Destiny 2: Fun and unique builds you need to try

While Destiny 2’s metagame is well defined and relatively narrow, that doesn’t mean that you can’t do well by using unorthodox weapons, armors, and subclasses. In fact, some of the most fun and unique builds in the game are considered off-meta, and while they’re not the most effective options, they’re still a blast to use and will get the job done in most activities.

Here’s a look at some of the most interesting and creative builds you can put together right now, as well as details about how each one works (check out my guide to the best Destiny 2 builds, and how to make your own for more on the intricacies of builds).

Generally, Titans are all about throwing things, smashing things, and shooting things with lots (and I mean lots) of bullets. Therefore, the best way to get creative with Titan builds is to enhance your ability and effectiveness when fighting enemies this way.

Thor, God of Thunder build

• Subclass: Sunbreaker, Code of the Devastator
• Exotics: Dunemarchers
• Weapons: Masterworked primary, special, and heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Strength
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, Reactive Pulse

My personal favorite Titan build for pure fun factor is the “Thor build,” a setup that gives your Code of the Devastator throwing hammer the ability to send out Arc shockwaves thanks to Dunemarchers. All you need to do is sprint for a few seconds before throwing your hammer, and it will send out a large electric area-of-effect attack when it connects with enemies. Your hammer will also do more damage each time thanks to the Roaring Flames melee damage boost that Code of the Devastator gives you with each hammer kill. Having high Strength helps you get your hammer back quickly if you forget to collect it after defeating an enemy or it bounces off the map.

For even more electric firepower, you can incorporate Charged with Light mods into the build. Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, and Supercharged help you get (and stay) Charged with Light, and then using Reactive Pulse allows you to send out deadly Arc explosions whenever enemies hit you while you’re charged.

The Yeet Titan build

• Subclass: Striker, Code of the Missile
• Exotics: Cuirass of the Falling Star, Monte Carlo
• Weapons: Masterworked shotgun and sword
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Intellect
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, Protective Light

Throwing things at enemies to kill them is fun, true. But what if I told you that you could throw yourself at them instead? That’s what this Thundercrash-focused build is all about, which I’ve affectionally dubbed the “Yeet Titan build.” The centerpiece of the build is the Cuirass of the Falling Star Exotic chest armor that doubles the damage of your Thundercrash and gives you an overshield once you strike a target. You can also yeet yourself at enemies with the Ballistic Slam melee ability that creates a huge Arc shockwave where you land, and then you can quickly recharge it for another use by damaging enemies with Monte Carlo. Rinse and repeat over and over for maximum carnage. I also recommend keeping a shotgun and sword handy since you’ll constantly be up close and personal with enemies and sometimes, your Ballistic Slam and Monte Carlo won’t be enough for tougher targets.

Since this build encourages constant aggression, some protective Charged with Light mods will be beneficial. I recommend using Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, and Supercharged for constant Charged with Light charges, and then equipping Protective Light for its tanky 50% damage reduction that triggers whenever your shields break while Charged with Light.

Actium War Rig build

• Subclass: Personal preference
• Exotics: Actium War Rig, Sweet Business OR Xenophage
• Weapons: Masterworked auto rifle, special, and machine gun
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Resilience
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, High-Energy Fire OR Protective Light

Shooting guns is fun, but reloading isn’t. Thankfully, the Actium War Rig Exotic exists, and with it, you’ll almost never have to reload your auto rifle and/or machine gun again. This is because it steadily reloads your auto rifles and machine guns for you as you’re firing them. A great auto rifle to use with Actium War Rig is the Exotic Sweet Business, which also reloads itself whenever you pick up primary ammo bricks. Together with Actium War Rig’s auto-reloading, this ensures a constant stream of bullets until you’re completely out of ammo. Alternatively, you could use the Exotic machine gun Xenophage if you want a strong boss damage weapon. Make sure to equip a good auto rifle if you’re using Xenophage, or a good machine gun if you’re using Sweet Business. Since you’ll be out in the open a lot, having high Recovery and Resilience will help you shrug off damage.

Charged with Light mods have less of an impact here than they do in the other builds, but they’re still good. Aside from the usual Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, and Supercharged trio, I recommend either High-Energy Fire for stronger damage or Protective Light for extra safety while you’re mowing down hordes of foes.

Destiny 2 fun builds: Hunter

Hunters are the most agile and cunning of the three classes, and as such, builds that emphasize the Hunter’s mobility and craftiness tend to be the most unique and interesting.

