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This Destiny 2 Class guide will help you learn about Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters, and all of their elemental Subclasses and abilities. Each of the three Destiny 2 Classes have their own unique skills, including a distinct jump type, and a defensive Class Ability, but it’s the elemental Subclass abilities that really set them apart. Whether you’re a New Light trying to decide what your first class will be, or an experienced player looking to learn about the other Classes for their next character, we’ve got the essential information on the three Destiny 2 Classes and all their Subclasses below.
All Destiny 2 Classes
- How Classes and Subclasses work in Destiny 2
- Destiny 2 Titan guide
- Destiny 2 Hunter guide
- Destiny 2 Warlock guide
How Destiny 2 Classes and Subclasses work
Each of the three Classes currently have four Subclasses that represent the elemental powers of Light and Darkness in Destiny 2 – these are Solar, Arc, Void, and Stasis. Each one comes with their own Super abilities, Grenades, and Melee powers that allow players to customize their builds and playstyles for different activities and challenges.
All Stasis, Void, and now Solar Subclasses use a new Subclass system (dubbed ‘3.0’) that allows for freeform customization and improved build-crafting compared to the old system which presented trios of fixed skills to choose from – only Arc Subclasses still use this system, and they will be updated to the new 3.0 system in a future season. More Darkness Subclasses are also expected to join Stasis in future Destiny 2 expansions.
With the 3.0 system, each Subclass comes with a selection of unique Aspects which add new powers to your Subclass – we’ve not mentioned every Aspect in this guide, but we’ve highlighted a few of the fun ones for each Subclass. You’ll can equip up to two Aspects for your Subclass, and each one also adds several slots for items that offer small improvements to your capabilities know as Fragments. While Aspects are specific to each Subclass, Fragments are Class-neutral, meaning they are available to all Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks, and the right selection can radically change your build to a suit a different playstyle.
Just like weapons and armor, Destiny 2 Subclasses can be easily switched at any time, however your Class is locked, and you’ll have to create additional characters if you’d like to see what the other Classes have to offer. You can have only three characters at a time in Destiny 2, so that’s enough for one of each Class. You can read all about each one below:
Destiny 2 Titan overview
Destiny 2 Titan Class
Titans are the closest Destiny 2 gets to a tank class. They can provide devastating power or solid defenses through their various abilities. Titans need to use their Barricade Class Ability to deliver some decent cover to allies, but they’re also needed on the frontline to batter the enemy and soak up some damage for the more fragile Destiny 2 Classes.
With skills that emphasize getting up close and personal, Melee abilities are quite important for Titans, so you’ll want to ensure your armor has good Strength stats to reduce your Melee Ability cooldown. The Titan Class Stat is Resilience, which slightly increases your shield capacity, can massively improve your damage resistance in PvE activities, and improves your Barricade Class Ability’s cooldown, so you’ll want to have high Resilience too. As a Titan, you’ll also get to wear a Titan Mark as your Class Item armor piece.
Titan Class Ability – Barricade
- Towering Barricade: A large wall of Light that blocks incoming damage. Great for providing cover or extending existing cover to reload, reposition, or hold ground.
- Rally Barricade: A waist-high wall that provides good cover for crouched Guardians and allows you to peek over by aiming your weapon. Firing your weapon from this position also increases reload speed, stability, and range.
Titan Jump Ability – Lift
Lift is activated by pressing the X/A button while in the air. To get the most out of Lift, you’ll want to double-tap A/X to immediately launch into your Lift. Activating Lift while falling will only slow your fall and will not increase your height.
- High Lift: This will boost you high into the air, trading distance and control for height.
- Strafe Lift: Use this Lift option if you want finer mid-air control. It trades height for directional control, which you can use to gain a little extra distance if you hold forward.
- Catapult Lift: Gain a strong burst of momentum as you activate Lift, providing extra speed and a balance of height, control, and distance.
Sunbreaker Titan Solar Subclass
Destiny 2 Solar 3.0 builds
Try these Destiny 2 Solar 3.0 builds for Hunters, Warlocks, and Titans
The Sunbreaker Titan Subclass is all about using flaming hammers to bring devastation to the battlefield. For your Melee Ability, you get the choice between the white-hot Throwing Hammer, or you can launch into a scorching hammer swing attack with Hammer Strike. As for Super Abilities, Hammer of Sol is the classic Sunbreaker Super, allowing you to toss out exploding hammers, dealing damage up close or at range. If a big flaming hammer is more your style, you’ll want to use the Burning Maul Super Ability to smash the ground and create fire cyclones, or whirl around bashing anything in your path.
