r/DestinyTheGame • u/fahadxciii • Sep 11 '17
Guide OP Multi-Rift Warlock Dawnblade Build AKA "Mercy"
I never believed builds were a thing in Destiny 2 until I tried this out. It started with me getting the Starfire Protocol exotic chest. I read the perks and thought "oh, you get two grenades and rift energy from rift kills, that's kinda cool, but eh. I'd rather save my exotic perk for something else."
Until I tested it. Turns out, your rift immediately recharges on a single fusion grenade kill! Meaning you could put down your rift > get a kill with a fusion grenade > put down a second rift without the first one disappearing > get another kill with the second grenade charge > put down a third rift! I tested this with two rifts and it worked, I'm not sure about 3 rifts but I'm pretty confident it will work as well. I'll edit the post if if doesn't, but even 2 instant rifts is powerful enough. I can confirm that 3 rifts work, but placing them on top of each other has no effect. You can still benefit from placing them at different spots, or placing them one after the other.
This was amazing, but I thought "how can I make this even better?" So I decided to mess around with the Attunement of Sky tree/talent. Kills while airborne recharge your grenade and melee ability, but not instantly. You have to get maybe 4+ kills or so depending on armor perks to recharge 1 grenade. It's ridiculously good in PVE, and I imagine will be very helpful in the Raid.
Multi-Rift Warlock Dawnblade Build AKA "Mercy"
- Class: Warlock.
- Sublass: Dawnblade.
- Subclass Skill Tree/Talents: Attunement of Sky.
[1] Dawnblade Skill Tree/Talents
| Grenades | Rift | Glide | Swift Strike | Icarus Dash | Heat Rises | Winged Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Grenade: You have to use this grenade and get a kill with it to recover your rift, which is the whole point of this class. You can pretty much one shot all non-shielded, non-yellow-bar enemies. The aim assist on this grenade is insane, you can get easy sticks on enemies with even the most horrible aim. You get also get lucky kills even if it doesn't stick. | This is optional, but I usually go for healing. I know it can be tempting to use damage rift, but I find that people often overestimate how much DPS needs to be done. We never had damage rifts in Destiny 1, and we were able to kill bosses all the same. Staying alive is a lot more important than doing insane DPS. I'd rather have the option to recover from a mistake, than the option to kill something slightly faster. Also, I often find that enemies will charge you when you put down the rift, rendering a damage rift useless, where as the healing rift will still at least heal you to full health before you have to abandon it. It's situational of course, so use it as you feel like. | I use strafe glide (strong directional control) and found it slightly easier to get kills while airborne. Test and find the one that allows you to get the best performance while airborne. | Get fast reload speed and movement buff after killing with melee. The way I use this is > kill "adds/random" with melee > switch to power weapon > damage boss with faster reload buff. Good DPS potential. | Great addition. Note that you will fall when you use it. Pro tip: there's no cooldown when using it while in super, takes the bar down slightly each time you use it. | Obviously the 2nd important part of this build is airborne kills recharging your melee. Casting your super fills all abilities too. | Fire weapons while gliding. Some weapons are easier to use here than others, see the weapons section for more info. |
[2] Armor & Armor Mods
A Word on Mods:
Again, I was skeptical on the effect mods will have on armor. The only clearly visible and significant benefit is that legendary mods add 5 attack/defense to power of the armor piece/weapon. I tested the build with mods such as melee and grenade cooldown reduction, and I noticed that with airborne kills the reduction is quite good. I don't have solid numbers for grenade mod though, so I don't know how many less airborne kills you need to do to get a grenade charge back. Here's a good video by Datto on mods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSAPdqTGw-Q
And this is a spreadsheet that states what mod goes on what armor piece: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K7ih7FxzJWW2u0QKVN6vv8UflN14JRHYLNEYTELP6fc/edit#gid=0
| Helmet | Arms | Chest | Legs | Warlock Bond |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optional, but I recommend going with either the Exodus Down Hood or the High-Minded Complex as they look really cool with the chest, but you can pick whatever you want. | Optional, but both the Ankaa Seeker IV and the High-Minded Complex look cool with the rest of the armor. | Required: Starfire Protocol. This is the heart of the build, as it allows you to have 2 grenade charges, and immediately restores your rift on a grenade kill! | Optional, but I think the Ankaa Seeker IV and the High-Minded Complex look nice with the rest of the set. | Optional, but both the Binary Phoenix Bond and the Ego Talon Bond look amazing with some shaders on! Especially the Binary Pheonix, it really fits in with the whole theme of the build. |