Permanent invisibility build

• Subclass: Nightstalker, Way of the Pathfinder, Gambler’s Dodge
• Exotics: Omnioculous
• Weapons: Masterworked primary, special, and heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Mobility
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, Protective Light

One of the strongest aspects of the Nightstalker subclass is that you can make yourself and your allies invisible with the smoke bomb melee ability, and paired with the Omnioculous Exotic chest armor and Gambler’s Dodge, you’ll almost always have a smoke bomb at the ready for near-permanent invisibility. This is because the Omnioculous gives you two smoke bomb charges and boosts your melee recharge rate whenever you make allies invisible. Additionally, making yourself and your teammates invisible gives them damage resistance, which is helpful in endgame PvE activities. Gambler’s Dodge allows you to instantly get a smoke bomb if you’re not able to chain them with Omnioculous, and having high Mobility ensures that your Gambler’s Dodge recharges pretty quick as well.

While not necessary at all, using the Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, and Protective Light Charged with Light mods will also help give you extra survivability if you get caught out of invisibility at any point. By the time Protective Light’s damage reduction wears off, you’ll most likely have another smoke bomb ready.

Liar’s Handshake build

• Subclass: Arcstrider, Way of the Warrior, Gambler’s Dodge
• Exotics: Liar’s Handshake
• Weapons: Masterworked primary, One-Two Punch shotgun, and sword
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Mobility
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, Reactive Pulse OR Protective Light

Who says Titans are the only ones who can punch things endlessly for huge damage? Hunters aren’t typically that great for melee combat, but thanks to the Liar’s Handshake Exotic, that’s no longer the case. With the Way of the Warrior Arcstrider skill tree, every melee kill you get recharges your dodge, which can then be used to instantly recharge your melee again if you’re using Gambler’s Dodge. This skill tree also gives you the Combination Blow buff when you score melee kills, which stacks up to three times and massively boosts your melee damage. Paired with Liar’s Handshake, which boosts your next melee attack further after landing an initial one, you can use the Way of the Warrior skill tree to do huge spikes of burst damage with each of your punches, deftly dodging to your next target after each killing blow. You can increase your damage even more if you have a One-Two Punch shotgun as well, which gives you a melee damage buff for landing all of your shotgun pellets. This elevates the combo into effective Raid boss damage levels, which is pretty crazy. A sword in your heavy slot can help clean up foes that aren’t going down to your punches.

If you want, you can also incorporate some Charged with Light mods into the mix here. As usual, I recommend the classic Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, and Supercharged trio for staying Charged with Light constantly. You can then use Reactive Pulse to hit enemies close to you with Arc shockwaves when they damage you, or you can use Protective Light for extra protection while you’re crushing the skull of every foe in sight.

Related: Destiny 2 Deep Stone Crypt raid guide: How to beat every boss encounter

Raiju’s Harness deflection build

• Subclass: Arcstrider, Way of the Current
• Exotics: Raiju’s Harness
• Weapons: Masterworked primary, special, and heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Intellect
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, Energy Converter, Firepower, Innervation

If you want to pretend you’re a Jedi deflecting blaster bolts and then cutting down enemies with a lightsaber, this Arcstrider build is for you. It utilizes the Way of the Current skill tree that allows you to deflect enemy attacks back at them with your Arc Staff super, which not only protects you and your teammates but also boosts the damage of your Arc Staff itself. This version of Arc Staff is typically rather weak since blocking damage drains the super quickly, but the Raiju’s Harness Exotic makes it so that deflecting damage doesn’t drain any super energy at all. This allows you to pull off this block-and-slash combo for a long time before your super ends.

Since this build is extremely super-centric, it’s best to use Charged with Light mods that help you get it back very quickly. Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, and Supercharged will keep you constantly Charged with Light, while Energy Converter uses your Charged with Light stacks to replenish your super energy whenever you throw grenades (Firepower also helps you refunds a portion of your grenade energy when you throw one). The Innervation leg armor mod also replenishes grenade energy when you pick up Orbs of Power. Finally, having high Intellect will help you get your super back quickly too.

Destiny 2 fun builds: Warlock

Warlocks are generally at their best when they’re supporting their teammates with healing and/or damage buffs and are a good distance away from enemies. Warlocks are also the best class when it comes to mid-air combat, as their floating jumps are great for flying around combat arenas. Builds that enhance these qualities tend to be both very fun and quite effective.

