Solar 3.0 Titan Builds – Destiny 2

Solar 3.0 Titan Builds for PVP and PVE

Upon initial release the community wasn’t too fond of most of the Solar 3.0 changes.

The power is definitely there, it just didn’t come as clearly as that of Void 3.0. If when you first played Destiny and you picked a titan thinking you’d be a tank that can take more hits than everyone else you’ve probably been quite disappointed.

At least until now, because you can live that tank fantasy with the Solar 3.0 Titan.

Before we get into the builds we have to go over a few of the Solar 3.0 terms below.

Solar Subclass Terms

Cure

A quick burst of healing. This heal is an instantaneous chunk of health that is returned.

Restoration

Health regeneration that occurs over a short window of time continuously. This is like recovery, but is not interrupted by taking damage.

Radiant

A weapon damage increase, in PvP this is 10% and PvE this is 25%.

Scorch

A debuff applied to a target in which they take burn damage. Scorch stacks up to 100 stacks. As stacks of scorch increases, the damage of the burn increases until 100 stacks of scorch are reached in which a target ignites.

Ignite

A large explosion of solar damage that affects nearby targets.

PvE Build Recommendations

Between new build options, exotics, and resilience changes the Titan can be a tank now.

This PvE build is designed to take as much of a beating as possible and still packs a punch with some solar explosions and damage output.

Abilities

Super

• Hammer of Sol – This super is great for clearing out low to mid health enemies quickly. Neither super has great single target DPS, so I recommend going for the super that is better for clearing enemies.

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. You also don’t need the extra protection from towering barricade as you’ll be able to take the extra damage no problem.

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

• Throwing Hammer – This ability lets you activate sunspots and wells quite easily. I highly recommend binding the “charged melee” with auto melee off so you throw your hammer at enemies up close rather than punching them because of the effects the hammer exclusively activates.

Grenade Ability

• Tripmine or Solar Grenade – In general I think the tripmine grenade is better for scorch stacks and damage, but the tripmine grenade can self damage, and if you throw it to kill enemies meleeing you while you are in your sunspot you can kill yourself. This is where the solar grenade can be a better option as you can throw it at your own feet with no worries.

Aspects

Sol Invictus

Solar ability final blows create sunspots. Your throwing hammer can do this no problem as you can keep getting a kill and picking it back up. You will deal extra damage and get restoration from sunspots too. And if enemies enter the sunspot they are damaged and scorched.

Roaring Flames

Solar ability final blows increase the damage of solar abilities. This is a nice loop of damage as you will continuously throw your hammer and this will increase the damage of future hammer throws and grenades.

Fragments

Ember of Singeing

Get your class ability faster when you scorch targets. You’ll be dealing a lot of burn damage, and using your class ability gives you the most ability to tank. So you should be aiming to get your barricade back as quickly as possible.

Ember of Torches

Your throwing hammer hits give you and allies radiant. You and nearby allies will essentially have an infinite 25% weapon damage boost from this fragment.

Ember of Solace

Restoration from your sunspots lasts longer as well as the radiant buff for your weapon damage from melee hits.

Ember of Ashes

This fragment makes you apply more storch stacks and increases the chances you’ll ignite a target for massive damage.

Stat Prioritization

Resilience

It is crazy to think I am recommending getting 100 resilience at the cost of any other stats. But here we are. Max resilience gives 40% damage resistance and your barricade as fast as possible. You will be able to take much more damage and lay down barricades for the sunspot and healing quite often.

Resilience

Seriously… get 100 resilience. No other stat comes even close to comparison for this build.

Discipline

If you really want to focus on something other than resilience then go for discipline. Grenade kills can boost up your other solar ability damage, and the throwing hammer’s cooldown doesn’t matter as you can pick it back up.

Recommended Exotics

Loreley Splendor Helm

This is the most recommended exotic and allows you to become a tank on demand by granting extra restoration and drops a sunspot when you are critically wounded and have class ability energy or use your class ability.

Heart of Inmost Light

This further increases the benefit of Roaring Flames in which solar abilities empower other solar abilities.

Recommended Mods

Melee Wellmaker

Melee final blows will create a solar elemental well. This will be easy to get going as you’ll get hammer kills very often.

Font of Might

If using Xenophage or Lament, you’ll be able to deal extra damage with these after picking up an elemental well.

Well of Ordnance

A melee kill empowers your grenade from roaring flames, and with this mod the well will also give back grenade energy in case you don’t have it back.

Classy Restoration

This season 17 artifact mod adds even more to the healing you have when placing a barricade.

Utility Kickstart

You’ll have your barricade even more often with this mod.

General Strategy

If using Loreley Splendor you really don’t have much to think about defensively. In the adjacent clip my team was trying to wipe so I stood still and was able to tank all of this damage by doing absolutely nothing in a dungeon encounter that was 15 light levels above my equipped light level.

One bit of advice I do recommend is to try to stay closer to the ground if possible. Your sunspot is your main form of healing and you’ll have to be near the ground to get the benefits of it. So if you are floating high you won’t get to heal through damage.

