Stasis has been good for Warlocks in Destiny 2 for a while now, but the subclass got further buffs with the release of the current season of the game. Specifically, Shadebinders got an improvement to the Glacial Harvest aspect, while several features of Stasis got boosted across the board, including slowing effects, Whisper of Rending, and Coldsnap Grenades. As a result, I’ve been playing a Stasis Warlock in Destiny 2 pretty much all season. Here’s the essentials of the build I’ve been using — it works great across pretty much all PVE activities, with some tweaks in loadouts depending on the specifics of what you’re facing.
Destiny 2 Warlock Stasis Subclass Options
For aspects, we’re running Bleak Watcher, since it’s unmatched in terms of add control, and Glacial Harvest. I know, most Warlocks run Iceflare Bolts. And yes, you might miss being able to freeze everything in the room. But this build is based on powering up through Elemental Wells, which the Stasis shards generated by Glacial Harvest can count as with the right mods. Trust me, just give it a shot.
The fragments I usually use are Whisper of Rime, Whisper of Hedrons, Whisper of Conduction, and Whisper of Chains. Conduction makes Stasis shards track to you, and Rime provides an overshield when you collect them that also heals you if you’re at low health. Hedrons gives you a boost to a number of stats after you freeze a target, which you’ll be doing frequently, and Chains gives you damage reduction when near a frozen target or Stasis crystal.
And of course, we’re using Coldsnap Grenades, since Osmiomancy Gloves (which finally got an ornament!) are just too good.
Destiny 2 Warlock Stasis Mods
The key mod for this whole setup is Elemental Shards, which makes Stasis shards count as Elemental Wells. From there, you can build in a few different ways. Font of Might is huge here, granting you a 25% Stasis weapon damage buff that stacks with most other damage buffs in the game. Elemental Time Dilation is great too, though it does require you to stack multiple copies of Font of Might or other mods to get its benefits. Another option is to use the combination of Elemental Charge and High-Energy Fire to get further damage buffs that way. Keep in mind, though, that unlike Font of Might, High-Energy Fire doesn’t stack with Empowering Rifts, Wells of Radiance, and so on.
Oh, and remember that Solo Operative and Monochromatic Maestro stack with other damage buffs, in case you want to use either of those.
Destiny 2 Warlock Stasis Weapons
The great thing about running Stasis is that you have so many great weapons to choose from that can benefit from Font of Might. Most of the time, I run a Stasis primary like Syncopation-53, Blood Feud, or the new Disparity. But there are solid special ammo options as well, like Riptide and Deliverance.
For Heavy weapons, there are three main routes you can go: swords, linear fusion rifles, or rocket launchers. If you have a good roll of Reed’s Regret, it’s a fantastic DPS weapon in most situations. Alternately, the new Fire and Forget burst LFR can be a lot of fun too. For lower-level content and certain boss damage phases, a Zephyr sword with Cold Steel works wonders. Since it freezes enemies, it refreshes its own damage buff and heals you through Whisper of Rime. If you’re running this on a regular basis, you might want to try using Lucent Blade with it too.
But maybe the most interesting weapon choice I’ve been playing around with lately is Bump in the Night. As one of the rare aggressive frame rocket launchers that can roll Demolitionist alongside a damage perk, Bump in the Night provides an opportunity for Stasis Warlocks to approximate a Starfire Protocol build. Simply fire the rocket launcher, throw a Coldsnap Grenade to reload, and repeat. It can be a little tricky to get the timing down because there’s a hidden cooldown on Demolitionist, but it’s a great tactic against bosses like the Wyvern in Spire of the Watcher.
