As a Warlock player, we have a ton of different and unique exotics to choose from when hopping into PVE or PVP activities. This can make picking the right exotic or knowing which one to hunt down a little overwhelming — especially for new Destiny 2 players. To help ease this burden, here’s a breakdown of the best Warlock exotics in Destiny 2 and why you should be using them. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean all the other exotics are trash and you should never use them. Pretty much every Warlock exotic is good, just some excel a bit more than others.
(This list is in no particular order.)
Top 10 Best Warlock Exotics
1. Osmiomancy Gloves
Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further.
Let’s kick off this list with my all-time favorite Warlock exotic. Osmiomancy Gloves are one of the strongest and most underrated Warlock exotics currently in the game. Giving you two charges of Coldsnap grenades, these gauntlets allow players to easily freeze and control the battlefield. However, where they really shine is when combined with the Bleakwatcher Stasis Aspect. Turning both your grenades into turrets is exceptionally strong, as it allows a single player to dominate an entire location without help from other fireteam members. If you’re looking to make an endgame Stasis build, this is the exotic you want to rock.
2. Crown of Tempests
Arc ability or Jolt final blows increase the recharge rate of your Arc abilities and extends the duration of Stormtrance.
There are a few Arc-focused exotics for the Warlock, but the best of the bunch is Crown of Tempests. While it has always been strong, the introduction of the Arc keyword “Jolt” and its implementation into this exotic propelled its popularity. This is thanks to the Voltshot weapon perk, which makes Jolting enemies way more consistent and easier, allowing you to constantly trigger the Crown of Tempests’ ability. Plus, the crown’s perk creates a feedback loop, where you’re just using your abilities to recharge the ones on cooldown. The added benefit of increasing your Stormtrance duration is the icing on this very pointy cake.
3. Swarmers – Best Warlock Exotics
Destroying a Tangle spawns a Threading. Your Threadlings unravel targets that they damage.
The newest exotic on our list, Swarmers are the go-to choice for anyone running a Threadling build on Warlock. Being able to create Threadlings by just destroying Tangles offers another method to consistently produce these little NPC allies. Even if the exotic only did this it would still have a spot on our list, but the second ability is just icing on the cake. Having any of your Threadlings unravel enemies they damage is terrific for spreading this status effect to big groups of enemies. This makes your Threadlings quite dangerous because even if they only kill one foe they can still quickly spread unraveling to other foes.
4. Eye of Another World
Highlights priority targets and improves the regeneration speed of your grenade, melee, and Rift abilities. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons.
Eye of Another World is a rare exotic that benefits both PVE and PVP players. Similar to Lunafaction Boots, the Eye of Another World isn’t terribly flashy. However, it makes up for this due to raw consistency across the board. Improving the regeneration speed of your Rift, melee, and grenade is already quite strong, but the small boost to airborne effectiveness certainly helps when fighting other Guardians. Again, you won’t be performing any wild ability loops with this exotic, but the incremental advantages it offers are too good to ignore.
5. Transverse Steps
Sprint speed increased. After a short time sprinting, your currently equipped weapon is automatically reloaded.
Largely a PVP-focused exotic, Transversive Steps give Warlocks needed mobility within the Crucible. Not only is your sprint speed increased, but having your current weapon reloaded while sprinting lets players be hyper-aggressive. Pairing well with Special weapons such as shotguns and breach-loading grenade launchers, Transversive Steps lets Warlocks get in and out of fights easily.
6. Phoenix Protocol – Best Warlock Exotics
Kills and assists you make while standing in your Well of Radiance return Super energy.
Despite rarely being used in more casual activities, Phoenix Protocol is an absolute monster in endgame or low-man encounters. This is entirely due to players being able to refund a large amount of their Super energy if they can snag a few kills or assists while inside their Well of Radiance. It can quickly add up, allowing Phoenix Protocol users to refund a little over half their Super before the next one even ends. Couple this with any way to generate Orbs of Power and you can easily chain Supers until you run out of foes to kill. It’s terrific for survivability — especially in day one raids when enemies hit much harder than they normally would.
7. Nezarec’s Sin
Void-damage kills increase ability energy recharge rate.
Nezarec’s Sin is the void version of Crown of Tempests. For almost the exact same reasons as that exotic, Nezarc’s Sin is one of the best void-focused armor pieces in the game. The fact that it requires Void kills (not just ability kills) is what makes this a truly powerful exotic. Slapping on a Void primary weapon makes it easy to just spam your abilities and requires very little effort on the player’s end. It’s a superb exotic, one that is both simple and extremely potent.
8. Boots of the Assembler
Standing in a healing rift creates Noble Seekers that seek out allies that are not in a rift and heal them. Standing in an empowering rift creates Noble Seekers that grant both you and your ally a damage bonus. Each time a Noble Seeker finds one of your allies, the duration of your rift is briefly extended while you are standing in it. Provides a moderate benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of the Hand Cannon Lumina.
Oh Boots of the Assembler, you really don’t get enough love. Acting as a support exotic, these boots can turn a single Warlock standing in a Rift into a healing machine. Since the Noble Seekers will just hunt down teammates to buff, the player in the Rift can focus on killing enemies or supporting his team. This then extends your Rift, allowing you to continue healing and increasing their damage throughout an engagement. They also offer a moderate boost to Lumina’s airborne effectiveness, but you’re not really using them for that.
9. Starfire Protocol – Best Warlock Exotics
Fusion Grenades have an additional charge and recharge from empowered weapon damage. Fusion Grenade kills grant Rift energy.
Without question the most popular PVE Warlock exotic right now, Starfire Protocol is utterly bonkers when paired with Fusion Grenades and any heavy weapon with the Demolitionist perk. Given that Fusion Grenades do utterly absurd damage right now, being able to spam them at bosses isn’t just a viable DPS strategy, but one of the best in the game. Every Warlock needs this exotic, regardless if you’re a fan of the Solar subclass or not. If nothing is nerfed, it’s going to be one of the best exotics going into Lightfall.
10. Ophidian Aspect
Weapons ready and reload very quickly. Melee range is extended. Provides a small benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of all weapons.
Ending our list is the Warlock’s best PVP exotic, Ophidian Aspect. This is due to the many benefits this exotic grants, starting with the increased ready and reload speed of all your weapons. In a firefight every second counts, which gives the Ophidian Aspect user an advantage since they can quickly acquire targets, eliminate them, and reload before moving on to the next target. It also boosts your melee range, which can be nice in those close-quarters battles or if you want to finish someone off before they can melee you first. Finally, this gauntlet gives us a bump to airborne effectiveness for every weapon we have equipped. While this is a little more situational, it can still make a big difference when fighting enemies while off the ground.
