Week 1: Proving Grounds Grandmaster Nightfall Guide and Builds

Week 1 Grandmaster Nightfall Guide and Builds (Season of Defiance)

Grandmasters are here!

In this guide, we’ll be highlighting some key aspects of the strike and modifiers for this week’s Grandmaster Nightfall.

If you’re looking for builds for each class that will work well for the strike, you’ve come to the right place.

Dive into our Prismatic Hunter guides, Prismatic Warlock guides, and Prismatic Titan guides for the newly released expansion, The Final Shape.

• Strike Details
• Section Breakdowns
• Recommended Builds
  • Titan
  • Hunter
  • Warlock

Strike Details

• Strike: Proving Grounds
• Champions: Barrier and Unstoppable
• Surges: Solar and Strand (25% bonus to outgoing damage)
• Overcharged Weapon: Sniper (25% bonus to outgoing damage)
• Threat: Solar (25% increase to incoming damage)
• Weapon Reward: Hung Jury (Adept)

Strike Section Breakdowns

Outdoor Start

There isn’t too much threat here at the beginning due to the amount of space there is for cover and to separate from enemies. The primary enemy to watch for are the Scorpius turrets. Long distance weapons can handle these no problem.

The primary threat at the end of this section is the mini boss Colossus at the entry of the ship. Positioning your team to the left of the platform and melting this mini boss down with supers and high damage weapons

Skyburner’s Oath can be used to shoot out its shield from the outside

Vehicle Bay

The interceptors are a large threat and should be handled first as they are mobile and deal splash solar damage. The driver can be killed by sniping them out of the vehicle.

After killing waves of enemies and champions, 2 land tanks will spawn. Break line of sight on one tank while damaging the other and remain mobile to prevent the solar missile from hitting you as it will one hit.

Enemies will spawn while the tanks are active, so kill them fast enough to prevent the extra enemies from spawning or hide underneath the central area to clear the enemies while being hidden from the land tanks.

Tank Engine Rooms

The charge can be dropped and picked back up, and it will eventually respawn if its timer ends.

Clear the enemies out before trying to dunk the charge. If enemies are present, jumping across the chasm and into groups of enemies will result in an immediate death. Take your time and clear them out.

Boss Room

Stick towards the entry of the room. This is the safest spot, which isn’t saying much.

Shoot the Solar Orbs the boss sends out. These will 1 shot a player, and are imperative in staying alive.

When the boss drops the large shield, clear out the waves of enemies and Champions before advancing the fight by shooting out the shield

Skyburner’s Oath can shoot out the shield from the entry of the room, making it great for this strike.

Best Builds for Proving Grounds Grandmaster Nightfall (Week 1, Season 20)

Proving Grounds GM Titan Build

[See detailed Titan build]

Build Highlights

• Stunning Unstoppable Champions by suspending enemies with grenades and Barricade
• Prevent Barrier Champions from activating their shield with suspen
• High burst damage with Succession and Sleeper to quickly take out targets that are stunned
• General control of the battlefield with being able to suspend enemies
• The ability to reduce enemies’ outgoing damage by severing them with precision hits

Proving Grounds GM Hunter Build

[See detailed Hunter build]

Build Highlights

• Can stun Unstoppable Champions with Skyburner’s Oath
• Can stun Barrier Champions when Volatile Rounds are active from Volatile Flow
• Uses invisibility for revives, objectives, and closing the gap for finishers
• Finishers on Champions will grant invisibility for safety, create Heavy Ammo with Aeon Swift, and Special Ammo with Special Finisher
• Weaken targets with Vortex Grenades or Super to quickly burst down targets
• Break the shield in the final boss room with Skyburner’s Oath to avoid going into the shield
• Destroy the final boss’ solar orbs with a machine gun

Proving Grounds GM Warlock Build

[See detailed Warlock build]

Build Highlights

• Utilizes Starfire Protocol, Fusion Grenades, and Witherhoard while having capabilities of stunning Champions
• Can stun Untoppable Champions with Ignitions
• Becoming Radiant with a powered melee hit which then grants the ability to stun Barrier Champions
• Well of Radiance is in the kit for safety during the most difficult sections
• Utilizes a machine gun for shooting the solar orbs in the final boss room

Closing Thoughts

The 3 builds listed here work well when utilized together. If teammates are using different builds, each build has its own merits and can handle both Champion types, but be sure to have teammates utilize reliable means of handing champions as well.

This week also boasts double rewards, so be sure to farm for twice the weapon drops, ciphers, and upgrade materials!

For more builds, weapon god rolls, and tier lists, head to our new Destiny 2 site.