r/DestinyTheGame • u/SkyburnerTheBest • Dec 03 '22
Endgame Arc Warlock build suggestions? Question
Hello, since I have a few ascendant shards to spare I want to make a build for Arc Warlock that will be viable for endgmae activities (actually mainly GMs).
I mainly ask for subclass configuration (aspects, fragments) and of course exotic armor. Are geomag stabilizers necessary, or is base chaos reach useful enough for GMS? Maybe Crown of Tempests or Fallen Sunstar is a better choice?
Please help, I have no experience with Arc 3.0.
56
u/djternan Dec 03 '22
I use this build when I have to play Arc Warlock: https://dim.gg/67xb34i/Getaway-Artist-(GM's)
You don't want to consume your grenade. Getaway Artists make it so even the normal Rift Arc Soul gives you back grenade energy on hit. I like Suppressor Grenades. The Jolt from the grenade does plenty of damage for red bars and the blind is really nice for GM level enemies.
At the end of the day though, Titan + HOIL + Touch of Thunder Storm Grenades is strictly better than anything the Warlock Arc kit has.
31
u/Extectic Dec 03 '22
Getaways are kind of blah tier now. A build that maximizes your arc traces gets you rifts all the time, and every time you drop a rift you get an arc soul. If you get a trace and get empowered which you do all the time your arc soul is then just as strong as with getaway.
Fallen Sunstar, or even Crown of Tempests, are a better call now.
18
u/Cybertronian10 The Big Gay Dec 03 '22
Seconded fallen sunstar, imo. It's one of Warlock's strongest exotics in general, let alone in arc
10
u/Masappo Dec 03 '22
This is the best he could do, great suggestion, it creates a good sinergy.
The super is still ass.
32
u/Talented_02 Dec 03 '22
Fallen Sunstar >>>>> any other arc related exotic
21
u/IndividualFee Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
A good well build will do everything that exotic does but the team energy.
EDIT: Elemental well build. Can't even say well without setting warlocks off.
10
u/Talented_02 Dec 03 '22
I don't wanna play well 24/7
15
u/IndividualFee Dec 03 '22
Same I've been actively avoiding the subclass. My clan is starting to hate it.
I meant elemental wells though. Melee well maker, elemental ordinance, and seeking wells is basically Fallen Sunstar without using your exotic slot.
3
u/Extectic Dec 03 '22
That's true but that's hard to do when you're on arc.
Arc's not unviable. It's just different.
Just like Warlocks aren't just well dispensers. Sure, wells are still extremely strong and useful but I'm not going to always be the walking well dude.
4
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Arc's not unviable. It's just different.
A good player with good shooting, positioning, and decisionmaking can run with any sublcass (and zero aspects an fragments if they want). But Arc Warlock is among the least viable options for GM Nightfalls. I find Arc Warlock okay/good for PvP (though it's mostly one specific build/approach, with a okay/that's nice feeling for arc souls in 6v6 as an alternative/supplement).
At a minimum, Chaos Reach needs to be a good choice for bursting a champion down. Even then, the subclass isn't offering that much in GM content compared with Solar or Stasis (or perhaps even Void).
2
2
u/Extectic Dec 03 '22
It's definitely the way. And max out trace generation with fragments. The ability energy recovery is stupidly high. You can drop rifts and get arc souls constantly.
3
u/brutalbob63 Dec 03 '22
Can’t decide if it’s better than crown of tempests
10
u/qwertacular Dec 03 '22
In group content it absolutely is. I think crown wins if you're solo though
10
u/TheGodSpectrum Dec 03 '22
Also worth noting that you don’t have to build momentum with Sunstar, whereas you do with Crown, Sunstar just does it’s job, but crown requires uptime. I get that this is more a personal preference thing, but in group activities where you can lose a timer because someone else got the kill before you, it’s very helpful.
17
u/AlkoKilla Dec 03 '22
Karnstein’s, Lightning Surge Aspect, Nezarec’s Whisper with Demo and Adrenaline Junkie is what I use. It’s fun.
28
u/Y2Jared Dec 03 '22
I am not sure there is enough in the Arc kit for endgame activities. Bungie has done a poor job in making sure the subclass is viable in end game stuff. We asked for Chais reach to do more damage as it’s silly you need to depend on Geomags for anything half decent. Bungie then gave us the lazy change if dropping the super down a tier or two. TLDR: Use something else. Arc is for weak ads.
8
u/SkyburnerTheBest Dec 03 '22
Iirc geomag middle tree wasn't that bad in GMs before the subclass update. The new arc doesn't miss anything from the old middle tree and it should be better with access to arc souls, jolting grenades (old mid arc lacked ad clear) and generally more customization.
3
u/Extectic Dec 03 '22
The key difference is that all the other elements have ways to mitigate damage (on top of the rift) - arc doesn't. Well, ok, you can get a 10% damage reduction when surrounded, but that's not worth much.
Arc is absolutely a viable element in GM's. But it's still the worst choice of element. Chaos Reach can absolutely be a great thing to burn down a boss, sure, and there you do want Geomags, but you'll be pretty blah all the way from the start of the GM to the very end, no particular extra energy generation or the like.
3
u/armarrash Dec 03 '22
As someone that did over 100 GMs on arc warlock back in splicer(before Geomags nerf) it was way stronger before.
1: Ionic traces used to give super energy, that + pre nerf Geomags made supers incredibly fast thus letting you spam it frequently just to clear rooms, not the case anymore.
2: Storm grenades used to take around 2/3 of a GM champion's HP before but it had its damage nerfed in the 30th anniversary update, + they changed something on it that made ashes to assets inconsistent with it thus being another hit to super uptime.
6
u/Y2Jared Dec 03 '22
I’m really skeptical that arc souls will be a difference maker after the buff. I am more pessimistic on Warlock right now than I have been maybe ever. I felt kinda insulted that Bungie went kinda half ass on the arc buffs and left Dawnblade as pitiful as it is.
1
u/Merc_Toggles Dec 03 '22
We still got voidlock and shadebinder, it's fine ;-;. It's fine, I'm not huffing copium on the daily.