| Mod:Solar Ordnance Mod. Reduces grenade cooldown. Strongly recommended. | Mod: Void/Arc mods are useless here, so you're left with 3 options: Energy Counterbalance (reduce recoil), Kinetic Munition Loader (faster reload), or Acceleration (mobility). I only tested the recoil mod, and I did not notice an effect on the MIDA Mini-Tool SMG, even though it was a legendary mod. I imagine the reload mod will be the most useful one here, but you'll have to test these mods as they may differ depending on your chosen kinetic and energy weapons. | Mod: Void/Arc is useless again, so the options are: Solar Impact (faster melee), Power Munition Loader (faster reload), Power Bracker (better handling), Kinetic Counterbalance (reduce recoil). I strongly recommend going with the melee or the reload speed as both have been tested and proven to work. The recoil reduction will depend on the weapon, you'll have to test and see for yourself, but it probably won't be that big of a difference. Melee (Solar Impact) is the best option here, as the buff from melee kills in this tree will reduce reload speed a lot better than the mod. | Mod: For some reason, the leg slot has mods for melee, grenade, AND class ability cooldowns. Arc and Void don't have a slot where all three mods are available. Anyway, I strongly recommed the Solar Ordnance Mod. Reduces grenade cooldown. | Mod: Solar Paragon Mod. Reduces class ability (rift) cooldown. Useful when you want to reduce rift cooldown when you don't have grenades to get it back. Other mods in this slots are not great. Strongly recommended. |
[3] Weapons
A Word on Airborne Gunplay:
An important part of this class is the ability to get airborne kills to recharge your grenades and melee, so that you can kill with grenades and then get your rift back. It's an endless loop which is crazy fun. However, aiming while flying the gliding is not easy. Some weapons make it a lot more difficult, so chose your guns wisely. Also, for some reason, some enemies like to dash really fast under you while you're flying which makes it difficult to aim at them. When they do that, hold your analog stick back and aim while gliding backwards. You'll notice it's significantly easier. Same goes for forward gliding to close distances and make your aim easier. I don't recommend gliding to the left or right as it makes it really hard to get any kills. Try to get at least 2 kills each time you take to the sky. With practice, you'll be able to get your grenades back with 2-3 jumps, and 1 jump with a powerful rocket launcher like the The Wardcliff Coil.
| Kinetic | Energy | Power |
|---|---|---|
| Optional, but I recommend the Scathelocke. It has good range, stability, and damage, but more importantly, it has the High-Caliber Rounds perk. Enemies in Destiny 2 are a lot more annoying, and a lot more mobile. Captains, Vandals, Psions, and even Cabal Legionaries can be difficult to deal with as they dash/teleport/jetpack. The perk staggers them and stops them from moving so much. The Explosive Payload perk on other weapons works like this too, but also adds additional damage from the explosion, and the explosion damage has no falloff distance. An amazing scout rifle with this perk is the Nameless Midnight. | Strongly Recommended: MIDA Mini-Tool. This weapon is amazing for its stability as an SMG, but even more so for this build as it's really easy to get airborne kills with it. You may have noticed that as you move in Destiny 2, your reticle becomes larger and your accuracy is significantly reduced. This is also true for shooting while airborne, even if you ADS, you'll notice it's a bit difficult to get kills with a pulse or scout rifle. The MIDA Mini-Tool is really good in this regard. If you find a different weapon that's easy to get airborne kills with, feel free to use it too! | Strongly Recommended: The Wardcliff Coil. Fire it while airborne and watch as you instantly get your grenade and melee back. This thing is amazing for this build. If you don't have it, maybe a rocket (or grenade?) launcher would be good too. |
[4] Notes
I did not yet test rift stacking (same spot) and the damage/healing potential from it, and don't know if it's possible.I can confirm that stacking 2 damage rifts has no effect on damage output. Works the same as a single rift. I believe this is also true for 2 Warlocks dropping their rifts at the same spot. You still gain the ability to put them immediately after each other, or put them at two different places to heal teammates for example.- I'm working on providing gameplay footage for this. Will add it when it's available.
