Best Destiny 2 Warlock Stasis Builds for PvE and PvP

Are you a Warlock main and want to take your game to the next level? These are the best Warlock Stasis builds in Destiny 2, including builds for endgame and Solo players. And by the way, as any great Warlock build, these will guide you every step of the way, including essential Exotics, Mods, and more.

Top Stasis Warlock builds

--	Name	Class	Area	Subclass	Excels in	Element	Status
	Stasis Engineer	Warlock	PvE	Stasis	Grandmaster Content	Stasis	Best in Class
	Frostmaker	Warlock	PvE	Stasis	Solo Content	Stasis

Best Warlock Stasis builds for PvE

Stasis Engineer

Excels In: Grandmaster Content

Goal of the Build: Slow and freeze large groups of enemies using countless Bleak Watcher turrets.

Mandatory Gear: The Osmiomancy Gloves are the exotic we’ll be using for this build.

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."

No weapons are required, but some can exponentially increase the effectiveness of this build. You can run a primary gun with Demolitionist or one with Headstone. Wellspring as the second perk can help even more.

• Aspects: Iceflare Bolts and Bleak Watcher, allowing you to slow and freeze the maximum number of enemies possible.
• Fragments: Whisper of Refraction, Durance, Torment, and Chains. If you choose to run a Headstone weapon, you’ll want Whisper of Refraction, Durance, Chains, and Shards.
• Abilities: Coldsnap Grenade is essential here as it will give you two grenade charges via Osmiomancy Gloves.
• Stats: Discipline is far and away the most crucial stat here to allow for the maximum amount of turrets possible.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Harmonic Siphon
  • Arms: 2x Grenade Kickstart, Bolstering Detonation
  • Chest: Charged Up
  • Legs: x2 Innervation
  • Class Item: Bomber

Gameplay Loop

The primary loop of this build is just to throw turrets onto the field whenever you get them. Whisper of Torment and max Discipline will hopefully carry you to your next grenade charge without a problem. However, this is also where the two types of weapons mentioned previously come into play.

Adding a Demolitionist/Wellspring weapon here is self-explanatory: getting kills with it will regenerate your grenade quicker.

In comparison, the setup with a Headstone weapon is slightly more complicated but benefits you a little more. Once you trigger Headstone and generate a stasis crystal, simply destroy it to get increased grenade regeneration for five seconds (via Whisper of Shards).

This build has been a monster in Grandmaster Nightfalls since Bleak Watcher was released, but Osmiomancy Gloves and Headstone weapons have boosted it to another level. Freezing so many enemies not only makes them easier to kill but also inhibits them from hurting you and your fireteam in any way, making this a simple yet well-rounded build that can fit any team composition.

The Frostmaker

Excels In: Solo Content

Goal of the Build: The goal here is to slow and freeze everything in sight, giving you tons of super energy and, eventually a weapon damage boost.

Mandatory Gear: To use this build to its maximum potential, you’ll want to equip a stasis Power weapon such as Reed’s Regret or Cold Comfort.

Art	Weapon	Type	Archetype	Rarity	Ammo	Element	Requirements	In loot pool?	Ammo?	Element?	Tier	Excels	Source	Craftable?	Requires	Released	Slot	Can be Crafted?	Best of?	Top Perk?
	Cold Front	Submachine Gun	Aggressive	Legendary	Primary	Kinetic	Free-to-Play	Seasonal	Primary	Kinetic	Average ❘ B	-	Event: Dawning		Free-to-Play	Season 12	Kinetic	No
	Reed's Regret	Linear Fusion Rifle	Precision	Legendary	Heavy	Stasis	Lightfall	Yes	Heavy	Stasis	Strong ❘ A	PvE	Trials of Osiris		Lightfall	Season 15	Heavy	No	Top-tier

This pairs exceptionally well with a Stasis subclass and Mantle of Battle Harmony.

Armor	Class	Type	Requirements	Source	Released	Requires	Exotic Perk
Mantle of Battle Harmony	Warlock	Chest	Beyond Light	Lost Sectors	Season 13	Beyond Light	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."

