Best Warlock Exotics in Destiny 2: Tier List Ranking (S23)

Exotic armor is a truly unique and essential part of Destiny 2. While weapons get most of the attention, your choice of armor plays a crucial role too. This is especially true for Exotic armor, as one single piece of equipment can elevate your playstyle and lethality to new levels. Destiny 2 is all about finding synergies within your gear, and Exotic armor is often the first piece of the puzzle.

This guide covers all Destiny 2 Warlock Exotics, including the new Briarbinds Exotic arms. We’ll rank them from best to worst, and explain how to use them for maximum lethality.

Updated as of Season of the Wish (S23). See Updates.

Destiny 2 Warlock Exotic Tier list

This Tier list features the best Warlock Exotic armor in the game for both PvE and PvP:

Name	Type	Rank	Excels	Subclass	Source	Requirements	Armor	Tier rank	Subclass?	Final Verdict	Class
Felwinter's Helm	Helm	S › Best	PvE + PvP	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Shadowkeep	Felwinter's Helm	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE + PvP	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Powered melee final blows create a burst of energy that weakens nearby targets. Finishers and final blows against more powerful targets increase the radius of the burst and the length of the weakening effect." ► Assuming you have some status effect or ability to protect yourself with, Felwinter's Helm provides a whopping 30% debuff to surrounding enemies with little downside. It can be unsafe to use in higher-level content, but the risk may be worth the reward; the potency of Felwinter's debuff is nearly unmatched and can crowd control like nothing else.	Warlock
Karnstein Armlets	Arms	S › Best	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Karnstein Armlets	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Melee kills instantly restore a large amount of health and continue to restore health afterwards for a short duration." ► Best used with projectile melees. Karnstein Armlets are extremely good for any solo PVE content and are even good in PVP. While it's incredible with any subclass or melee you choose, projectile melees are the best option because they make the exotic perk safer and easier to trigger.	Warlock
Sunbracers	Arms	S › Best	PvE	Solar	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Sunbracers	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE	Solar	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time." ► Best used with Touch of Flame and Heat Rises. Giving you tons of grenades, Sunbracers provides great ad clear. Plus, it has great synergy with Dawnblade's Aspects and Fragments, making it a great option for any low-mid level PVE activity. For a full build, check out our Top Warlock Builds guide!	Warlock
Transversive Steps	Legs	S › Best	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Transversive Steps	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded." ► The movement speed buff that Tranversive Steps gives is super potent, and the reload ability can be useful at times. If you are looking for a great neutral exotic to run in any activity, this exotic is one of the best options out there.	Warlock
Vesper of Radius	Chest	S › Best	-	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Vesper of Radius	Best ❘ S	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "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." ► Vesper of Radius now competes with Fallen Sunstar for the best Stormcaller exotic out there. The ability to both blind and damage all enemies within a considerable radius of your rift is extremely powerful in PvE, and it synergizes perfectly with Stormcaller's already strong aspects and fragments.	Warlock
Osmiomancy Gloves	Arms	S › Best	PvE	Stasis	Lost Sectors	The Witch Queen	Osmiomancy Gloves	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE	Stasis	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further." ► Best used with Bleak Watcher. Even though Coldsnap Grenades aren't currently very good, being able to have two stasis turrets at a time (using Bleak Watcher) makes this exotic an exceptional choice in harder PVE content. And with the ability to constantly freeze opponents in PVP, the Osmiomancy Gloves are one of the best picks in the game.	Warlock
Fallen Sunstar	Helm	S › Best	PvE	Arc	Lost Sectors	The Witch Queen	Fallen Sunstar	Best ❘ S Excels in: PvE	Arc	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Ionic traces you create move faster and grant you additional ability energy. Nearby allies also gain ability energy when you collect an ionic trace." ► Ever since Fallen Sunstar debuted in Season 18, there has been debate over whether it or Crown of Tempests is better. While it's partially a personal preference, we prefer Fallen Sunstar for its ability to buff nearby allies. Pair this with Arc Soul to help teammates even further or Electrostatic Mind to get a more consistent gameplay loop.	Warlock
Boots of the Assembler	Legs	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Lost Sectors	Beyond Light	Boots of the Assembler	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "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." ► Best used with Child of the Old Gods or Arc Soul Aspects. This exotic can grant a powerful healing effect or damage buff to your allies, depending on your rift choice. If you add on the Child of the Old Gods Aspect, your rift will also grant you tons of ability energy, health, and even the ability to weaken combatants around you.	Warlock
Necrotic Grip	Arms	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Lost Sectors	Beyond Light	Necrotic Grip	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Damaging combatants envenoms them with poison that deals increasing damage over time. Defeating a poisoned combatant spreads the condition to nearby targets." ► Best used with projectile melees and Thorn. Necrotic Grip gives great ad clear in easier PVE content, but has little to no place in PVP or harder PVE activities. Projectile melees make this exotic's perk significantly easier to proc, but it still is usually used just for fun.	Warlock
