Destiny 2 is a complex game with buffs, nerfs, and an ever-changing meta. And since Abilities and Supers are so strong, Subclasses are a crucial part of the game. With the right combination of Aspects, Fragments, and Exotics, the right Subclasses can take your game to the next level, allowing you to create some of the most powerful Warlock builds.
Today we review and rank each Warlock subclass for PvE and PvP. More importantly, we cover each subclass’s strengths and weaknesses and tell you how to optimize them. (PS: These are the best Hunter Subclasses).
Subclass | Element | Version |
Stormcaller | Arc Subclass | 3.0 |
Dawnblade | Solar Subclass | 3.0 |
Voidwalker | Void Subclass | 3.0 |
Shadebinder | Stasis Subclass | 1.0 |
Broodweaver | Strand Subclass | 1.0 |
Updated as of Season of the Wish (S23).
Best Warlock Class & Subclass for PvE
-- | Subclass | Element | Tier | Trend | Area | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dawnblade | Solar | Best ❘ S | PvE | S › Best | ||
Broodweaver | Strand | Best ❘ S | PvE | S › Best | ||
Voidwalker | Void | Strong ❘ A | PvE | A › Strong | ||
Stormcaller | Arc | Average ❘ B | PvE | B › Average | ||
Shadebinder | Stasis | Weak ❘ C | PvE | C › Weak |
Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ S Best
A subclass primarily used for support, Dawnblade fills its lack of ad clear and boss damage with some of the most powerful buffs in the game. Radiant provides a whopping 25% increase to damage, and Restoration provides continuous health regeneration even through damage.
While these buffs are inherently powerful, Dawnblade lost much of its power through the Starfire Protocol nerf that came with Season of the Deep. Other Exotics like Boots of the Assembler and Sunbracers have filled the role nicely, but nothing quite matches the absurdity of pre-nerf Starfire.
All that said, Dawnblade is still excellent at what it does. Well of Radiance continues to be the best PvE Super in the game, while the potent buffs Solar offers have kept Dawnblade popular through its decline.
Preferred Exotic: Now that Starfire Protocol was nerfed into the ground, we’d recommend Sunbracers, Boots of the Assembler, or Lunafaction Boots.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boots of the Assembler | Warlock | Legs | Beyond Light | Lost Sectors | Season 14 | Beyond Light | Standing in a healing rift creates Noble Seekers that seek out allies that are not in a rift and heal them. Noble Seekers from Empowering rift grant both you and your ally a damage bonus. Each time a Noble Seeker finds one of your allies, the duration of your rift is briefly extended. |
Lunafaction Boots | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Your Rifts gain the additional ability to increase weapon reload speeds. Empowering Rift makes weapons effective over longer ranges. |
Sunbracers | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: All three Dawnblade Aspects are strong in their own ways. While Touch of Flame and Heat Rises are generally the most useful, using one of your two slots on Icarus Dash is a no-brainer for many high-level players.
- Fragments: Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Solace, Ember of Ashes, Ember of Torches.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
- Abilities: Well of Radiance is arguably the strongest Super in the entire game, so running it is a no-brainer. Fusion Grenades, Solar Grenades, and Celestial Fire are generally the best picks beyond the Super.
Broodweaver (Strand)
- Ranking: ❘ S Best
The Broodweaver is extremely versatile. From providing some substantial damage through Threadlings to Suspending everything on the battlefield, there’s nothing a Strand Warlock can’t do.
Especially with the recent buff to Apotheosis Veil, Broodweaver has begun to excel in DPS scenarios. Pairing Needlestorm with Threadling Grenades and Thread of Evolution creates a high-damage combination that’s definitely worth running if you already have a Well of Radiance player on your fireteam. Just like the other two Strand subclasses in Destiny 2, Broodweaver’s main flaw is that it’s somewhat of a glass cannon. While Thread of Warding does help eliminate the issue by a fair margin, it’s still this subclass’ fatal flaw.