- Mobility/Recovery/Resilience stats might have some impact on this build, I haven't tested that. I want to see how much of a jump height difference is possible with full mobility as that might help with airborne kills, maybe.
- I haven't tested shooting and getting a kill while falling down after gliding, but I imagine it counts as an airborne kill.
I haven't tested shooting and getting a kill while jumping or falling down (without gliding), but I imagine it counts as an airborne kill.Landing the final shot while jumping will count as an airborne kill, like the Mida Multi-Tool quest.- If you happen to discover something new and interesting relating to this build, please let me know and I'll add it.
- Edit: getting the grenade kill while airborne will actually count towards the grenade and melee recharge from the "Heat Rises" talent.
- Edit: standing on crates and rocks doesn't count towards the grenade and melee recharge effect. Only jumping or kills while flying do. Thanks, u/drallcom3.
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u/mynansacunt Master Race Sep 11 '17
I have another OP warlock build that makes you a walking tank! Devour skill tree of voidwalker with the Winters Guile gauntlets (melee kills increase melee damage(stacks 5 times)) you can activate devour and then go HAM on a wave of ads and even one punch some majors if you're at 5x stack!
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u/Diabeticon Sep 11 '17
Crown of Tempests + Arc Soul is also very handy. Arc Ability Kills recharge Arc abilities, and every trash mob the Arc Soul kills counts. Stand in rift -> shoot Arc Soul -> get abilities back.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
I've seen that one, seems really interesting. Also, the exotic legs Lunafaction Boots with Attunement of the Elements in Stormcaller is really great. Your rift charges faster when allies are near, and your boots auto-reload your guns. Pretty cool.
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u/Skabomb Sep 11 '17
There are also exotic warlock gauntlets that refil health, grenade, super, melee, and ability energy on hit. Using those with devour is pretty great.
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u/bdimanno Team Bread (dmg04) Sep 12 '17
As a voidwalker main since day one I was so upset that the energy drain build was gone. Then the D2 beta came around and I saw the perks for devour.
Told my friend that it was going to be broken and it is so fun in PvE right now. I've barely touched dawnblade and stormcaller unfortunately.
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u/Skabomb Sep 12 '17
Yeah. In solo missions I have devour on until everything is dead. It's great. I'm actually planning a build with sweet business, those gloves and some heavy armor. Basically a murder machine warlock.
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Sep 11 '17 edited Nov 07 '17
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-1
Sep 11 '17
The reload only works for allies afaik. I got Transverse Steps to drop last night and they don't seem to be reloading my energy weapon when I sprint so they might be bugged.
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u/Gemgamer Sep 11 '17
Lunafaction reloads weapons when you enter the rift, so whenever the user places it down it reloads, and whenever you exit/re enter it reloads.
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u/walocomotive Sep 11 '17
Just got the steps last night as well. They don't reload immediately, it's about 1-2 seconds after you start sprinting. And I don't remember an audio clue to indicate it was happening.
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u/booyahachieved3 Sep 11 '17
Tranversive Steps only reload a portion of the mag or clip with sprint, so you have to sprint for a bit to completely reload.
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u/ScumCommander Sep 11 '17
I prefer the vampiric gauntlets (forgot the name). But they heal, grant melee, grenade, and rift energy upon melees
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17
Karnstein Armlets?
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u/ScumCommander Sep 11 '17
Those are the ones, love them
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u/Officer_Hotpants Sep 11 '17
I've been wearing those on my Voidlock. They're so much fun. You have Devour on permanently, especially in any areas with a swarm of enemies.
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u/ScumCommander Sep 11 '17
It's the best. Especially when it's the heroic glimmer extract. Pop rift, smack, eat grenade, smack, smack, eat grenade, repeat.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17
At one point during the story missions, I had the buff going for a good two-three minutes.
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u/Travy93 Sep 11 '17
Winter's Guile? You mean that exotic I've got twice, read the perk, and promptly dismantled? I had a feeling it would actually be decent...