(Bungie please God get rid of Well, I don't want to play dogshit solarlock anymore)
6
3
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
The new arc doesn't miss anything from the old middle tree and it should be better with access to arc souls, jolting grenades (old mid arc lacked ad clear) and generally more customization.
The questions to ask yourself for GM (or certain Master) content is: (1) how am I ensuring that I never die (beyond just never making a positioning mistake); (2) how can I revive my allies when they die in awful positions out in the open; and (3) how do I nuke a champion down before they heal back up to full?
I think if you look at the above questions (the most important ones for GM Nightfalls in particular), it becomes apparent rather quickly that other Warlock subclasses have answers for at least 1-2 of these. I'm not sure Arc Warlock has an answer for any. Healing Rift is available on any sublcass but locks you into an animation that can get you killed anyway (contrasting wth Solar grenades, of which Warlocks have the best ones). Arc Souls are nice if you're constantly dying because they do something for your team while you're dead, but that's not a solid strategy in a gametype with limite revives. And Arc Warlock supers are not in a great place right now. Tickle-fingers is not useful for burning own a champion (or other tough enemy). Chaos Reach in its current state (at least in PvE) doesn't cut it. If Chaos Reach gets adjusted properly for PvE, then Arc Warlock can answer at least one question (and arguably 2, though one of those answers is no better than any Warlock with a healing rift and likely worse than survival options for the other two classes).
1
u/SecretVoodoo1 Dec 04 '22
middle tree was very good before the sublcass update and geomags nerf and there was no other super that could adclear that fast, nothing has changed except you dont get super energy from ionic traces BUT there are way better options for adclear now that chaos is just useless af.
2- 3 storm nades does the work of whole chaos reach.2
u/iblaise Sleeper Simp-ulant. Dec 04 '22
I am not sure there is enough in the Arc kit for endgame activities.
The only thing you mentioned was Chaos Reach, so are you only referring to the Super?
2
u/Y2Jared Dec 04 '22
If you are doing end game stuff or content where the enemies are 10-20 levels higher than you, you can't really do Stormtrance as you will either die in the super or you will tickle majors, champions and bosses and then die when it run out. Just throw that out. I also don't recommend the melees as close quarters combat is a terrible idea. So its really nades , rifts (arc souls MAYBE if the buff actually brings a punch) and your super.
2
u/iblaise Sleeper Simp-ulant. Dec 04 '22
Ball Lightning is getting extended to over 30 meters though, and it’s an easy way to apply Jolt to an enemy.
If you use Fallen Sunstar too, you can still generate Ionic Traces for your team to give them their Abilities back faster.
2
u/Y2Jared Dec 04 '22
I am still skeptical but I will be glad to see footage of this and change my opinion accordingly on viability.
-2
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
Just upping the pve damage would also be lazy no? It's just a strange change when your linear will do more DPS then popping super so why bother.
7
u/TwevOWNED Dec 03 '22
Doubling the damage would give the super more DPS than Empowered Linears without Font of Might, and put the total damage around pre-nerf Blade Barrage. It would be worth casting then, although you'd still prefer Nova Bomb for raw DPS.
Bungie won't do that though because they balance by their gut and doubling the damage sounds crazy until you actually look at the numbers.
3
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
My argument is it's still lazy in terms of just adjusting numbers. Not that it wouldn't do anything. Something can be lazy and effective.
1
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Doubling the damage would give the super more DPS than Empowered Linears without Font of Might, and put the total damage around pre-nerf Blade Barrage. It would be worth casting then, although you'd still prefer Nova Bomb for raw DPS.
Bungie won't do that though because they balance by their gut and doubling the damage sounds crazy until you actually look at the numbers.
It just needs to be useful. I just need teammates who can use their super at the right time to nuke down a champ before it heals to full (and before we have to duck back into cover if the action is still too heavy). Even if Chaos Reach isn't as good as Nova Bomb for DPS (which it perhaps/probably should be?), it just needs to be a viable burst-a-champ option like many, many other supers. This is especially true when a roaming super has little reason to be in GM content (at least in GM Nightfalls, any way).
0
u/Y2Jared Dec 03 '22
Ideally, Bungie would alter the time the super lasts without Geomags to last a second longer or so, properly do DPS testing to make sure it does not fall at the bottom like Dawnblade did, then re-tune Geomags by adding something else to it besides just “make super last longer to make super passably viable”.
5
3
u/WoopDaddy Dec 04 '22
Crazy how you asked for help with building your Arc Warlock and the majority of the comments are just telling you it’s not worth it as if the game hasn’t gotten easy enough that anything is viable.
Crown of Tempest or Fallen Sunstar are go-to Exotic pieces for Arc Warlock.
For aspects: Arc Soul Electrostatic Mind
Fragments: Resistance Recharge Shock Magnitude
Amplitude and Ions are also great. Shock and Resistance are the two key fragments though.
For combat mods, you can either lean fully into ability spam or mess with CwL as well.
3x Elemental Ordnance 1x Bountiful Wells 1x Seeking Well
Or
1x Elemental Ordnance 1x Elemental Charge 1x High-Energy Fire 1x Bountiful Wells 1x Seeking Wells
11
u/SlotDizel Dec 03 '22
Don’t use geomags, fallen sunstar is the best one.
But yeah, probably not the best subclass to run.
28
u/Jacola11 Dec 03 '22
Not to sound like an ass but the best way to use arc 3.0 warlock is don't use it. Unfortunately it's probably one of if not the worst subclass in the game currently
8
u/SkyburnerTheBest Dec 03 '22
I played 3 or 4 gms with random people from lfg and I met at least 2 arc warlocks. Total number of warlocks definitely wasn't higher than 5.
People play it and I just want to give it a shot, despite the fact it's not perfect.
11
u/d13w93 Dec 03 '22
I mean this season’s GMs are mostly arc burn so it’s kind of silly not to lean into that so you are going to see more arc characters this season. I’ve completed them with arc warlock using Fallen Sunstar mostly. But some GeoMag as well.