Mantle of Battle Harmony	Chest	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Lost Sectors	Beyond Light	Mantle of Battle Harmony	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Takedowns with weapons that have a damage type matching your subclass element grant you Super energy. While your Super energy is full, you instead gain a temporary bonus to weapon damage of the type matching your subclass element." ► Mantle of Battle Harmony grants you super energy (or a damage bonus) just by killing enemies, making it a great part in any build. It does require a bit of planning prior to using it, but after figuring that out, this chest piece is very powerful. If you need some help figuring out a build to use with it, check out our Top Warlock Builds guide!	Warlock
Aeon Soul	Arms	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Aeon Soul	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Aeon Exotics have an additional mod socket which is used for Aeon Cult mods." ► Best used with Shadebinder or Voidwalker. With the three mods you can choose from, Aeon Soul grants as much variety as it does power. While these gauntlets can easily excel in any team-based activity, they're best utilized on subclasses that don't have an excellent subclass-specific exotic.	Warlock
Apotheosis Veil	Helm	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Apotheosis Veil	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Immediately regenerate health, melee, grenade, and Rift energy upon activating your Super. Nearby allies recharge class abilities faster." ► Apotheosis Veil finally received some changes with Season of the Wish, making it the center of one of the most powerful DPS setups in the game. While the exotic does nothing outside of when you pop your Super, pairing this with Solar or Strand subclasses makes it an easy and powerful DPS strategy.	Warlock
Lunafaction Boots	Legs	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Lunafaction Boots	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Your Rifts gain the additional ability to increase weapon reload speeds. Empowering Rift makes weapons effective over longer ranges." ► Lunafaction Boots have always been an outstanding pick for boss encounters in raids and dungeons. However, outside of that, these boots see absolutely no use; there are so many other options that are simply much more enjoyable to run.	Warlock
Ophidian Aspect	Arms	A › Strong	PvE + PvP	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Ophidian Aspect	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE + PvP	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons." ► Even after the removal of Ophidian Aspect's bonus melee range, it continues to dominate in The Crucible. While more complex options are situationally better, having the passive buff of snappier weapons isn't something you should pass up.	Warlock
The Stag	Helm	A › Strong	PvE + PvP	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	The Stag	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE + PvP	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Your Rift provides damage reduction to allied Guardians standing in it. Grants Rift energy when you are critically wounded. On your death, creates a healing rift on your corpse." ► An excellent option in PvP, The Stag gives you a free rift reasonably frequently. That said, it isn't anything extraordinary in PVE, and options like Ophidian Aspect will still beat this helmet out.	Warlock
Verity's Brow	Arms	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Verity's Brow	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Weapon final blows with a damage type matching your subclass energy grant Death Throes, which provides a grenade damage bonus and grants you grenade energy. When you have Death Throes and throw a grenade, nearby allies gain greatly increased grenade regeneration for a short time." ► Verity's Brow takes what Starfire Protocol and Sunbracers do but applies it to all grenades in the game. While it can be hard to keep it up 24/7, the buff Verity's gives is very substantial and can be great for builds.	Warlock
Secant Filaments	Legs	A › Strong	PvE	Void	Lost Sectors	The Witch Queen	Secant Filaments	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Void	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Casting an empowering rift will grant you Devour. Damage dealt by you and your allies from within your empowering rift will disrupt combatants." ► Best used with Voidwalker. While on Voidwalker, this exotic allows your Empowering Rift to also grant you Devour, which can be very helpful while trying to survive in harder content. In addition, giving you and your allies the ability to stun Overload Champions with any weapon allows for a wider range of weapons to be used in some activities.	Warlock
Swarmers	Legs	A › Strong	PvE	Strand	Lost Sectors	Lightfall	Swarmers	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Strand	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threadling. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage." ► Best used with Threadling Grenade./strong> Swarmers takes the main focus of Broodweaver (Threadlings) and enhances it even more. From unraveling everything in sight to spawning more Threadlings via Tangles, Swarmers is a no-brainer for any Strand Warlock.	Warlock
Cenotaph Mask	Helm	A › Strong	PvE	Neutral	Lost Sectors	Lightfall	Cenotaph Mask	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Steadily reloads a portion of your equipped Trace Rifles's magazine from reserves. Damaging a vehicle, boss, or champion with a trace rifle marks them as the target. When an ally defeats the marked target, generate special ammo for yourself and heavy ammo for your allies." ► Similar to Aeon Soul, Cenotaph Mask's primary goal is to generate heavy ammo for allies. While you may not directly benefit from it, pairing this helmet with The Navigator or Divinity results in the ultimate support build. Use this with a double special loadout for even better results!	Warlock
Briarbinds	Arms	A › Strong	PvE	Void	Lost Sectors	Season 22	Briarbinds	Strong ❘ A Excels in: PvE	Void	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Your Void Souls have a longer duration. They also gain escalating damage and durability as they defeat targets. You can retrieve your Void Souls by interacting with them, allowing them to be redeployed." ► Briarbinds are an excellent addition to Voidwalker's toolkits, allowing you to control battlefields with multiple Void Souls at a time. While the exotic alone isn't drawing anyone new to the subclass, Briarbinds is an outstanding option if you're looking for something more than Contraverse Hold or Secant Filaments.	Warlock