Enhance your Solar abilities with the Sol Invictus Aspect which causes Solar Ability kills, Hammer of Sol hits, and defeated scorched targets to create a powerful Sunspot – a towering flame that boosts your Ability regeneration rate, causes your Super abilities to drain more slowly, and heals you while standing inside. You can also use the Consecration Aspect to get an extra melee attack that causes you to launch into a hammer uppercut and then down into a ground slam, creating waves of fire as you do so.
Striker Titan Arc Subclass
As a Striker Titan, you’ll be using your Arc-empowered fists to deal lightning damage up close, especially with the area-of-effect lightning slams from your Fists of Havoc Super Ability. Code of the Earthshaker Striker Titans leave long-lasting damage effects in their wake, whether that’s from longer-lasting Grenade abilities, or lingering Arc pulses from Fists of Havoc. Alternatively, Code of the Juggernaut is all about striking enemies to activate various buffs, making you a punching powerhouse, and you’ll extend the duration of Fists of Havoc with each kill you get with it.
Lastly, Code of the Missile switches Strike by making your whole Guardian a beating implement. Fists of Havoc becomes Thundercrash – a Super Ability that lets you hurtle through the air to deliver a blast of Arc energy – and your Ballistic Slam Melee Ability slams you into the ground from the air at high speed.
Sentinel Titan Void Subclass
Sentinel Titans are the true defenders and frontline fighters in Destiny 2. You can fulfil your Captain America fantasies with the Shield Throw Melee Ability which sends out a ricocheting Void Shield that generates an Overshield with each target hit. Sentinels also get the Ward of Dawn and Sentinel Shield Super Abilities, the former creating a static bubble that provides a powerful weapon damage buff. Sentinel Shield is the more offensive option and allows a Titan to attack enemies with shield bashes and guard their allies to increase their weapon damage.
One Void Aspects you can equip to augment your Sentinel abilities, along with an array of Fragments, is Controlled Demolition, which causes enemies struck with Void abilities to become Volatile, meaning they’ll explode if they take more damage. If you’re looking to support your team more directly, you’ll want the Bastion Aspect to provide Overshields for you and nearby allies whenever you cast your Super or Barricade.
Behemoth Titan Stasis Subclass
As the first Destiny 2 Darkness Subclass for Titans, the Behemoth is an unstoppable force on the field. Use the Shiver Strike Melee Ability to lunge at an enemy with a Stasis gauntlet and knock them back. More Stasis gauntlet action comes from the Glacial Quake Super, which provides high damage resistance, and allows Behemoths to slam the ground with the gauntlet to create a wave of Stasis crystals, freezing anything in the way. Glacial Quake also supercharges Shiver Strike with extra damage and a shorter cooldown, allowing you to crash through crystals and wreak havoc.
For added crystal-smashing power, you’ll want the Cryoclasm Aspect, which adds a longer slide that can smash through Stasis crystals and shatter frozen enemies. Tectonic Harvest pairs nicely as it allows you to reap the benefits of destroying crystals with Stasis shards which grant a bit of melee energy when collected.
Destiny 2 Hunter overview
Destiny 2 Hunter Class
Hunters are the highly mobile damage dealing Class of Destiny 2. With nimble movements and an array of lethal traps and abilities, these assassin-like characters can cause chaos on the battlefield. Hunters can perform capably at almost any range in Destiny 2, using their Dodge Class Ability to evade any kind of danger, be it surrounding enemies or enemy sniper fire.
Since agility is key to performing well as Hunter, you’ll want to ensure your Mobility armor stat is as high as possible to reduce your Dodge cooldown but also to increase your jump height and strafing speed. Hunters have a versatile set of trapping Melee and Grenade abilities such as Smoke Bombs and Tripmines, so having a high Strength or Discipline stat can help with these depending on what you like. Hunters also get to wear a Cloak as their Class Item armor piece, which usually consists of a hood with a long cape.
Hunter Class Ability – Dodge
- Marksman’s Dodge: Perform an evasive roll to quickly avoid danger, while also fully reloading your currently held weapon.
- Gambler’s Dodge: Perform an evasive roll to quickly avoid danger. Doing so near enemies will fully recharge your Melee Ability.
- Acrobat’s Dodge: Perform an evasive flip to avoid danger and apply the Radiant buff to yourself and nearby allies. This is exclusive to the Gunslinger Subclass.
Hunter Jump Ability – Double Jump
Double Jump is activated by pressing the X/A button while in the air. For maximum height, you’ll want to Double Jump as you reach the apex of your first jump. Activate Double Jump while in the air to reduce your momentum and break any falls.
- High Jump: Your extra jump will boost you vertically into the air.