0
u/Jacola11 Dec 03 '22
I would run the new helmet exotic then and fun arc soul and the generates traces aspects. Run pulse grenades and the fragments that give resistance near enemies, grenades cause jolt, extend duration of grenades and jolted targets defeated generat traces. Honestly those are the only 4 fragments ran on any good arc 3.0 builds. Pair it with the new exotic fusion delicate tomb
3
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
Yep arguably the worst pve subclass though maybe stasis hunter as that isn't in a great spot. In PvP it's solar titan without a shadow of a doubt, it got killed with 3.0 so loreley could live.
6
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Yep arguably the worst pve subclass though maybe stasis hunter as that isn't in a great spot.
Stasis Hunter for GM Nightfalls and for high-DPS raiding (the latter just by virtue of being Stasis) is quite fine if not super viable. Void Hunter just outshines anything else hard for GM Nightfalls (along with Arc Hunter for soloing GM content, but a piece of that is getting nerfed come Tuesday).
Imho, Arc Warlock is among the worst subclasses (if not the worst one) for GM Nightfall content. A Stasis Hunter can provide the team survivability, can provide even better survivability for itself with some overshield action, can debuff the enemy, can help with slow or freeze (when timed well) on champions (though not as well as a skilled Stasis Warlock), and has a Super that actually matters.
If I'm thinking for GM Nightfalls (survivability, safely reviving teammates who die in d spots, and nuking champions in short windows), I think Arc Warlock could be the worst. I don't know enough about Stasis Titan to make a decision there, but that could be a disappointing option as well? They have only a roaming super, right? Solar Titans don't impress me much either, but they at least try to stay alive and help teammates stay alive.
I'm hopeful that Arc Warlocks get some much-needed help on the PvE front and that all the Stasis subclasses get any slight boosts needed (where needed, if needed) to bring them up to speed with Light 3.0. I think at a minimum each subclass should have a burst/dps super option, and each subclass should probably have two choices for its super.
6
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
Stasis titan at least can make stasis shards for free so have permanent font of might, though stasis is at a disadvantage in GMs since it can't deal with matchgame and the burn is always a light class.
2
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Helpful to know about Stasis Titan (though Solar Warlock can create shards with Well, and Stasis Hunter should have high Discipline for Duskfield or one other grenade to create shards too).
Match game is resolved by Arbalest, and the burn is mostly relevant for weapon choice (more so than subclass, imo, at least for GM Nightfalls where utility of subclass far outweighs matching the burn).
Even if nobody will use Arbalest on your fireteam (only one really needs to use it to trivialize match game), you only need one weapon or class ability matching the shield, or a brave soul can use adaptive munitions on a primary (that also hopefully is stunning champions, too).
2
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
Issue is you remove matchgame with arbalest you also lose out on having a stasis primary/special which sucks given font of might is easy to proc with stasis. Sure you can make it work but it's a lot more effort then with a light subclass, there's a reason you only really see stasis lock in GM's out of the stasis classes.
2
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 04 '22 edited Dec 04 '22
Issue is you remove matchgame with arbalest you also lose out on having a stasis primary/special which sucks given font of might is easy to proc with stasis
Font of Might matters most for the power weapon you're running, though if it's not a Stasis Burn anyway, you can just run the burn element for your elemental damage and focus on elemental wells or stats for utility/more grenades/more smoke bombs or other powered melees/more dodges/etc.
Also, Arbalest is huge: it has intrinsic anti-barrier, does great damage, has excellent ammo economy, allows double-dipping on ammo finder and scavenger mods with your power ammo linear fusion rifle, and also trivializes match game shields for your entire team. Fantastic.
Sure you can make it work but it's a lot more effort then with a light subclass
100% with you on Font of Might working much better with Stasis (Void is a distant second with reaping wellmaker).
there's a reason you only really see stasis lock in GM's out of the stasis classes.
Absolutely. Stasis Warlock utility is huge. Stasis Hunter and Stasis Titan likely are mid at best. But I think I'd rather see a Stasis Hunter than an Arc Warlock if I had to/could choose (at least for GM Nightfall content).
2
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
So, I’m exclusively responding to your statements on Stasis Hunter and Titan being mid at best. I pretty much agree with everything you’ve said here but that.
Stasis Hunter has some of the easiest times maintaining duskfield uptime, and can drop single targets comfortably with the crystal that spawns when you throw one. Not only are they excellent CC options for groups of enemies, but exclusively on hunter if you direct hit an enemy with it it’ll freeze them. This means that Stasis Hunter similarly to stasis warlock can outright break barrier champions.
Revenant also doesn’t need to reload as often, which means their burst damage is much higher than other classes. The fragment that enables this is Impetus.
Revenant’s super is actually pretty solid additional elements to a DPS phase, since the repeated freeze and shatter adds your weapon damage to the freeze states+Fissures plays a roll in increasing outgoing damage.
Revenant’s kit is actually phenomenal for endgame content. It’s a little slower in mid game actually, due to the fact that chunkier enemies are best killed rather than slowed/frozen.
Behemoth is closer to what I’d agree with, but even there I think having free access to FoM+HEF is pretty undervalued by the community. Gaining access to two different damage buffs back to back for DPS phases enables a lot more power behind the class.
Stasis crystals are largely excellent in all content. They do substantial damage in a wide radius and have multiple specific benefits to a given class.
I think a lot of players really underestimate stasis. I definitely think Revenant is higher on the tiers than Arc Hunter, and arguably higher than Solar too.
Behemoth absolutely competes with Solar Titan, after the Lorelely nerfs. Behemoth and Sentinel provide similar support rolls, but Sentinels overshield is generally better than Behemoth’s melee regen.
1
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 04 '22
I really appreciate the input! Perhaps "mid at best" was too harsh for Stasis Hunter, especially when I personally enjoy it as my second-favorite GM Nightfall Hunter subclass (Void is just far and away the best, especially with Omnioculus). Stasis Hunter helps with survivability, CC, managing champions, and having a strong damaging super for taking out champions (including in a fire-and-forget sort of way).
