Destiny 2 Solar Hunter PvE Build

Should you play this build?
Subclass
Gear
Playstyle

Destiny 2 Solar Hunter PvE Build

Welcome to Destiny 2 Solar Hunter PvE Build Guide! The build has the advantage of putting up some of the highest burst damage numbers in the game. This build is based on doing the absolute most damage possible with both your super and your weapons. It takes some set-up for both, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Last Updated March 3, 2023, for Lightfall Expansion and Season 20, Season of Defiance. This build is currently work in progress with updates happening daily. Additionally, Destiny 2 has gone through a major change with their modding system. Making mods much easier and simpler to understand but taking some of the old metas and either eliminating them or making them relevantly the same. For instance, the “well” mods most players have been accustomed to have been completely eliminated and really the only system and combination are based of orbs of power. The mod loadout you see today will change over time as we become accustomed to new and shifting meta in Destiny 2 Lightfall. This loadout has been tested and works, so check back frequently as we will be updating these builds throughout the season and expansion.

Pros	Cons
Insane damage output.	Very much mod dependent.
Can be used in almost all content	Not as survivable as other Solar builds.

Solar Hunter Playstyle

We are going to be using the Star-Eaters Scales exotic with this build to make our supers do absolutely insane damage. We will also be using Orbs of Power to make our solar weapons do crazy damage. We are constantly trying to generate orbs and wells to make our weapons and supers more powerful. So make sure you are getting as many kills with solar weapons and your knives as much as you can to generate them.

Important Artifact Mods:

Overload Bow or Overload Auto/SMG: Strand lacks intrinsic way to counter Overload Champions so this will be needed for certain content.
Authorized Mods: Solar or Authorized Mods: Void: We will need to use at least one energy weapon so this will allow us to buff them as well.

Abilities

Some abilities, aspects and fragments need to be unlocked before use. In order to do that, Destiny 2 players need to visit Ikora in the Tower and do the related quest or purchase them from her. Lastly, if you bought new aspects and fragments don’t forget to “meditate”. Simply click the “meditate” option on the table next to Ikora.

Solar Buffs & Debuffs

Additionally, below we listed the important buffs and debuffs for the Solar build to help you better understand this playstyle.

Scorch (Debuff) – The target is singed by destructive Solar Light, taking damage over time. Scorch damage increases as the target accumulates more Scorch stacks. After 100 Scorch stacks are applied to the target, they will Ignite.
Ignite (Debuff) – A large, damaging Solar explosion in an area around the target.
Radiant (Buff) – Your weapons are enhanced by the power of the Traveler and deal increased damage to foes.
Cure (Buff) – You are healed in a burst of mending Solar Light.
Restoration (Buff) – You continuously regenerate health and shields over time. Cannot be interrupted by taking damage.

Blade Barrage
Marksman's Dodge	Triple Jump	Tripmine Grenade	Knife Trick

Blade Barrage

Marksman's Dodge

Triple Jump

Tripmine Grenade

Knife Trick

Blade Barrage (Super Ability): Vault into the air and unleash a volley of Solar-charged explosive knives. An absolute power house of burst damage. We can use Star-Eaters Scales to make this super do absolutely insane damage numbers. If you are going into a more long range boss fight, flex in Golden Gun - Marksman.

Marksman's Dodge (Class Ability): Dodge to perform an evasive maneuver with a steady hand. Dodging automatically reloads your weapon.\nDodge to perform an evasive maneuver with a steady hand. Dodging automatically reloads your weapon. This dodge reloads our weapons, and since we are all about damage per second and burst this will help shave off precious seconds of down time during damage phases.

Triple Jump (Movement Ability): While airborne, sustain your air control with a second or third jump. This really comes down to personal preference, so feel free to flex another jump if you prefer it.

Tripmine Grenade (Grenade): An explosive grenade that sticks to surfaces and detonates when targets pass through its laser trigger, dealing damage and moderately scorching them. Essential to the damage

Knife Trick (Melee): Throw a fan of flaming knives that scorch targets on hit. This melee is great for scorching targets. And if we are radiant we get it back immediately. And we are going to be using this to make elemental wells to make us do lots of damage so this is one of our primary ways of dealing with adds.