These are the different Tier levels used for our list:

• S Tier – Best: Highest ranking weapons in our Tier List.
• A Tier – Strong: Very strong weapons, but not on the same level as S Tier Choices.
• B Tier – Average: Decent choices that can be lethal in the hands of a skilled player.
• C Tier – Weak: The middle of the pack, somewhat mediocre.
• D Tier – Worst: Lagging behind the competition, these don’t have much to offer.

Swaps: You’ll see a couple of armor pieces ranked as “Swap.” Swap refers to those armor pieces that are generally not great but can be excellent in very specific situations, namely when using your Super. For that reason, these deserve a different ranking as they still have a place in your loadout.

All Warlock Exotics: The rest of the best

This database includes all Warlock Exotics available in Destiny 2:

Name	Type	Rank	Excels	Subclass	Source	Requirements	Armor	Tier rank	Subclass?	Final Verdict	Class
Dawn Chorus	Helm	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Solar	Lost Sectors	Beyond Light	Dawn Chorus	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Solar	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Your Daybreak projectiles deal more damage and scorch targets on impact. Your scorch is improved and you gain a small amount of melee energy when your scorch damages a target." ► Dawn Chorus has always been in a strange spot in the meta. The buffs it grants to your Daybreak Super are unparalleled, but Sunbracers entirely overshadow its neutral game. Unless you build specifically around Dawn Chorus, it's not worth running in most situations.	Warlock
Nothing Manacles	Arms	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Void	Lost Sectors	Beyond Light	Nothing Manacles	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Void	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "You gain an additional Scatter Grenade charge. Enables tracking for Scatter Grenade projectiles." ► Best used with Echo of Undermining and the Chaos Accelerant Aspect. Before Void 3.0, when you could use Handheld Supernova with any grenade, this exotic was great. However, now that Supernova can't be used with Scatter Grenade, this exotic feels like a worse version of Contraverse Hold.	Warlock
Astrocyte Verse	Helm	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Void	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Astrocyte Verse	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Void	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Blink further and more frequently. Weapon readies quickly out of Blink and radar remains up. Provides a moderate benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons." ► Astrocyte Verse's new functionality of making nearby enemies Volatile while blinking is interesting, but it hasn't really done anything for this exotic's popularity. Outside of a couple of niche builds for casual content, Astrocyte still sees little to no use from most players.	Warlock
Chromatic Fire	Chest	B › Average	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Chromatic Fire	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Precision final blows from Kinetic weapons create an explosion that deals damage in the element of your subclass and applies elemental effects." ► Chromatic Fire was treated well with Season of the Deep. Instead of simply adding Dragonfly to your kinetic weapons, this Exotic chest piece now applies status effects to enemies (Scorch, Blind, Weaken, Slow, or Sever). While Chromatic Fire is still in no way top-tier, it is a fun neutral Exotic if you don't know what to run.	Warlock
Claws of Ahamkara	Arms	B › Average	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Claws of Ahamkara	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Gain an additional melee charge. Charged melee final blows spawn an Orb of Power." ► Despite now having the functionality to create an Orb of Power on powered melee kills, Claws of Ahamkara still sees nearly zero use or popularity. After all, the Heavy Handed mod does the exact same thing, so why waste an exotic slot?	Warlock
Eye of Another World	Helm	B › Average	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Eye of Another World	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Highlights priority targets and improves the regeneration speed of your grenade, melee, and Rift abilities." ► Eye of Another World is a superb passive Exotic for Warlocks who don't know what else to run. While subclass-specific options like Fallen Sunstar and Sunbracers will always be better, pairing this with Shadebinder's potent abilities isn't a horrible idea.	Warlock
