Welcome to the Shards of Galanor Solar Hunter Build! This build is all about relentless ability regeneration and maximizing your Super uptime to clear the battlefield with ease. Centered around the Exotic gauntlets, Shards of Galanor, this build allows you to regenerate up to 50% of your Super energy with each hit or final blow from your Blade Barrage. The result is more Supers, more damage, and more Orbs of Power for your fireteam. It's a simple yet devastating gameplay loop: generate Super energy through Knife Trick, unleash your Blade Barrage, and repeat.
Defeat enemies with Knife Trick to instantly recharge it, generate an Orb of Power, and gain Super energy. If it does not immediately kill the enemy, each knife applies 30 stacks of Scorch to the target. Add additional stacks of Scorch with the weapon perk Incandescent. Once Scorch stacks reach 100, the debuff is removed and an Ignition occurs. The size and damage of your Ignitions are increased thanks to the Solar Fulmination mod from the Seasonal Artifact.
The synergy between Blade Barrage, Throwing Knives, and the explosive power of Solar Ignitions makes this build a top choice for clearing waves of enemies. Whether you're playing solo or with a team, the constant barrage of Solar damage ensures no enemy is left standing for long.
- Easy to learn.
- Great for ad clear.
- High ability uptime.
- Better with a solar weapon.
- Requires low tier ads for perks.
- Missed abilities disrupts gameplay loop.
Gameplay Loop
The primary goal of this Solar Hunter build is to rapidly charge your Blade Barrage, while the secondary focus is on maintaining high survivability. Achieve excellent survivability by keeping Restoration active through the use of Ember of Empyrean.
- Focus on defeating red-bar enemies with Knife Trick. If you miss or don't kill them in one melee hit, use Gambler's Dodge near enemies to refund your melee.
- When your health is low, throw a Healing Grenade at your feet to activate Restoration. Melee kills with Knife Trick extend the duration.
- Continue this until your Super is fully charged. If there aren't enough low-tier enemies for your Knives, use your Solar weapon to secure more kills and maintain Restoration.
- Your super should fill quickly thanks to Shards of Galanor, and you can cast it at a boss or a group of enemies. Every hit or final blow refunds your Super energy.
Ability Breakdown
Super
- Blade Barrage
- This super unleashes a volley of solar-charged explosive knives. Target a boss with multiple knives or spread them out to clear a group of ads.
Abilities
- Gambler's Dodge - this dodge immediately refunds your Knife Trick allowing you to spam it for Orbs of Power and Super energy.
- Triple Jump - Triple jump is nice, but use whichever jump feels best to you.
- Knife Trick - Throw a fan of flaming knives that Scorch targets on impact.
- Healing Grenade - Cures you and allies on impact and grants Restoration.
Aspects
- On Your Mark - Dodging grants you a full 3 stacks of this aspect. Precision final blows give you and your fireteam better weapon handling and reload speed for 12 seconds.
- Knock 'Em Down - Blade Barrage releases more knives. While Radiant, final blows with your Knife Trick FULLY refund the melee charge.
Fragments
- Ember of Empyrean - Solar weapon and ability final blows extend the duration of Restoration and Radiant.
- Ember of Singeing - Scorching targets makes your dodge recharge faster.
- Ember of Torches - powered Knife Trick attacks makes you and nearby allies Radiant.
- Ember of Ashes - apply moreScorch stacks to targets.
- Ember of Char - Solar Ignitions spread Scorch.
Gearing
Required Gear and Weapons
Shards of Galanor - An easy pick for any Solar Hunter looking to decrease the amount of time it takes to return Super energy. Knife Trick final blows reduce your super cooldown; hit and final blows with Blade Barrage give you super energy after the super has ended.
How to acquire:
- Purchase from Xur (his loot rotates weekly).
- Decrypting exotic engrams at Rahool.
- Farm the expert Lost Sector on Arms Armor days.
- Complete the Vex Strike Force Public Event on Neomuna.
- Note: this exotic is not locked behind a DLC.
Stat Priorities
- Resilience, then Mobility, and then Discipline.
- Resilience is the most crucial stat to focus on. Aim for 100 Resilience to maximize your damage resistance and shield capacity, ensuring better survivability in challenging encounters.