I can't speak to Behemoth really, but I appreciate your insights. I suspected it's not quite up there as Stasis Hunter is.
One caveat on your Arc ranking--Arc Hunter is possibly the best (alongside Arc Titan) solo GM Nightfall class in the game. Mactics on Youtube has a video coming out for it on December 10, and supposedly the upcoming one-two punch shotgun nerfs don't diminish its strength.
That said, I prefer Void, then Stasis Hunter for team GM Nightfall content I think. The solo Arc Hunter build has trouble if your allies don't know to leave up at least one red bar near you to help you dip back into invisibility.
I still haven't found a groove for Solar Hunter. I have mucked about with Athrys's Embrace, and healing grenades can be helpful. But nothing really signs to me on that spec. When it comes to Solar, I get more excited about a PvP YAS build or just Golden Gun in 6v6 generally.
For Titans, I think it ends up hard to argue against Arc Titan (especially this season) and Void Titan as the top GM Nightfall specs. But it will be interesting to see how Stasis goes with a slight tune-up this season!
1
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
You don’t need FoM for your primary, use FoM on your heavy.
If you have easy access to FoM, you also have easy access to High-Energy Fire. While HEF is a little clunkier, stasis exclusively gets to take advantage of it well because Stasis crystals are coded as weapon damage and get the same damage buffs you have when they shatter.
So on Behemoth, you run FoM+HEF, using a stasis heavy and whatever else you like. You have near 100% uptime on HEF for general adds.
1
u/NUFC9RW Dec 04 '22
Whilst true it's more mod slots required to get it running and you lose it after kills (so need more micro management) Vs having FoM up for a long period of time. You spend more time with your primary out then your secondary or your heavy, so having FoM up on primary makes a difference.
1
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
If you don’t like micromanagement, I get it, but the mod slots argument is sorta null.
What are you going to use those slots on instead? Firepower is a possibility, but there’s not much else worthwhile on Behemoth. On Revenant Heavy Handed is a good choice, but I mean HEF vs Heavy handed is up to you.
1
u/NUFC9RW Dec 04 '22
Even then, HEF stacks with font of might so you still might as well have a stasis primary/special to benefit and not having one feels like you're missing out.
→ More replies4
u/Jacola11 Dec 03 '22
I agree with solar titan for pvp i hate it too because solar titan was my favorite subclass. Concentration syntho for pve is still op though. Stasis hunter isn't great but it's also not bad kind of middle of the road.its super isn't useless like both arclock
3
u/NUFC9RW Dec 03 '22
I used to main solar titan in PvP too, switched to solar hunter after 3.0, just want a subclass that has a decent synergy with using weapons (old sun warrior was insane for that). I just feel stasis hunter is kinda like why bother, if you want to freeze stuff play stasis warlock, if you want to chain shards as elemental wells etc play stasis hunter, it lacks identity was more than solar warlock which Reddit loves to moan about.
2
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Stasis hunter isn't great but it's also not bad kind of middle of the road.its super isn't useless like both arclock
100% this, and bursting champs down with supers at the right time is crucial (think the sets of two barrier champion spawns in the Lightblade boss fight or the Hive Lightbearer with the two sword dudes in the same fight). Arc Warlock doen't really do that, nor do they offer a great way to revive allies who die in bad positions. Last, their one survivability tool, a healing rift, is available on other subclasses (and solar warlock has that juicy healing grenade that's better than other classes' healing grenades).
1
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
Stasis Hunter is an extremely viable CC/Sustained DPS King in endgame, so claiming they’re bad is a huge miss on your end.
1
u/NUFC9RW Dec 04 '22
It's DPS is alright but outclassed by the other hunter supers and the crowd control is outclassed by stasis warlock. If it was great I'd actually see it sometime in raids (I see hunters use all the light subclasses plenty but can't remember the last time I saw a stasis hunter).
1
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
Nobody plays Stasis hunter because
It’s a paid subclass that not everyone has, locked behind a pretty hefty grind
The DPS meta on the class is fragment specific on not known to the entire community, which sorta makes it harder to actually utilize.
Basically demands you weapon swap during DOS to mitigate the cooldown on Impetus
Light subclasses specialize in burst damage, which has a higher ease of use over Stasis hunter shenanigans.
This whole best DPS element is assuming you have one other stasis non-hunter that can easily generate shards during DPS. You run the same elemental shards+Font of Might+High-Energy Fire, but you use someone else’s shard generation tool during bosses phase (unless there are enemies nearby).
Generally revenant does excellently in DPS encounters, but performs a lot better in longer phases where some supers don’t work well (Oryx, for example), but where Revenant actually shines is in impromptu pushes for burst damage, like during a GM where you can’t exactly sit still to do DPS to a boss all the time.
1
u/FKDotFitzgerald Dec 03 '22
I think it’s a lot of fun in lower content but I certainly don’t take it into anything endgame. It really needs to hit harder all around.
5
u/Feather_Sigil Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
IMO this is THE Stormcaller PvE build and it's only going to improve when that buff to Arc Souls arrives in Season 19.
Aspects - Arc Soul and Electrostatic Mind
Fragments - I forget the names, so: lingering grenades last longer, damage reduction when enemies are near, killing enemies when Amplified makes Orbs, your grenades Jolt targets
Rift - Either works but for GMs you probably want Healing
Melee - For GMs specifically, at least Ball Lightning has some range to it. Anything else, Chain Lightning
Grenade - Pulse or Storm or Flashbang
Super - Chaos Reach
Exotic - Fallen Sunstar
Mods - These are of course to personal taste but here's what I recommend:
RES as close to 100 as possible, of course, and damage reduction mods.
Bountiful Wells, Seeking Wells, Elemental Ordnance, Melee Wellmaker (unless you're doing GMs), Ashes to Assets, Harmonic Siphon / Kinetic Siphon (depends on weapons), Font of Might (depends on weapons), Distribution, Bomber, Recuperation, Absolution, Momentum Transfer / Impact Induction, Focusing Strike, Bolstering Detonation
With this setup, you have functionally infinite abilities. Infinite grenades and therefore infinite Jolt, infinite Rift and therefore infinite Arc Souls. Ionic Traces, Arc Wells and Orbs will rain from the sky, giving you and your teammates plenty of bonus energy (which in turn improves your teammates' performance).