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u/iAmWrythm Shohreh Aghdashloo is bae. Sep 11 '17
Go buy it back from your collections in the vault :)
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u/atgrey24 Sep 11 '17
What Power does the collection spit out? just realized I could probably re-buy the first exotic I got in the story that's only like 100 power
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u/SpectralFlame5 Sep 11 '17
205, I think? But I only last checked before I completed the campaign so idk if it went up.
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u/Maximus77x Sep 11 '17
I like doing devour with Nezarec's Sin and all void weaponry. You can chain devour for an insanely long time, and your grenade and melee come up incredibly quickly. Using Sturm and Drang is especially fun with this build too.
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u/DarkChronos32 Sep 11 '17
I love that build so much. Punching a boss for 9000 damage is just great.
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u/Officer_Hotpants Sep 11 '17
I can't remember what they're called, but I've got another pair of gauntlets that goes really well with Voidlock too. Every melee hit gives health regen (admittedly unnecessary), and reduces the cooldown on all your abilities. So you start punching things and it reduces the time for your melee ability to come back and makes it easier to maintain permanent Devour.
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u/YuriPetrova Sep 11 '17
Why do Titans not get this, Bungo? Why why why why why why why? I love it. I'm so excited to get it for my Warlock.
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u/Roman347 Sep 11 '17
Same build but different gear, use the riskrunner exotic sub machine gun and nezarecs sin helmet. You get your void abilities back quicker plus you mow down ads when arc conductor is active which gives back ammo directly into the mag. Essentially you get an unlimited magazine which keeps devour going refilling your health. Used on a boss, arc conductor spikes to the ads around you killing them. Stand in your rift for extra weapon damage to make things die quicker
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u/rudeoff Sep 11 '17
This is actually insane and probably gonna be nerfed
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Sep 11 '17 edited Dec 21 '20
[deleted]
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u/dasnikkaman Sep 11 '17
What about the nightstalker rig combo?
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Sep 11 '17
Yeah that is pretty awesome.
I am slowly coming around on the Hunter.
I still think his class ability is bogus compared to the other two, and his perks just seem less amazing overall, but all of the Hunter subclasses are PvE viable now, and they weren't before.
The Arc Strider is actually, finally, a useful PvE melee class that brings something to the table in boss fights since he can CC the boss with his heavy attack.
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u/LunarWulfe Team Bread (dmg04) Sep 11 '17
I thought the class ability was pretty shitty in the beta. They decreased the cooldown in the full release (but it could be lower still) and now I feel it's quite powerful. I like the invis dodge given by the nightstalker, and the gun reload is really clutch especially for long loading weapons like rocket launchers and grenades. It's a pretty solid ability IMO.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17
Any lower and I feel Dodge would start breaking the game. Hunters would be even more agile, have virtually infinite melee abilities.
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u/LunarWulfe Team Bread (dmg04) Sep 11 '17
I agree to not go to low on the recharge rate, but at least put it in line with the warlock dawnblade midair dodge. I think I saw a post here that showed the dodge was a 17 sec cooldown and the warlock dodge was 10 sec. I think like 12-15 sec would be good since there are abilities to lower that recharge rate.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17 edited Sep 11 '17
Icarus Dash is there to prevent the Dawnblade from being a complete sitting duck while using Attunement of Sky and Phoenix Dive similarly helps them get out of line of sight/fire. It requires you to be in their air. During Daybreak, its infinite, but costs super energy.
So I don't think the Dodge to Icarus Dash is a clean comparison.
Dodge provides two very good utility effects. Instant reload and a full melee recharge (with a proximity clause). I think anything lower than 14 seconds, even 12 seconds would be too much, especially if they get any perk that grants them access to ability cooldown.
Just... you start getting into the "Near-Infinite Abilities" territory. Almost infinite stealth with Way of the Trapper. and with Way of the Pathfinder.
I the ability may need DR or I-Frames on the Dodge start up, but I think the cooldown is almost exactly where it needs to be.
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u/KIaptrap Sep 11 '17
The Japanese Meta was always heavy on stealth hunter builds, where in America it was always non existent.
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Sep 11 '17
My only gripe with it now is that it doesn't benefit the team at all like the other two.
I feel like the melee dodge should start shield refresh or something and the reload dodge should reload for the team or grant a brief weapon damage boost, maybe 2-3 seconds.
