The Solar Titan remains a powerful class in Destiny 2, and we’ve put together two of the best Solar 3.0 builds for use in the Lightfall game expansion. Our PvE build focuses on constant regeneration both for health and abilities so you can play the role of a proper tank. Our PvP build focuses on damage resistance, offensive abilities, and ability readiness to deal with unpredictable fights against other players.
These builds do require access to specific weapons, armors, abilities, etc. You may need to unlock some things first or improvise. Masterworked high-stat Legendary armors and the relevant Exotic armors are important so that you can fill mod slots. There’s a little more flexibility when it comes to weapons, but you’ll find out one particular Trace Rifle serves both of these builds exceptionally well.
This guide generally leaves armor stats up to preference, but it’s always recommended to max out the Resilience stat on Titans. You should then focus a decent amount of points to your melee, grenade, or Super stats depending on preference. You also need to remember that stat buffs only apply per complete tier. You preferably want gear that doesn’t leave multiple stat tiers incomplete such as at 67, 99, 75 or anything where a lot of stat points go to waste.
Best Solar Titan build for PvE
The Titan is typically assigned to the role of tank for the fireteam and is meant to soak up damage and focus the attention of enemies. This Destiny 2: Lightfall Solar Titan PvE build is best for dealing with groups of enemies and promoting healing for allies. This build also requires frequent final blows to fully stack your effects, so you want to play the role of mob control.
Stacking all of these abilities will allow you to withstand frequent damage and maintain the focus of enemies so that teammates can perform their respective roles in difficult activities. When played right, you’ll get plenty of energy back and gain multiple buffs with this build. You can then focus bosses when you have excess ability energy and active healing effects, which you’ll have a lot of.
The healing effects will also allow you to buff your allies for improved survival during difficult boss fights and allow you to pull off critical revives to recover your Fireteam’s combat effectiveness. This Solar Titan build performs best in an anchor role for the toughest Destiny 2: Lightfall activities.
Image via Bungie
Abilities
This selection is pretty straightforward. Hammer of Sol is the most effective Super option, and it allows you to easily stack buffs. Towering Barricade will keep you safe when reviving teammates, staying in Sunspots, etc. Throwing Hammer can easily be reused and to keep the Cure effect going which will recharge your health. The Firebolt grenade is normally weak in PvE, but there’s a seasonal Artifact Perk that makes it much better.
Super – Hammer of Sol: Summon a flaming hammer and wreak destruction down upon your enemies. Upon impact, your hammers shatter into explosive molten shards.
Class Ability – Towering Barricade – Create a large barrier that can be use to reinforce a position with cover from enemy fire.
Melee – Throwing Hammer: Throw a hammer from a distance. Picking up a thrown hammer fully recharges your melee ability. If the hammer struck a target, picking it up grants Cure.
Grenade – Firebolt grenade: A grenade that unleashed bolts of blinding Solar light at nearby targets and slightly scorches them.
Aspects
Adapt your playstyle to frequently activate Sol Invictus and create Sunspots which will create healing areas of effect for you and your allies to move between. It is great for counter attacking and retaking a point of control or going on offense. Learn to trap or channel enemies into Sunspots and occupy Sunspots when possible to regain health and charge abilities faster to keep Roaring Flames active to increase your overall effectiveness.
Roaring Flames – Final Blows with Solar abilities or Ignitions increase the damage of your solar abilities.
Sol Invictus – Solar ability final blows, Hammer of Sol Impacts, and defeating scorched targets creates Sunspots. Your abilities regenerate faster, and your Super drains more slowly while standing in a Sunspot. Sunspots apply scorch and deal damage to targets inside. Entering a Sunspot applies restoration.
Fragments
As a reminder, focus on quickly killing minor enemies to keep damage buffs and restoration going. This build also allows you to create plenty of Firesprites for constant restoration via Ember of Mercy.
Ember of Empyrean – Solar weapon or ability Final Blows extend the duration of restoration and Radiant effects applied to you. (-10 Resilience).
Ember of Solace – Radiant and restoration effects applied to you have increased duration.
Ember of Tempering – Solar weapon Final Blows grant you and your allies increased recovery for a short duration. Stacks three times. While Tempered Metal is active, your weapons have increased airborne effectiveness. While Ember of Tempering is active, Solar weapon Final Blows create a Firesprite.