- Strafe Jump: Trade height for extra control. Changing your movement direction input as you activate Double Jump will allow you to easily change direction.
- Triple Jump: Gain an extra jump, allowing you to jump twice in the air. The jumps are relatively weak but provide a balance of height and agility overall.
Gunslinger Hunter Solar Subclass
Gunslinger Hunters in Destiny 2 make use of ranged abilities and the Radiant buff to become expert weapon users and deal as much damage as they can. This is partly achieved by the Gunslinger’s powerful Super Abilities: The blazing Golden Gun, which has two variants – the fast-shooting Deadshot and the more precise Marksman – or Blade Barrage, which sends out two volleys of flaming knives. More ranged options come in the form of a suite of throwing knife Melee Abilities, including a proximity explosive knife, a fan of knives, and a weighted knife.
With the Knock ‘Em Down Aspect, you can enhance your Solar Super Abilities to make them last longer and perform even better, allowing you to deal even more damage. Try out the Gunpowder Gamble Aspect if you want more explosives for your Hunter as it lets you charge up and toss out an improvised explosive that can be shot out the air to create a large blast. You can round this all off with the Acrobat’s Dodge Class Ability and apply Radiant to yourself and nearby allies with a fancy flip.
Arcstrider Hunter Arc Subclass
The Arcstrider Hunter Subclass is a master of mobility, using lightning-fast moves to be harder to hit and deadly up close. The Arc Staff Super allows Arcstriders to move acrobatically and execute simple melee combos for solid damage. Way of the Warrior is all about using your Melee and Dodge abilities together to deal damage at close range.
Way of the Wind leans into being a difficult target and disruptive force with the Disorienting Blow Melee Ability, a faster sprinting speed, and increased damage resistance while dodging. Finally, Way of the Current focuses on Arc attacks. You gain the ability to deflect projectiles with Arc Staff and can perform a deadly uppercut attack with your Melee Ability during a slide to release a small Arc wave.
Nightstalker Hunter Void Subclass
The Nightstalker Void Subclass for Hunters has the ultimate trapper and assassin skillset, with the ability to weaken enemies with tether traps, and turn invisible. The Shadowshot Super allows you to fire an arrow that creates a Void Anchor trap that tethers nearby enemies, weakening and suppressing them. It also comes in two flavors: Deadfall, which fires one long-lasting anchor that covers a large area, and Moebius Quiver, which fires two volleys of three seeking arrows that make targets volatile. However, if you want something like Arc Staff, you can use the Spectral Blades Super, which also allows you to go invisible.
To enhance your Nightstalker abilities, you can choose the Vanishing Step Void Aspect, which allows you to become invisible simply by dodging – great for getting out of a bad situation. But if you want to get more use out of your Smoke Bomb Melee Ability, choose the Trapper’s Ambush Aspect to gain the ability to dive to the ground and release a large smoke cloud, weakening enemies and turning allies invisible.
Revenant Hunter Stasis Subclass
Destiny 2 Hunters can embrace the Darkness with the Revenant Stasis Subclass to create a blizzard on the field and slow enemies with chilling abilities. The Super Ability, Silence and Squall, launches a pair of kama blades. The first will instantly freeze enemies in place if they’re hit by its cold blast, while the second kama creates a Stasis storm that tracks towards enemies, destroys frozen foes, and applies a slowing effect to any stragglers. Revenant Hunters also get a pair of Withering Blade shuriken for their Melee Ability, which they can toss out to damage and slow enemies.
With the focus very much on slowing and freezing targets, you can choose two Stasis Aspects to help. The Shatterdive Aspect allows Revenant Hunters to rapidly descend while in the air, shattering nearby frozen targets and Stasis crystals when they hit the ground. To enhance your evasive capabilities, Winter’s Shroud causes your Dodge Ability to slow nearby enemies, but if you’re a fan of Stasis grenades, pick the Touch of Winter Aspect to improve them in different ways.
Destiny 2 Warlock overview
Destiny 2 Warlock Class
Warlocks are the chaotic spellcasters of Destiny 2 and employ plenty of space magic to destroy their foes and benefit from numerous buffs. Certain Warlock Subclasses also allow them to fulfil a much more supportive role, providing healing for the team or AI companions that provide a little extra firepower. Their Rift Class Ability is at the forefront of this supportive part of Warlocks, providing continuous healing or a buff to weapon damage.
A high Recovery stat is what benefits a Warlock most in Destiny 2. It will not only make them much better at staying alive in the field with faster health and shield regeneration, but it’ll also increase the recharge rate of their Rift Class abilities to help the rest of their fireteam. With a range of destructive abilities across Melee, Grenade, and Super abilities, Warlocks are quite versatile, but a higher Intellect will mean you can use those Super abilities more often. Warlocks don a Bond on their arm as their Class Item armor piece.
