to regenerate your health and shields.
Learn more about the Stats available to you in Destiny 2 with our dedicated guide.
Armor Mods
- Helmet
- Ashes to Assets - Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills.
- Powerful Friends - Collecting an orb of power causes nearby allies to increase their current armor charge by 1.
- Kinetic Siphon - Rapid Kinetic weapon final blows create an orb of power.
- Gauntlets
- Impact Induction - Causing damage with a powered melee attack reduces your grenade cooldown.
- Momentum Transfer - Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
- Fastball - Increases grenade throw distance.
- Chest
- Charged Up - Increase the maximum number of armor charges you can carry by 1.
- Resist/Reserve mods of your choice - choose for the activity you are going into!
- Leg
- Arc Weapon Surge - Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any armor charge. Your armor charge now decays over time.
- Innervation - Reduces grenade cooldown each time you pick up an orb of power.
- Recuperation - Replenishes health each time you pick up an orb of power.
- Bond
- Time Dilation - Your decaying armor charges have a longer duration.
- Powerful Attraction - Automatically collects nearby orbs of power when you activate your class ability.
- Bomber Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
Armor Mods are unlocked by progressing your Guardian Rank. Check out the Guardian Ranks Guide for more information.
Artifact Mods
This build does not require any artifact mods from season 23.
Recommend Weapons
- Kinetic Weapon: Submission - This lightweight SMG shreds through weaker enemies and provides some healing thanks to it's origin perk, Souldrinker.
- The Submission SMG is earned from the Vow of the Disciple Raid, locked behind The Witch Queen DLC.
- Delicate Tomb - An Exotic fusion rifle born to synergize with Ionic Traces. Fits easily in the build and sticks to the Arc fantasy, benefiting from multiple Arc subclass traits.
- The Delicate Tomb fusion rifle requires access to The Witch Queen DLC to unlock.
- Power Weapon: Wendigo GL3 (Adept) - A classic favorite, this Heavy grenade launcher is effective at clearing groups of ads and provides a great option for boss damage.
Variants
- Swap Delicate Tomb for Coldheart.
- This trace rifle fits well into the build and is still able to create Ionic Traces for you while in it's high-damage state. Allows for a longer range playstyle while Delicate Tomb offers a more close range, burst damage weapon option.
- Swap Chaos Reach for Stormtrance.
- As a roaming Super, Stormtrance is largely useless for boss damage, but is better suited for clearing larger waves of ads if a particular encounter or activity calls for it.
- Feel free to utilize other weapons in the Kinetic and Power slot, as they do not make or break this build. Use what works for you!
Summary
With the Fallen Sunstar Exotic helmet, Arc Warlocks provide much needed support to help your allies charge their abilities and offer them more firepower with Arc Souls. Keep your enemies Jolted and Blind while filling the front lines with Ionic Traces. Strive to be as fast, fluid and electrifying as the lightning running through your fingertips as you chain Arc damage to all surrounding combatants. Envelope yourself in the storm and make Osiris and Ikora proud to call you a fellow Warlock!
Credits
Written by: SquirrelyDan
Reviewed by: ShieldMaiden, Tenkiei
