Warlocks have seen a very good year for surprisingly big buffs to their Exotics in Destiny 2! Some old standards made it onto the list, but as a Warlock-main for the most part, I think there are some really exciting newer Exotics added to the kit that create some new power fantasies! From the “laser-down your enemies support” option, to the big buffs for Arc and Void options. Plus, with direct Exotic armor focusing, it’s never been a better time to try some of these out if you’re a newer player.
In no particular order, here are the 10 best Warlock Exotics.
10. Fallen Sunstar
"Ionic traces you create move faster and grant you additional ability energy. Nearby allies also gain ability energy when you collect an ionic trace."
Newer to the Warlock arsenal, from Season of the Plunder and introduction of Arc 3.0, Fallen Sunstar is still the ultimate ability spam Exotic. For all the nerfs to different sources of ability energy, and even orb generation, no subclass makes Ionic Taces quite like Arc Warlocks. With this attached to almost any build, Ionic Traces will surround you and refill your abilities quickly and constantly. This pairs very well with any Voltshot weapon, as Jolted enemies can also create Ionic Traces for Warlock and feed your abilities. Fallen Sunstar is potent, and powerful against endless enemies.
9. Cenotaph Mask
"Steadily reloads a portion of your equipped Trace Rifle’s magazine from reserves. Damaging a vehicle, boss, or champion with a Trace Rifle marks them as the target. When an ally defeats the marked target, SPecial ammo is generated for you and Heavy ammo for your allies."
A newer Exotic from Season of the Deep, Cenotaph Mask is a new alternative for Warlocks who seek to support their allies. Cenotaph Mask pairs particularly well with Divinity and Well of Radiance in just about any raid encounter. In situations where you want to use a trace rifle to deal damage and generate heavy ammo for your allies, you can do that with this Exotic! The Navigator from the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon pairs great with Cenotaph Mask and Strand Warlock. It’s a versatile Exotic, and helps generate Heavy ammo consistently.
8. Osmiomancy Gloves
"Your Coldsnap grenades have an additional charge that recharges quicker on direct impact. The seeker spawned from Coldsnap grenades travels further."
With the buff to cooldown time for Glacier grenades, running two Stasis turrets through Osmiomancy Gloves is even better now than it has been for the past few seasons. There is a ton of safety with Osmiomancy, and it still acts as one of the best lockdown tools for any solo or endgame situations.
7. Phoenix Protocol
"Kills and assists you make while standing in your Well of Radiance return Super energy."
Well of Radiance is still useful, despite even lengthening the time it takes for Well to charge this season However, Phoenix Protocol doubles the output of your Well of Radiance. It may seem simple, but any high-difficulty encounter can benefit from more healing, more damage, and more protection, and Well of Radiance does all three. With a new Warlock Solar Super coming, I cannot imagine Well of Radiance will be this powerful for much longer.
6. Briarbinds
"Your Void Souls have a longer duration. They also gain escalating damage and durability as they defeat targets. You can retrieve your Void Souls by interacting with them, allowing them to be redeployed."
Briarbinds, from Season of the Witch, is a new Exotic for Warlocks and helps diversify some of the Void options available. This is the best and only Void Soul Exotic, and allows you to comfortably pair Void Soul with either Feed the Void aspect and the Devour buff it provides, or the Chaos Accelerant aspect and stronger grenades. The Void Soul becomes your mobile defensive ball of knives, draining ability energy and allowing itself to redeploy and get stronger. It’s certainly not useful in all endgame content, or PVP, but it’s a fun way to play most mid-level or seasonal content, and really shines a light on the Void Buddy.
5. Verity’s Brow
"Weapon final blows with a damage type matching your subclass energy grant Death Throes, which provides a grenade damage bonus and grants you grenade energy. When you have Death Throes and throw a grenade, nearby allies gain greatly increased grenade regeneration for a short time."
Verity’s Brow is slept on. Anytime you’re running a primary weapon of the same subclass as your grenade, you can benefit from Verity’s Brow. Getting kills with your elemental weapon will build up to five stacks of Death Throes, which make your next grenade extremely powerful. This pairs great with supercharged Fusion grenades on Solar Warlock and Chaos Accelerant grenades on Void. I’ve had a lot of fun using this across seasonal content, especially in The Coil.
4. Necrotic Grip
"Damaging Combatants poisons them, dealing increasing damage over time. Defeating a poisoned combatant spreads the condition."
One of the most powerful Exotic armor pieces in Destiny 2 in the right hands. Necrotic Grip is a perfect pairing with glaives or any Weapon of Sorrow. With something like Osteo Striga, you can clear rooms of enemies as quickly as any ability-based build. The spread of poison you can create with just your weapons feels as strong as any ability in the game. New to the Weapons of Sorrow list is Necrochasm, which does require plenty of legwork to get, but also pairs great with Necrotic Grip. I prefer pairing it with a glaive to make every melee strike poison, and using Strand’s Suspend helps with add-clear.
3. Apotheosis Veil
"Immediately regenerate health, melee, grenade, and Rift energy for you and your nearby allies upon activating your Super. After your Super ends, temporarily gain greatly increased melee and grenade regeneration."
The real strength here is the five or so seconds of infinite melee and grenade ability usage you get after popping your Super. For Solar Warlocks, dropping your Well of Radiance immediately triggers this effect, so while your allies deal damage from your Well, you can toss Fusion grenades and abuse your melee for a strong burst of damage. Void and Strand both have strong one-and-done Super options, allowing easy use of grenades and powered melees after. For Season of the Wish, Solar is the popular choice because of the Revitalizing Blast perk in the seasonal artifact, which weakens enemies from Solar ability hits.
2. Controverse Holds
"Resist incoming damage while charging your Void grenade. Charged Void grenades return grenade energy on hit."
In Season of the Deep, we saw the Chaos Accelerant aspect on Void Warlock get an additional fragment slot, finally. This opened up a whole new world of build crafting for Controverse Holds, which have always been the go-to for charged Void grenades. While Verity’s Brow, as mentioned above, is also a great choice, Controverse Holds have the benefit of giving a little protection in desperate situations. It also helps give you more grenade energy, meaning more potent zone-control with Void grenades. Plus, you get your grenade back very quickly when pairing with Devour, and that extra fragment slot could make room for longer duration Void grenades, Volatile Rounds, or Weakening.
1. Vesper of Radius
"Rifts periodically release Arc shockwaves. Final blows with these shockwaves create an Arc explosion. While an Arc subclass is equipped, the shockwaves and subsequent explosions blind nearby targets. Rift energy recharges faster when you are surrounded by targets."
Vesper of Radius got a big glow up, making the burst of its Arc shockwaves much stronger, and the blinding effect on Arc becoming more potent. Vesper of Radius with the Electrostatic Mind aspect allows for Blinded enemies to occasionally drop Ionic Traces, feeding your next Rift. On top of that, Arc Blind will halt Unstoppable Champions. It is on the more situational side, really shining in tight corridors and small rooms, but the sheer frequency of the Arc explosions make Vesper of Radius extremely oppressive in even Grandmaster content.
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