Best Destiny 2 Warlock Arc Build For PvE and PvP (Season 23)

Let's break down the best ArcWarlock builds for both PVE and PVP.

Page Updated December 28, 2023, 21:46 |First Published November 29, 2023, 14:56

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 certainly hit fast. Let's get down to brass tacks and take a look at the best PVE and PVP builds for Arc Warlocks in Destiny 2.

Best Arc Warlock PVE Build: Mjölnir's Envy

Electricity in everything you do. Lighting up the night sky with Jolts and the screams of your enemies. This is the Arc Warlock build that puts a stop to everything in your way and leaves nothing but the charred remains of those foolish enough to doubt you. This Arc build is about moving quickly and leaning into Ionic Traces as well as the Light 3.0 verbs. If you're not familiar, go brush up a bit, because Jolt and Blind are about to be your new best friends.

Required Gear

Exotic Armor: Fallen Sunstar (helmet)

Fallen Sunstar makes it so that the Ionic Traces you generate move significantly faster and grant additional ability energy. When you collect Ionic Traces, your nearby allies also gain ability energy.

Class Setup

Super: Stormtrance
Grenade: Flashbang Grenade
Class Ability: Healing Rift
Melee: Chain Lightning
Jump: Burst Glide

Aspects

Lightning Surge makes it so that when you slide and activate your melee, you blink forward a short distance and call down a storm of lightning strikes that Jolt targets.
Electrostatic Mind creates an Ionic Trace when defeating Jolted or Blinded targets or by using an Arc ability. Picking up these Ionic Traces makes you amplified.

You're going to be creating so many Ionic Traces that you won't be able to spend your abilities fast enough. This is very similar to the Heart of Inmost Light Titan build from last year that was absolutely rampant with ability spam.

Fragments

Spark of Shock which makes your Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
Spark of Ions creates an Ionic Trace when defeating a Jolted target.
Spark of Amplitude generates an Orb of Power when rapidly defeating targets.
Spark of Brilliance creates a Blinding explosion when defeating a Blinded target with precision damage.

Armor Mods

Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for ability uptime to further lean into the grenade, melee, and some defense and damage output.

Head Mods: I recommend Harmonic Syphon x2 and Heavy Ammo Finder for more orbs and heavy ammo
Arm Mods: I recommend Grenade Kickstart and Font of Focus for more grenade energy so we can keep those blinding grenades rolling.
Chest Mods: I recommend any damage reduction mods of your choice. We can just focus on leaning into some additional survivability here.
Leg Mods: I recommend weapon surge mods that lean into whatever weapons you're running. More on that in a bit, but Arc Surge mods are the way to go.
Bond Mods: I recommend Time Dilation, Outreach, and Bomber for more melee and grenade energy and extensions on Armor Charges.

Really, we're just leaning harder into keeping those abilities regening. Nothing is more frustrating than encountering a Champion that you rely on your abilities to stun when you have no abilities to use.

Weapons

Kinetic Slot: You really can't go wrong here. Use your favorite weapon of choice, but for me, this slot is reserved for Witherhoard or Arbalest based on what kind of Champions we're dealing with. Ideally, you'll use your energy slot for a Primary weapon to synergize some Arc damage.
Energy Slot: Anything Arc is going to play well here. I personally recommend something like the Ikelos SMG with Voltshot. If you don't have one, a Nation of Beasts or Insidious or any other Arc weapon will do fine. Voltshot is your friend here.
Heavy Slot: Just about any Arc heavy weapon is going to be a fun thing to sub in here. I personally refuse to part with my Adept Hothead, but if you've found yourself without an exotic anywhere else yet, Thunderlord also wrecks shop here.

Stat Distribution

For these, you'll want to focus on as much Resilience and Recovery as possible for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. After these, Discipline is your go-to. You're good to ignore Mobility because Amplify will give you a gnarly mobility boost. Strength should be at least a 30 just for some half-decent melee regen, but with our ability up time, it won't matter too much.

Conclusion

This build has gotten me through some silly challenges in things like Legend Lost Sectors and Master Nightfalls. If you wanna have fun running around like an electric God, go nuts with it in your nextRoot of Nightmares raid run!

