☕The Destiny 2 Build Blueprint

Good morning! This is a simple, 3-step framework to create any build for yourself in Destiny 2.

Step 1: Choose Your Starting Point

The best builds are centered around one focal point, creating a strong build identity.

Often, this is:

• A subclass buff or debuff

• An Exotic armor piece

• A specific ability

What you decide is your cornerstone.

The subclass Aspects and Fragments, the exotic armor and weapon, and the armor stats and mods you pick next all need to build on top of this foundation.

Think of it like you’re trying to build a skyscraper.

The goal isn’t to build wider but to build vertically. The deeper you go, the more specialized and powerful you become. The more powerful your build becomes, the greater the impact you make and the closer you get to your desired outcome.

Let’s look at how to think about some of the most common build identities.

How to Make a Subclass Buff/Debuff Build

This type of build focuses on a keyword (buff or debuff) unique to your subclass.

For example, the Void subclass has the Weaken debuff keyword. This is a 15% debuff to a target in PVE, which means all damage you and your allies inflict on them is 15% higher.

Nightstalkers are able to apply Weaken in a few easy ways.

• Snare Bomb

• Trapper’s Ambush

• And all Void grenades

are all Weaken abilities with high uptime potential.

The Snare Bomb melee ability is always available because the Gambler’s Dodge class ability instantly gives you a Snare Bomb. The Echo of Undermining fragment makes every grenade apply Weaken.

That’s why you’ll see a lot of Void Hunter builds aim to get as many Snare Bombs as possible or a lot of grenades.

How to Make an Exotic Armor Build

This type of build focuses on the benefits that an Exotic armor piece unlocks.

For example, one of the most overpowered Exotics has been Starfire Protocol for Warlocks. This Exotic does a ton when you’re using Fusion Grenades on the Solar Dawnblade subclass. You get:

• A second Fusion Grenade

• Faster passive grenade regen speed

• A full Class Ability when you get a Fusion Grenade kill

• A massive amount of Fusion Grenade energy on weapon hits while empowered by an Empowering Rift or Well of Radiance

With these types of builds, you want to either build into the setup or the execution.

Setup is about getting you to the place where you can take advantage of your exotic as often as possible. Execution is about increasing the number of benefits you get when your exotic works.

With the Starfire Protocol exotic as a simple example — you’d want to get your Empowering Rift or Fusion Grenade faster to get the exotic to work quicker. When you build into its execution, you’d look at getting ability energy when using your Empowering Rift or Fusion Grenade.

You could also look to your fragments since Fusion Grenades would apply Scorch and cause Ignitions.

How to Make an Ability Build

This type of build focuses on maximizing the destruction that one ability causes.

For example in Season 20, Firebolt Grenades were an extremely easy ability to build with.

The seasonal Artifact gave you a second Firebolt Grenade and increased the amount of Scorch each grenade applied to enemies. Together, this created a devastating ability that would incinerate entire groups of enemies with massive Ignition explosions.

In future seasons, I’m sure we’ll see other abilities get this type of treatment.

When you build around an ability, you want to maximize that ability’s uptime. What this usually looks like is reducing the cooldown or increasing the regen speed of that ability. Some popular ways of doing this for grenades are found in your armor mods:

• Explosive Finisher: Finishers restore grenades, consuming 3 or more stacks of Armor Charge.

• Grenade Kickstart: When your grenade energy is fully expended, you gain grenade energy.

• Impact Induction: Causing damage with a melee attack reduces your grenade cooldown.

• Innervation: Reduces grenade cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Power.

• Bomber: Reduces grenade cooldown when using your Class Ability

Step 2: Decide Which Direction to Build

You can either build vertically or you can build horizontally.

It’s like the famous saying, “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”. I find that the most fun builds (and definitely the most powerful ones) master one identity instead of trying to do a little of everything.

That being said, there are some exceptions to the rule.

The Heart of Inmost Light exotic chest armor on Titan is one.

This exotic increases the regen speed of all your abilities while also buffing their damage. Builds using the Heart of Inmost Light are encouraged to build horizontally so you can take advantage of it fully.

Another exception is usually Class Ability builds.

Since your Class Ability usually cannot kill enemies, it’s often an initializer for something(s) else.

For example, Warlocks are able to summon an Arc or Void minion ally from their Rifts. The problem is you can’t really build deeper into your Class Ability. Instead, you add benefits when using your Class Ability horizontally.

Some examples of this are:

• Gaining Super energy

• Gaining melee ability energy

• Gaining grenade ability energy

• Creating an Orb of Power on your next weapon kill

Once you’ve decided which direction you want to go in, its time to put it all together.

Step 3: Finishing Your Build

Now that you have a foundation to build on and know the direction you want to build, it’s time to build.

Aspects & Fragments

With your subclass Aspects, you want to choose 1 of 2 approaches.

Either what matches your build identity the closest or what gives you the most fragment slots.

For your Fragments, you want what matches your build identity the most. For example, a melee-focused Arc Hunter build might want to use:

• Flow State Aspect

• Lethal Current Aspect

• Spark of Recharge Fragment

• Spark of Feedback Fragment

• Spark of Resistance Fragment

• Spark of Amplitude Fragment

Exotic Armor & Weapon

You may have already started here for your build identity. Your exotic armor and weapon is to build on top of your starting point.

For example, the Solar Hunter exotic, Young Ahamkara’s Spine (YAS), would pair really well with the Skyburner’s Oath exotic scout rifle. YAS builds love Scorch and Ignitions, and Skyburner’s constantly applies Scorch when hipfiring.

Stasis builds would pair perfectly with the Ager’s Sceptor, Verglas Curve, or Cryosethesia 77K exotics.

Your Armor’s Stats & Mods

This is where you have the most customization to make your build uniquely your own.

With your armor mods, you can lean deeper into your abilities. You can provide more benefits for your allies like ammo or Armor Charges. You can also build entirely for yourself and your weapons so you deal more damage and have more ammo.

When it comes to armor stats, there’s some general rules you can follow in my opinion:

The most important Titan stats are:

1. Resilience

2. Recovery

3. Discipline

4. Strength

The most important Hunter stats are:

1. Resilience

2. Mobility

3. Recovery

4. Strength

The most important Warlock stats are:

1. Recovery

2. Resilience

3. Discipline

4. Strength

See you next time!

Cheers,

☕Legionless