Warlock Class Ability – Rift
- Healing Rift: Summon a well on the ground that continuously heals you and any allies that are inside it.
- Empowering Rift: Summon a well on the ground that boosts weapon damage for you and any allies that are inside it.
Warlock Jump Ability – Glide
Glide is activated by pressing the X/A button while in the air. To get the most height out of Glide, you need to double-tap A/X to immediately launch yourself upwards. Activating Glide while falling will slow your fall substantially but will not increase your height.
- Strafe Glide: Offers great control over the direction of travel while gliding, allowing you to change direction more easily.
- Burst Glide: This Glide sacrifices control for a strong initial burst of speed, allowing you to travel and rise faster.
- Balanced Glide: A combination of Strafe and Burst Glide to provide moderate speed and control.
- Blink: A unique, short-range teleporting jump that is exclusive to the Voidwalker Subclass.
Dawnblade Warlock Solar Subclass
With this Solar Subclass, Warlocks can rain fire from the sky or provide powerful healing and other buffs to support their fire team. The Daybreak Super Ability lets you soar through the air and launch fire projectiles from a flaming sword. For more team support, choose the Well of Radiance Super Ability to create an aura of healing and boosted weapon damage for you and your allies to benefit from. As for Melee Abilities, you can send out a controlled spiral of solar energy with Celestial Fire or try Incinerator Snap to fire a fan of exploding sparks with the snap of your fingers.
Use the Touch of Flame Aspect to make your Solar Grenade Abilities even more potent, especially the Solar Grenade which can spit out blobs of lava for extra damage, or the Fusion Grenade which explodes twice. Gain air superiority with the Heat Rises Aspect which allows you to attack while gliding and consume your Grenade Ability to extend your glide and remain in the air with the Heat Rises buff.
Stormcaller Warlock Arc Subclass
Destiny 2 Warlock Stormcallers make use of chaotic Arc abilities to deal lots of damage, mainly through the Stormtrance Super Ability that lets Warlocks shoot chaining lightning from their hands. With Attunement of Conduction, Stormcaller Warlocks use their Melee and Grenade abilities to create even more lightning that chains between enemies. Their Stormtrance Ability also gains a nice short-range teleport!
However, Attunement of the Elements adds even more ways to deal Arc damage with your Warlock Subclass – casting Stormtrance fires a lightning shockwave directly below and you and your allies gain a little Arc Soul buddy while standing in your Rifts that fires bursts of Arc bolts at enemies to deal a little extra damage. For more focused Arc power, Attunement of Control converts Stormtrance into a concentrated beam of Arc energy that can melt through tougher enemies.
Voidwalker Warlock Void Subclass
The Voidwalker Subclass for Warlocks has a strong emphasis on all-out destruction and cosmic explosions. One of the main ways this is achieved is through the Nova Bomb Super Ability. You can hurl out a slow-moving Cataclysm Nova Bomb that tracks enemies and fractures into smaller projectiles after the initial detonation, or a faster Vortex Nova Bomb that explodes and leaves a damaging vortex behind. However, Nova Warp is also available, and it lets you teleport around and charge up Void eruptions that you can release to blow up enemies.
To enhance your Voidwalker abilities, you’ll need to choose two Void Aspects. The Child of the Old Gods Aspect creates a Void Soul for yourself when you cast a Rift. This Void companion then seeks out the next enemy you shoot to weaken them and drain their health, granting you either Ability energy or health in return. But if you’re hungry for healing, the Feed the Void Aspect makes all Void Ability kills activate the Devour buff, which heals you after any final blow and extends its duration.
Shadebinder Warlock Stasis Subclass
Warlocks can shatter their foes with the Destiny 2 Shadebinder Stasis Subclass. The Winter’s Wrath Super Ability summons an icy staff that can freeze enemies with bolts of Stasis. This can be followed up with a shockwave that shatters any frozen enemies nearby, making this Super especially lethal. The Penumbral Blast Melee Ability brings the staff out too by firing out a single Stasis blast to freeze any foes that get hit.
You’ll need Stasis Aspects to improve your freezing and shattering abilities as a Shadebinder Warlock. Take the Iceflare Bolts Aspect to spawn Stasis seekers by shattering a frozen target that track to enemies and freeze them in place. You can also lock down areas by turning your Stasis Grenade Ability into a Stasis turret with the Bleak Watcher Aspect – the turret fires slowing projectiles that can eventually freeze targets.
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