Destiny 2: The Best Arc 3.0 Warlock Build
The Season of Plunder has been good to Guardians. Featuring the reintroduction of the classic "Destiny" Raid, Kings Fall, new powerful weapons like the Cry Mutiny grenade launcher, and the long-awaited revamped Arc 3.0 subclass, the Season 19 roadmap has given players tons of new ways to tinker with their loadouts. Of course, every new season offers new weapons and armor mods for Guardians to play around with, but the last few seasons in "Destiny 2" have given players so much more with the complete makeover of the Light subclasses.
Sporting new abilities, modifiers, supers, and even a switch to the Stasis subclass' Aspects and Fragments system, each Light subclass now has many options that sport a unique feel and playstyle. The revamped Arc subclass is no different, with Arc 3.0 introducing powerful new buffs like Jolt and Amplified. Savvy players will be sure to craft an Arc build that benefits from both features, but the strongest builds take it a step further and throw in an unexpected Exotic armor piece for near invincibility. Unless players are heading into the crucible for PvP or into a raid encounter where serious single-target damage is required, here's the best Arc 3.0 Warlock build.
Aspects, Fragments, and Abilities
Starting with Aspects, Warlocks will want to equip Electrostatic Mind and Lightning Surge — both are essential to make this build work. Electrostatic Mind allows players to create Ionic Traces after defeating foes with Arc abilities or enemies afflicted by Arc status effects like Jolt or Blind. Generally, Ionic Traces restore ability energy, but this aspect will also make players Amplified whenever they collect an Ionic Trace. Amplified is an Arc-exclusive buff that makes Guardians faster and speeds up weapon handling. Lightning Surge enables a unique interaction when Warlocks slide and use their powered melee ability. Players will teleport forward and erupt in a lightning storm that can make short work of crowds with the Jolt effect it applies.
For Fragments, Warlocks will want to use Spark of Resistance for the damage reduction and increase to Strength, Spark of Shock to add a little more Jolt to the field with grenades, and Spark of Magnitude to make lingering grenades stay on the field longer. The final Fragment can be whatever players like, but Spark of Discharge can help create even more Ionic Traces if players use Arc weapons.
While the Super and jump abilities also fall to player preference, Warlocks should use chain lightning for their empowered melee because of its lower cooldown time and Pulse or Storm grenades to take advantage of Spark of Shock and Spark of Magnitude.
Karnstein Armlets and a glaive
What brings this Arc 3.0 build together is the equipment and mods that synergize perfectly with the selected Aspects and Fragments. First and most important, Warlocks will need a set of Exotic gloves, the Karnstein Armlets. This often overlooked armor piece has an impressive ability that instantly restores a large chunk of health to the user and then continues to restore more for eight seconds after. Players can do this as often as they want, with the only requirement to trigger the effect being that the Warlock gets a melee kill — which is where the build's focus on Lightning Surge and creating Ionic Traces comes in handy.
As if that wasn't already impressive enough, glaive kills also count and offer a reliable way to trigger the Karnstein Armlets' healing and regeneration, even if there's not enough melee energy to take advantage of a Lightning Surge. In fact, between empowered Arc grenades and a decent glaive, most players shouldn't have an issue beating down a pesky Major or champion, even if alone. Of course, while any glaive will work, if players have access to a Nezarec's Whisper with mods like Demolitionist or Adrenaline Junky to further increase the effectiveness of grenades, that'll be a top pick.
Players should feel free to choose whatever other weapons work for them, but at least one choice should be an Arc weapon if using the Spark of Discharge Fragment.
Mods and stat aspirations
There are ways to tweak this build to perform even better, and it comes down to the armor mods selected and the final stat array of the Warlock in question.
For players participating in content like Strikes, Dungeons, Gambit, or Seasonal Activities, they'll want to run two Melee Wellmaker mods, an Elemental Charge to make use of the created wells, Heavy Handed to increase grenade uptime, and a Bountiful Wells mod to make use of the double Wellmakers. In addition, Melee Kickstart is an excellent Stasis mod that can offer some assistance. This mod spread will mean that players will need at least one Arc, one Solar, and one Stasis armor piece in the build.
For the most difficult challenges, like a Grandmaster Nightfall Strike or the Master version of a Raid, Warlocks may want to consider dropping one of the Melee Wellmaker mods in favor of Seeking Wells and the Bountiful Wells for Elemental Ordinance. While Guardians won't generate as many Elemental Wells, the ones created will automatically move toward the player even when behind cover.
After the dust clears, Warlocks will want to get their stats in tip-top shape by either equipping stat mods on armor or replacing a low-stat piece with a better option. Warlocks using this build will need 100 Resilience and then Discipline and Strength as high as possible.