Solar grenadier build

• Subclass: Dawnblade, Attunement of Sky
• Exotics: Sunbracers, Monte Carlo
• Weapons: Masterworked special and heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Mobility
• Important mods: Wrath of Rasputin, Rage of the Warmind, Global Reach

This is, without question, the best ad-clearing build in all of Destiny 2. Thanks to the flight-focused Attunement of Sky skill tree and its ranged Celestial Fire melee ability, you can pair it with Sunbracers to gain unlimited grenade throws for six seconds while floating high in the air. You can then spam Solar grenades at groups of enemies, burning entire hordes to ash from your mid-air vantage point. You can then use Monte Carlo to quickly recharge Celestial Fire, starting the whole chain once again. Having high mobility will help you get high into the air more efficiently, as the mobility stat improves your jump height.

This build becomes even deadlier when you make use of Warmind Cells. Wrath of Rasputin gives you a chance to spawn these explosives whenever your Solar grenades get kills, and Rage of the Warmind makes their explosions Solar. This means that your own Warmind Cells have a chance to spawn more Warmind Cells if they do enough damage to kill something. You can use Global Reach to improve their blast radius. What better way to improve your explosives-heavy build than to add in more explosives?

Support healer build

• Subclass: Dawnblade, Attunement of Grace
• Exotics: Phoenix Protocol, Lumina
• Weapons: Lumina, preferred Solar special, preferred Solar heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Intellect OR Discipline
• Important mods: Wrath of Rasputin, Cellular Suppression, Global Reach, Fireteam Medic

If you want to play Warlock like you’re a healer mage, this build is for you. The Attunement of Grace skill tree allows you to charge your Solar grenade into a burst of healing energy for you and your allies, and the Phoenix Protocol Exotic makes your Well of Radiance super come back very quickly as long as your fireteam uses it to get lots of kills. The Lumina Exotic hand cannon is also capable of firing special healing rounds after getting kills with it, which can be used as an additional safety measure for your fireteam. Having high Intellect helps you get Well of Radiance even faster, while Discipline is helpful if you want to use a lot of grenades.

Not enough healing for you? Put on the Wrath of Rasputin, Global Reach, and Fireteam Medic Warmind Cell mods to spawn Warmind Cells with your Solar ability kills, then destroy them to give all of your allies a huge burst of health. You can make use of Cellular Suppression, too, which makes it so that nearby enemies get blinded while you’re destroying your Warmind Cells.

Ranged turret build

• Subclass: Stormcaller, Attunement of Control
• Exotics: Getaway Artist, No Time to Explain
• Weapons: Masterworked special and heavy
• Primary armor stats: Recovery, Discipline
• Important mods: Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, High-Energy Fire

Why do all of the shooting when you can make some little buddies to help you out? With this build, you can use Getaway Artist to charge your Arc grenades into an Arc Soul that fires deadly Arc bullets at enemies automatically. You can then land crits with the No Time to Explain Exotic to spawn a small portal that shoots additional bullets at whatever you’re aiming at. You can keep both “turrets” active at the same time, turning you into a ranged ad-clearing monster. The Ionic Traces that can drop from defeated enemies thanks to the Attunement of Control skill tree also help recharge your grenades faster, allowing you to quickly make another Arc Soul once your first one despawns. A high Discipline stat can also help in this regard. This skill tree also gives you the Chaos Reach super, which does great damage and is strong from a distance, which is where you’ll be.

Mods aren’t needed to make this setup effective, but you can make use of a basic Taking Charge, Stacks on Stacks, Supercharged, and High-Energy Fire Charged with Light combo to boost the damage of both you and your turrets.

Any questions?

What do you think of my builds? Do you think I missed any Exotic, mod, and subclass combinations that lead to incredibly fun gameplay opportunities? Let me know. For more on builds, check out my guide to the best Destiny 2 builds, and how to make your own. Also, make sure you check out my Destiny 2: Beyond Light review for my full thoughts on Destiny 2’s recent expansion.

Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One consoles, and Windows 10 PCs for $40. The base game is free on all platforms, so if you haven’t tried it out yet, I highly recommend doing so since it’s one of the best Xbox One shooters available. If you do decide to try it out, make sure you give my Destiny 2 beginner’s guide on how to get into Destiny in 2021 a look. It’s filled with useful tips, tricks, and information, so don’t hesitate to use it as a resource as you get acclimated with the game.