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Destiny 2’s Season of the Haunted introduced the Solar 3.0 update, which is a complete rework of the existing Solar subclasses to make them perform like the existing 3.0 subclasses – Stasis and Void. The Solar 3.0 update was not exactly well-received by the community on launch because of how some interactions were lost and how some others seemed not too significant to deserve their place in the current meta. Prior to the recent changes made with this week’s patch,Solar 3.0 severed the identity of some subclasses, particularly so that of Warlocks.
With Season of the Haunted artifact mods being tested extensively, and with manySolar 3.0 changesbeing broken down by content creators and community members, this guide aims at suggesting the best builds and combinations for Solar Hunters inDestiny 2’s current meta.
Destiny 2: Solar 3.0 Hunter - Best Exotics
Bombardiers are now finally seeing some use inDestiny 2, but they have the issue of killing targets in low-end content, leading to a missed opportunity for synergy between this Exotic and the Ember of Searing Fragment.
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In high-end content, however, this Exotic doesn’t dramatically change what Hunters can do and how the gameplay loop works, meaning that Bombardiers don’t really have a place in the current meta. Killing targets with the bomb is part of the fun that Bombardiers bring to the game, and that’s why there’s not enough middle-ground content where the Exotic can truly shine.
Caliban’s Hand is an inconsistent new Exoticthat was supposed to Ignite enemies on a direct hit with Proximity Knives, but its perk was just changed by Bungie to only work on direct impact kills. This leaves out the Proximity Knife’s secondary explosion, which cannot Ignite.
Because the Exotic requires players to score a kill to even work, Caliban’s Hand is not recommended for anything beyond low tier activities, which are coincidentally also where builds are less impactful because enemies can die to anything quite easily.
Celestial Nighthawkgrants Solar Hunters the ability to have a single-shot Golden Gun that deals massive damage to enemies, which is only ever used for single-target burst damage. However, as recent community-made damage tests show, Golden Gun with Celestial Nighthawk deals less damage than Blade Barrage with Ember of Beams and no Exotic, meaning that there is no reason to use this Exotic in any game mode in its current iteration.
Furthermore, Blade Barrage also has a shorter Super cooldown than Golden Gun, meaning that it’s still going to be the best possible option overall for Solar Hunters.
Speaking of Blade Barrage, there are two Exotics that it pairs greatly with. The most obvious isShards of Galanor, an Exotic that refunds players with up to 50% Super energy when hitting targets with Blade Barrage. The synergy between the two stops there, and there isn’t really a build one can create to make more of the interaction outside using mods like Ashes to Assets or Hands-On for extra Super energy on grenade kills or melee kills, respectively.
On the other hand, players were quick to find out that Blade Barrage pairs perfectly withStar-Eater Scales, which makes it the Super with the single highest damage inDestiny 2at maximum potential.
This means that players need a lot of setting up to do, though, namely with things like Siphon mods to generate lots of Orbs of Power to feed the Star-Eater Scales Exotic.
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A fantastic Exotic that is seeing a lot of action at the moment is the Young Ahamkara’s Spine arms, which increase the blast radius ofTripmine Grenadesand grant grenade energy when hitting targets with Solar abilities. As such,Destiny 2players can build a nice gameplay flow with Solar Elemental Wells, mods like Bolstering Detonation, and Focusing Strike to generate more grenade and melee energy respectively with the Tripmine Grenade and the selected melee ability, likely Knife Trick.
The problem with these mods is that they require arms slots, which means that players can either use them to make the build more efficient or useChampion modsin high-tier content to actually stun Champions, which is always recommended.
As such, this build is great in all tiers of content, but its efficiency decreases based on the number of Champions in a given game mode. Probably, this build is not great for Master or GM Nightfalls, but it can still be quite powerful in Master Dungeons.
Two Exotics that can be generally good in all tiers of content are Sixth Coyote and Ophidia Spate, as they provide an extra Dodge charge and melee charge, respectively. These can be easily used in any build and synergize pretty well with most Aspects and Fragments precisely because of their boons being general perks.
