Best Destiny 2 Warlock Prismatic builds: Aspects, Fragments, and abilities

Prismatic is the new hotness in The Final Shape, but the question is, what is the best Prismatic Warlock build? Here’s our take on the best Destiny 2 Warlock Prismatic builds which includes Aspects, Fragments, abilities, and more.

Best PvE Prismatic Warlock build in Destiny 2

If you’re like me, you want to rock the new kit as you play through The Final Shape campaign. With this in mind, everything in this build is available right off the rip. Starting class options are a little limited, but there’s an obvious spicy combo we can use between Stasis and Void.

I’m confident you can crush Legend difficulty with this if you wish. We lean into the new Transcendence mechanic for this build, so let me quickly explain how that works, and then we’ll move into the build choices.

What is Transcendence in Destiny 2: The Final Shape?

Transcendence is like a time-limited powered-up mode, which you can only activate when you have both a light and dark subclass equipped. Two smaller bars beneath your Super bar fill up as you defeat enemies and grab Elemental Pickups. Once those are full, you can become Transcendent. It’s also worth mentioning that Kinetic damage fills both bars, albeit at a heavily reduced rate.

Several Prismatic Fragments are solely aimed at granting Transcendence energy, so we’ll play with those a little later.

Best PvE Prismatic Warlock Aspects and Fragments

In my opinion, here is one of the best Prismatic Warlock builds you can make:

Aspects

• Feed the Void – Defeat an enemy with a Void ability to trigger Devour. Your Devour effects are improved, restoring additional health and Grenade energy.
• Bleak Watcher – Press and hold the Grenade Button to convert your Grenade into a Stasis Turret. The Turret fires slowing projectiles at nearby enemies.

Fragments

• Facet of Ruin – This increases the size and damage of the burst when you shatter a Stasis Crystal or Frozen Target. Increases the size of Solar Ignitions.
• Facet of Dawn – Powered melee hits against targets make you Radiant. Powered final blows make both you and nearby allies Radiant.
• Facet of Hope – While you have an elemental buff, your class ability regenerates more quickly.
• Facet of Protection – You’re more resistant to incoming damage while surrounded by enemies.
• Facet of Purpose – Picking up an Orb of Power grants either Amplify, Restoration, Frost Armor, Woven Mail, or Void Overshield based on the type of your Super.

Feed the Void is a superb Aspect, offering easy access to Devour. We can play into this with our Super, and it works with our second Aspect.

Bleak Watcher converts our Grenades into Stasis Turrets, which are incredible for slowing mobs of enemies. I may rate this a little too highly, but I’ve been running a Briarbands build with my Warlock and have become quite fond of the Turret playstyle.

With these two Aspects combined, we have superb crowd control and an easy way to maximize Devour uptime.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Fragments I’ve picked are all the starting ones for the Warlock. You can use this entire build from the get-go, but if you want to mix things up later, I recommend swapping Facet of Purpose with Facet of Courage. This change makes our Light Abilities deal increased damage to opponents afflicted with a Darkness Debuff. In other words, anything we hit with our Turrets will take more damage.  

We’ve ranked every Prismatic Fragment in-depth, and many of the Fragments in this build are among the strongest in the game.

Best PvE Prismatic Warlock Abilities

• Super – Nova Bomb: Cataclysm
• Class Ability – Healing Rift
• Movement – Strafe Glide
• Melee Abilities – Penumbral Blast
• Grenade Ability – Coldsnap Grenade

Most of your abilities can be swapped for preference, but all of these are available to tackle the Final Shape Campaign. I like Vortex Grenades, but we’re using Coldsnaps specifically to lean into our Turret build as they pair with our Osiomancy Gloves, which I’ll talk about later.

Nova Bomb is a decent super for bosses, and Healing Rift is a great panic button. I like Strafe Glide for movement, but you can use anything. Penumbral Blast is my melee ability of choice, as it offers superb crowd control, which may come up in the campaign.

Best PvE Prismatic Warlock Exotic Armor, weapons, and Mods

Exotic Armor

• Osiomancy Gloves – Your Coldsnap Grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seekers spawned from Coldsnap Grenades travel further.

Weapons

• Graviton Lance Exotic Pulse Rifle
• Appetence Trace Rifle
• Edge Transit Grenade Launcher

Armor Mods

• Helmet – Heavy Ammo Finder x2
• Gauntlets – Firepower x3
• Chest – Arc Resistance, Void Resistance, Solar Resistance
• Boots – Innervation x2
• Class Item – Reaper, Bomber x2

Pulse Rifles have been buffed for The Final Shape, so the Graviton Lance should be a real crowd-pleaser. The Graviton Lance has received some specific nerfs to its splash damage, but I’m convinced it’s still a monster Exotic weapon.

You can use any Energy weapon, but Stasis is recommended, and I’m rocking the Appetence. I often feel like the only player who uses Trace Rifles, but it’s a Stasis laser beam. What’s not to like?

Finally, I recommend the Edge Transit for your Heavy Weapon. If you’ve been grinding Onslaught and have one with Envious Assassin and Bait and Switch, you have one of the most potent boss killers in the game, and it doesn’t even cost an Exotic slot.

This build has everything. All the crowd control you could ever want with your Turrets, a panic button with Healing Well, and a devastating arsenal of weapons.

Best PvP Prismatic Warlock build in Destiny 2

At the time of writing, it’s hard to say what Prismatic combinations will excel in the Crucible. That said, we can hazard a guess at a loadout of Prismatic Fragments that may shine in PvP.

Remember, Fragments often function differently between PvP and PvE, with many staples in one mode being almost useless in the other.

Facet of Dawn

Powered Melees are savage in Crucible, and unless Bungie completely reworks how this Fragment works, you’ll become Radiant when you defeat a player. Radiance gives valuable sustain in team fights and is well worth the Fragment slot.

Facet of Grace

Facet of Grace grants bonus Transcendent energy on Kinetic weapon kills. You’ll only get value from this Fragment if you’re using a Kinetic gun, but there are many great options, including the iconic Ace of Spades and the Malfeasance.

Facet of Hope

This Fragment is situational, as it depends on how long you can keep your elemental buffs activated. Facet of Hope speeds up our Class Ability regeneration as long as we have an active elemental buff. I reckon this is a good fit for Crucible as it doesn’t depend on kills or a particular game state to work.

Bungie has teased several Final Shape Exotics on their official social media channels. These aren’t required for the build in this guide, but if they don’t get you excited, I’m not sure what will!