Ember of Mercy – When you revive an ally, you and other nearby allies gain restoration. Picking up a Firesprite grants restoration. (+10 Resilience).
Image via Bungie
Weapons
This build performs best when paired with weapons that inflict Solar damage. You need at least one Solar weapon with plenty of available ammo to take advantage of this build. Use at least two Solar weapons in total and one that inflicts Scorch.
The Prometheus Lens Exotic Trace Rifle is by far the best option because it’s easy to use, delivers a lot of damage, and doesn’t typically need to be reloaded thanks to one of its Exotic weapon perks. It also applies Scorch. If you don’t have Prometheus Lens, use one of the other Scorch-causing weapons in the list below.
- Prometheus Lens – Solar Ignitions also Scorch nearby enemies.
- Skyburner’s Oath – Hip-fired shots apply a larger AoE Scorch effect.
- Jotunn – Charged shots cause explosions with Scorch and Final Blows cause Scorch to enemies near the defeated target.
Armor
There are plenty of armor options that suit different playstyles, but these are our best recommendations to consider in your Solar Titan build and a great starting point for most Destiny 2: Lightfall players due to ease of use.
Heart of Inmost Light – This Exotic Chest allows you to increase offensive or defensive ability effectiveness, making it useful during critical moments of boss fights. Consume an ability to increase the recharge rate and effectiveness of your other abilities. Grenades and melees gain more damage and barriers gain more health.
Hallowfire Heart – This Exotic chest piece offers more consistent access to all abilities to exploit opportunities or fend off deadly situations. Solar abilities regen faster, even faster if Super is charged.
Lorely Splendor Helm – Create a Sunspot with improved Solar restoration when critically wounded or on Barricade cast.
Phoenix Cradle – This Exotic leg armor doubles the active time of the Sol Invictus Aspect. You will gain more opportunities to create Sunspots and exploit the effects of standing in them. Allies who pass through your Sunspot are also granted Sol Invictus and Solar restoration.
Armor Mods
This guide covers the critical mods to this Solar Titan build. The rest are up to your specific playstyle. You will see the selected mods all cater to abilities and rely on the flow of completing kills and using your different abilities evenly.
The result is a powerful system of perks you can spam as long as you do it in a reciprocal pattern to keep all of your abilities recharging at accelerated rates. Stay on top of active timers and it will be easy to maintain all of your buffs for long durations.
Helmet – Hands-On, Solar Siphon, Ashes to Assets
Arms – Impact Induction, Momentum Transfer, Heavy Handed
Chest – Charged Up
Legs – Stacks on Stacks, Innervation
Class Item (Titan Mark) – Distribution, Reaper
Artifact Perks
Artifacts work differently now as passive perks which are always active on your Guardian as opposed to how these were equipable Armor Mods in previous Seasons.
The two Artifact Perks of interest enhance Firebolt grenades. These Artifact Perks are huge, because one essentially grants the same perk as Armamentarium while the other buffs Scorch for Firebolt grenades. Damage also spawns Firesprites.
Flare Up – Firebolt grenades apply more Scorch stacks. Damaging a combatant with a Firebolt grenade spawns a Firesprite near them.
Rain of Firebolts – When you have Firebolt grenades equipped, gain a second grenade charge.
Image via Bungie
Best Solar Titan build for PvP
This PvP build focuses more on offensive potential and personal preservation since there are far fewer enemies to kill. This build also caters to recharging abilities so you can deploy all of your abilities frequently.
You’ll also be able to take advantage of frequent damage buffs via Radiance along with the same restoration effects, although to a lesser extent versus what’s possible in PvE.
You can be aggressive against enemy teams with this build, but choose your battles carefully. Only rush in when you have active buffs to press the advantage.
Abilities
This selection for PvP abilities is relatively the same. Hammer of Sol is the most effective Super option and allows you to easily stack buffs. Towering Barricade allows you a way to keep eyes on enemies while remaining safe, block enemy damage from passing through at chokepoints, etc. Throwing Hammer can easily be reused and to keep the Cure effect going which will recharge your health.
The Firebolt grenade is better in PvP, because it recharges quickly and you can stack multiple charges with the Seasonal Artifact Perk. This will allow you to gain more buffs from finishing enemies with Firebolt grenades.