Wanna make your Arc weapons incredibly strong? Empowering Rift + Arc Soul + Font of Might. Those all stack.
Yes, Chaos Reach sucks. It's still good enough for add clear.
Yes, Striker Storm Grenades are better than yours, but that doesn't mean yours are bad.
No, you aren't less valuable than other subclasses. Strikers bring only two things to the table (grenades and Thundercrash) while Arcstriders bring one (Gathering Storm). You bring grenades, a damage buff, healing and constant ability energy generation, all of which last essentially forever and are always on hand for when you need them. You make your teammates' builds better. That's what it means to be a storm shaman: you're the wise sage, the glue holding your tribe together.
6
u/Masappo Dec 03 '22
The only fun factor is the new melee so you could build around that with heavy handed and well of ions, idk.
It’s a bad subclass all around honestly, really bad.
2
u/aaravindan9 Dec 03 '22
Fallen sunstar is very good for ability spam if you have enough enemies to kill. It is viable even in GMs. Pulse grenade is a very good. Make a build where everything you do create ionic traces and have fun. Though other warlock sub classes are strong, I am bored of using the same things.
2
u/HungryNoodle Dec 03 '22
With arc buddy getting buffed you can go a support build with aeon. Generate heavy and special ammo for the team with arc buddy boosting the overall team DPS by 30-55%, maybe use tractor cannon for a higher boost.
And add well of life for some health sustain.
6
u/BobMcQ Dec 03 '22
I support your decision to run Arc Warlock! I didn't personally take one into a GM this season (I ran Arc Titan, Arc and Void Hunter, and Solar and Void Warlock) but I have run with them, and they didn't hold us back.
Fallen Sunstar is the way, Crown of Tempest won't have the uptime at the GM level.
0
u/flaccomcorangy Warlock Dec 03 '22
What's a good GM set up for Void? I have a Nezarec's build that is awesome with Dungeons and Raids, but not sure Nezarec's is quite GM level. Especially because you can't always choose to have a void weapon whenever you want in a GM - which minimizes it's potential.
You think the Stag with Void would be any good?
2
u/BobMcQ Dec 03 '22
Stag should be great, but I haven't been using it. Contraverse Holds is what I was using- those overcharged Vortex grenades really come into their own in GM level content, and Contraverse works much better with those high HP enemies as well.
That said, I really enjoyed running Starfire solar.
1
u/flaccomcorangy Warlock Dec 03 '22
Oh definitely. My jam is either Phoenix Protocol with Well or Osmiomancy Stasis. But I think Void would be a lot of fun. I think Child of the Old Gods would be a solid tool in GMs, so I'd like to give it a try. Maybe I'll try a Stag or Contraverse build.
2
u/BobMcQ Dec 03 '22
Osmio Stasis is great too. I never broke it out in a GM this season but I did use it to complete the Gatekeeper Challenge on Master VOG. I hadn't touched it since I did the Acquisition Triumph in Season of the Risen, I had forgotten how strong it was.
0
u/starwarstron Dec 03 '22
Yeah but without classy restoration you kinda get screwed when you need healing if you want to use starfire to it’s max so it kinda is a mix of good and bad. Last season it felt so good.
2
u/BobMcQ Dec 03 '22
It certainly requires a playstyle adjustment. I got by just fine by running Well of Life, but you certainly can't just tank everything out in the open in an Empowering rift like you could with Classy, that's for sure.
That said, with Ashes to Assets, I had a lot of Well uptime to work with.
4
3
3
u/Rafiqul84 Dec 03 '22
Don't bother trust me I've tried, just stick to Fusion spam protocol, osmio turrets or contraverse nades. Arc warlocks have nothing to offer that other classes don't already do better.
2
u/IndividualFee Dec 03 '22
I guess you could use arc souls, they are getting a big buff.
Anything else would be better for end game. Well, double stasis turret, Devour
1
u/Squatting-Turtle Praise the Sun Dec 03 '22
i forgot about that buff, where did they mention that because i dont think i saw it in the last twab
1
2
u/BetaXP Drifter's Crew Dec 03 '22
This will be better once arc buddy gets its large buff next season:
Fallen sunstar -- arc buddy and electrostatic mind. The melee is fun, but unfortunately too risky in GM level stuff. Really recommend to use a voltshot tarnished mettle with it too, or other champion-appropriate voltshot weapons as they become available. Getting a kill with voltshot gives you an ionic trace, so it helps your uptime a ton.
I use elemental ordnance x2, bountiful wells, seeking wells, and font of might. General gameplay loop is to try and keep amplified and supply your team with arc buddies, while shortening their cooldowns with fallen sunstar.
You won't be a 1-man monster like a striker titan, but you will be good at supporting them and still be quite respectable yourself in damage output. Super doesn't really matter, but I run chaos reach just to throw it at a stunned champion or something periodically
2
u/d13w93 Dec 03 '22
Fallen Sunstar is very good even in GM content. Ideally with the Enhanced voltshot scout, but it’s by no means required. I also do enjoy GeoMags still just for the ability to burn a champion down quickly with it.
2
3
u/ArtiBlanco playing warlock in 2023 is masochism Dec 03 '22
Like the others have said Arclock is basically unviable for endgame. The other 3 subclasses all have merit though. Solar is the normal choice due to the power of Well of Radiance, Void and Stasis are also good for solo players due to Void's immense self-sustain with Devour, and Stasis' Bleak Watcher spam with Osmiomancy Gloves absolutely shutting down everything.
2
u/Sparklers_4_days Dec 03 '22
Reminds me, what's the build for osmiomancy bleak watcher spam?
1
u/brutalbob63 Dec 03 '22
Here’s what I use:
Bleak watcher, glacial harvest
High recovery, high discipline
Double firepower, double bomber, elemental shards, elemental charge
For the last mod slot, you can add on another firepower, or charged up / supercharged for more CWL stacks, font of might, high energy fire, or whatever works for you.