- Mobility is what reduces your dodge cooldown.
- Discipline decreases the cooldown on your grenade ability, allowing it to charge faster.
Learn more about the Stats available to you in Destiny 2 with our dedicated guide.
Armor Mods
| Item | Slot | Mandatory Mods | Supporting Mods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Explorer Mask | Helmet | Hands-On Dynamo | Harmonic Siphon |
| Shards of Galanor | Gloves | Heavy Handed Impact Induction | |
| Deep Explorer Vest | Chest | Charged Up | Harmonic Resistance Harmonic Reserves |
| Deep Explorer Strides | Legs | Solar Weapon Surge Solar Weapon Surge | Recuperation |
| Deep Explorer Cloak | Class Item | Powerful Attraction Reaper | Time Dilation |
- Optional Mods:
- On your Chest, replace Harmonic Resistance with the appropriate resistance for the activity.
Armor Mods are unlocked by progressing your Guardian Rank. Check out the Guardian Ranks Guide for more information.
Artifact Perks
- Elemental Siphon - Rapid final blows with a Kinetic or Solar weapon creates a Firesprite. These pickups recharge your grenade.
- Radiant Orbs - Pick up an Orb of Power and become Radiant, increasing weapon damage by 25%.
- Logic Reductor - Enhances the Origin Trait of Aberrant Action.
- Solar Fulmination - Ignitions deal more damage in an increased radius.
- Shieldcrush - Faster recharge for your Healing Grenade while Radiant.
Recommended Weapons
Kinetic Slot: The Battle Scar Pulse Rifle with Shoot to Loot and Kinetic Tremors lets you shoot Orbs of Power and ammo to collect them, instantly refilling your reserves.
Energy Slot: Aberrant Action - Rocket sidearms dominate the meta in The Final Shape, and Aberrant Action is the latest addition to this powerful archetype. Craft this Solar sidearm with Heal Clip and Incandescent to unleash even more explosive potential.
Power Weapon: Dragon's Breath - Great for damaging bosses, and elite enemies, or clearing smaller packs of ads. Dragon's Breath requires access to the Lightfall DLC to unlock.
Variants
Gear Swaps
- Equip the recommended Armor Mods you see on the right if you haven't masterworked your armor yet. These help with the Shards of Galanor Hunter gameplay loop.
- Swap Dragon's Breath for Marsilion-C, a Legendary world drop Solar weapon. Look for perks Explosive Light, Vorpal Weapon, or even Incandescent.
- Now that you have a Legendary Heavy weapon, swap your Kinetic weapon to an Exotic.
- Outbreak Perfected - Challenge yourself and complete the Zero Hour Exotic Quest from the Legends Destination. Outbreak is one of the best Kinetic Exotics in Destiny 2 because The Corruption Spreads perk causes SIVA nanites to swarm and help with ad clear.
Gear Swaps
- Swap Dragon's Breath for other damage types to match the endgame activity's Surge. Make sure your Rocket Launcher or Grenade Launcher has either Reconstruction or Auto-Loading Holster.
- Solar Surge - Apex Predator
- Arc Surge - Crux Termination IV
- Void Surge - Edge Transit
- Stasis Surge - Cold Comfort
- Strand Surge - Crowning Duologue
- Swap Aberrant Action for Sunshot to apply Scorch stacks and proc Ignitions with a Primary ammo weapon.
- Swap Battle Scar to The Mountaintop with Auto-Loading Holster to fit into your weapon rotation for Bait and Switch.
Summary
The Shards of Galanor Solar Hunter build focuses on rapidly generating Super energy and clearing enemies with devastating efficiency. With the Exotic gauntlets Shards of Galanor, each hit or final blow from your Blade Barrage refunds up to 50% of your Super energy, allowing you to frequently unleash this powerful Super.
The gameplay loop involves defeating enemies with Knife Trick to generate Orbs of Power and quickly build Super energy. You also build Scorch stacks quickly, resulting in explosive Ignitions and excellent ad clear. Maintaining Restoration through Ember of Empyrean and Healing Grenades provides the perfect survivability.
Credits
Written by: AbbyHour
Reviewed by: Chadly, Tenkiei