Ophidian Spate is great for playing more aggressively with melee abilities because it allows for great combos, mostly with Knife Trick. Sixth Coyote, on the other hand, is a fantastic Exotic that works with all Dodge abilities and can be used both offensively or in a support capacity, with maybeAcrobat’s Dodgeto make teammates reliably Radiant in high-end content.
The best Exotic in general for hard activities is most definitely Assassin’s Cowl, especially in Dungeons andGM Nightfalls, whereas Raid groups might make the most out of the Blade Barrage and Star-Eater Scales combo.
Assassin’s Cowl makes Hunters invisible when killing an enemy with a melee attack or a finisher, and also replenishes a chunk of health to the user. This is essentially great because it allows players to have a backup plan in any situation or to play more strategically.
For example, Assassin’s Cowl allows Hunters to target Champions from afar and rush to them with a Finisher, ensuring survivability and the kill at the same time. Likewise, players can use this method while teammates are focusing on hard-hitting targets, this time killing or finishing a nearby enemy to then become invisible and approach the major threats to safely put them down. Overall, as Void Hunters proved withThe Witch Queen, invisibility is likely one of the strongest abilities inDestiny 2when it comes to the endgame.
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Destiny 2: Solar 3.0 Hunter - Best Aspects
TheSolar 3.0 update provided all classes with three Aspects, meaning that Hunters too can choose from three of them that are unique to their class. As for the Aspects that Hunters have, they are Knock ‘Em Down, On Your Mark, and Gunpowder Gamble.
Knock ‘Em Down quickly proved to be almost mandatory in all Solar Hunter builds simply because of all the boons it provides, from two Fragment slots to refilling melee energy when killing targets while Radiant, also includes several power-ups for the three Supers the class has access to. This Aspect is just too strong not to use, and it provides loads of interaction potential to many builds.
However,Destiny 2playerscan only equip two Aspects out of three, and that’s where the choice becomes difficult. Gunpowder Gamble is easily one of the most fun-inducing Aspects of the whole game, and it fulfills the fantasy of the space rogue shooting their own grenades midair for big explosions.
The main issue with Gunpowder Gamble is that it only limits players to just one extra Fragment slot when using it, meaning that many builds tend to suffer from a lack of combos with Fragments due to the maximum amount being three with Knock ‘Em Down and four with On Your Mark.
Additionally, Gunpowder Gamble requires Solar ability or Solar weapon kills to proc and then goes on an 11-second cooldown after the ability is used, meaning that uptime on the Aspect is quite low across all game modes, but particularly so in high-end content.
For this reason, this Aspect is best used in builds that are aimed at farming or completing low to mid-tier content, such as Legend Nightfalls or theNightmare Containment public event on the Leviathan.
On the other hand, On Your Mark provides players with a general team-wide buff that it’s easy to activate and maintain, but mainly it comes with three Fragment slots to pair with the two provided by Knock ‘Em Down, for a total of five. This is the ideal setup for any activity above Legend-tier, as having more Fragments is going to be much more useful than having Gunpowder Gamble.
Destiny 2: Solar 3.0 Hunter - Best Fragments
Destiny 2’s Fragmentsare interchangeable subclass items that provide different types of buffs or effects, with some also providing a bonus to a specific stat or two, and others either not doing that or even imposing a penalty to some stats. Fragments are generally very desirable because they can really get builds going with their interactions with other Fragments, Aspects, or items.
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As such, Solar Hunters have a selection of Fragments they can choose from, but some of them will generally be better for specific playstyles and builds, and thus they should be prioritized. Solar 3.0 Fragments are called Embers, and the best ones to pick are as follows:
Overall, there are a lot of combinations to try with Solar Hunter builds, but these are the most reliable to try out across all game modes, with players having the chance of tweaking and tuning their builds based on the game mode they want to tackle.
Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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