Overall, Broodweaver is extremely fun to use. From its strong ad-clearing capabilities with Threadlings and Suspension to its high DPS potential, running Broodweaver is never a bad choice.
Preferred Exotic: Swarmers, Apotheosis Veil, Verity’s Brow, and Necrotic Grip all excel with Broodweaver, depending on what build you’re running.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apotheosis Veil | Warlock | Helm | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 3 | Free-to-Play | Immediately regenerate health, melee, grenade, and Rift energy upon activating your Super. Nearby allies recharge class abilities faster. |
Necrotic Grip | Warlock | Arms | Beyond Light | Lost Sectors | Season 12 | Beyond Light | Damaging combatants envenoms them with poison that deals increasing damage over time. Defeating a poisoned combatant spreads the condition to nearby targets. |
Swarmers | Warlock | Legs | Lightfall | Lost Sectors | Season 20 | Lightfall | Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threadling. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Both Mindspun Invocation and Weaver’s Call grant some pretty substantial buffs, allowing you to generate more Threadlings or Suspend everything in sight. However, if you’d instead like to spec into Suspend, running The Wanderer instead of Weaver’s Call is a great choice.
- Fragments: Thread of Generation, Thread of Evolution, Thread of Warding, Thread of Fury
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
- Abilities: While Grapple is super fun, it’s not that useful on Warlock. Depending on what you’re building into, both Threadling and Shackle Grenade can be great here.
Voidwalker (Void 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ A Strong
With all of its buffs, debuffs, and ad-clear potential, Voidwalker is one of the most well-rounded subclasses in the entire game. It has a good mix of options for both boss and ad clear scenarios and even has one of the coolest aspects in the game (in Child of the Old Gods). Plus, potent Warlock exotics like Contraverse Hold, Nezarec’s Sin, or the new Briarbinds (we cover how to get the Briarbinds here), can constantly keep your grenades and other abilities up.
From healing through Devour and Feed the Void to debuffing with Weaken and Echo of Undermining, Voidwalker can excel in anything from patrol to Grandmaster Nightfalls.
Preferred Exotic: Contraverse Hold is generally the top pick, but Nezrec’s Sin is fantastic with a Void weapon.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contraverse Hold | Warlock | Arms | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 4 | Forsaken Pack | Resist incoming damage while charging your Void grenade with Chaos Accelerant, Feed the Void, or Handheld Supernova. Charged Void grenades return an amount of grenade energy on a hit. |
Nezarec's Sin | Warlock | Helm | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Void-damage kills increase ability energy recharge rate. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Feed the Void and Child of the Old Gods is the go-to setup for most, but swap Child of the Old Gods for Chaos Accelerant when using Contraverse Hold.
- Fragments: Echo of Undermining, Echo of Remnants, Echo of Persistence, Echo of Instability.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
- Abilities: Nova Bomb: Cataclysm is the best Super overall, and Vortex Grenade is easily the strongest grenade. And with only one melee ability, the rest (jump and rift choice) is up to you.
5. Stormcaller (Arc 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ B Average
Stormcaller is extremely fun and, thanks to recent buffs, feels more powerful than ever before.
After numerous buffs directed at Arc Souls in PVE, they finally feel potent enough to use in mid-level content. Pair this with Fallen Sunstar or Crown of Tempests for ability energy and Amplified for a quick fire rate, and you’ll have a second set of bullets firing at enemies 24/7.
The main downside of Stormcaller are the Supers. While fun, both Stormtrance and Chaos Reach don’t provide enough damage to be considered useful in most scenarios.
On top of all this, Vesper of Radius got a considerable buff a couple of seasons ago that made it S-Tier for all things PvE. Now able to blind an entire room full of enemies with ease, this exotic rivals classic favorites like Crown of Tempests, Fallen Sunstar, and Getaway Artist. All in all, Arc Warlock is entertaining to use, and Arc 3.0 did a lot for it.
