Highlights
- Solar subclasses in Destiny 2 have been revamped, offering the ability to customize your playstyle with various powerful Exotics.
- Ashen Wake is a must-have for Titans who want to maximize their grenade usage, with increased throw speed and grenade energy upon fusion grenade kills.
Solar subclasses were Bungie's second crack at revamping the three original elemental subclasses, allowing you to choose how you want to experience Destiny 2. Whether you're looking to turn up the heat with extra damage or just need to survive, there are a variety of powerful Exotics to combine with your Solar 3.0 build.
While all Solar subclasses received significant improvements, those who heed Lord Shaxx's words will be the ones to benefit most, as you'll want to be throwing grenades, whether you are a Titan or not.
Updated August 11th, 2023 by Andrew Scariati: Season 22 of Destiny 2 brings a host of changes to exotic armor pieces like Hallowfire Heart. While some armor pieces are slightly changing, others are undergoing major perk reworks and additions.
The details remain to be ironed out but expect further shakeups to go along with the refreshed order of these top-tier Solar exotics.
12 Celestial Nighthawk – Hunter*
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Hawkeye Hack
:
- Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single high-damage shot.
- Enemies eliminated by the shot explode and grant you Super energy.
Golden Gun was a disappointing Super until Celestial Nighthawk came along and changed everything for Gunslingers, making it viable for single targets.
While this helmet now faces steep competition from excellent exotics like Star-Eater Scales, there simply isn't a better combination of fashion and function for Gunslinger purists to wear.
The additional explosions combine nicely depending on your Solar 3.0 build, so tinker around with different fragments to gain the best blend of boss damage and minor enemy explosions that you can concoct.
11 Ashen Wake – Titan
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Bring The Heat
:
- Fusion Grenades now explode on impact and gain increased throw speed.
- Final blows with Fusion Grenades grant grenade energy.
Disciples of Lord Shaxx have heard his desperate pleas in The Crucible: "Why aren't you throwing more grenades?!" The answer is that you clearly weren't using Ashen Wake, a Fusion Grenade enthusiast's best friend.
Fusion Grenades exploding on impact will increase your DPS and you won't even have to worry about damage buffs expiring before your grenade detonates.
Each kill with a Fusion Grenade will also restore energy, depending on the type of enemy killed: 25 percent for minors, 50 percent for majors, and 100 percent instant recharge on a boss or Guardian defeat.
10 Athrys's Embrace – Hunter*
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Skittering Stinger
:
- Weighted Knife gains a second bounce.
- Rapid precision hits with your weapons grant Weighted Knife a significant damage bonus, bonus strength, and the ability to stun unshielded combatants for a short time.
- Empowered Weighted Knife is strong against Unstoppable Champions.
Throwing Knife fans rejoice as your favorite ability finally gets some needed love in the form of Athrys's Embrace.
Your Strengthened Throwing Knife buff increases damage by 200 percent (100 in PvP) and can stagger Unstoppable Champions. In activities without champions, the Strengthened Throwing Knife can instead be used to stun unshielded combatants such as majors.
If you're all-in on knife-slinging, Athrys's Embrace is the premier Exotic choice, allowing for versatile usage in both PvE via stunning and PvP via shocking bounce-and-hit moments worthy of any montage.
9 Rain Of Fire – Warlock*
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Soaring Fusilier
:
- Air Dodge reloads all of your weapons and improves the airborne effectiveness of Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles; final blows with these weapons make you radiant.
- Provides a moderate benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles.
Although Rain Of Fire offers a niche use case, the pool of potential choices is packed with prime picks like Cartesian Coordinate, Iota Draconis, and more. Gaining radiance is a massive boon and activating the buff couldn't be much easier than via a final blow.
An exotic Fusion Rifle like Vex Mythoclast will be an excellent pairing for these unusual boots, especially if you're planning to use them in PvP.
While they are definitely functional in PvE, Rain Of Fire's midair reload and airborne effectiveness boons make it hard to ignore the uses in a PvP setting.
8 Phoenix Cradle – Titan*
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Beacons of Empowerment
:
- Sol Invictus lasts twice as long.
- Allies who pass through your Sunspot are granted Sol Invictus and Solar restoration.
Solar Titans who love supporting teammates couldn't ask for a better gift than to share their fantastic Sol Invictus buff with friends, which is precisely what makes Phoenix Cradle so good.
Sol Invictus is an incredible Solar 3.0 Aspect that focuses on creating Sunspots and using their associated boons to wreak havoc. Abilities regenerate faster, and your Super drains slowly while you are in a Sunspot.
Phoenix Cradle allows allies to acquire Sol Invictus and additional regeneration by passing through your Sunspots, an unrivaled team-wide buff for those willing to take a moment to bask in the flame.