Best Strand Warlock PVP Build: Conduction Connoisseur

Our Arc PVP build is all about speed. Even in PVP, your Amplify buff works in tandem with the Transversive Steps, so we're going to be zooming around the map like a Thundercrash Titan on steroids.

Required Gear

Exotic Armor: Transversive Steps (boots)

All speed, all the time. With these, you'll slide farther, sprint faster, and ape harder than you ever have before.

Class Setup

Super: Chaos Reach
Grenade: Flashbang Grenade
Class Ability: Healing Rift
Melee: Ball Lightning
Jump: Burst Glide

Aspects

Lightning Surge makes it so that when you slide and activate your melee, you blink forward a short distance and call down a storm of lightning strikes that Jolt targets.
Electrostatic Mind creates an Ionic Trace when defeating Jolted or Blinded targets or by using an Arc ability. Picking up these Ionic Traces makes you amplified.

Alternatively, you could run Arc Soul instead of Electrostatic Mind. Your Ionic Trace generation will be a little bit lower in PVP than in PVE and Arc Soul creates a good amount of suppression fire, especially when all of your teammates dip into it, too. Whether you're in Trials or in Control.

Lightning Surge makes Aping with this build insanely fun. You can sprint, slide, shotgun, and melee ability all for nearly unstoppable kills.

Fragments

Unlike in most Warlock PVP builds the Fragments we're going to use are actually fairly useful! These will provide some additional support when moving toward your enemies in any Crucible setting.

Spark of Shock which makes your Arc grenades Jolt enemies.
Spark of Haste grants increased Resilience, Recovery, and Mobility while sprinting
Spark of Resistance while surrounded by combatants, you are more resistant to incoming damage
Spark of Instinct taking damage while critically wounded emits a burst of damaging Arc energy that Jolts targets.

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 (and a siphon mod for fun!)
Arm Mods: I recommend any Reloaders of your choice.
Chest Mods: I recommend Unflinching mods of your choice.
Leg Mods: I recommend Innervation x3 for grenade regeneration.
Bond Mods: I recommend Outreach x3 for melee regeneration.

Weapons

Kinetic Slot: we're rocking Shotguns or Snipers here. The choice is yours and should be based on the map, but this build is perfect for Aping.
Energy Slot: Here, we just want an Arc weapon of your choice. I always recommend trying to balance range against your special weapon, so if you're using a sniper, try an SMG, but if you're running a shotgun, you can't go wrong with a pulse.
Heavy Slot: This is completely up to you. Personally, Rockets are always a go-to in PVP due to their wide blast radius, making it tough to miss an opponent, but if you want to rock a Heavy Machine Gun like Thunderlord, that would work too.

With no exotic requirements to help to keep the build together, you can really sub out anything and replace it with your favorite exotic!

Stat Distribution

For these, you'll want to focus on high Resilience and Recovery for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. Next would be Discipline for maintaining your Grenade refresh time. Remember we're using Blinding Grenades, so you'll want that uptime to maintain some solid defense against your opponents.

Conclusion

This build is something that I've had a great time with both in Comp and Trials of Osiris. Most players may mix it up a bit, too, once they see what the playstyle of this whole thing is. If they try that, all you have to do is respond in kind. At the end of the day, make them regret getting too close to you.

These are the best Arc Warlock builds for PVE and PVP right now. Make sure you save them in your new Loadout slots before you start moving on to your next build!

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Written by Austin Ford

Austin is a freelance writer, theatre nerd, and lapsed stand-up comedian. His love for writing and dissection of video games brought him to the games journalism space where he’s written for outlets like The Outerhaven and XboxEra. When not working on Destiny 2 YouTube videos or streaming on Twitch, he helps to build out our Destiny 2 coverage with his deep knowledge of the game and its systems. With multiple Day One Raid completions, Austin likes to think of himself as an expert not only in Destiny but Bungie’s entire catalog of games. When not actively obsessing over The Traveler, Austin is also a fan of indie titles and JRPGs. If you ask him what his favorite game of all time is, he’d say Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and will not rest until a sequel or Reboot is in his hands.

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