Preferred Exotic: Getaway Artist is the most fun pick, while Crown of Tempests and Fallen Sunstar tend to be the most useful. Vesper of Radius is a nice balance between the two but requires a decent build to be usable in high-difficulty content.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Crown of Tempests | Warlock | Helm | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Arc ability kills increase the recharge rate of your Arc abilities and extend the duration of Stormtrance. |
Fallen Sunstar | Warlock | Helm | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 18 | The Witch Queen | Ionic traces you create move faster and grant you additional ability energy. Nearby allies also gain ability energy when you collect an ionic trace. |
Getaway Artist | Warlock | Arms | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 6 | Forsaken Pack | Convert your Arc Grenade into a supercharged Arc Soul. The Arc Soul functions as an autonomous turret. |
Vesper of Radius | Warlock | Chest | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 2 | Free-to-Play | Rifts periodically release Arc shockwaves. Final blows with these shockwaves create an Arc explosion. While an Arc subclass is equipped, the shockwaves and subsequent explosions blind nearby targets. Rift energy recharges faster when you are surrounded by targets. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Even though Lightning Surge is great fun, Electrostatic Mind, and Arc Soul beat it out in terms of utility.
- Fragments: Spark of Shock, Spark of Ions, Spark of Magnitude, Spark of Discharge.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Resilience, Discipline.
- Abilities: Because both Supers provide about the same amount of damage output, your choice here depends on your playstyle or the build you’re running. As for grenades, Storm or Pulse are the two top picks.
Shadebinder (Stasis)
- Ranking: ❘ C Weak
Shadebinder has sadly been on a relatively consistent decline since its release back in Beyond Light.
The only draw to the subclass for many is its fairly powerful turret build with Osmiomancy Gloves, Iceflare Bolts, and Bleak Watcher. However, this build has begun to see less frequent use due to recent nerfs, an ever-changing meta, and the general decline in interest for freeze capabilities. Beyond this one build, Shadebinder is fairly useless. While Bungie recently tried to inject some life into the subclass with small changes to Frostpulse and Ballidorse Wrathweavers, this did nothing to Shadebinder’s popularity.
Until the subclass (and Stasis as a whole) gets a major buff, running Shadebinder typically isn’t worth it in PvE.
Preferred Exotic: Osmiomancy Gloves is the only Stasis Warlock exotic that is worth using, and it’s also excellent at what it does.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Osmiomancy Gloves | Warlock | Arms | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 16 | The Witch Queen | Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: While you could make builds with the rest of the available Aspects, Bleak Watcher and Iceflare Bolts are far and away the strongest.
- Fragments: Whisper of Durance, Whisper of Torment, Whisper of Hedrons, Whisper of Bonds.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline, Intellect.
- Abilities: With only one melee and Super option, there aren’t many abilities you can choose from. However, for grenades, we prefer Coldsnap.
Best Warlock Subclasses for PvP
-- | Subclass | Element | Tier | Trend | Area | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dawnblade | Solar | Best ❘ S | - | PvP | S › Best | |
Shadebinder | Stasis | Strong ❘ A | - | PvP | A › Strong | |
Voidwalker | Void | Strong ❘ A | PvP | A › Strong | ||
Stormcaller | Arc | Average ❘ B | PvP | B › Average | ||
Broodweaver | Strand | Weak ❘ C | PvP | C › Weak |
Dawnblade (Solar 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ S Best
With unique movement abilities and absurd health regeneration, it’s no wonder Dawnblade is such a menace in PVP.
Icarus Dash and Heat Rises allow you to utilize vertical movement while not bogged down by airborne effectiveness. Movement in Daybreak is similar, allowing you to fly across the map raining death from above.
Dawnblade (and Solar as a whole) also provides excellent support opportunities in the form of Restoration. This buff goes through damage, meaning you’ll restore health while taking damage. Radiant is also an irreplaceable buff in PVP, allowing for significantly more consistent kills.