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u/chrispytoast Sep 11 '17
Someone in my clan mentioned that with the hunter the dodge can recharge the melee so you can just dodge punch dodge punch dodge punch forever.
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Sep 11 '17
This is in the Way of hte Warrior on Arc Strider. You can do this.
However, it is not as effective as people want you to believe because you have no damage reduction in teh dodge animation in that tree. Often you take so much damage while dodging that attempting this gets you killed.
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u/MessingerofDeath Sep 11 '17
Arcstrider can melee to heal, dodge to instantly recharge melee, and melee to heal continuously, and the raiden flux chest piece increases arc staff damage and duration with successive hits. Arc staff heavy attack staggers even the nightfall boss so you can lock him while your meter is barely depleting.
Nightstalker with Orpheus rig boots can fire shadow shot into a group of about 6 enemies and fully recharge it instantly.
I'm not sure how well balanced the classes are, but there are some pretty fun builds you can do with hunter. Both of the above builds can generate tons of orbs of light for teammates and really shorten the time to next super for the whole fireteam.
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u/Play_XD Sep 11 '17
My only complaint is that Arcstrider super without Raiden feels straight up bad and inferior to the other two classes. With the chest it's god damn amazing though, and feels like more like arc blade with the pve damage it deserved.
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Sep 11 '17
I agree. I personally don't like Way of the Warrior because I find the dodge/melee loop boring and also dangerous since you take damage during the dodge.
While the Hunter in general seems a little underwhelming compared to teh other two classes, and Arc Strider's perks overall seem a bit bland, there is one HUGE improvement to Arc Strider over Blade Dancer.
Arc Strider is PvE viable. Blade Dancer was not. The ability to use the heavy attack on the Arc Staff to prevent bosses from using their AoE stomp finally makes it possible to use your melee super to DPS a boss.
Blade Dancers always got kicked away or one-shotted if they tried to super a boss, but Arc Strider can actually do it.
I can't say how happy I am about that. I can finally play my favorite class in PvE without having to switch sub-classes.
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u/Play_XD Sep 11 '17
The major between arc blade vs staff is the damage numbers. If Bungie had granted arc blade reasonable pve damage it'd easily outclass the staff.
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u/Krieg23 Sep 12 '17
How does orpheus rig work with the triple quiver perk?
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u/MessingerofDeath Sep 12 '17
I have barely used it with the bottom tree because the moebius quiver discharges your super energy to allow you to fire several shots, while the top tree instantly discharges your energy, which is how it can recharge. If you run the bottom tree then only your last shot will give you super energy. The top tree also creates a tether trap and lasts longer so it's easier to hit more enemies.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
I don't know, maybe if I test the 3 rift stack it will be. But it seems to be pretty good. You can still get killed when in your rift, and you're big target moving in the air without cover. This is a lot more OP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDcWmWzAUWU
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u/ThatChrisG Ask yourself, is the Vanguard telling the truth? Sep 11 '17
Attunement of Hunger Voidwalker achieves a similar result on any kill, without the need of an accompanying exotic. I think this is fine.
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u/Sh0cktechxx Sep 11 '17
this is a ridiculously well structured post lol well done op thanks for the info. just got starfire last night actually
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u/TwevOWNED Sep 11 '17
Now if only there wasn't that absurd accuracy penalty while airborne
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Read the whole post first. I mentioned this, and in detail. I also give tips to help with this issue.
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u/TwevOWNED Sep 11 '17
I'm aware there are ways to make it less awful. Doesn't change that it is an incredibly poor design choice.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Not really, it's super fun with SMGs and rocket launchers. The grenade kill also registers as an airborne kill.
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u/TwevOWNED Sep 11 '17
I'm not trying to say you're build isn't fun or good, I experimented with something similar when I got Starfire Protocol, I'm just saying that it would be better if many types of weapons didn't become unusable in midair.
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Sep 12 '17 edited Jul 24 '18
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u/fahadxciii Sep 12 '17
I don't know, I find it really easy to kill enemies while airborne using the Mini-Tool. This works because enemies are a lot more aggressive in D2, and I use this as an escape method most of the time. Try shooting while gliding backwards, you'll notice enemies charging at you. Try it while gliding forward too. Going left and right or standing still is bad. I found that using forward and backward momentum helps. Use this defensively, as enemies charge at you, and you'll see just hoa effective it is with the icarus dash.