Super – Hammer of Sol: Summon a flaming hammer and wreak destruction down upon your enemies. Upon impact, your hammers shatter into explosive molten shards.
Class Ability – Towering Barricade – Create a large barrier that can be use to reinforce a position with cover from enemy fire.
Grenade – Firebolt grenade: A grenade that unleashed bolts of blinding Solar light at nearby targets and slightly scorches them.
Melee – Throwing Hammer: Throw a hammer from a distance. Picking up a thrown hammer fully recharges your melee ability. If the hammer struck a target, picking it up grants cure.
Aspects
Keep the same Aspects here as well. Several things everyone can appreciate in PvP are increased damage, regeneration, and longer Supers.
Roaring Flames – Final Blows with Solar abilities or ignitions increase the damage of your Solar abilities.
Sol Invictus – Solar ability Final Blows, Hammer of Sol Impacts, and defeating Scorched targets creates Sunspots. Your abilities regenerate faster, and your Super drains more slowly while standing in a Sunspot. Sunspots apply Scorch and deal damage to targets inside. Entering a Sunspot applies restoration.
Image via Bungie
Fragments
These Fragments focus on offense and maintaining the Radiant status effect. There’s also the added plus that you can apply Radiance to allies and get a short ability regeneration buff for doing so.
Ember of Empyrean – Solar weapon or ability final blows extend the duration of restoration and radiant effects applied to you. (-10 Resilience).
Ember of Solace – Radiant and restoration effects applied to you have increased duration.
Ember of Benevolence – Applying restoration, Cure, or Radiant to allies grants increased grenade, melee, and class ability regeneration for a short duration.
Ember of Torches – Powered melee attacks against combatants make you and nearby allies Radiant.
Weapons
You’ll undoubtedly have your favorite PvP weapons, but you should still stick to weapons with Solar damage if possible. At the very least, use one of the Exotic weapons such as Prometheus Lens or Skyburner’s Oath so you can apply Scorch damage in addition to getting Solar weapon kills. Heavy weapons with Solar damage are also highly recommended.
- Prometheus Lens – Solar Ignitions also Scorch nearby enemies.
- Skyburner’s Oath – Hip-fired shots apply a larger AoE Scorch effect.
Armor
These are our best recommendations to consider in your Solar Titan build and relevant for most Destiny 2: Lightfall players due to the ease of use and situational practicality.
Heart of Inmost Light – Consume an ability to increase the recharge rate and effectiveness of your other abilities. Grenades and melees gain more damage and barriers gain more health.
Hallowfire Heart – Solar abilities regen faster, even faster if Super is charged. This will simply give you more consistent access to abilities to exploit opportunities or fend off deadly situations. This will help you at all times during the match.
Path of Burning Steps – These Exotic boots are great to boost damage and counter those immobilizing Stasis attacks which leave you defenseless. Solar final blows improve weapon damage. You are harder to slow or freeze with Stasis.
Armor Mods
Some Armor Mods were reworked for Destiny 2: Lightfall, but there are still similarities to previous seasons. The critical mods to this build are listed below but the rest is up to you.
Helmet – Hands-On, Solar Siphon, Ashes to Assets
Arms – Impact Induction, Momentum Transfer, Heavy Handed
Chest – Charged Up
Legs – Stacks on Stacks, Innervation
Class Item (Titan Mark) – Distribution, Reaper
Image by PC Invasion
Artifact Perks
Artifacts work differently now as passive perks which are always active on you Guardian as opposed to how these were equipable Armor Mods in previous Seasons. The two Artifact Perks of interest for this build enhance Firebolt grenades.
These two Artifact Perks make Firebolt grenades far more viable in PvP and you’ll be able to fill up to two charges fairly easy with all of the ability regeneration buffs. The increase Scorch damage should also help you pull off a fair number of Ignitions on enemy players.
Flare Up – Firebolt grenades apply more Scorch stacks. Damaging a combatant with a Firebolt grenade spawns a Firesprite near them.
Rain of Firebolts – When you have Firebolt grenades equipped, gain a second grenade charge.
Try out these two Solar Titan builds in your next Destiny 2: Lightfall session and you’ll see why these are some of the best. We also have a long list of other guides in our Guide Hub to assist you with Lightfall missions, explanations, and where to find various in-game items and content.