Arc 3.0 Titan Builds – Destiny 2

Arc 3.0: Titan Builds for PVP and PVE

Welcome to the Titan edition of our electrifying Arc Titan 3.0 guides! Arc Titan has been a PvE staple since the release of Crest of the Fallen Star and was a top PvP class many seasons ago.

Now with the Arc 3.0 rework this class has only become a better option in PvE and has new tools to return to its high to top-tier performance in the crucible.

Before we jump into the builds you should know a few terms that refer to the new Arc subclasses.

Be sure to also check out our Arc Warlock 3.0 builds and Arc Hunter 3.0 builds.

These terms influence how the new classes play heavily.

Amplified – A buff in which a guardian can run faster, slide further, and has improved weapon handling. This buff is not accessed through any Aspects nor Fragments, but is rather intrinsically built into Arc 3.0 and received after defeating multiple targets with Arc damage. A guardian with the Amplified buff will receive more bonuses after sprinting which include even faster sprint speed, a PvE damage resist bonus, and a longer slide length.

Blind – This is a debuff the new arc abilities will dish out. PvE enemies who are blinded will not see, be disoriented, and unable to shoot their weapons. PvP enemies who are blinded will have their HUD removed, their screen will be white, and will have a ringing audio until the debuff ends.

Jolt – The other debuff guardians will apply to enemies. Jolted enemies who are damaged will spread electric charges and damage nearby allies similar to the conduction effect of Dunemarchers.

Ionic Traces – This isn’t a new keyword per se, but is a key portion of the new Arc rework. Ionic Traces are currently only available for Stormcaller, but will be available for all classes moving forward and give back ability energy once they are picked up similar to stasis shards.

Now that you know the new Arc terms, let’s get in to the builds

PvE Build Recommendations

Thundercrash is a top tier super, now with Arc 3.0 we have a little bit more to build around for the Titan’s neutral game. We are going to make our build based around our grenade ability to feed cooldowns to get our grenade back and for our high damage dealing super and melee abilities.

Abilities

Super: Thundercrash – Must use here; Fist of Havoc does not deal enough damage to justify using. Meanwhile Thundercrash is one of the best supers from a DPS perspective.

Class Ability: Rally Barricade – You’ll be spending a lot of time in your barricade, so you can definitely use the weapon buffs rally barricade gives you.

Movement Ability: Strafe Lift – This is the easiest jump to get the “titan skate” with by jumping and then tapping jump as you are about to hit the ground and repeat the cycle. This can be done with catapult too, but is less forgiving.

Melee Ability: Thunderclap – When this melee is fully charged it deals a lot of damage, there is a bit of a learning curve in that it cannot be activated by your alternate melee button

Grenade Ability: Pulse Grenade – This grenade is quite versatile in that it is a good for ad clear, Jolts enemies with Touch of Thunder, and it is a good way to supplement DPS during damage phases.

Aspects

Touch of Thunder: This gives a big buff to any grenade you use. It is recommended you use the Pulse Grenade. This aspect makes your Pulse Grenade create Ionic Traces and increase in damage over time.

Knockout: Breaking a target’s shield or critically wounding them increases melee range and damage. Defeating a target with a melee makes the Titan Amplified and starts health regeneration.

Fragments

Spark of Shock: Your grenades Jolt targets

Spark of Ions: Defeating Jolted targets creates an Ionic Trace

Spark of Amplitude: Rapidly defeating targets while Amplified creates an Orb of Power

Spark of Beacons: While Amplified killing a target with an Arc special weapon creates a Blinding explosion

Stat Prioritization

Resilience: 40% damage resistance, that alone should influence you to run 100 Resilience. Not only this, but it is tied to your class ability as well.

Discipline: Your cooldowns more or less revolve around your grenade, with high discipline you ensure getting your grenade back to kickstart your Ionic Trace creations.

Recommended Exotics

Cuirass of the Falling Star: A must-use as it buffs your Thundercrash damage significantly. If you are able to, using a different exotic and then swapping to this exotic during a damage phase is optimal.

Heart of Inmost Light: This is the most recommended exotic for the neutral game. Using an ability increases the damage and regeneration rate of others. With this exotic, you will have your abilities even faster and they will do more damage.

An Insurmountable Skullfort: If you want to lean into the melee aspect of this build this exotic is for you as it will let you utilize Thunderclap almost indefinitely and heal off of it.

Recommended Mods

Elemental Ordnance: Grenade final blows create an elemental well. You’ll be spawning lots of wells with this mod and build.

Elemental Charge: Picking up a well makes you Charged with Light. You will get this very easily from the previous mod, and from here you can use any Charged with Light mod you want.

Ashes to Assets: Grenade kills grant super energy. You’ll be throwing your grenades often and you have one of the best supers in the game. This is a great mod to have to ensure you have your super for every damage phase and circumvent the long cooldown.

Melee Wellmaker: Melee final blows will create an elemental well. This will be easy to get going as you’ll be utilizing Thunderclap often.

General Strategy

At the end of the day, Thundercrash paired with Crest of the Fallen Star is a top-tier single target damage super. The super is easy enough to use, so let’s get into the other 99% of the time you won’t have your super up.

