The dust has settled a bit following the release of Lightfall, Destiny 2's latest expansion. Now that it's been out for some time, we can finally take a look at the revamped mod system and put together what we consider to be top-tier Meta builds.
What makes a build good? It all depends on what you want to do. If you're a PVE fanatic, you might find more value in builds that are better for burst damage and survivability. PVP players might need faster recovery and snappier movement options. Things that don't necessarily hit hard, but indisputably hit fast. Let's get down to brass tacks and take a look at the best PVE and PVP builds for Void Warlocks in Destiny 2 Season of Defiance.
Table of Contents
Best Void Warlock PVE Build: Nezarec's Bane
This build doesn't rely on the ever-popular Controverse Holds. While I do think that builds surrounding it are fun to use, nothing really compares to the uptime you can build into with the Nezarec's Sin helmet is just too good. Similar to the Solar Warlock build, this is about spamming abilities, keeping up Devour, and wreaking havoc on the enemies of The Last City.
Required Gear
- Exotic Armor: Nezarec's Sin (Helmet)
This Exotic is built around keeping your abilities recharged. Getting kills with void damage increases your ability recharge rate and even in endgame content, this helmet is killer.
Class Setup
- Super: Cataclysm
- Grenade: Vortex Grenades
- Class Ability: Healing Rift
- Melee: Pocket Singularity (it's the only one)
- Jump: Burst Glide. If you're feeling dangerous, you could also go with Blink, but only if you think you can control it.
Aspects
- Feed The Void: This grants Devour when getting Void ability kills. While active, Devour will instantly heal you to 100%, grant you grenade energy, and extend itself. This is the Void Dream.
- Child of the Old Gods: When casting your rift, you create a Void Soul (aka Void Buddy). This will track to enemies once you open fire on them and create an area of effect that will deal damage to them and Weaken them. This will heal you if you're running Empowering Rift, or grant you grenade and melee energy if you're running Healing Rift. Getting a Void Buddy kill will grant you Class Ability energy, too. This plays into our ability uptime build very well.
Fragments
- Echo of Leeching for health regen on Melee kills, both uncharged and charged.
- Echo of Expulsion makes enemies explode when killed with Void abilities.
- Echo of Instability grants Volatile Rounds when you kill an enemy with grenades
- Echo of Cessation makes Finishers explode into a burst of Void damage and if it tags other enemies, it makes them Volatile. This also makes it so that a Void Breach is created when killing Volatile enemies, which grants Class Ability energy on pickup.
Volatile Rounds is another Subclass verb that makes it so that enemies explode upon taking additional damage. This is a great tool in content with a large number of enemies, especially those close together, to help to burn their numbers down a bit.
Armor Mods
Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for ability uptime to further lean into the grenade, melee, and rift spam that this build is all about.
- Head Mods: I recommend Harmonic Syphon x2 and Heavy Ammo Finder for more orbs and heavy ammo
- Arm Mods: I recommend Grenade Kickstart, Font of Focus, Bolstering Detonation for more grenade energy and Rift energy when causing grenade damage. Vortex Grenade will deal continual damage, so this is a great way to build Rift energy
- Chest Mods: I recommend Emergency Reinforcement and whatever damage reduction mods of your choosing. Emergency Reinforcement is crazy strong right now and a requirement for high-end content
- Leg Mods: I recommend Void Weapon Surge and Recuperation. You can choose 2 copies of either mod here, whichever is more important to you at any given time. If you're struggling to survive, I'd recommend 2 Recuperation mods, but if you need a slightly higher DPS, I'd say a second or even third Weapon Surge mod to help with an increase in damage output.
- Bond Mods: I recommend Time Dilation, Proximity Ward, and Healthy Finisher. You can swap out Proximity Ward and Healthy Finisher for a second copy of Time Dilation if you want more time with your Armor Charges, but again, if you want more survivability, go with my recommendations.
Weapons
- Kinetic Slot: Witherhoard (recommended) While not required, Witherhoard is a kinetic slot grenade launcher that deals DOT (damage over time). It is a great way to apply constant DPS to enemies, and is just a fun weapon to use.
- Energy Slot: The choice here is yours, but I do recommend eitherFunnelweb to help spread Volatile quickly or Doom of Chelchis from King's Fall, which can roll (or be crafted) with both Firefly and Dragonfly, spreading explosions and Volatile Rounds with deadly speed.
- Heavy Slot: Again, this is entirely up to you. Right now, Grenade Launchers and Rockets have become favorable, but Linear Fusion Rifles are still a great option. Regardless of what it is, I recommend a Void Heavy weapon to lean into the synergy of the build.