7 Shards Of Galanor – Hunter
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Sharp Edges
:
- Hits and kills with Blade Barrage will return Super energy after the Super ends up to a maximum of 50 percent.
Shards of Galanor are as intimidating as they are infuriating for your opponents, as the only thing worse than getting hit with a barrage of knives is knowing that another one is coming soon.
Clearing rooms full of enemies has never been easier or more sustainable than with Shards of Galanor, though its true claim to fame is its prevalence in certain PvP modes, particularly Mayhem, where Super regeneration is already accelerated.
Slap these on and enjoy the looks of horror from the enemy team as you rain down Blade Barrage after Blade Barrage on people just trying to have a little fun.
6 Hallowfire Heart – Titan*
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Sunfire Furnace
:
- Improves the recharge rate of your Solar abilities.
- Greatly improves recharge rate while your Super is charged.
- Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons.
Hallowfire Heart is due for some big changes in Season 22, which will surely shake up its placement.
While your Super is not charged you will receive an additional 75 percent regeneration speed to your melee, class ability, and grenade recharge rate. However, once your Super is fully charged, this boon catapults to 350 percent, allowing for incredible ability spam.
On top of your impressive ability regeneration, you'll enjoy an added 20 to your Airborne Effectiveness with all weapons.
This increase allows you to dash through the sky, picking out shots with increased accuracy in between using your nearly infinite set of abilities, so long as you hold on to your Super.
5 Phoenix Protocol – Warlock*
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Battle-Hearth
:
- Kills and assists you make while standing in your Well of Radiance return Super energy.
Well of Radiance users often quietly produce a few orbs of power while their friends use their Supers to slaughter wave after wave of enemies. However, Phoenix Protocol incentivizes you to use your Well offensively, rather than as a panic button to ensure your survival.
A kill will grant you ten percent Super energy with each subsequent kill giving 1.5 percent less than the prior kill. So, your first kill gives ten percent, the second kill gives 8.5 percent, and so on, with the minimum amount bottoming out at four percent.
Enjoy dropping Wells in crowds of enemies to navigate your way from one side of the battlefield to the other.
4 Loreley Splendor Helm – Titan*
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Cauterizing Flame:
- When you are critically wounded with full class ability energy or when you cast a Barricade, create a Sunspot at your location that has improved restoration effects.
Loreley is one of the most terrifying Exotics ever to be released. It debuted with such incredible efficacy that it had to be toned down by Bungie – granting two stacks of health regeneration instead of three.
Alternatively, you can also summon a Sunspot on demand when you use your class ability, providing you both a barricade and a Sunspot to heal off any damage you receive.
In addition, your Sunspot will damage foes, making you a very difficult target to kill while you use this incredible source of Solar protection to shred the competition.
3 Caliban's Hand – Hunter*
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Roast 'Em
:
- Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions or ignites targets on final blow.
- After throwing a Proximity Knife, you gain increased melee regeneration until the knife explodes.
Caliban's hand is arguably the best exotic armor for Solar Hunters, proving incredibly valuable as a solar-build enabler. Pair them with your favorite top-tier exotic weapon and get ready for some fire.
Throwing a Proximity Knife at a target will Scorch and eventually Ignite them, allowing you to build around becoming Radiant with your Acrobat's Dodge. You can then turn your attention to Scorching and Igniting enemies to clear out enemies and create Firesprites or Orbs of Power.
Whether you choose to focus on an ability-oriented build or prefer single-target damage, Caliban's will be an excellent tool to experiment with.
2 Sunbracers – Warlock
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Helium Spirals
:
- Increases (200 percent) the duration of Solar Grenades.
- Solar melee kills grant unlimited Solar Grenade energy for a brief time.
Lord Shaxx's words echo even louder than before, and Sunbracers give Warlocks an answer, putting Titans on notice that the battle for best grenade-tosser is far from over.
These spectacular gauntlets put Solar Warlocks firmly among the group of people who want to watch the world burn, as your spheres of Solar energy Scorch, Ignite, and explode your enemies.
The only people who won't love these gauntlets are your teammates who just want a small piece of the action you're hogging.
1 Starfire Protocol – Warlock*
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Fusion Harness
:
- Fusion Grenades have an additional charge and recharge from empowered weapon damage, with empowered weapon final blows granting more energy.
- Fusion Grenade final blows grant Rift energy.
Solar Warlocks love their grenades, especially with access to top-tier Solar Exotics like Sunbracers and the infamous Starfire Protocol.
In addition to a second Fusion Grenade charge, Starfire Protocol returns 20 percent of your grenade energy with each hit while you are empowered – an easy buff to maintain if you sit in an empowering rift or Well of Radiance.
Despite its nerf, this exotic will still prove to be a powerful tool for any Solar Warlock and will find immense usage in Grandmaster Nightfalls as an excellent choice for many occasions.