Crown of Tempests	Helm	B › Average	PvE	Arc	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Crown of Tempests	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Arc	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Arc ability kills increase the recharge rate of your Arc abilities and extend the duration of Stormtrance." ► Crown of Tempests remains a top-tier Exotic for any PvE Stormcaller build. Sure, its popularity has dwindled due to the release of Fallen Sunstar, but Crown of Tempests is an outstanding replacement if it's all you have.	Warlock
Contraverse Hold	Arms	B › Average	PvE	Void	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Contraverse Hold	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Void	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "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." ► Contraverse Hold has declined in popularity recently, but only because stronger options have been introduced. While Briarbinds and Secant Filaments are flashier, Contraverse is still a potent pick that's great for any Voidwalker build.	Warlock
Geomag Stabilizers	Legs	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Arc	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Geomag Stabilizers	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Arc	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Damaging targets with Chaos Reach extends its duration. Collecting Ionic Traces grants you energy for Chaos Reach." ► The recent addition of Geomag Stabilizers granting Chaos Reach energy on Ionic Trace pickup has increased its potency a bit, but its popularity is still nowhere near where it was when it launched in Forsaken. In the end, if you're running a build that centers around Ionic Traces, you'll opt for Fallen Sunstar over this.	Warlock
Getaway Artist	Arms	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Arc	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Getaway Artist	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Arc	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Convert your Arc Grenade into a supercharged Arc Soul. The Arc Soul functions as an autonomous turret." ► With Season of the Plunder and Arc 3.0, both Getaway Artist and base Arc Souls got a buff. While they still aren't overpowered, pairing the aspect, exotic, and a Demolitionist weapon can produce a fun combo in any activity.	Warlock
Nezarec's Sin	Helm	B › Average	PvE + PvP	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Nezarec's Sin	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE + PvP	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Void-damage kills increase ability energy recharge rate." ► The benefits of Nezarec's Sin are surprisingly potent for having such a general perk trigger. While it's far from what Sunbracers or Fallen Sunstar can do, Nezarec's Sin is the perfect Exotic for easier content (or as the centerpiece for a simplistic build).	Warlock
Sanguine Alchemy	Chest	B › Average	PvE	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Sanguine Alchemy	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "While standing in any rift, gain a bonus to weapons with a damage type matching your subclass damage type. Weapon final blows while standing in any rift pause the rift's countdown, extending its duration." ► A recent change now has Sanguine Alchemy providing a weapon damage buff in addition to its rift timer extension benefits. While this significantly increased Sanguine's usability, there's still little reason to run it when you can spec into a low rift cooldown instead.	Warlock
Rain of Fire	Legs	B › Average	PvE	Solar	Lost Sectors	The Witch Queen	Rain of Fire	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Solar	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "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." ► Best used with Vex Mythoclast. Providing a damage buff, free reloads, exceptional Solar 3.0 synergy and airborne effectiveness, Rain of Fire has nothing to dislike. To elevate this exotic to its max potential, check out our Top Warlock Builds!	Warlock