To use this build to its maximum potential, you’ll want to equip a stasis Power weapon such as Reed’s Regret or Palmyra-B.

• Aspects: Iceflare Bolts is convenient here as it will cause all of your freezing effects to spread. Glacial Harvest is also needed as it will allow us to gain both ability energy and an overshield.
• Fragments: Whisper of Bonds, Fissures, Rime, and Conduction. These give numerous buffs, including more super energy and shatter damage.
• Abilities & Stats: While no specific abilities are required, Discipline, Resilience, and Recovery are all good stats to spec into.
• Mods:
  • Helmet: Harmonic Siphon, Special Ammo Finder
  • Arms: Stat, reload, and dexterity mods
  • Chest: Charged Up
  • Legs: Stacks on Stacks, Innervation
  • Class Item: Special Finisher, Empowered Finisher

Gameplay Loop

here isn’t a specific gameplay loop here; just use Ager’s Scepter and your abilities to freeze and kill as many enemies as possible. Both Whisper of Bonds and Mantle of Battle Harmony will give you super energy from said kills, and dropped Orbs of Power allow you to use Special Finisher as necessary.

Once you reach full super energy, you have three options that are all very strong. The first is to use your super to kill a large group of ads (or even damage a boss!). Assuming you have excess Ager’s ammo, a second option is to use the firing mode from Ager’s Scepter’s catalyst, making the weapon freeze everything and do more damage. The third and final option is not to use either and instead take advantage of Mantle of Battle Harmony’s second perk, giving you extra Stasis weapon damage after a Stasis weapon kill (as long as you keep full super energy).

Unlike other builds, the Frostmaker is extremely potent while not having a super specific gameplay loop, meaning it can be effective anywhere.

Don’t miss our: Top Destiny 2 Warlock Strand Builds

Warlock Stasis PvP build

Because of its competitive nature, stats are significantly more critical in the Crucible than in PVE. For Warlocks, high Recovery is a must as it is tied to your health and rift regeneration speeds. Additionally, because of Destiny’s ability-focused nature, high Discipline is irreplaceable too. Lastly, while it’s more important on Titan, mid-high Resilience can also be helpful. Some things (such as two-shot kills with Thorn) depend on the enemy’s Resilience stat, so having around Tier 6 or 7 is always useful.

Generally speaking, the most potent PvP mods come in the form of stat, unflinching, targeting, and dexterity mods. These all provide passive buffs that are strong enough to notice in moment-to-moment gameplay.

Subclasses

While there is usually a meta Warlock subclass or general setup to run for the Crucible, every element has unique strengths and weaknesses.

Shadebinder

Shadebinder is primarily used to counter your enemies by slowing or freezing them.

All three grenades have some slowing or freezing capability, and the Iceflare Bolts and Frostpulse aspects can grant more opportunities. Fragments are simple here; most simply buff your abilities or give you stat boosts. Whisper of Hedrons and Whisper of Chains are some of the more popular picks, but you can easily build into unique ones like Whisper of Rime as well.

With the addition of the Light 3.0 subclasses, Stasis has slightly fallen out of the meta. However, it’s still potent and is sometimes unfairly disregarded by the community.

Pros:

• Excels in close quarters combat
• Various shutdown and area control abilities
• Amazing dueling super
• Exceptional fragments and debuffs (Freeze/Slow)

Cons:

• Extreme lack of movement
• Less Grenade, Melee, and Super ability choices
• Mediocre grenade options at base
• Little to no intrinsic buffs (compared to Devour, Restoration, etc.)

Best PvP Warlock Exotics

General Exotics

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."
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."

Because of their ease of use and 24/7 activation, neutral exotics are the most common for general PVP. Ophidian Aspect has always been an S-Tier pick, passively boosting the snappiness of your weapons. Transversive Steps excels for a similar reason, providing quicker and more fluid movement (plus the ability to get a free reload).

Stasis-focused Exotics

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."

As for subclass-specific exotics that you can build into, Osmiomancy Gloves are one of the stand-outs. Coldsnap Grenades are already extremely strong, and the increased travel distance and extra charge make for an unparalleled shutdown option. 

Before you go…

You can find all our favorite builds for Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters here.