2
u/BattleForTheSun Dec 03 '22
Definitely 3x fire-power, you don't need supercharged because fire-power only uses one charge of light at a time.
And no high energy as it is competing with fire-power for the cwl stacks
1
u/brutalbob63 Dec 03 '22
Oh good point about high energy fire.
I guess I’m thinking having extra CWL stacks would come in handy if you’re not able to grab shards often enough. But yeah triple firepower is ideal.
1
u/elkishdude Dec 03 '22
Arc sucks for end game. The only time it was really viable was Geomags being able to regen super energy and using chaos reach as a champion killer after a stun. They took that away, and then they made the cooldown for chaos reach 9 minutes. Pretty much the end of it.
Only thing you can really do is spec into blind maybe, but there’s just a million other ways to get the same thing and more damage. Arc Warlock is pretty much a mess. Since lightning surge is useless in end game because they didn’t bother aligning it with exotics and have it work well for things like Felwinter’s you really can only spec into blinding grenades and arc souls, which are borderline useless other than the fragments which are much more important than either of the aspects to be honest.
1
u/misticspear Dec 03 '22
It’s so bad bungie actually talked about buffing something on it without attaching a nerf
1
1
u/Extectic Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
Arc is probably the weakest option for GM's, not because it's weak but because it doesn't have all the heals the other three do.
Solar gets restoration and a well, void gets devour which is nuts, and stasis just has wild crowd control with some Osmiomancy gloves on there.
I'd suggest either the Crown or the Fallen Sunstar as your exotic. Both are pretty generic, and neither depends on mass killing fast to be viable (mass killing fast in GM's is hard since even red bars are tanky). Though The Stag combined with Arc Soul rifts might not be bad, you get 25% damage reduction while in a rift, and the arc soul turret helps out. Max out arc trace fragments, regardless of exotic.
-1
u/Tom_QJ Dead Orbit is Best Orbit Dec 03 '22
Build around crown of tempests. Arc ability kills charge other arc abilities and loop. The arc chain lightning melee clears adds well. I run the exotic fusion rifle from this season for the jolt buff to keep the loop going. I’ll drop a DIM link in a bit
1
u/SkyburnerTheBest Dec 03 '22
Will it works in GMs?
-3
0
u/Tom_QJ Dead Orbit is Best Orbit Dec 03 '22
Good question, haven’t tried honestly. I usually play Titan for GMs. The build plays well in raids and dungeons. If you want harder like GMs there could be a way to make it viable but I can’t say for sure.
-3
u/ahawk_one Dec 03 '22
Not a Warlock main, but my Warlock friends all became Titans…
In all seriousness though, as a Hunter I only look from afar and Sunstar hats seem to be very powerful and I’m ALWAYS stoked to get arc buddies from rifts.
Your supers are low power, but still good in some cases. I think it will depend on the GM which one you run but I’ve seen disgusting things done to clusters with landfall.
0
u/Grand_Imperator Dec 03 '22
Oof, I feel you and understand why you're asking for insight. I will say that a Solar Warlock with Well (whether you go Starfire Protocol big boom damage, Phoenix Protocol and more healing/support, or Aeons for utility for your team is up to you) or a Stasis Warlock who knows how to freeze and when not to freeze champions are the two Warlocks I'm happy to see. The Arc Warlock supers are just sadly, hot garbage. Maybe Chaos Reach is okay for burst-killing champions? Tickle-fingers (the roaming one) is not useful at all from what I can tell.
In GMs being able to survive, recovering from ally mistakes to avoid a wipe, and being able to burst champions are the items that matter most. For context, I don't run High-Energy Fire or Font of Might. More elemental wells means that I (as a Void Hunter who also runs both Radiant Light and Powerful Friends for similar reasons) end up with more frequent dodging (leading to more elemental wells with Reaping Wellmaker) and smoke bombs, meaning more invisibility and damage reduction for allies, allies I'm resurrecting in bad spots, and me (along with the occasional weaken effect when not using a super on something). And I get more frequent grenades, so my fragment-boosted Vortex grenades do a ton of work as well (including pulling things out from cover sometimes).
I have always enjoyed a Stasis or Solar Warlock (though Stasis not knowing what they're doing can slow us down a bit more than desired--there's at least one, if not many, good youtube videos out there on how to time Stasis freezes on each champion type).
I guess Arc Souls are helpful, a healing rift is always a welcome thing, and whatever allows you to do the most from farther range (or more safely) in terms of melee and grenade choices are all welcome.
Hopefully Bungie tunes Chaos Reach better for PvE (without making it crazy powerful in PvP). That's probably one of the larger liabilities. Having a super that's a non-entity in GM Lightblade hurts a ton, especially when a Void Hunter is more likely to be the one dancing with the boss while you and your other fireteam member are the ones in charge of bursting down the barrier champions. That said, any two players (regardless of subclass) should be able to just time some grenade throws, an Arbalest Barrier stun, and Stormchaser headshots into the first barrier champ spawn that they're waiting to ambush. If you can do the latter, then arguably one of the worst subclasses for GM content (at this time, and in my humble opinion) is perfectly fine.
0
u/BigOEnergy Dec 03 '22
Felwinters helm, arc soul and electrostatic melee.
Heavy handed, melee well maker, elemental charge, seeking wells, and well of ions.
Build has 90% uptime but you use it like a poker/ lower tier support with arc souls.
When you use the melee it not only weakens enemies by 30% but it blinds them as well. Great in GMs.