If you are able, using one exotic for neutral game and then quickly swapping to Crest of the Fallen Star before you use your super is a very viable option. That way you don’t have an exotic that only works during that 1% of gameplay.

The build we are going for here involves using the super strictly for boss damage, a very strong melee for yellow bar targets that don’t have enough health to justify using a super, and grenades that have aspects and fragments based around them to clear many red bar enemies and create ionic traces for ability cooldowns.

Grenades are the heart of the neutral game in which a grenade Jolts enemies and creates Ionic Traces. With the recommended mods these grenade kills will get you Amplified, give super and melee energy, spawn an elemental well, and spawn an orb of power.

This gives you the flexibility to empower your arc weapons, reduce cooldowns to use abilities on other targets, and utilize an arc special weapon to create a blinding explosion via Spark of Beacons.

PvP Build Recommendations

Titan can play two ways with the new Arc 3.0 system; the more streamlined choice is a close-quarter build and the other is a grenade-based defensive build. The former is what most people will be going for, but the latter can be created with the available tools in this kit if that is the playstyle you prefer.

Abilities

Super: Thundercrash or Fist of Havoc – Both are viable, for Trials it is recommended to use Thundercrash as a shutdown super while you will rarely use Fist of Havoc for the extended cooldown.

Class Ability: Towering Barricade or Thruster – For the up close build Thruster is the way to close distance on enemies, but for a defensive, map control build, Towering Barricade is the play.

Movement Ability: Strafe Lift – This jump is the easiest to get good speed with, and if you are willing to work with catapult the benefit is greater, but more difficult to use.

Melee Ability: Seismic Strike – It is a great blend of mobility and offensive prowess. Using it to get around the map faster does not utilize its charge.

Grenade Ability: Lightning Grenade – Great tool for map control no matter the build you are using. It is recommended to use the Fastball mod with this grenade to ensure it sticks to walls in the right spot.

Aspects

Knockout: Great option for close-quarters combat. It ensures melee attacks land and starts health regeneration for sustainability.

Juggernaut (CQC) or Touch of Thunder (Defensive): If playing close quarters, Juggernaut is the play to sprint at enemies with extra health. If playing an area control build with grenades, the Touch of Thunder is the better option.

Fragments

Spark of Resistance: Increased damage resistance when surrounded by enemies

Spark of Magnitude: Your grenades last longer

Spark of Recharge: When critically wounded, grenade and melee recharge rate is faster

Spark of Ions (4th Fragment if using Touch of Thunder): Defeating a Jolted target creates an Ionic Trace

Stat Prioritization

Resilience: Increased damage resistance as well as faster Thruster or Towering Barricade cooldown. High priority for Titan.

Strength: If running a Juggernaut build then Strength is great to have as you will be using Seismic Strike offensively and putting it on cooldown.

Discipline: If running a grenade based build with Touch of Thunder you have to go for Discipline to have your grenades off cooldown more often.

Recommended Exotics

Dunemarchers: Lets you close the distance faster due to increased sprint speed and if you Seismic Strike into a group of enemies the chain lightning will finish off the target you hit.

Antaeus Wards: Why not have another shield? Pairs very well with a shotgun as you can slide when in shotgun distance for a shield, shoot your shot, and then melee to activate Seismic Strike which will kill your enemy if the shotgun shot did not.

Heart of Inmost Law: Good for a defensive grenade build as it will buff your Touch of Thunder grenades and can lead to some cheeky kills if you Jolt targets with a buffed Lightning Grenade.

Recommended Mods

Utility Kickstart: This gets your class cooldown quicker for more barricades or Thruster

Fastball: Great with Touch of Thunder if building around Lightning Grenades

Grenade Kickstart: An expensive mod, but with buffed grenades it is well worth it

General Strategy

If running a close-quarters build there are a lot of ways to close a gap on an enemy. Juggernaut shield, Thruster, and Antaeus Wards are all ways to get closer and tank damage to get into range for a shotgun or glaive.

Do not sleep on glaives, they are very strong. You can get up close using these tools, then fire the ranged attack, if it hits you get a shield that will make you nearly unkillable to shoot another ranged attack or a melee to finish the enemy. This build revolves around these abilities as they will let you get the most out of close-range weapons.

If running Touch of Thunder, playing around with grenades will force enemies into poor positions. Your grenades will Jolt enemies, deal over 100 damage, and you will get 2 of them with a fast cooldown if building into grenades. Utilize both grenades to make it such that the enemy has no place to go other than retreat or push you with limited health.

Towering Barricade is also great for map control as it can block off choke points, secure revives, capture points, and heavy ammo. You are also able to counter enemies who try to play up close by having Towering Barricade which will bring an enemy down to very low health if they pass through it, and Knockout which makes your melee empowered and start health regeneration.

Closing Thoughts

Titan is associated with running it down and punching, which you can definitely do with this class. But you can also play it with some nuance leveraging Touch of Thunder and the versatility of class abilities this class has access to.

If playing PvP try out both methods depending on the map and what your enemies’ loadouts are.

Thanks for reading! Check out our other Destiny 2 class guides here.