Guardians looking for a taste of unlimited power have always been able to turn to the Stormcaller subclass for Warlocks in Destiny 2, but the Arc 3.0 updates in Season 18 have given the classic zap master some new capabilities to explore, in line with the updates made to the Voidwalker and Dawnblade subclasses and their fellow electric guardians.
The updates to Stormcaller focus less on changing the subclass entirely and more on refining existing elements through the customizable setup introduced with the Stasis subclasses in Beyond Light. Players still have the Stormtrance and Chaos Reach supers to choose from, but Stormtrance now has its Landfall shockwave and the ability to teleport during the roaming super at the same time.
The Always Amplified Warlock Build for PvE
Warlock Class Abilities and Jumps for Arc 3.0
Warlocks can make use of either Healing Rift or Empowering Rift on the Stormcaller subclass, boosting themselves and their friends with improved regeneration or higher weapon damage. The task at hand and your own play style will define which of these is the better choice, but we recommend Healing Rift for the utility of having a reliable way to get out of danger fast while still giving yourself some extra offensive power through your Arc Souls.
In the air, Stormcallers can use Balanced Glide, Burst Glide or Strafe Glide, three familiar variations on the classic Warlock hover jump. Player choice is the best option here, and keeping the right option for your own preferences is vital since the new Amplified buff gives you a significant boost in movement speed.
Warlock Melee Abilities for Arc 3.0
Warlocks have two main melee abilities to choose from with Arc 3.0. Ball Lightning fires a projectile out toward enemies that can be used up close or afar and releases additional lightning strikes while you’re Amplified, while Chain Lightning gives you a lunge that adds the Jolt effect to enemies and creates extra chains when you’re amped. Both are strong choices, but Ball Lightning offers more versatility in the ranges you can engage and, with the right placement, can decimate small crowds with ease.
Warlock Aspects for Arc 3.0
The three Stormcaller aspects provide your zappy machine with some of their most impressive offerings. With the Electrostatic Mind aspect, Arc ability kills or defeating an enemy with the Jolted or Blinded debuffs active creates Ionic Traces, traveling beams of Arc light on the ground that recharge your abilities and give you the Amplified buff when touched. You’ll want to keep your Amplified buff up as much as possible with this setup, so this one is a go-to pick.
Arc Souls are one of the options you’ll have to keep yourself Amplified. These electric turret friends spawn when you pop down a Rift, and fire at any enemies you aim toward. Your friends can get their own Arc Souls by passing through the Rift, and choosing the aspect makes your Rift energy recharge quicker when allied Guardians are nearby.
Warlocks also have the Lightning Surge aspect, which adds a new element to your melee abilities. Sliding and activating your charged melee will make you teleport forward and strike down lightning toward your enemies, with any affected foes getting the Jolt debuff. This option has the potential to be a menace in PvP and is fun to pull off to add Jolt to foes, but the power of your regular melee options and the other aspects available on Stormcaller make it a tough sell.
Warlock Fragments for Arc 3.0
The Stormcaller’s fragment options are the extra building blocks that set you up to electrify the battlefield. The Spark of Volts fragment gives you the Amplified buff on a finisher kill, which both boosts yourself on its own and dovetails perfectly with the Finisher Bulwark and Reactive Pulse mods. It even adds a +10 bonus to your Recovery stat, making it an essential choice for Warlocks.
The Spark of Discharge fragment gives your Arc weapons the chance to spawn Ionic Traces on a kill. With the bonuses from Electrostatic Mind active, this keeps your Amplified buff in play and lowers the cooldowns on your abilities. Choosing this fragment means sacrificing 10 points in your Strength stat for melee abilities, but we’ll make up for that through the next fragment. For encounters that require more versatile weaponry, the Spark of Frequency offers a more neutral option that works with everything in your arsenal.
The Spark of Resistance fragment brings your Strength stat back up by 10 points, but more importantly, it makes you more resistant to incoming damage while surrounded by enemies. Stormcallers excel at mid- to close-range combat against large waves of foes, and this fragment makes it a bit easier to handle encounters with heavy resistance around you.
While the Spark of Amplitude fragment isn’t out at the start of Season 18, its ability to spawn an Orb of Power after rapid enemy defeats should prove useful to any electric Warlock with crowd control on their mind. Fans of the Chain Lightning melee should get some use out of the Spark of Ions fragment as well, with that option creating Ionic Traces after killing a Jolted enemy.
Weapons, Armor and Mods for Arc 3.0 Warlocks
Crowd-clearing weapons with Arc damage will be some of the best options to go alongside this build, especially exotic options with chain lightning abilities like Riskrunner, Trinity Ghoul and Thunderlord.
Choosing Reactive Pulse and Finisher Bulwark alongside Overcharge Wellmaker and Well of Striking will turn your finisher attacks into a key element of your feedback loop for this build, especially with Trinity Ghoul, which gets its Lightning Rod perk after a finisher kill if you’re using an Arc subclass and have it equipped. With these mods, you’ll gain a massive overshield during a finisher and spawn 2 elemental wells afterward, cutting down your ability cooldowns and giving you some breathing room during tough waves of enemies.
With add-clearing and crowd control as a priority here, going with Harmonic Siphon or Arc Siphon on your helmet is worth considering as well. These mods spawn Orbs of Power for yourself and friends on rapid Arc weapon kills.
Finally, for your armor, Arc-focused exotic options like Geomag Stabilizers, Crown of Tempests and Getaway Artist will shine with your Arc 3.0 setup. A Geomag setup gives you the versatility of exceptional DPS for bosses alongside your typical lethality against regular enemies, while Crown of Tempests is both fun and functional for clearing waves of foes with an extended Stormtrance super and improved recharges for your abilities.