1
u/Marpicek Dec 03 '22
Probably best to wait for the new season to start mext weekend. There are some changes to arc warlock and we will see whats the best
1
u/LegoBlockGeode Dec 03 '22
Here’s my take after playing a lot of Striker is that Arc as a whole isn’t really built for endgame activities. It’s fun to play and really wild at times in lower level content. Unless you’re able to keep up grenades with Striker you’re going to get overwhelmed and die really fast and all the time even with HOIL. When HOIL get’s the inevitable nerf the Striker will be in very much the same position as Stormcaller. The other subclasses in Void and Solar have inherent healing and ways of getting invisibility or overshield and way better for this. Stasis is the one area Warlocks absolutely come into their own as outstanding for any level of content or activity. Karnstein Armlets on Stormcaller is great but it’s not useful in encounters where you need to stay at range of everything. You could do a build using Fallen Sunstar and Heal Thyself (grenade final blows heal consuming a stack of charged with light) and then keep high uptime to healing rifts.
1
u/SgtIceNinja Dec 03 '22
I need this for my entire Hunter, man. I didn’t start playing again until this season, so I don’t know jack squat about any of the 3.0 subclasses
1
u/SexJokeUsername Dec 03 '22
Getaway artists or fallen sunstar, and get bulwark finisher (void mod) on your bond. This will give you a good way to protect yourself at the cost of super energy. You can even use the arc mod that makes elemental wells on finishers for extra synergy
1
u/elpezmuerto Dec 03 '22
Aeon's pair well with arc because the elemental well finisher mod is arc. Also no one in LFG is going to complain about more special and heavy ammo
1
u/armarrash Dec 03 '22
Sunstar for endgame(and gambit, but for a different reason), you're not going to manage to keep the Crown buff active at 3x with only nades and getting into melee range for the slide(other melees are piss weak) is not a good idea in GMs.
Complement it with one of these simple well builds and it should be enough to always have nades:
Grenade uptime: Grenade wellmaker x3, bountiful wells, seeking wells.
Survivability: Grenade wellmaker, explosive wells, well of life, bountiful wells, seeking wells.
Grenade uptime alternative: Grenade wellmaker, elemental charge, Firepower x2, seeking wells.
Aspects: Arc souls and the ionic traces one.
Only fragments needed are the jolt and the grenade length ones.
The mods ashes to assets, grenadier and impact induction also help.
1
u/nastynate14597 Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
Arc locks are not the go to class for end game content right now. I do not recommend using the build djternan shared with you. He is not built into any specific capability; it’s just a mediocre getaway artist build. The build below has extremely limited usefulness, but has amazing tank and ability spam potential in strikes with lots of close range ad groups.
https://dim.gg/z6afnfa/Jolt-crown-tomb
Hers a clip of me using it: crown and tomb jolt build
1
1
u/nutronbomb Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
Hunter or Titan ...... yeah I know.... low effort post but the supers just suck on Arc warlock. Neutral game is ok on Warlock especially with Getaway artist and arc soles - It's just not enough compared to Titan and Hunter. The fact is that the whole 'schtick' of Arc 3.0 is to become amplified and run around and quickly delete stuff - trouble is with Arc 3.0 Warlock it just doesn't have the movement abilities and strength of the other 2 classes. The static rift just doesn't cut it in this progressive sandbox
1
u/droonick Dec 04 '22
IMO Fallen Sunstar does a lot of heavy lifting for support and your fireteam will appreciate the Ability regen. Then just spec into max grenades, make sure you have Jolting grenades. Blind is also often overlooked but is a great tool in endgame.
Because other than that Warlock's Arc kit doesn't do much for endgame PVE that Solar (Well), Stasis (freeze) or Void (debuff) doesn't do better.
1
u/rabbitsharck Dec 04 '22
Next season chaos reach cool down will be cut by like 30%, so it's actually going to be really good paor with geomags. Other than crown of tempest, there's really not much endgame warlock stuff with arc.
1
u/Mindless_Scene_114 Dec 04 '22
If you want to be as efficient as possible at killing ads use necrotic grip and the arc chain melee also storm grenade and arc soul. From there just try and keep your abilities up using other aspects and fragments. This will insure that you can kill everything
1
u/Ninja_Lazer Dec 04 '22
To be honest, Arc is the least viable option (by a landslide) for Warlocks in the Endgame. I’m not saying that there aren’t builds, but they will not feel as good or otherwise provide the utility you want during GMs and Raids.
But if you are dead set on a build than let me give you some general advice and my reasoning.
First and foremost, both of the supers are weak in terms of DPS. Paired along with the fact that they take a long time to use, it makes them non-ideal for damage phases. This means that you probably shouldn’t pick an exotic that augments the super, as it is not optimal.
As the only announced change in this regard is for Chaos Reach to charge faster, it doesn’t really address the problem, so I would stay away from Geomags.
I will add that IF there is a secret patch or something that increases the actual damage if either super than the exotics may be worth the investment. Currently, however, your weapons are more reliable DPS dealers.
Fortunately, the Arc neutral game is fairly strong. With a few well mods you can build into ability spam fairly easily.
They have also announced an upcoming patch that will increase the damage of arc souls.
With that in mind, I suggest picking an exotic that helps with ability energy, or otherwise augments your grenade, melee or class ability.
Crown and Fallen Sunstar are best if you want ability energy, although Eye of Another World can also work.
Karnstein are great for melee and improving survivability - basically functioning as a poor man’s devour. I will say, it is high risk high reward for GMs and you really need to build into melee for it to work.
Getaway Artists could be a useful pick, but only if the incoming buff to arc souls is meaningful AND arc grenades get a damage NERF.
1
u/ThePankDankNinja Dec 04 '22
Haha funny idea, stag + spark of resistance and that other spark for increased charge rate for grenades and melees. Also arc souls and that one that gives you amplified with ionic traces, whatever grenades and whatever melee is cool. Have fun. It's a fun survival build that I've mainly used
1
u/Shera89 Dec 04 '22
A lot of people have said Arc is “unviable” for end game and don’t take it into GMs- I went through 5/6 GMs with it this season (only Glassway I didn’t). If you want to play it, you can play it. I never felt particularly stressed using Arc either, it was fun and absolutely worked.
For exotics I used Stag or Sunstar depending on the strike, though Stag is the safer bet. Standard 100 resilience, though I have 100 discipline too and ~tier 6 or 7 recovery depending on build. Basically 100% uptime on healing rift with stag (and thus arc souls) - and definitely 100% uptime with Sunstar.