Ballidorse Wrathweavers	Arms	B › Average	PvE	Stasis	Lost Sectors	Lightfall	Ballidorse Wrathweavers	Average ❘ B Excels in: PvE	Stasis	Source: Legend/Master Lost Sectors Exotic Perk: "Your Winter's Wrath Shockwave deals increased shatter damage. Allies in range of your Shockwave gain an overshield and increased damage with Stasis weapons." ► Even with their buff with Season of the Wish, Ballidorse Wrathweavers continue to be nothing more than a swap option when popping Winter's Wrath. Until Frostpulse (and Stasis as a whole) gets a substantial buff, running these over Osmiomancy Gloves isn't a great choice in any situation.	Warlock
Phoenix Protocol	Chest	C › Weak	-	Solar	Exotic Engrams	Forsaken Pack	Phoenix Protocol	Weak ❘ C	Solar	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Kills and assists you make while standing in your Well of Radiance return Super energy." ► Other than niche situations in high-difficulty PvE content, Phoenix Protocol doesn't see all that much use. Realistically, if you need more than one Well of Radiance within a short time, you'll just choose to have more Warlocks on your team.	Warlock
Starfire Protocol	Chest	C › Weak	-	Solar	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Starfire Protocol	Weak ❘ C	Solar	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Fusion Grenades have an additional charge and recharge from empowered weapon damage, with empowered weapon final blows granting more energy. Defeating targets with Fusion Grenades grant Rift energy." ► Starfire Protocol's domination over all PvE activities has ended with Season of the Deep. Now, bursts of Fusion Grenade energy primarily come from kills (as opposed to just hits), making this exotic a shadow of the DPS beast it used to be.	Warlock
Stormdancer's Brace	Chest	C › Weak	-	Arc	Exotic Engrams	Shadowkeep	Stormdancer's Brace	Weak ❘ C	Arc	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Each target you defeat with Stormtrance increases the damage you deal with it and refunds Super energy when Stormtrance ends." ► While the damage buff you receive from Stormdancer's Brace is substantial, Stormcaller just isn't meant to be a boss damage super. Plus, with Arc 3.0, Getaway Artist, Crown of Tempests, and Fallen Sunstar are tough to beat with their constant uptime and potent effects.	Warlock
Winter's Guile	Arms	C › Weak	-	Neutral	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Winter's Guile	Weak ❘ C	Neutral	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Defeating targets with melee attacks increases your melee damage. Targets encased by Penumbral Blast automatically shatter." ► Best used with a One-Two Punch shotgun. When stacking the buff all the way up to x5 and using a shotgun with One-Two Punch on it, Winter's Guile can deal some pretty good damage. Despite that, it is extremely hard to get to five stacks of the buff and generally isn't worth running into melee range and risking your life for.	Warlock
Promethium Spur	Legs	D › Worst	-	Solar	Exotic Engrams	Shadowkeep	Promethium Spur	Worst ❘ D	Solar	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Defeating combatants or Guardians while Daybreak is active creates a healing and empowering rift at their location. While standing in any rift, Solar weapon final blows grant Rift energy. When your Rift energy is full, final blows consume your Rift energy and create a healing and empowering rift at the target's location." ► While interesting and extremely complex on paper, Promethium Spur sees little to no use due to how odd its perk feels. In reality, there's no feasible reason to want to place a rift on top of an enemy's corpse instead of beneath your own feet.	Warlock
Wings of Sacred Dawn	Chest	D › Worst	-	Solar	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Wings of Sacred Dawn	Worst ❘ D	Solar	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "When Dawnblade is equipped, aiming weapons while you're midair suspends you there for a short time, reducing incoming flinch and granting damage resistance. Weapon hits extend this effect's duration, and weapon final blows reload your Solar weapons from reserves. Provides a large benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons." ► Best used with Heat Rises and Icarus Dash. While Wings of Sacred Dawn is fun, locking yourself in place midair isn't the best choice and usually leads to your death.	Warlock
Skull of Dire Ahamkara	Helm	Swap	PvE	Void	Exotic Engrams	Free-to-Play	Skull of Dire Ahamkara	Swap Excels in: PvE	Void	Source: Exotic Engrams Exotic Perk: "Provides additional damage resistance during Nova Bomb. Nova Bomb kills grant Super energy." ► Because Nova Bomb usually isn't used as an ad clear super, this exotic sees little use. Those who do run it usually just swap to it once they get their super.	Warlock

