What Are The Best Exotic Combinations At The Moment In Destiny 2?
Destiny 2’s Season of the Lost is still going strong even just over a month after launch, with record numbers of players logging in and playing each day. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this: Heavier focus on storytelling, the resurrection of Trials of Osiris, and even Crossplay. But on top of all that, that game just feels fun to play at the moment. There are a plethora of unique and enjoyable playstyles in both PvE and PvP at present, some of which I have compiled in the list below. These aren’t necessarily the best of the best for every situation, but they are my top picks for either being powerful, fun, unique, or all of the above.
#1: Vex Mythoclast + Charged With Light Mods + Path of the Burning Steps + Particle Deconstuction
Ah, Vex Mythoclast. When it first launched in Destiny 2, there was little point in using this weapon in any activity, it was but a husk of it’s former self. No longer, after receiving one of the single biggest buffs in Destiny history at the start of the season, the Vex Mythoclast is now a force to be reckoned with, in both high-end PvE, but also PvP. This specific build is more focused on the PvE side. It involves pairing the Vex with the Quick Charge Charged with Light mod which awards a stack of CwL after a double kill with a fusion rifle, and Vex Mythoclast is technically a fusion rifle. Next, you need the Stacks on Stacks charged with light mod, which awards a bonus stack of CwL for every stack you gain, so Quick Charge is now giving two stacks of CwL for every activation. Last but not least, is the High-Energy Fire Charged with Light mod, which gives a 20% weapon damage boost to the player while they are CwL until their next kill, or two kills if you have two stacks, three if you have three and so on.
What this means is that everytime you get a double kill using the Mythoclast with these mods equipped, you will become Charged With Light, this is doubled to x2 due to Stacks on Stacks, now you have a 20% damage buff from High-Energy Fire for two kills worth of enemies, if those next two kills are a double kill then you will use up both stacks but in turn it will re-proc Quick Charge and you will gain another two stacks of CwL, do you see where I’m going with this? On top of all that, you can even pair this with the Titan exotic boots: Path of the Burning Steps to gain a stacking weapon damage buff on every other solar weapon kill. If you wanted to go even further you could even throw in the seasonal artifact mod Particle Deconstruction to put Vex’s damage output through the roof and ensure you will be literally melting any foe that isn’t a boss. If you’re thinking about trying this build out in Grandmaster Nightfalls when they launch, slap on an Unstoppable Fusion mod so the Mythoclast can deal with Champions too, it will serve you well.
#2: Ager’s Scepter + Warlock Stasis + Mantle of Battle Harmony
The newest Trace rifle in Destiny 2, Ager’s Scepter, certainly has more utility in higher end content than it’s predecessors. This is primarily due to it’s Stasis elemental damage type and subsequent perks, which allow the weapon to slow and freeze targets with much more frequency than that of most Stasis abilities. This alone makes it a very strong option for crowd control scenarios.
For this Warlock build you will need to be using the Warlock Stasis subclass with the Iceflare Bolts aspect, which sends out freezing seekers whenever you shatter a frozen target. You will also need the fragment: Whisper of Bonds, which grants bonus super energy when defeating frozen targets. Pair this with Ager’s Scepter, a Stasis trace rifle in the Kinetic slot that freezes nearby combatants when defeating targets. Finally, you will need the exotic chest piece Mantle of Battle Harmony, this exotic grants the user bonus super energy when defeating targets with an element matching that of the equipped subclass, and if the user’s super is already charged then Mantle of Battle Harmony instead grants bonus damage with said element. This all results in lightning quick supers in certain scenarios, and very strong crowd control on enemies that like to bunch up.
But it doesn’t end there, if you have the Ager’s Scepter Catalyst, then this can take the build to a whole new level. The catalyst gives the weapon a new firing mode, only available when the user’s super is fully charged, which grants substantial bonus damage and the ability to slow and freeze targets on impact, all at the cost of draining super energy. However, the combo of Whisper of Bonds and Mantle of Battle Harmony granting bonus super energy serves to substantially slow the rate of super draining when getting rapid kills, sometimes even refilling the bar faster than it can drain, minimising the amount of super energy that is lost when you deactivate this alternate firing mode. The only downside to this whole build is that Trace rifles do not have any anti-champion capability this season, therefore their usefulness in high-end Nightfalls is greatly reduced.
#3: Lucky Pants + Crimson, Or Any Hand Cannon Really
The whole theme of Lucky Pants focuses around Hand Cannons, and making your Hunter look like a space cowboy. With the most recent buff to these boots, you can put out a lot of damage very quickly with just a primary weapon. For this build you will need the Hunter boots: Lucky Pants, which provide numerous passive buffs to hand cannons including a stacking damage buff on successive shots. You will also need a Hand Cannon, such as Crimson, but nearly any hand cannon will benefit greatly from this. Note: It has to be a kinetic hand cannon or an energy one that matches your subclass element. Simply ready the weapon and fire away at a tanky target and watch the damage numbers skyrocket. That’s all there is to it really. A few worthy suggestions apart from Crimson include a Seventh Seraph Revolver with Fourth Time’s the Charm and Vorpal Weapon, also Malfeasance (This one is especially potent in Gambit) and The Last Word. Any of those would be more than solid choices to use with this exotic combo.
Season over season Bungie continues to deliver new and exciting combinations to us and I’m very much looking forward to what the future holds in store come Witch Queen and beyond.
Until Next Time.