Builds

While we were on-site with Bungie, we took the time to ask around the studio for some of their favorite builds. They answered!

Favorite PvE Builds

Cameron Pinard—Bladedancer

“Minimize Blink Strike cooldown with Fast Twitch, and maximize Strength on your armor. With Hungering Blade, stab things for a refreshing restoration of health, or use your super with wild abandon as you cut through your enemies with ease, recharging with each kill.”

Daniel Hanson—Voidwalker

“The Axion Bolt has always been my favorite grenade for the Voidwalker subclass in Story missions and Strikes.

“While the other Voidwalker grenades have the potential to hit more targets, Axion Bolt seekers will consistently do more damage to two targets, making them very reliable at dispatching troublesome enemies.

“Remember to pick up the Vortex Mastery perk to increase the range of your seekers. And, if you manage to earn the Exotic Voidfang Vestments chest armor, you can make Axion Bolt spawn a third seeker!”

Ian Cox, Jon Weisnewski—Sunsinger

Ian Cox has a lot to say, clearly he loves his Warlock.

“Radiance’s ability to spam grenades means that Sunsingers are more reliant on having a good grenade than other builds. With that in mind, the Solar grenade is not a great general purpose grenade, so the build doesn’t really start to sing (if you will) until you get Firebolt grenades. With Radiance active, Firebolt grenades provide a ridiculous amount of wave-clearing potential and can routinely provide as many orbs as there are enemies to kill. Sunsinger has a reputation as a support build, but frankly, what it does best to help teammates is kill everyone in the room and give them a ton of free super energy from orbs.

“The Solar grenade can be useful in encounters when enemies come through predictable chokepoints but really shines in encounters with bosses that have multiple points that can be damaged simultaneously, as many get caught in the AOE. It’s great against Devil Walkers!

“The sticky Fusion grenade does a ton of damage and can be very useful against single-target bosses like Sepiks or Phogoth. Depending on the specific encounter, team composition, and Strike difficulty, it can be more useful to have Fusion grenades for burning down bosses or Firebolt grenades to wipe out adds.

“Oh, and be careful about attaching Fusion grenades to Thralls or teleporting enemies. They will happily detonate your own grenade right next to you…

“Other than proper grenade usage, the big talent choice is whether you take Viking Funeral and Touch of Flame to make your Firebolt grenades hit tough enemies much harder, or if you take Radiant Will and Gift of the Sun to make Radiance even better.

“Stack Discipline to the max to get access to your powerful grenades more often, and to maximize grenade spam during Radiance. Then, stack Intellect to get those supers more often. Generally avoid Strength, even if you take a DoT-focused build; the easiest source of DoT triggers comes from your grenades via Touch of Flame.

“Angel of Light is a fantastic mobility talent, the third really great talent in a column full of great talents. Everyone should play around with it a bit.

“Finally, the ‘more super energy from grenade kills’ mod that can sometimes be found on helmets is really great for this build, as you can frequently come out of Radiance with two grenades, poised to begin refilling your super meter immediately.”

Something about the Sunsinger seems to generate passionate and lengthy responses. Perhaps it’s all that Solar energy in their brains… Here are Jon’s thoughts

“Sunsingers are an extremely flexible class. They can be deadly offensive and a huge support class as well. They don’t have a showy signature super nuke like most of the other classes, but they compensate for it with a wide array of class abilities that make them very adaptable.

“The sheer amount of fire you can throw with Radiance is awesome, but the real cherry on top is the Fireborn upgrade, which allows you to self-revive with Radiance active. In PvE, this ability can be crucial in turning around some of the tougher fights and rescuing your Fireteam from a wipe, or just not endangering your friends when you die in a risky area.

“In PvP, there are few things as satisfying to me as the surprise self-rez after an unfortunate death. When I get killed close-range by a shotgun camp or a ninja flank, and you know that person is smirking on the other end, wait for the enemy to turn their attention away, and then, like a demonic undead inferno, come back to life and end their world.

“Crafty players can also maximize their ability to turn the world to ash with the combination of Viking Funeral and Touch of Flame. These passives mean that any Solar-based attack will set enemies on fire for an extended duration.