More Destiny 2 Exotic Armor Tier lists:

• Titan Exotics
• Hunter Exotics
• Lost Sector Exotics

Best Destiny 2 Warlock Exotic armor this Season

This section not only covers the top Exotic armor pieces for Warlock currently in the game, but it also tells you where you can find them. On top of being top-tier options for PvE and PvP, some of them look great. So much so that they are often seen in Destiny 2 fashion contests.

Overall, these are our Top 10 favorite Warlock Exotics for PvE and PvP.

10. Briarbinds

 Excels in PVE

Briarbinds are the first exotic that really takes advantage of Voidwalker’s unique aspects, making it a flashy (and usually more powerful) alternative to Contraverse Hold and Secant Filaments.

Child of the Old Gods is already one of the most potent aspects of the game, allowing you to drop a mini-Tether wherever you please. Briarbinds not only extends the duration of these Void Souls but also allows you to retrieve and redeploy them. Building into this exotic empowers it even more; in many cases, players have found ways to gain so much rift energy that they can have multiple Void Souls on the battlefield at once.

The one problem with Briarbinds is that you need to walk up to your Void Soul (which is probably surrounded by combatants) to retrieve it. While this isn’t a big deal in more casual content, it can make this exotic nearly unusable in Master and Grandmaster-level activities.

Overall, Briarbinds is an outstanding addition to the game for Voidwalkers. While Secant Filaments, Verity’s Brow, and other top-tier exotics may outclass it in some scenarios, Briarbinds is an extremely fun and unique pick that adds a whole new layer to Void Warlock builds.

How to get it: Briarbinds can only via acquired via solo Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Forces.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Briarbinds	Warlock	Arms	Season 22	Lost Sectors	Season 22	Season 22	Exotic Perk: "Your Void Souls have a longer duration. They also gain escalating damage and durability as they defeat targets. You can retrieve your Void Souls by interacting with them, allowing them to be redeployed."

9. Vesper of Radius

Excels in PVE and PVP

Vesper of Radius was entirely forgotten about by the community for years on end, but a recent buff has pulled it out of this rut and pushed it past nearly all of its competition.

When using an Arc subclass, Vesper now also blinds enemies near your rift in addition to damaging them. Pair this with Electrostatic Mind, and you’ll have nonstop rifts that can blind all enemies around you.

The one issue with Vesper of Radius is that it requires you to get relatively close to combatants, which can prove especially difficult in Master and Grandmaster content. Even so, if you have a surefire way of surviving (a teammate who can make you invisible, healing grenades, etc.), running in and blinding enemies can give your fireteam much more room to work with.

Vesper of Radius is extremely powerful when built around in PvE. While comparing it to something like Fallen Sunstar is a bit unfair (since they specialize in different things), Vesper is one of the best picks out there for Stormcallers right now.

How to get it: Vesper of Radius can only via acquired via solo Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Forces.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Boots of the Assembler	Warlock	Legs	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 14	Beyond Light	Exotic Perk: "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."

8. Fallen Sunstar

 Excels in PVE

Fallen Sunstar is the perfect Exotic for any Stormcaller build, granting you and your allies absurd amounts of ability energy.

Fallen Sunstar enhances your Ionic Traces in a variety of ways. With the Exotic equipped, they’ll move quicker, grant you more ability energy, and even share some of that ability regeneration with nearby allies. Pair this with the Electrostatic Mind aspect, and you have a perfect loop; get ability kills to generate Ionic Traces, which then give you energy back. Arc Soul can enhance your support role even further by granting you and your allies extra firepower.

Fallen Sunstar only works with one subclass but is the easy choice for most Stormcaller builds. If you’re looking to support your allies while simultaneously getting something out of it yourself, building into this Exotic is a great idea.

How to get it: Swarmers can only via acquired via solo Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Forces.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Fallen Sunstar	Warlock	Helm	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 18	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Ionic traces you create move faster and grant you additional ability energy. Nearby allies also gain ability energy when you collect an ionic trace."

7. Ophidian Aspect

Excels in PVP

Ophidian Aspect continues to dominate the PvP neutral game even after a recent nerf.