Dawnblade is simply unmatched in general utility, movement, and support, making it one of the best subclasses for PVP.
Preferred Exotic: Rain of Fire can grant easy reloads and damage increases, while Transversive Steps and Ophidian Aspect are timeless favorites.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ophidian Aspect | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 2 | Free-to-Play | Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons. |
Rain of Fire | Warlock | Legs | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 17 | The Witch Queen | Air dodge reloads all of your weapons and improves the airborne effectiveness of Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles; final blows with these weapons make you radiant. |
Transversive Steps | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Heat Rises and Icarus Dash’s movement bonuses are hard to resist, but Touch of Flame could be used in rare situations.
- Fragments: Ember of Solace, Ember of Torches, Ember of Empyrean, Ember of Benevolence.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline.
- Abilities: Daybreak is great for both its movement and killing capabilities, and Celestial Fire’s range and tracking is usually preferred. Solar Grenade is excellent here, but unique grenades like Healing can excel just as much.
Stormcaller (Arc 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ A Strong
Regarding PVP, Stormcaller got treated relatively nicely in the Arc 3.0 updates of Season of the Plunder. With extra firepower through Arc Soul to being able to close the gap with Lightning Surge, Stormcaller provides loads of abilities that fit the “space magic” idea perfectly.
Stormcaller’s grenades and melees are top-tier, ranging from Storm Grenade’s substantial damage to Ball Lightning’s range. Plus, while they aren’t the best Supers in the game, both Stormtrance and Chaos Reach can prove helpful in various situations.
In some ways, Stormcaller almost feels underrated in PVP. Arc subclasses have always gotten a bad rep in the community, but Stormcaller isn’t anything to scoff at—its unique and powerful abilities prove to be extremely useful in the Crucible.
Preferred Exotic: Getaway Artist enhances the powerful effects of Arc Soul even more and is usually the go-to pick for an Arc-based exotic.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Getaway Artist | Warlock | Arms | Forsaken Pack | Exotic Engrams | Season 6 | Forsaken Pack | Convert your Arc Grenade into a supercharged Arc Soul. The Arc Soul functions as an autonomous turret. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Arc Soul and Lightning Surge are easily the two top options for Stormcaller in PVP.
- Fragments: Spark of Magnitude, Spark of Feedback, Spark of Focus.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline.
- Abilities: Both Chaos Reach and Stormtrance are excellent in particular scenarios, so use whatever you’re more comfortable with. Storm, Lightning, and Arcbolt Grenades tend to be used most often, but most Arc Grenades tend to be good. Lastly, we prefer Ball Lightning over Chain Lightning, but once again, there isn’t a clear winner.
Shadebinder (Stasis)
- Ranking: ❘ A Strong
Providing tons of options to freeze opponents, a Shadebinder is appreciated on any PVP team.
Iceflare Bolts is one of the strongest Aspects in the game overall, allowing you to gain a high potential of freezing multiple enemies at once. Frostpulse is an easy way to freeze targets, allowing you to stop nearby enemies in their tracks with a press of a button. Bleak Watcher can also prove helpful when used strategically; however, it does require practice and map knowledge.
Shadebinder’s other abilities don’t disappoint, either. Winter’s Wrath and Penumbral Blast allow for more easy freezing opportunities and are great ways to shut down both Supers and shotgun rushers alike.
Like in PVE, Shadebinder can excel greatly in PVP when used properly. While it doesn’t outright kill enemies, freezing and slowing them can prove extremely useful in any situation.
Preferred Exotic: Osmiomancy Gloves help greatly when using Coldsnap Grenades or Bleak Watcher, but neutral exotics like Transversive Steps and Ophidian Aspect tend to be used more frequently.