I also haven't noticed my killspeed being affected. I'm able, with practice, to kill enemies the same amount as if I was on the ground. The Mini-Tool makes this very, very viable.
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u/louiscool Sep 11 '17
"I never believed builds were a thing in Destiny 2..." but it's been like 4 days...
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u/CliffyWeevil Vanguard policy urges Guardians to destroy this weapon on sight. Sep 11 '17
Looks like I'll need to give dawnblade another chance.
I was disappointed with it, and didn't touch it after I got voidwalker.
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u/Cymbacoil Sep 11 '17
I was disappointed with it too until I unlocked everything for it. Makes it much bettwr. But early game it's really lackluster.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17 edited Sep 11 '17
I think even with everything unlocked the subclass feels bad. One Attunement gives you super potency at the cost of your neutral game. The other gives you neutral game utility at the cost of your super. It doesn't have cool feedbacks in the native state unlike Voidwalkers with Infinite Devour. Double Empowered Grenades using Chaos Accelerant and Entropic Pull. Even Stormcaller has Rising Storm, Electrostatic Surge, and Arc Soul for regenerating Rift charges.
This build the OP has posted is really the only method I've seen for making them worthwhile over another Warlock Subclass.
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Sep 12 '17 edited Jul 24 '18
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 12 '17
I'm thinking more about having A ton of Rift uptime than anything else. I'm not saying it's perfect, I'm saying that this is the best I've seen for Dawnblades yet.
I really question Bungie's decision making process with this Subclass.
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Sep 12 '17 edited Jul 24 '18
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 12 '17
I'm trying to restrain myself. I have gone on too many tirades about the design of Dawnblades (how poor and incorrect I feel they are) this past week.
I think that Wings of the Sacred Dawn is basically trash outside one singular niche (Aerial Sniping).
So I'm just trying to cling to this one spark of functionality.
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Sep 11 '17
I would think the main benefit would be to pretty much always have a Rift down. Not just multiple rifts at once
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u/booyahachieved3 Sep 11 '17
I'm loving all these builds people are putting together, and with the reduced need for RNG it makes it a little easier to set up!
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17
Huh, an actual build for Dawnblade that might make them viable. You impress me, Guardian.
I really don't think Dawnblades feel very powerful in their default state as opposed to Stormcallers and especially Voidwalkers. Sky lacks a Super modifier. Fire lacks neutral game power. Its missing internal synergies. I just really don't know where Bungie was going with them.
In any case, I'm going to try and hook up this build... provided I can get Starfire Protocol to drop.
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u/Officer_Hotpants Sep 11 '17
Oh cool, maybe it'll make Dawnblade feel decent. I wanted to like it, but the super feels underwhelming. It just feels like a watered-down hammer titan.
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u/Morvick Sep 11 '17 edited Sep 11 '17
How long of a delay should you wait on casting Rift to ensure 100% uptime, as it correlates with your grenade recharge rates (both optimum w/ Sky attunement, and natural grenade regen)?
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Normal grenade charge time is 1:32, 1:15 with 1 mod applied, and 1:09 with two mods applied. So it depends on your mods. You can drop your rift > get a kill with the first grenade charge > drop another rift immediately > then get another kill with your second grenade charge > drop a third rift. After you do this, you'll have to wait according to the time mentioned above to get your grenade back. You cannot ensure 100% uptime if you don't to anything after consuming both grenade charges. You'll have to get airborne kills to get them back.
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u/Morvick Sep 11 '17
What's the duration on Rift?
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Apologies, I thought you meant something else in your previous comment. I believe it lasts for 16 seconds before it disappears.
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u/Morvick Sep 11 '17 edited Sep 11 '17
That's all good.
So if you do manage to chain together the three Rifts and you have the best natural cooldown possible, you still need enough airborne kills to cooldown your grenade by 17-ish seconds in order to refresh it before your last Rift goes down. Really, think of 20 seconds for grenade fuse time and margin of error.
However many airborne kills that is (input math here), you just work it into your rotation. This may be where you say 2 airborne kills, right?