As for offense, your throwing hammer is how you get things going. These spawn elemental wells that can increase weapon damage from Font of Might and the radiant buff which stack. Throwing Hammer also empowers itself and grenades from Roaring Flames.

In general, the Throwing Hammer deals more damage than a standard melee which is why I recommend to bind charged melee to a different ability to avoid using a standard melee over your Throwing Hammer.

With this build you can feel free to use up close damage options like swords because you can take so much damage from enemies up close. The Lament is a great option due to the solar synergy.

PvP Build Recommendations

The solar titan has nothing crazy about it in PvP now that sunspots had some changes after the introduction of Loreley Splendor helm, but it has a solid neutral game and a good super for multikills.

The strength of the neutral game comes from being able to survive a lot of situations other classes cannot, similar to the Void 3.0 titan.

Abilities

Super

Hammer of Sol – Although it has a longer cooldown of the 2 supers, Hammer of Sol is much easier to find value from as Burning Maul gets kited far too easily.

Class Ability

Towering or Rally Barricade – Depending on playstyle, both options are viable. Towering barricade is great for sectioning off areas for objectives and revives while rally barricade is great to camp a sunspot to have a massive advantage in a fight if the opponent commits to it.

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

Throwing Hammer or Hammer Strike – Again both options are good here depending on playstyle. Throwing Hammer plays just like the hunter’s throwing knife as it can be combined with a hand cannon shot for a quick kill. Meanwhile, Hammer Strike is great for movement around the map and on a kill creates a sunspot directly where you are standing which allows you to take damage from other players during the long animation of hammer strike.

Grenade Ability

Tripmine or Solar Grenade – Tripmine grenades deal a lot of damage and can be used for area denial while solar grenades are just a solid easy to use grenade. I would recommend tripmines over the solar grenade if the map is indoors and has a lot of walls to stick them to.

Aspects

Sol Invictus

This Aspect is the cornerstone of Sunspots as it gives them restoration and makes it such that ability kills create sunspots.

Consecration

This ability is a bit of a gimmick, but can occasionally get a lot of value in 6v6 game modes. In PvP there are fewer ability kills, so the value of Roaring Flames isn’t quite there aside from the extra Fragment. Having the consecration melee ability in your toolkit in case there is a good moment to use it is more valuable than an extra Fragment.

Fragments

Ember of Torches

This fragment gives you a 10% buff to weapon damage when you get a hit from your melee ability or Consecration. The first or second hits from Consecration give this buff, so you do not need to finish the full animation to get the radiant buff.

Ember of Solace

This fragment extends the radiant damage buff and the restoration health buff which gives even more value from your healing barricades.

Ember of Singeing

This helps get your class ability back faster when you tag any enemy with scorch, and your class ability is your means of survivability.

Stat Prioritization

Resilience

With the Loreley Splendor Helm, high resilience will make you very hard to kill as your class ability will often be up to activate the healing sunspot.

Strength

The melee abilities are solid for this class, and Consecration is also tied to melee cooldown. Your investment in strength goes a long way.

Recommended Exotics

Loreley Splendor Helm

This exotic is a must use for the solar titan as it synergizes so well with the kit and makes the barricade a rift and a Wormhusk hunter dodge all in one.

The Path of Burning Steps

The exotic perk is solar kills increase weapon damage. This can stack with radiant and works for solar weapons. So if you are using sunshot it will give you a stack, just one stack gives a 20% damage boost, and with multiple stacks and radiant you can 2 tap a guardian with Sunshot.

Recommended Mods

Classy Restoration

This Season 17 artifact mod adds fuel to the fire that is your barricade tankiness. A must use while you can.

Utility Kickstart

This gets your class cooldown quicker for more barricades and sunspot activations.

Fastball

If using tripmine grenades this is a great perk to have to make sure the grenade gets on to the wall you want it to be.

General Strategy

Using your sunspots and playing around them is how this build is used ideally. When critically wounded, using a barricade, or getting a solar ability hit, a sunspot is created.

You heal a lot while in these sunspots and have a massive advantage in a fight if it is taken while you are standing in a sunspot. You are by no means invincible in a sunspot, so they should be used to quickly dip in to cover to heal for a re-engage rather than to take a fight in which you have no health.

The throwing hammer is a great way to make multiple sunspots to chain together a few kills as it creates a sunspot and the cooldown can be reset by picking up the hammer that is most likely on the ground in the newly created sunspot.

This quick healing boost will allow you to take on another enemy and to use the throwing hammer once again if need be for a quick and large chunk of damage.

Using your barricade and Loreley Splendor Helm you can proactively set up a fight in a contested choke point by using a barricade before the fight so you can heal throughout the duel and the opponent’s only real options are to try to hit you with a one-shot or to disengage, giving you map control of that area. This is great for capture zones, revives, and heavy ammo.

Closing Thoughts

If you take one thing away from this guide it is to build for high resilience, especially for titans. The stat is so strong in PvE for all classes, and is great for titans in PvP due to the strength of barricade.

If you find yourself dying a lot in content that you are below enemy light level and/or has a high enemy density you should definitely try out this titan build to tank the damage that would kill any other class.

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