“All this greatness aside, my absolute favorite ability is Angel of Light, which allows a player to briefly hover in air when they go into ADS mid-jump. This affords you brief moments of unexpected sniping superiority, and can also seriously throw off aggressors in PvP. Fusion rifles, rocket launchers, grenades, melee: they’re all counting on you returning to the ground after you jump, and when you don’t, it provides the moment of confusion you need to turn a flanking attack into a defensive pie in the face.”

Ben Wommack and Anastasia Tex Mercer, James Haywood—Gunslinger

“Three words: Infinite. Throwing. Knives.

“Provided you’re good enough, of course… With the Knife Juggler talent, whenever you make a precision kill with a throwing knife, the cooldown is instantly reset. You can headshot dregs all day with just throwing knives.

“No self-respecting Hunter will ever admit that they aren’t up to the task, so if you want a little insurance for your throwing knife spree, pick up the talent Gambler’s Dagger. This gives you a second knife to store at all times, which of course you’ll never have to use because Hunters never miss.”

Anastasia has similar opinions:

“Throwing knife + Knife Juggler = pure happiness. If you’re a pro with precision kills, you’ll never run out of knives. Not to mention the ultimately satisfying feeling from strategically throwing a knife across the map that lands dead center on top of your enemy’s skull.

“When playing on higher difficulties, the Golden Gun is an awesome ally against higher-level enemies with more health, stronger shields, and increased aggression.”

And James Haywood, with a name seemingly meant to be a gunslinger…

“Golden Gun never lets me down. If you want to feel like the new sheriff in town, blowing through to make the galaxy safe for law abiding citizens, this is the class to choose. Of course, picking a sweet handgun as your primary is a must. Just crank up the magazine and reload time every way you can.

“Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of being stampeded by a horde of enemies, taking down the first one with a single knife throw, and then one-shotting the rest in quick succession.”

Favorite PvP Builds

Thomas Wiley—Sunsinger

“The one focus that truly makes me feel like a space wizard.

“With the Touch of Flame perk combined with Viking Funeral, I am able to cover the battlefield with fire.

“Combine this with the cooldown reduction and the damage resistance of Radiance, and the Touch of Flame Warlock causes enemies to flee.”

Daniel Auchenpaugh, Eric Carter, and John Favaro—Voidwalker

“Vortex grenade is great area denial; grab it for PvP!

“The Focused Burst talent for Glide gets you across the map faster, while the Vortex augment for Nova Bomb ensures the room stays clear after you space-magic everyone in it.

“The Soul Rip talent for Energy Drain gets you more Nova Bombs, and who doesn’t like that? Grab Arcane Force and Divine Order for toughness, and Vortex Mastery to extend your fields. Wrap that up with Embrace the Void, and you’ll be the unstoppable space wizard you’ve always dreamed of.

“When gearing this build, focus on Discipline first, then Intellect. That extra grenade cooldown rate really helps you control routes.”

Eric shares Daniel’s opinion of the Voidwalker, though expressed slightly differently…

“Glide! Wait for it… wait for it… wait for it… Nova Bomb the control point! Double down! Triple down! Berserker! Slayer! Merciless! Space magic! Neutralizing control point…”

John chimes in with some final thoughts on Nova Bomb augmented with the Vortex talent:

“The ability to land a Nova Bomb that goes through the Titans’ Ward of Dawn is great. Keeping those pesky Titans exposed makes it much easier to kill them.

“It is also great as a capture point denial weapon. Dropping one on a point means the other team has to choose to either stay out of it, allowing your team to counter-attack, or sacrifice themselves to capture the point.”

Peter Hood, Victor Anderson—Defender

Peter has a dissenting opinion on the Voidwalker…

“The Ward of Dawn bubble is an excellent team support super. It can save lives and provide great cover when you need it.

“Blessing of Light gives a shield on entry and exit, so popping in and out of the Ward keeps your shields high.

“It’s great for zone control when defending a point or offense while trying to gain ground, and it also keeps those pesky Warlocks in their place at the bottom of the scoreboard.”

While Victor shares the love of the Defender:

“Rather than using Defender as area denial and map control, I prefer using it offensively. Grabbing the Weapons of Light talent with the Illuminated talent to increase your weapons’ damage and combining that with a Hand Cannon or Sniper rifle allows incredibly fast kill times.