Stat Distribution
For these, you'll want to focus on 100 Resilience and at least 90 Recovery for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. Next would be a minimum of 60 Discipline, but anything higher is obviously better. The rest of the stats are completely up to you. Mobility isn't that important overall for Warlcok and I constantly run 20, 10, or even fewer stat points in Mobility.
Conclusion
Again, perhaps not the most contemporary build, but it's a great choice and I never leave home without it. I recommend putting this together and saving it for your next Grandmaster Nightfall run!
Best Void Warlock PVP Build: Blinking Nightmare
This build is all about annoying your enemies in as many ways as possible. Remember when we talked about Blink in the PVE build? We're going to turn Blink up to 11 with the Astrocyte Verse. Teleport, throw grenades, and make your enemies cry. It's what Shaxx would want.
Required Gear
- Exotic Armor: Astrocyte Verse (Helmet)
This helm will allow you to Blink more, Blink better, and keep your radar up all at the same time. Airborne effectiveness and weapon readiness also get a slight boost, so don't worry about being in the air too much.
Class Setup
- Super: Nova Warp, just to mix things up a bit.
- Grenade: Axion Bolt OR Suppression Grenades
- Class Ability: Healing Rift
- Melee: Pocket Singularity
- Jump: Blink!
While I constantly switch between Axion and Suppression, I think either one will work well. Suppression is of course great for stopping your enemies' Supers in their tracks but also keeps them from casting any other abilities, including their jump abilities. Axion with Echo of Remnants will track them forever, which will allow you to push an enemy into a corner. I say base it on which subclasses your opponents have chosen and don't be afraid to adapt to their playstyles.
Aspects
- Feed The Void: This grants Devour when getting Void ability kills. While active, Devour will instantly heal you to 100%, grant you grenade energy, and extend itself. This is the Void Dream.
- Chaos Accelerant: This allows you to hold your grenade before throwing it, overcharging it. When running Axion bolt, this will great an additional seeker, making it even more annoying.
These two Aspects used in tandem like this will only grant 3 Fragment Slots, so we're going to be a bit choosy with what we roll next.
Fragments
Similar to Solar Warlock, your PVP fragments likely won't have as great of an effect on your build. That said, I do have some recommendations that should help you frustrate your opponents into either slowing down or quitting the match altogether.
- Echo of Instability grants Volatile on grenade kills.
- Echo of Remnants increases the duration of lingering grenades, like Axion Bolt!
- Echo of Undermining Void grenades Weaken enemies. This is great because even in PVP, this will cause your affected enemies to take more damage and slow their movement.
Armor Mods
Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for weapon steadiness and handling. These are all pretty straightforward and grant bonus weapon stats and ability recovery.
- Head Mods: I recommend Kinetic OR Energy Targeting
- Arm Mods: I recommend Grenade Kickstart and Reloaders of your choice
- Chest Mods: I recommend Unflinching mods of your choice
- Leg Mods: I recommend Absolution, Better Already, Orbs of Restoration
- Bond Mods: I recommend Reaper, Bomber, Outreach
Weapons
- Kinetic Slot: I recommend a Kinetic Sniper or Shotgun. This will free up your energy slot for a void primary weapon, but using a primary in your kinetic slot in favor of a Void special weapon is okay, too. Go with your heart, here!
- Energy Slot: This might sound silly, but if we're entertaining the idea of annoying your opponents, I cannot recommend Graviton Lance more. This weapon fires a two-round burst that, when killed, makes enemies create a void explosion which also spawns Axion Bolt-like Void projectiles that track enemies. This gun is silly, fun, and extremely grating on the other team.
- Heavy Slot: Take your pick, but I always recommend a synergistic weapon based on your build. Of course, it doesn't matter quite as much in PVP, but a Void Rocket is going to do well here.
Stat Distribution
For these, you'll want to focus on as much recovery and resilience as possible for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. Next would either be Discipline for Axion Bolts and then whatever else you find to be important. I almost recommend against stacking too much Mobility, because you're already going to be zooming around with Blink.
Conclusion
Destiny 2's PVP is a silly and wacky thing that I genuinely love playing. Building into that, especially, will end in you laughing more than swearing even if the fights don't always go your way.
These are the best Void Warlock builds for PVE and PVP in Season of Defiance. Make sure you save them in your new Loadout slots before you start moving on to your next build. While you're here, go check out what we recommend for Solar Warlocks, too!
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