Destiny 2: Beyond Light is finally here after months and months of waiting. Acting as the next major chapter in this FPS/RPG hybrid, players will embark on a journey to Europa to battle against a Fallen leader called Eramis and learn more about the true nature of the Darkness. This expansion includes new characters, missions, endgame activities, weapons, exotics, and enemy types. One exotic that is getting a lot of love is the Mask of Bakris, which is proving to be a powerful tool in PVP. However, this helmet is also making waves in the PVE space thanks to its temporary damage buff to slowed targets and any Arc weapons.
Before we begin, we should give credit Youtuber Coolguy for discovering the hidden slowed damage buff. Our build will be relatively similar to his, but as always we encourage players to tinker and customize their Guardian to fit their playstyle. For the unfamiliar, the Mask of Bakris replaces the Stasis Hunter dodge with a fast-moving teleport. At the end of the teleport, a buff called Light Shift will trigger, boosting our Arc and damage to slowed combatants by 10%. This means you will absolutely need to run this with Stasis.
Mask of Bakris Build
Weapons
- Kinetic – Anything You Want
- Energy – Cloudstrike, First In, Last Out, or The Fourth Horseman
- Power – Falling Guillotine, Anarchy, The Lament, or Blast Battue
Unlike our Titan or Warlock builds, I won’t be limiting your weapon choices to only one or two options. The beauty of this build is it works with pretty much anything, but Arc weapons are always the preferred choice. Since slowed targets will also be affected, non-Arc choices like Falling Guillotine and The Lament still get that damage increase bonus. So for your Kinetic slot, you’ll want any primary weapon you prefer to use. For my build, I am using the Patron of Lost Causes scout rifle to get some range.
In the Energy slot, Cloud Strike, The Fourth Horseman, and First In, Last Out should be your go-to choices. Each of which are top of their class when it comes to burst damage and all of them are Arc. This means we won’t be reliant on slowing targets to get the damage bonus. As for the Power weapon, if you’re using an exotic already then consider either Falling Guillotine or the Blast Battue grenade launcher. The Lament is also quite strong here, especially if you throw a Duskfield Grenade on a boss or Champion.
Core Mods
- Sustained Charge/Swift Charge/Precision Charge – Solar/Arc/Void: Our first mod will entirely depend on which weapon archetype you are using. Since we need to become Charged With Light, you’ll want to pick the one that best fits your specific weapon. So for my build, I am using Precision Charge since a scout rifle is my primary firearm. This will be different depending on which gun you’re using.
- Supercharged – Solar: This mod allows us to have a maximum of Five Charged With Light stacks instead of three. While many prefer Stacks on Stacks, I’ve never been a fan of the penalty to the Recovery stat since it’s already pretty low for most Hunters. Plus, you will easily gain a ton of Charged With Light stacks from whichever weapon mod you decided to use.
- Heavy Handed – Arc: Our primary use for Charged With Light, Heavy Handed gives us half our melee energy whenever we use a charged melee ability. This will consume one stack of Charged With Light. Since the Hunter’s Stasis melee has two charges and slows target, this will be our main way to slow enemies. Given we should almost always have stacks, this will ensure our melee consistently is off cooldown for any majors or boss combatants.
- Protective Light – Void: We’re running Protective Light because it can help keep us alive in chaotic scenarios. The damage resistance buff is significant, which is usually enough to keep us alive in high-level content. Normally the penalty to our Strength stat would be a problem, but Heavy Handed helps circumvent this issue. Plus, we are gaining Charged With Light stacks like crazy, so this mod consuming them all is rarely an issue.
- Reactive Pulse – Arc: Finally, since our mob clearing potential is a little low, we will be using Reactive Pulse. This is a slot you can customize, so don’t feel tied to this mod. I just like it because you can easily clear our a lot of enemies around you for only a single Charged With Light stack.
Other Mods
These are simply some armor mods to consider running if you need to use up additional Energy. None of them are key to the build, so don’t feel forced to hunt down and run them.
- Momentum Transfer – Arc: This mod allows us to gain melee energy when causing damage with our grenades. This helps us keep our melee’s cooldown low, even if we aren’t Charged With Light.
- Hands-On – Arc: We will be using our melee a lot in this build, so why not gain additional Super energy for melee kills. Since these shurikens can hit multiple foes, you can gain a nice chunk of Super energy when throwing them at hordes of foes.
- Focusing Strike – Void: We will want to use Shift a lot to trigger the Light Shift buff, so Focusing Strike helps us lower that cooldown. This mod creates a feedback loop where our melee boosts our class ability, allowing us to buff our damage, allowing us to do even more damage to enemies.