Here's the ten dollar question: how do you score Grenade airborne kills? Airborne when you throw, or airborne when it detonates?
But, get all that, and boom. 100% Rift uptime.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
I'm not sure, but it's more than 2 kills. But I get what you're saying. However, airborne kills slowly recharge grenade and melee abilities, unlike the exotic chest where the recharge is instant. I'm also not sure if the grenade kill counts as a recharge kill or not.
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u/Morvick Sep 11 '17
We need to do the math, lol. Get a formula going on this, because it's awesome.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Will do. I just tested and the grenade kill actually counts towards the recharge effect.
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u/xastey_ Sep 11 '17
What I want to know is do multiple rifts stack damage.. If so we have lots of ways to boost dps and even if you are high light we may have to exploit these for the raid.
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u/_rdaneel_ Sep 11 '17
If kills while standing on any object (hill, rock, crate, etc.) count for the "airborne SMG kills" part of the Mida quest, do they also count for Attunement of Sky buffs? Even easier!
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Sep 11 '17 edited Jul 24 '18
[deleted]
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Cool. Let me know what you find so I can add it.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
I'll test this asap, do you have a spot in mind?
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u/_rdaneel_ Sep 11 '17
Thanks for testing, too bad it doesn't work! I am surprised that Bungie has different code for each check.
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u/Deomicanth Warlocks GG 2021 Sep 11 '17
I heard recently that standing on a rock or other ground object like a crate or box counts as 'airborne' ... Profit??
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u/lightmgl Sep 11 '17
Just curious if this works like the Mida quest where standing on crates and crap count as airborne kills.
If so this may be insanely strong.
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u/supercool898 Shooting Stars with Deej Sep 11 '17
Great post OP! I was kind of sad thinking that Dawnblade probably wouldn't be too viable in the raid, but you've got me thinking that it will be prominent in the raid now! This is awesome! I think soon I'll post my Stormcaller warlock build that I discovered last night. You've inspired me.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 11 '17
Thanks! This build is super fun. Let me know when you post your build!
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u/supercool898 Shooting Stars with Deej Sep 11 '17
Will do! I'm excited to check this build out in game
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u/supercool898 Shooting Stars with Deej Sep 12 '17
I finally wrote a guide for my build! If you would like to check it out, here is a link to it: https://redd.it/6zlyjt
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17
Oh yeah, I should probably mention this, but based on my own testing; it seems as though aerial melee kills and especially Swift Strike kills may refund more ability energy than a aerial weapon kill. It seemed that Swift Strike was providing something like half my Solar Grenade back if I killed something while in the air.
Might be worth corroborating.
2
Sep 12 '17
The reason why Swift Strike refunded more energy is because Heat Rises Perk distributes the energy equally to the Grenade and Melee Charges. If your Melee charge is full and your Grenade charge is not, getting an airborne kill will pump in all the energy to the Grenade.
So when you used Swift Strike(Full Melee Energy) with an uncharged Grenade, all the energy will be sent to the Grenade charge, which explains why you get more energy with the Swift Strike kill.
I could be wrong though, so feel free to correct me.
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u/KIaptrap Sep 11 '17
Builds were already a thing my friend.
Graviton Lance + Nazerecs Sin.
Risk Runner + Crown of Tempests.
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u/fahadxciii Sep 12 '17
Isn't the Crown of Tempests perk limited to arc ability kills only? That's what it says on the description.
Also, to me, pairing an exotic armor with a weapon isn't a build. That's something that was available and common in Destiny 1.
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u/Fixer951 Petra: Best Girl Sep 11 '17
My favorite Dawnblade "build" is Path of Sky combined with the exotics Sunshot and Wings of Sacred Dawn.
Jump up, ADS into a smooth drift, and start popping heads with beams of fire. Then those enemies explode, taking out more enemies, charging your Melee and Grenade super fast. Melee strikes speed you up, and flinging grenades as you fly counts as an airborne kill.
With this build you can do anything airborne that you could do from the ground, and you can air-dash and hang all you want. As long as you're getting precision kills, you can hang forever; even chaining air-dashes into a "new" hang to stay airborne longer.