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ophidian Aspect | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 2 | Free-to-Play | Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons. |
Osmiomancy Gloves | Warlock | Arms | The Witch Queen | Lost Sectors | Season 16 | The Witch Queen | Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further. |
Transversive Steps | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Iceflare Bolts and Frostpulse tend to be the winners here, but Bleak Watcher isn’t a bad option if you know how to use it.
- Fragments: Whisper of Rending, Whisper of Torment, Whisper of Chains, Whisper of Bonds.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Recovery, Discipline, Resilience.
- Abilities: There aren’t many abilities to choose from here, but Coldsnap or Duskfield Grenade and Healing Rift tend to be the most desirable options.
Voidwalker (Void 3.0)
- Ranking: ❘ B Average
Voidwalker provides a fair amount of utility in some scenarios but is still often regarded as average for PVP.
The debuff and healing potential of Weaken and Devour deserve to be mentioned, but the Radiant and Restoration effects of Solar tend to do the same thing better. Additionally, other than Child of the Old Gods (which absolutely deserves to be discussed here), the Aspect choices for Voidwalker aren’t the strongest or most flashy.
A wide variety of Supers, however, helps Voidwalker stand out a slight amount. Nova Warp is a passable roaming Super, and both Nova Bombs excel in different situations.
While Voidwalker isn’t the strongest subclass in PVP, it does have many unique facets that help it stand out from the pack.
Preferred Exotic: Because there isn’t an extremely strong Voidwalker PVP exotic, we recommend using a passive exotic instead (Transversive Steps, Ophidian Aspect, etc.).
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ophidian Aspect | Warlock | Arms | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 2 | Free-to-Play | Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons. |
Transversive Steps | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Child of the Old Gods is the best Aspect here, with Feed the Void and Chaos Accelerant being about the same. Both can be good in some situations, but it depends on your playstyle.
- Fragments: Echo of Persistence, Echo of Remnants, Echo of Undermining.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
Stats: Discipline, Recovery, Intellect
Abilities: Super choice is mostly up to you here, but overall we think Nova Bomb: Cataclysm is best. Vortex Grenade, Suppressor Grenade, and Axion Bolt are all good options for grenades, and Empowering Rift can be used here if Feed the Void is equipped.
Broodweaver (Strand)
- Ranking: ❘ C Weak
While other Strand subclasses excel in PvP due to high Suspend uptime, Broodweaver just doesn’t hit the mark.
The main focus of Broodweaver is Threadlings, which just aren’t that powerful in PvP. While they do pretty good damage, they’re extremely easy to destroy before they get to you. Broodweaver’s abilities also aren’t inherently potent; they rely on other debuffs to make them useful. And with most relying on Unravel instead of Suspend, this ability set lacks in the Crucible compared to PvE.
Broodweaver definitely isn’t bad by any means, but there simply isn’t a point in running it over Warlock’s three other subclasses.
Preferred Exotic: Swarmers is the only Strand-exclusive exotic, but we recommend running a neutral one instead (Transversive Steps or Ophidian Aspect).
Armor | Class | Type | Requirements | Source | Released | Requires | Exotic Perk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swarmers | Warlock | Legs | Lightfall | Lost Sectors | Season 20 | Lightfall | Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threadling. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage. |
Transversive Steps | Warlock | Legs | Free-to-Play | Exotic Engrams | Season 1 | Free-to-Play | Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded. |
Preferred Aspects and Fragments:
- Aspects: Weavewalk is easily the best here out of the four, providing an easy escape from any unfortunate situation. From there, the second choice is up to you; the other three options here are all average at best.
- Fragments: Thread of Evolution, Thread of Generation, Thread of Binding, Thread of Continuity.
Preferred Abilities and Stats:
- Stats: Discipline and Recovery.
- Abilities: The only choice you really have here is your grenade, the best being either Shackle or Threadling.
Before you go…
If you truly want to master the Warlock class in Destiny 2, we have also ranked all Warlock Exotics and written entire playbooks for the best Warlock builds in the game right now!
0 Comments