Best Destiny 2 Stasis Hunter build: PvP and PvE

While not as flashy or popular as its dark counterpart, Stasis offers Guardians a unique way to approach fights, regardless of class. There are several ways to utilize Stasis, so here’s my pick for the Best Destiny 2 Stasis Hunter build: PvP and PvE.

Related: How to get the Navigator in Destiny 2

Best PvE Stasis Hunter build in Destiny 2

Stasis Hunters can employ a few builds for PvE, but I have the most success when utilizing Duskfield grenades. These throwables have a ton of utility and are viable for endgame content. Our build is focused on the Exotic Renewal Grasps, as they enhance the power of the Duskfield grenades.

Best PvE Stasis Hunter Aspects and Fragments 

Aspects

• Touch of Winter – Your Glacier, Duskfield, and Coldsnap grenades have enhanced functionality. Glacier Grenade: Adds a Stasis crystal and changes formation. Duskfield Grenade: Increases slow-field size and forms a small Stasis crystal on impact. Coldsnap Grenade: Seeker makes a Stasis crystal on detonation and chains one additional time
• Grim Harvest – Defeating slowed or frozen combatants creates Stasis shards. These shards grant melee energy when picked up by you or your allies.

Fragments

• Whisper of Hedrons – Increases weapon stability, aim assist, weapon airborne effectiveness, Mobility, resilience, and recovery after freezing a target with Stasis
• Whisper of Chains – While you are near frozen targets or a friendly Stasis crystal, you take reduced damage from targets
• Whisper of Shards – Shattering a Stasis crystal briefly boosts your grenade recharge rate. Shattering additional Stasis crystals increases the duration of this benefit.
• Whisper of Refraction – Defeating slowed, or frozen targets grants you class ability energy.

The description of the Touch of Winter Aspect is rather wordy, but the part we care about is how it affects our Duskfield grenades. This Aspect increases the radius of our Duskfield effect and spawns a Stasis crystal inside for good measure. Grim Harvest makes it so fallen enemies drop Stasis Shards, which grant valuable melee energy.

There’s a surprising number of viable fragments for Stasis builds, but my choices here are geared toward survivability. Whisper of Hedrons is incredible as it offers a plethora of buffs to multiple stats, including Mobility, and even grants Aim Assist. Whisper of Chains is crucial to our survivability, as we get 40% damage reduction while near Stasis crystals. 

As we’re so focused on grenades, Whisper of Shards is an easy choice as it buffs their recharge rate. Finally, Whisper of Refraction is more of a QoL choice, making our Class Ability recharge much faster.

Best PvE Stasis Hunter Abilities

• Super – Silence and Squall
• Class Ability – Marksman’s Dodge 
• Jump – Triple Jump
• Melee – Withering Blade
• Grenade – Duskfield Grenade

Besides the Duskfield grenades, which are mandatory for this build, we’re pretty flexible with abilities. Silence and Squall, and Withering Blade are the only available Super and Melee abilities, so we have to go with those. I love the Marksman’s Dodge for instant reloads, but Gambler’s Dodge is great if you’re comfortable being close to your opponents. The Jump is a personal preference, but I’ve sworn by Triple Jump for years, and it’s saved my bacon countless times.

Best PvE Stasis Hunter Exotic Armor, weapons, and mods

Exotic Armor

• Renewal Grasps – Duskfield grenades have a much larger effect radius. Allies inside the Duskfield take reduced damage, and targets inside the area deal reduced damage.

Weapons

• Verglas Curve Exotic Stasis Bow

Armor Mods 

• Helmet – Resilience Mod, Heavy Ammo Finder, Dynamo
• Arms – Discipline Mod, Arc, Solar, and Void Resistance
• Chest – Resilience Mod, Grenade Kickstart, Bolstering Detonation
• Legs – Resilience Mod, Absolution, Innervation
• Mark – Resilience Mod, Reaper, Bomber x2

The Renewal Grasps are the star of the show as they power up our Duskfield grenades and make them our go-to ability. The Duskfield radius increase means we can lock down entire hallways. Remember, Whisper of Chains and Touch of Winter make it so we benefit from standing in our grenade AoEs.