Aspects

On Your Mark	Knock 'Em Down

On Your Mark

Knock 'Em Down

On Your Mark: Precision final blows grant you and nearby allies increased weapon handling and reload speed for a short duration. Stacks 3 times. Activating your class ability immediately grants maximum stacks of On Your Mark.

Knock 'Em Down: Your Solar Supers are enhanced. Deadshot Golden Gun has damage resistance, Marksman Golden Gun has increased duration, and Blade Barrage launches more projectiles. While radiant, final blows with your equipped Throwing Knife fully refund your melee energy.

Fragments

Ember of Resolve	Ember of Singeing	Ember of Ashes	Ember of Torches	Ember of Eruption

Ember of Resolve

Ember of Singeing

Ember of Ashes

Ember of Torches

Ember of Eruption

Ember of Resolve: Solar grenade final blows cure you.

Ember of Singeing: Your class ability recharges faster when you scorch targets.

Ember of Ashes: You apply more scorch stacks to targets.

Ember of Torches: Powered melee attacks against combatants make you and nearby allies radiant.

Ember of Eruption: Your Solar ignitions have increased area of effect.

Gear

Kinetic Weapons

PvE is always a situational piece in Destiny. What content you are doing always has a significant effect on your loadout. I will list some great options that work in most situations, but note that you will most likely have to change things out.

Something worth noting if you have a special weapon here, run a primary in your energy slot or vice versa. You can also run primary weapons in both slots, but double special weapons are typically not the best play except in very certain situations. Remember that these are suggestions and you will definitely have to switch weapons out.

Recommended Kinetic Weapons	Suggested Perk 1	Suggested Perk 2
Witherhoard	Primeval's Torment	Break the Bank
Arbalest	Compounding Force	Disruption Break
Krait	Overflow	Headstone

Witherhoard: Obtained from the Monument to Lost Lights. A great weapon overall, and is even better this season with the addition of the Weakened Clear artifact mod. This weapon really shines when it has its catalyst unlocked, which can be a bit of a grind.

Arbalest:

Krait: If you need a more close range option, the Krait is a fantastic weapon choice. Can be obtained as a random drop from any playlist or world activity or focused at the Star Chart at the Helm with the Veist Weapon Focusing Engram.or focused at the Star Chart at the Helm with the Veist Weapon Focusing Engram.

Energy Weapons

Recommended Energy Weapons	Suggested Perk 1	Suggested Perk 2
CALUS Mini-Tool	Unrelenting	Incandescent
Explosive Personality		Frenzy
Ammit AR2	Stats for All	Incandescent

CALUS Mini-Tool: Obtained from Banshee-44. He has a chance to sell it on occasion. One of the better primaries in the game. Pairs excellently with witherhoard.

Explosive Personality: Obtained from Banshee-44. He has a chance to sell it on occasion. A fantastic Waveframe Grenade Launcher that allows for easy kills of large groups of enemies.

Ammit AR2:

Heavy Weapons

Recommended Heavy Weapons	Suggested Perk 1	Suggested Perk 2
Cataclysmic	Bait and Switch
Gjallarhorn	Wolfpack Rounds	Pack Hunter
Taipan-4fr	Firing Line	Triple Tap

Cataclysmic: Obtained from the Vow of the Disciple Raid. This weapon is absolutely the damage king for this solar build. So long as you have been picking up solar wells, you are going to be seeing some crazy numbers. This is a craftable weapon. Suggested Perks: Triple Tap, Bait and Switch.

Gjallarhorn: Obtained from the quest Out Fly the Wolves. This is just a great all around rocket launcher. An old favorite among veterans. If you don’t have a god roll Cataclysm this will fill out your arsenal nicely.

Taipan-4fr: Obtained from random drops or can be focused at the Star Chart at the HELM. Can also be obtained by completing the Foundry Resonance quest at the Artifact at the Enclave. This is one of the better DPS weapons in the game and can be obtained easily. This is a craftable weapon.