In addition to its quick weapon ready and reload speeds, Ophidian Aspect previously extended your melee range. Bungie recently removed this extra benefit, but it doesn’t matter—this Exotic’s passive benefits still prove useful in The Crucible. Along with Transversive Steps, Ophidian Aspect is the perfect pick when you don’t know what else to run. Its buffs are easily noticed in moment-to-moment gameplay and can be the difference-maker in 1v1 battles.

How to get it: Ophidian Aspect can be acquired via Exotic engrams, Xûr, or farming Lost Sectors.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Ophidian Aspect	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 2	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons."

6. Transversive Steps

Excels in PVE and PVP

Transversive Steps are the default exotic for most Warlocks. While they don’t do anything fancy, the buff they give is extremely valuable and passive, resulting in it being one of the best exotics to run when nothing else suits what you’re using.

These exotic legs do two simple things: make you move faster and reload your weapon after sprinting for a short time. The movement speed buff is very substantial, allowing you to traverse any PVP map, jumping puzzle, or PVE activity quicker than ever before. In addition, the reload speed buff is a nice cherry on top, giving you one less thing to worry about.

While these boots can mainly be seen in PVP, you can also easily find use in them in PVE if nothing else fits the playstyle/subclass you are running. Transversive Steps are neutral and simplistic, but amazing at what they do, making them a great pick for any Warlock player.

How to get it: Transversive Steps can be acquired via Exotic engrams, Xûr, or farming Lost Sectors.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Transversive Steps	Warlock	Legs	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded."

5. Osmiomancy Gloves

Excels in PVE and PVP

Stasis abilities are all powerful at base, but what if you were able to use more of them? Osmiomancy Gloves answers this question in a way that makes it one of the best Exotic armor pieces in the game.

In PVE, you can utilize Bleak Watcher to convert the two Coldsnap Grenade charges into Stasis Turrets. These turrets last a reasonable amount of time and can quickly slow and freeze entire rooms of combatants in higher-level activities.

When stepping into the Crucible, these gloves can excel even further. Able to freeze groups of opposing Guardians with ease, having two Coldsnap Grenades in your pocket is extremely useful. Plus, when used correctly, you can gain some grenade energy back just by throwing them.

While Osmiomancy Gloves and Stasis haven’t been buffed in a while, they still seem to be on the rise. If you’re looking for a reliable option in mid-high level PVE or general Crucible, these gloves are for you.

How to get it: Osmiomancy Gloves can only via acquired via solo Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Forces.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Osmiomancy Gloves	Warlock	Arms	The Witch Queen	Lost Sectors	Season 16	The Witch Queen	Exotic Perk: "Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further."

4. Karnstein Armlets

Excels in PVE and PVP

Karnstein Armlets are one of the most powerful exotics in the game, allowing you to get constant healing. While these gloves excel in PVP, they are also amazing in PVE and can keep you alive in moderately challenging content.

When you get a melee kill, you first instantaneously get a large bump in health (around 50-70% from what we’ve seen). In addition, you gain around 8 seconds of health regeneration afterward. This health regeneration is extremely strong and even continues to work while you’re losing health.

In addition, these gauntlets work with projectile melee abilities, making the buff way easier to trigger from significantly further away.
Karnsteins can easily help you win a fight in Crucible, and can even keep you alive in PVE. Overall, these gauntlets are an amazing choice anywhere in the game and provide you with health regeneration that is unrivaled.

How to get it: Karnstein Armlets can be acquired via Exotic engrams, Xûr, or farming Lost Sectors.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Karnstein Armlets	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Melee kills instantly restore a large amount of health and continue to restore health afterwards for a short duration."

3. Felwinter’s Helm

 Excels in PVE

Despite its ability to provide one of the highest debuffs in the game, Felwinter’s Helm has always been an underrated pick.

After getting a finisher or charged melee kill, you’ll instantly blind and weaken nearby enemies. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t your standard 15% weaken—it’s 30%. With that, it’s clear why many Warlocks stand by this Exotic. Paired with Voidwalker’s Echo of Obscurity, you can safely apply potent debuffs to crowds of combatants.

The main downside of Felwinter’s Helm is relatively apparent: triggering it places you in a high-risk situation, especially in high-difficulty content. While some synergies—like Echo of Obscurity, mentioned above—help with this, there’s no perfect solution. It’s a difficult trade-off, but the outcome of a group of disoriented enemies that take 30% more damage is arguably worth it.