The beauty of this build is its flexibility. We’re so focused on our Duskfield Grenades that you can bring any weapon you like, regardless of Element. I’ve mentioned the Verglas Curve because it’s a solid Stasis option. That said, I’ve been rocking everything from the Scatter Signal Fusion Rifle to the Tractor Cannon, so pick your favorites here.

Our mods tie in nicely with our reliance on Grenades, but survivability is our primary focus. Shoot for 100 Resilience first, as it grants a blanket 30% damage reduction. After that, put as many points into Discipline as possible for a faster grenade recharge rate.

Best PvP Stasis build in Destiny 2

I want to preface this section by saying I desperately wanted to recommend a Shatterdive build, but they are simply too inconsistent. Stasis is arguably a niche pick in PvP, but you can still have fun, and the Mask of Bakris Exotic shines with an aggressive playstyle.

Best PvP Stasis Hunter Aspects and Fragments

Aspects

• Touch of Winter – Your Glacier, Duskfield, and Coldsnap grenades have enhanced functionality. Glacier Grenade: Adds a Stasis crystal and changes formation. Duskfield Grenade: Increases slow-field size and forms a small Stasis crystal. Coldsnap Grenade: Seeker makes a Stasis crystal on detonation and chains an extra time.
• Grim Harvest – Defeating slowed or frozen opponents creates Stasis shards. These shards grant melee energy when picked up by you or your allies.

Fragments

• Whisper of Hedrons – Increases weapon stability, aim assist, weapon airborne effectiveness, Mobility, resilience, and recovery after freezing a target with Stasis
• Whisper of Chains – While you are near frozen targets or a friendly Stasis crystal, you take reduced damage from targets
• Whisper of Rime – Collecting a Stasis shard grants a small amount of overshield, which lasts 10 seconds. Collecting additional shards adds to the overshield and refreshes the timer.
• Whisper of Refraction – Defeating slowed, or frozen targets grants you class ability energy.

The Aspects and Fragments in this build are almost identical to our PvE setup but with one key difference. We’ve swapped out Whisper of Shards for Whisper of Rime. This Fragment grants an overshield whenever we collect a Stasis shard and offers some welcome sustain if we get pushed after a kill. Whisper of Chains can reduce incoming damage, although the amount is far less than in PvE. 

Best PvP Stasis Hunter Abilities

• Super – Silence and Squall
• Class Ability – Marksman’s Dodge 
• Jump – Triple Jump
• Melee – Withering Blade
• Grenade – Coldsnap Grenade

I love the Marksman’s Dodge in PvE, and it’s even better in PvP. Good opponents will know when you’ll need to reload, and the Marksman’s Dodge makes you more unpredictable. Coldsnap grenades are annoying to deal with, so I like to inflict that frustration on my opponents in Crucible. Duskfield grenades are decent for their mass-slowing effect, but I find Coldsnaps have more impact.

Best PvP Stasis Hunter Exotic Armor, weapons, and mods

Exotic Armor

• Mask of Bakris – Replaces your Stasis subclass Dodge ability with a longer range, faster-moving shift that partially cloaks you during use. After shifting, your Stasis and Arc weapons deal increased damage for a short time.

Weapons

• Unending Tempest SMG

Armor Mods 

• Helmet – Resilience Mod, Stasis Targetting X2
• Arms – Resilience Mod, Stasis Dexterity, Firepower
• Chest – Resilience Mod, Unflinching Stasis Aim x2
• Legs – Resilience Mod, Innervation, Absolution
• Mark – Resilience Mod, Reaper, Bomber x2

The Mask of Braxis is an excellent PvP-focused Exotic, as it makes us more evasive. Movement tech is always desirable; if your opponent misses, you can tip the scales in your favor. After shifting, our Arc and Stasis weapons deal increased damage, which pairs nicely with the Unending Tempest SMG. You can be fairly flexible with your guns, but the Unending Tempest is one of the best PvP SMGs and is even better with our Armor choice.

I recommend the Unflinching and Targetting Mods if you’re using a Stasis gun. These Mods help in gunfights, although you should switch the element type to match your weapon. As with the PvE build, 100 Resilience is mandatory, and Discipline will help restore your Coldsnap grenades. 

The Stasis subclass received some long-overdue love in the Season of the Wish. If you’d like to take the Strand Hunter for a spin, Why not check out our guide for a crash course?