Exotic Armor

Exotic Armor	Exotic Perk
Star-Eater Scales	Feast of Light
Young Ahamkara's Spine	Mobility Enhancement Mod
Assassin's Cowl	Vanishing Execution
St0mp-EE5	Hydraulic Boosters

Star-Eater Scales : This exotic helps us do absolutely insane damage numbers with our supers. Make sure you are charging it up by picking up orbs of power. It can be obtained in Legend and Master Lost Sectors when Legs are the targeted farm.

Young Ahamkara's Spine :

Assassin's Cowl : Purely a survivability solo flex exotic.

St0mp-EE5 : A mobility flex if you don't have above.

Armor Stats

Stat distribution number goals

Mobility - 100
Resilience - 80
Recovery - ~60
Discipline - ~50
Intellect - ~60
Strength - ~70

Artifice armor provides an extra +3 to whatever stat you want this should help you reach these stat goals [caption id="attachment_30844" align="aligncenter" width="486"]

Resilience Tier 8 Lightfall Destiny 2[/caption] Resilience Changes: The resilience stat was heavily nerfed in Lightfall expanse and now only receives 30% damage reduction at 100 stat. Outside of Titan builds, your goal is tier 8 (80 stats) to get good damage reduction without wasted stats.

Important Mods

Armor Modification Change: these mods will seem foreign to returning players with Lightfall changing the entire system. The system you build around now is only orbs of power. You also see an armor charge mechanic and some of the previous mechanics for generating orbs of power and previously used mods. This system is evolving, and we will continue to make changes as we gain a better understanding of the new mod system. Here’s a list of all the current armor mods.

Artifice Armor Change: provides an extra +3 to whatever stat you want this should help you reach these stat goals.

Artifact Change: The artifact no longer provides mods instead it reduces the costs of some of the mods and provides passives as you level up and unlock them. Season 20 Artifact.

If you do not have the energy for the suggested mods, adjust and prioritize your main stat-boosting mod and anything that generates orbs, followed by something that consumes orbs of power and generates armor stacks.

Head	Resilience Mod Remember that stat mods are flexible, so if you have already hit 100 resilience, make sure you put another stat mod in here instead, such as Strength or Discipline.
Head	Ashes to Assets Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills. Orbs are super important to our build as we need to pick them up not only to charge our super, but to enhance it as well. This is why we are going so hard into solar weapons. We want those orbs. (Arc Element)
Head	Ashes to Assets Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills. More super energy for using our melee. Another easy choice. We are going to be killing a lot of enemies with our knives anyway to generate wells. This will also save the orbs we generate for enhancement rather than charging our super. (Arc Element)
Head	Harmonic Siphon We are going to be primarily using our instant return melee to generate wells for us so this is extremely important to the build. (Arc Element)
Arms	Resilience Mod
Arms	Firepower Your grenade final blows create Orbs of Power.
Arms	Bolstering Detonation Grants class ability energy when you cause damage with a grenade.
Arms	Focusing Strike Grants class ability energy when you cause damage with a melee attack.
Chest	Resilience Mod
Chest	Charged Up Increases the maximum number of stacks of Armor Charge you can carry by 1.
Chest	Charged Up Increases the maximum number of stacks of Armor Charge you can carry by 1.
Legs	Discipline Mod
Legs	Solar Weapon Surge Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
Legs	Insulation Reduces class ability cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
Legs	Innervation Reduces grenade cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
Class	Discipline Mod
Class	Bomber Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
Class	Time Dilation Your decaying Armor Charge has a longer duration.
Class	Distribution Reduces all ability cooldowns when using your class ability near targets.

Thanks for reading our Destiny 2 Solar Hunter PvE Build! Make sure to check the links below for more content! If you want to see more of Destiny 2 this week’s action, consider watching me live at twitch.tv/deltiasgaming and checking out the website for more guides (click), Beginner Builds and End-game PvE Builds.

FOLLOW ME

Destiny 2 Solar Hunter PvE Build

Table of Contents