Felwinter’s Helm deserves more praise than it receives. Sure, some builds are no doubt stronger, but such a potent debuff shouldn’t be passed up.

How to get it: Felwinter’s Helm can only via acquired via solo Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Forces.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Felwinter's Helm	Warlock	Helm	Shadowkeep	Exotic Engrams	Season 10	Shadowkeep	Exotic Perk: "Powered melee final blows create a burst of energy that weakens nearby targets. Finishers and final blows against more powerful targets increase the radius of the burst and the length of the weakening effect."

2. Verity’s Brow

 Excels in PVE

When you know how to use it, Verity’s Brow can be extremely potent in any PvE activity you play.

With its ability to buff both your grenade damage and recharge rate, Verity’s Brow is a great choice when you have nothing else to run. Sunbracers and Starfire Protocol will be more powerful if you’re running the grenades they require, but Verity’s is the play for any other grenade.

This helmet also works exceptionally well with the Armor Charge system, allowing you to generate numerous Orbs of Power with both Firepower and Harmonic Siphon. While it may not be the flashiest exotic Warlock has, Verity’s Brow is a great neutral exotic for those that want to spec into grenades.

How to get it: Verity’s Brow can be acquired via Exotic engrams, Xûr, or farming Lost Sectors.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Verity's Brow	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 3	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Weapon final blows with a damage type matching your subclass energy grant Death Throes, which provides a grenade damage bonus and grants you grenade energy. When you have Death Throes and throw a grenade, nearby allies gain greatly increased grenade regeneration for a short time."

1. Sunbracers

 Excels in PVE

Since the release of Solar 3.0 subclasses in Season of the Haunted, Sunbracers’ popularity has gradually increased. And with recent builds, they’re more than just a fun pick in casual PvE content.

With the Incinerator Snap melee and its ability to Ignite targets, it’s relatively easy to get Sunbracers to trigger. And with new combinations like Touch of Flame, Heat Rises, and Phoenix Dive, you can get good DPS and infinite Restoration out of this build, too.

Sunbracers will always be a top pick for casual content, but it’s also slowly making its way into higher-difficulty scenarios. If you’re looking for something to fill the void that Starfire Protocol’s nerf left, Sunbracers are the way to go.

How to get it: Sunbracers can be acquired via Exotic engrams, Xûr, or farming Lost Sectors.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Sunbracers	Warlock	Arms	Free-to-Play	Exotic Engrams	Season 1	Free-to-Play	Exotic Perk: "Increases the duration of Solar Grenades. Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time."

Honorable mentions

While not among our 10 favorites, Exotics such as Starfire Protocol and Osmiomancy Gloves can be used to create insanely powerful builds.

How to farm Warlock Exotics

Farming specific Exotic armor in Destiny 2 is a notoriously difficult task. Unlike Exotic weapons, which happen to have direct methods of acquisition, Exotic armor can be only farmed indirectly, which means RNG will play a large role in whether you’ll ever find the god roll you’re looking for… Having said that, Bungie has been continuously adding new avenues to make Exotic armor farming easier:

Exotic Engrams

Most Exotic armor can be found within Exotic Engrams: These can be found in the Season pass, they are sold by Xur and can also drop randomly at any time. There isn’t much more to say about Exotic engrams, only that they have a higher chance to drop from end-game activities. If collecting exotics is your priority, Nightfall: The Ordeals are for you. And the higher the difficulty, the higher the chance to get one.

Exotic Armor focusing

Some Exotic engrams won’t automatically decrypt when found. These can be taken to the Tower and can be decrypted into exactly the Exotic you want (it will cost you, though). We cover Exotic armor focusing in detail here.

Lost Sector farming

If you’re looking for new Exotic armor, those can be farmed by completing Legend and Master Lost Sectors solo on specific days (Lost Sector rewards are on a daily rotation, one day will reward Legs pieces, the next day only Arms pieces, etc). You can read more about how to farm Legend and Master Lost Sectors here.

Vex Strike Force Public event

Another option is to participate in Vex Strike Forces, which are unique (and very challenging) Public events that randomly occur in Neomuna. These can drop up to three Exotic armor pieces per completion!