Destiny 2Beyond Light brought the new Darkness Stasis subclass Shadebinder to the Warlock class. Crucible PVP players quickly learned how powerful the Shadebinder Warlock can be in PVP with its easy access to instant freeze abilities to give it the upper hand in any engagement.
The Abilities
The Stasis Warlock comes with a new breakdown for the skill tree to make it feel unique to the new Darkness based subclass brought into Destiny 2 Beyond Light. This new layout is broken down into three sections: Abilities, Aspects, and Fragments. The Shadebinder Warlock brings over the Burst Glide jump ability, which is recommended for this build. The Healing rift is the recommended class ability to increase survivability.
The new Beyond Light Melee ability for the Shadebinder, Penumbral Blast, gives the Shadebinder a staff that sends out three Stasis projectiles, similar to the Warlock Dawnblade Celestial Fire Melee. These Stasis projectiles will instantly freeze enemies on contact for a quick, easy kill. The grenade of choice for this build is the Duskfield Grenade. The Duskfield Grenade is great for pulling enemies into the center of the AOE, increasing the chances of freezing multiple enemies at once with Penumbral Blast.
The first of the two Shadebinder Aspects is the Iceflare Bolts, causing shattered enemies to spawn seekers that track and freeze nearby enemies, while also giving access to three Fragment slots. The second aspect, Frostpulse, generates a freezing shockwave that freezes nearby enemies when casting the Shadebinder Rift, it also gives the Warlock a fourth Fragment slot.
The Shadebinder Warlock has access to up to four Fragment slots to equip any of the six currently available Fragments. The four recommended Fragments for this Destiny 2 Beyond Light build are the Whisper of Hedrons, giving a bonus to weapon damage after freezing a target with Stasis, Whisper of Bonds, which grants Super energy when defeating a frozen target with weapons, Whisper of Durance, that increases the duration of lingering abilities, and Whisper of Fissures, increasing the damage and size of a Stasis burst AOE when destroying a Stasis crystal or defeating a frozen target.
The Loop
The combination of the selected Abilities, Aspects, and Fragments translates into a gameplay loop started by freezing an enemy with either the Duskfield Grenade and its increased duration from the Whisper of Durance Aspect, or with the Penumbral Blast Melee.
Freezing an enemy activates the Beyond Light Stasis Fragment Whisper of Hedrons for an increase to weapon damage. Defeating the frozen target activates Whisper of Bonds and Whisper of Fissures. Whisper of Bonds grants extra Super energy when defeating a frozen enemy. Whisper of Fissures increases the damage and AOE burst effect when defeating a frozen enemy. The AOE from Whisper of Fissures can damage enemies near the AOE. The damage increase from Whisper of Hedrons lasts for ten seconds and can be reset upon freezing another target. Whenever the Shadebinder Super, Winter's Wrath, is charged, players are encouraged to use it.
The Exotics
Shadebinder Warlocks looking to capitalize on the Penumbral Blast instant freezing capabilities should look at the Exotic Gauntlets Claws of Ahamkara, to give the Shadebinder a second melee charge. For the Exotic weapon, players should consider the Monte Carlo to reduce their melee cooldown and grant a chance to fully recharge their melee with each kill. Monte Carlo's Markov Chain perk also gives increased damage after melee kills and kills with this weapon.
Bringing It All Together
Now that players have the main abilities and weapons equipped, they should focus on their armor stats and mods. Shadebinder Warlocks using this build will not have to worry about the strength stat very much, since Monte Carlo is very efficient at keeping both melee charges from Claws of Ahamkara ready to go. This leaves players free to focus their armor stats toward Recovery for survivability and decreased class ability cooldowns, Intellect to decrease their Super cooldown paired with the Whisper of Bonds for the decreased time in-between Super charges. Mobility, Resilience, and Discipline stat values can be adjusted to player preference.
When it comes to mods, players may find Momentum Transfer useful to further decrease the Melee cooldown when causing damage with a grenade. Mods that benefit Auto Rifles are a clear choice when using Monte Carlo. Players should use any spare mod slots to further compliment their personal playstyle and maximize their stat values.
When the Shadebinder Warlock is fully equipped, Destiny 2Beyond Light players will be able to unleash their full power on their enemies in the Crucible. Throw a Penumbral Blast melee to instantly freeze nearby enemies for ten seconds of increased weapon damage to more easily kill that enemy for an increased AOE and damage to any nearby enemies as well as extra Super energy. Use Monte Carlo and Claws of Ahamkara to help make sure the Shadebinder always has a Penumbral Blast Melee available to start the cycle of devastation all over again.
Once more Stasis Warlock Aspects and Fragments are released to Destiny 2 players, a new build may shine through but until then, players should try this build out for themselves.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