“I do not suggest a shotgun or fusion rifle for Weapons of Light. That would be better suited to one of the more defensive talent choices. It’s important to remember that the Ward of Dawn with Weapons of Light is not meant to be used as a camping tool. The important part is using the damage boost to blitz a position, or put it in a central location to maximize the kills you get from it for the duration. Remember that Weapons of Light cannot save you from something like the burning effect from solar warlocks or Thorn’s effect—don’t waste it!

“I suggest the Magnetic grenade, as you can use it to trade with supers. It will often detonate after the damage reduction activation period ends. It also covers your lack of a panic button. However, remember that you cannot kill someone with Radiance, Arc Blade, or some of the other defensive Ward of Dawn talents in this fashion.

“Using the Magnetic grenade intelligently and stacking discipline to support it can land you many kills on opponents that are otherwise in advantageous positions, such as when multiple foes are standing on a point; a Magnetic grenade can easily attach to someone for an instant kill.”

Alex Velicky, Ian Flower—Striker

“The Striker focus has two of the coolest abilities in the entire game. Fist of Havok with the Death From Above perk, and Shoulder Charge. There is nothing more satisfying in PvP than leaping up high above your enemies only to superhero-slam into the ground, unleashing a deadly blast of Arc energy, killing everyone in the area. It’s dramatic, it’s flashy, and most important, it’s terrifying to the victim and impossible to escape.

“This goes great with another fantastic ability, the Shoulder Charge. Albeit a hard skill to learn, requiring finesse to properly time after the buildup, it’s incredibly satisfying to jump just before using it. This makes you use your knee instead of your shoulder. You heard me right—you leap up and slam your knee into your target’s skull with the force of a thousand bears, instantly killing all but the heartiest opponents. All of this can be augmented with the Flashbang grenade. Throw one into a room, and the enemy is blinded, confused, and afraid when you show up to unleash your deadly attack.

“In addition to the abilities, nothing matches the awesomeness of the armors that the Titans can access. Without a doubt, I will be using DFA/Shoulder Striker Titan at launch, as its utter destructiveness and flashy execution is equaled by no other.”

Ian Flower shares the love of mighty smash:

“When playing solo in PvE, the Striker Titan has all the abilities I need to stay alive when I’m being dumb. The Regenerate Health on melee kill has saved my life so many times, and Fist of Havok is the best “Oh #%#@” button ever. It has its drawbacks: the extra melee damage skull is particularly dangerous, but I still feel like the Striker Titan has the best mix of “Oh @$@#” recovery and splash damage.

“Also, aesthetically I love the belt sashes. So many of them are just so pretty. And the armor sets are great. Fist of Havok-ing into the ground is great. And kneeing people in the face with Shoulder Charge. I just love it.”

Anastasia Tex Mercer—Bladedancer

“While some people like going out guns blazing, I prefer the sneaky approach. Creeping around, out of sight with Vanish, and striking down your foes is ever so satisfying.

“Come on, who doesn’t love being a ninja?”

Favorite Strike and Raid Builds

Brendan Thorne— Cloak-Focused Bladedancer

“The ability to disappear and make an enemy combatant kill your buddy instead of you should not be underestimated.

“But in all seriousness, this build has great survivability to get you out of a tight spot. Remember, dead Hunters do no DPS.”

John Shaffstall—Sunsinger

“The respawn penalty makes Strikes and Raids very difficult. Resurrecting yourself can mean the difference between a successful encounter and a wipe.

“The Fireborn upgrade is one of the final unlocks in the Sunsinger specialization, so you’ll have to earn the right to undo your death.”

Mike Lee—Defender

Mike Lee shares a build you can try should you manage to locate a very special and rare Exotic helmet…

“Built around the Helm of Saint-14 exotic helmet’s unique ability, Starless Night. It blinds enemies who walk through the Ward of Dawn, hard countering melee rush waves. Stick to the Flashbang grenade to react to dangerous situations.

“Pair with a high orb-count-generating Sunsinger Warlock and feast upon AI waves of all types. You can accrue meter toward your next Ward of Dawn while the first one is still active. Rely on a high-capacity Exotic primary, along with War Machine’s increased reload speed to keep your heavy weapon slot firing for DPS.”