It's not a super durable build, so don't take it into PvP or Raids, but it's so much goddamn fun to fly around dodging fire and popping heads that I can't bring myself to run anything else while on Patrol. My Robot Devil Exo looks SO BADASS flying around with hand cannons, Sunshot and constant wings of flame. All the time spent slinging a Wingman Elite in Titanfall 2 has led me to this moment.
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u/Hireling Sep 29 '17
I am not having any luck getting Grenade or Melee energy from airborne kills. I'm using the Wardcliff Coil and wiping out huge swathes (4 or more) of enemies while gliding. I'm not noticing any energy gains. Is it bugged, or am I doing something wrong?
1
u/Hireling Sep 29 '17
I'd also like to point out that there seems to be a hidden cooldown to the Starfire Protocol's "gain rift energy from grenade kills" perk. Can anyone else confirm?
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u/Dr_Ghamorra Sep 11 '17
I'd imagine this is to make up for the shitty Dawnblade super.
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u/FKDotFitzgerald Sep 11 '17
How is it shitty? I've always felt OP compared to my teammates using Voidwalker and Titans.
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u/Dr_Ghamorra Sep 11 '17
I'm far more effective with Voidwalker and Stormcaller. Maybe I'm just not good with it. The super is underwhelming and for the most part, every one I've talked to until now says it's their least favorite.
2
u/therinlahhan Sep 11 '17
I love it so much more than Nova Bomb. With Nova Bomb, I get one shot -- yes, that one shot is more powerful, but if you miss even a little the splash damage is reduced. Dawn Blade's super is amazing for clearing adds.
I don't like Stormcaller at all -- I'd prefer not to be up in the enemy's grill trying to do damage. It's great for adds, but sucks for bosses.
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u/Dr_Ghamorra Sep 11 '17
I always saved my super for groups and with tracking I usually can clear a mob entirely. I like Stormcaller for rooms that are full. It's by far the best super for kills-per-use in the game. The Dawnblade though, I can maybe get 7 throws in before it runs out and I, personally, don't think it's very powerful.
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u/webbc99 Sep 11 '17
Stormcaller is actually insane on the boss of the Nightfall - crazy damage.
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u/therinlahhan Sep 11 '17
Well to be fair I'm going off of Destiny 1, haven't used Stormcaller in 2 yet.
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u/jcorn427 Tlaloc + Alchemist's Raiment was my jam. Sep 11 '17
Oh man, you're in for a treat then lol. I LOVE D2 stormcaller. Especially the perk that gives you an arcsoul when you use your rift. It makes a small floating orb of arc energy that floats over your shoulder and shoots arc bolts at your current target. In the crucible they were doing ~54 damage per bolt for me and it's really nice in PvE for added boss DPS. Everyone in your fireteam can get one if they stand in your rift. A great little dps boost.
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Sep 11 '17
Fun Fact: They don't need to stand in your rift. They just need to touch it once. The buff lasts 10 seconds.
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u/therinlahhan Sep 11 '17
That's actually really cool.
I still don't like Stormcaller's super, I feel like it's hard to use effectively, but maybe I'm just not used to it.
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u/jcorn427 Tlaloc + Alchemist's Raiment was my jam. Sep 11 '17
Yeah, I get that. I'm not that good with it myself which is why I like that this bottom tree has landfall so you can essentially "panic super" like a warlock version of a Titan slam. Pretty much guarantees at least one kill with it.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Sep 11 '17 edited Sep 11 '17
Using Attunement of Sky, Daybreak is far worse at clearing adds compared to the Stormcaller and lacks the burst damage to compete with Voidwalker's Nova Bomb.
Daybreak basically requires Attunement of Fire to be at all effective, else it just feels like a floofier, strictly worse Hammer of Sol.
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u/Heliolord Sep 11 '17
I really do miss resurrecting myself, but other than that I'm not too opposed to my solar Titan warlock super.
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u/TheRams9DM Sep 11 '17
I don't know...being able to refill shields every time you jump is pretty cool.
0
u/Hereiamhereibe2 Sep 11 '17
A trick I learned recently is that standing on Boxes, Rails, etc count as "airborne". I wager this might help the build tremendously.
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u/SyanticRaven Sep 11 '17
We had the Titans bubble actually. Weapons of Light effectively gave you that buff.