Cenotaph Solar Warlock Build
Last Updated:October 10, 2024|Changelog
Cenotaph Mask is an exotic from left field that has shaken the endgame meta for many Warlocks. It’s versatile among all the Subclass elements and is an S-Tier support exotic for any fireteam occasion. It’s so good that it became a day 1 raid requirement and had a recent nerf. Even with that, it still stands above many other support exotics. Cenotaph Mask Solar Warlock build will make you the best friend of any guardian that joins your squad.
Now let’s dive into this exotic and why it’s meta for support builds. Cenotaph Masks armor perk reads “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.” This selfless exotic will ensure you always have ammo for your Trace Rifle and consistently fill your teammates with Heavy shots.
- All Trace Rifles work with this build
- Versatile among Subclasses
- High ammo regeneration
- No benefits for general mobbing
- No benefit to overall damage
- Not great for solo play
Gameplay Loop
For Cenotaph Mask Solar Warlock the gameplay loop is much more passive since this is a support build. Targeting larger enemies is the job of this build since getting heavy bricks for your team is the play. Champions are the main focus since their individual abilities can devastate a team. Larger bosses just need a few taps from a Trace Rifle to mark them for damage. Feel free to use it on general mobs since final blows drop special ammo bricks. Using Well of Radiance during damage phases and tight situations is key for survivability.
Quick tip for keeping up healing is to consume your grenade to activate Heat Rises. With this you can Phoenix Dive to add restoration to yourself and keep it going with Ember of Empyrean. You’ll have consistent heals from taking targets down with your Solar Trace Rifle.
Ability Breakdown
Super
- Well of Radiance
- This Solar super has been a staple for essentially ever Warlock since it's inception. Players become nearly invulnerable within the circle of the well while getting Radiantand Restoration effects. Now if you're using this for a damage phase with teammates remember to not move around within the Well as you're likely to down your teammates.
Abilities
- Phoenix Dive, This is a great option for those Warlocks looking to not just stand in a circle and instead continue to glide around the battlefield.
- Strafe Jump, Jump of your choice!
- Incinerator Snap, This is just a simple melee that has a close but wide attack range. Also the Scorch applied by this can affect multiple targets at once.
- Fusion Grenade, This is a phenomenal options combined with Touch of Flame. You're grenade will explode twice so it's a great option for champs.
Aspects
- Touch of Flame, Your grenades have enhanced abilities (Fusion for this build) Fusion Grenades explode twice.
- Heat Rises, This is just a great option to consistently keep up healing and melee energy. Consume your grenade to cure yourself and teammates. The ability to shoot, melee, and throw grenades while gliding is fun while helping your melee energy.
Remember to use Heat Rises first before Phoenix Dive so you can activate restoration.
Fragments
- Ember of Torches, Powered melee attacks against combatants make you and nearby allies radiant. This is perfect for consistent activation of more weapon damage and intrinsic Barrier stuns.
- Ember of Empyrean, Solar weapon or ability final blows extend the duration of restoration and radiant effects applied to you. You should consistently have both these buffs if you use your Solar trace rifle.
- Ember of Searing, Defeating scorched targets grants melee energy and creates a Firesprite. With Incandescent on your trace rifle you'll consistently scorch targets.
- Ember of Singeing, Your class ability recharges faster when you scorch targets. You want to have that Phoenix Dive back instantly after scorching targets with your trace rifle.
Gearing
Required Gear and Weapons
Cenotaph Mask
How to acquire:
- Purchase from Xur (his loot rotates weekly).
- Decrypting exotic engrams at Rahool (it will be a random exotic drop, but will prioritize exotics you currently do not have, known as the knockout system).
- Farm the expert lost sector on helmet Armor days.
- This assumes you've purchased Lightfall and it's season pass that includes Season of the Deep.
- Available as drop from Vex Strike Force.
Stat Priorities
- Resilience > Discipline > Recovery.
- Resilience is the amount of damage you can take before dying, as well as your shield capacity.
- Discipline is what reduces your grenade cooldown.
- Recovery is how long it takes for your health to regenerate after you take damage.
Learn more about the Stats available to you in Destiny 2 with our dedicated guide.
Armor Mods
| Item | Slot | Mandatory Mods | Supporting Mods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cenotaph Mask | Helmet | Special Ammo Finder Heavy Ammo Finder | Hands-On |
| Deep Explorer Gloves | Gloves | Heavy Handed Impact Induction | Focusing Strike |
| Deep Explorer Vestments | Chest | Solar Resistance Arc Resistance Void Resistance | |
| Deep Explorer Strides | Legs | Arc Weapon Surge Innervation | Recuperation |
| Deep Explorer Bond | Class Item | Powerful Attraction Reaper Bomber |
- Optional Mods:
- Hands-On is great for getting super energy when using your melee ability.
Artifact Mods
This setup does not benefit very well from the current artifact since it is so Stasis focused.
- Kinetic Impacts is a great since your power weapon this episode should always be a heavy grenade launcher.
Recommend Weapons
- Kinetic Weapon: Midnight Coup - We love this Into the Light variant for it’s origin trait that reduces our cooldown on our grenade.
- Energy Weapon: Divinity - The ultimate support Trace Rifle. Great for adding extra damage to enemies for your teammates and able to stun Overload champs intrinsically.
- Power Weapon: Wendigo GL3 (Adept) - Perfect Grenade Launcher to use this season for its great perk pool and high damage.
Variants
Gear Swaps
- Swap Divinity for Chronophage.
- Easy trace rifle to acquire from the first Episode: Echos.
- How to acquire: Decrypting echo engrams.
- Swap Cenotaph Mask for Speaker's Sight.
- Should be fairly easy to acquire the Speakers Mask so you can keep up those high heals.
- Acquire it from the Final Shape campaign.
Summary
Cenotaph Mask Solar Warlock is the ultimate support build thanks to its versatility in multiple activities. Access to ammo, healing, and damage is something that every day 1 raid team needs and this build brings exactly that. You likely won’t have the most kills or top damage with this setup, but being that support to help your team is crucial.
Credits
Written by: Byrdman
Reviewed by: SquirrelyDan, Tenkiei