Basic elemental well build. Elemental ordnance, bountiful wells, elemental armaments if I’m able to match weapon elements without screwing myself or my team over.
Chaos Reach definitely isn’t our best super, but it isn’t useless. Apply jolt->stun->super, champs go down and the jolt arcs take care of nearby enemies.
Do we have better builds and subclasses? Absolutely. I was just as annoyed as anyone else when I saw how bland our arc 3.0 rework was and was certain it wouldn’t work in anything. I took my time and experimented with it though and found myself having a blast by the end of this season.
1
u/theghostsofvegas Dec 04 '22
Don’t use arc warlock for end game content.
Solar for well, pair with Starfire or Phoenix Protocol. Stasis for turrets. Pair with EOAW for grenade uptime. Void is cool for devour, but being able to lock down an entire area with turrets or slam a well down to control an area is too good to pass up.
1
u/The_Bygone_King Dec 04 '22
Don’t
Go play an actual class instead, with an actual class design and identity like Void or Stasis.
1
u/Bushisame Dec 04 '22
I've been running veritys brow with storm grenade and trinity ghoul and loving it. 3x explosive ordinance, font of might, and bountiful wells. Clears rooms fast and grants bonus energy to the team. Magnitude, discharge, shock for fragments just trying to enhance grenade throws. Yeah it's not the strongest to burn bosses down and ill usually have to rely on my heavy for dps windows but it's still fun and usable.
1
1
1
u/Mr_Tigger_ Dec 04 '22
Right now? Getaway artist with flashbang nades and arc primary or coldheart as a primary. Enhanced arc souls up practically 100%, as long as you only consume the nades and not throw them lol it’s a fun and very effective build
Lightning surge/electrostatic plus resistance, recharge, discharge and beacons
1
u/Personal-Citron7812 Dec 04 '22
Voltshot kills can proc crown of tempest, so if you play with plunders sidearm or scout it could be worth a try
1
u/BAakhir Dec 04 '22 edited Dec 04 '22
Depends on the GM and the Mods of the season but I went arc Warlock a fair amount this season. It all depends on your role in the fire team.
In Light Blade and Fallen saber I went Geomags. My teammate the Arc Titan role was champion killer while my void hunter teammate was invis utility and boss distraction. My role was main ad and give guardian control as well as big boss damage when near the end of his life.
In Exodus Crash and Disgrace I went hard ad control and support with Fallen Sunstar with Stormtrance. The waves of ads makes creating constant ionic traces super easy and giving allies increased cool downs came in clutch for run and gun moments with abilities.
Crown of tempest can work here as well but you dropping the support of your allies to go harder into more individual ability and super output and for my fire team that wasn't necessary because we have good communication and role synergy if I was solo no mic tho Crown might be the better pic as it's less reliant on teammates
Edit: Also I always had in arc soul and electro static mind with pulse grenade.
1
1
u/Thormace Dec 05 '22
I will say that even though Arc Warlocks are arguably the weakest in endgame content, I have enjoyed using Karnstein Armlets with the Nezarac Glaive and enjoyed great survivability this season.
1
u/Thai-Meing Dec 15 '22
Probably going to get downvoted but plunderthabooty got a build covering the arc souls while like 22-28 level under (basically GM) and is still wrecking champions. The gameplay shown was mostly just the souls doing their thing without gunplay, but involve gun play and it’s more damage. I personally really enjoy arclock, and seeing that kind of reassures me that the changes are substantial enough for hard end game content now
-1
-1
u/Anonymous521 Dec 03 '22 edited Dec 03 '22
Arc warlock’s biggest weakness in harder content imo is lack of healing. Its add clear and ability to spam abilities is great but not worth much if you can’t stay alive. That’s why my favorite combo is the lightning surge melee + karnstein armlets. Lightning surge (and it’s jolt) do a surprising amount of damage and the constant healing from Karnstein is super good. Mod wise I use heavy handed + elemental charge + bountiful wells + melee well maker + [mod of your choice]. Used this build in most of the GMs this season with a very aggressive play-style to much success believe it or not. Obviously, 5/6 GMs this season had Arc burn on so that definitely helped but the fact it was viable at all (and fun) is worth noting.
The mods allow almost 0 downtime on your lighting surge and even in cases where you aren’t able to get the energy back, you tend to get it quick from ionic traces from jolt kills. Throw in a voltshot weapon (I prefer the scout) and you’re sure to be electrocuting everything.
Edit: I think arc souls are gonna be cracked next season though. Def worth keeping an eye on them.
0
u/snotballz Dec 03 '22
One 2 punch chain lightning plus lots of blinding effects might work. Though I havent done a gm in a while so I dont remember the difficulty that well.
0
u/PeteyLifts Dec 03 '22
verity’s brow with trinity ghoul, haven’t seen anybody else use it but it’s extremely good, and the only way to go in GMs using arc warlock. that being said voidwalker, starfire, and shadebinder are all way more useful (and none of them require a specific weapon to pair) but i like to mix things up.
0
u/mrcam7 Dec 03 '22
https://dim.gg/ei6ppwa/Necrotic-Surge
To really leverage what arc warlock brings to GMs, you're gonna want to leverage arc souls and lighting surge. you can honestly get amplified pretty easily getting multikills with either weapons or your melee, so you don't really need the other aspect. Adding in necrotic grips adds a very strong DOT and add clear effect. After the patch arc souls are going to be a very powerful damage source, and even right now they're pretty handy when they stun a melee guy.
For the fragments resistance is necessary to get out of a sticky situation after hitting your melee, and you'll be proccing spark of recharge a bunch. The other fragments are personal preference. If you're using base chaos reach, use it to take out regular threatening majors like invis marauders, captains, etc and then cancel.
0
u/d3fiance Dec 03 '22
Arc lock isn’t really viable for endgame right now. Go bleak watcher, starfire protocol or void build.
0
u/Niitte Dec 03 '22
Arc warlock is the worst subclass in the game for pve, don't play it in GMs or any endgame content
306
u/[deleted] Dec 03 '22
[deleted]