Destiny 2 – Phoenix Protocol Warlock PVE build (Lumina, Attunement of Grace)

Today I am going to be looking at a Warlock PVE build focused around healing and supporting your teammates. Often in Destiny, we’re trying to maximise our own damage output, but this combination of exotic armour and weapons plus some mods is going to make us the MVP of any fireteam for a range of PVE activities including seasonal activities, raids and nightfalls. The following is a guide for a Phoenix Protocol Warlock PVE build in Destiny 2.

With the introduction of Attunement of Grace a while back, this gave us our first look at what a support focused subclass could be. However, with the combination of mods, weapons and exotic armour we’re going to supercharge the support capability of our Warlocks, dishing out orbs and charged with light buffs all over the place.

I held off on this build for some time, however, now I have seen the power of it and how it helps you and your teammates tear through PVE activities I am definitely going to be rocking this build more often.

Let’s have a look at the build in more detail.

Exotic Armour

Phoenix Protocol is an Exotic Warlock Chest Armor. It was originally introduced in Season 4 of Destiny 2 along with Forsaken, and it’s easy to see why as this one is going to go perfectly with our subclass, but more on that in a minute.

• Battle-Hearth – Kills and assists you make while standing in your Well of Radiance return Super energy.
• Mobility Enhancement Mod – Increased mobility.

What we want to do here is build up our super and then drop down a well. Ideally, then you want to kill as many enemies as possible while standing in the well to get back your super very fast. Testing this out I consistently managed to get back 70-80% of my super energy each time, then it’s just a simple matter of picking up a few orbs and going again.

Let’s check out the subclass that’s going to go with our armour.

Subclass – The Attunement of Grace

The Attunement of Grace is the middle ability tree for the Dawnblade subclass of Warlock class.

Abilities

• Divine Protection — Convert your grenade into a Blessing that heals ally targets and drops over shields you and your allies can pick up. Activate Divine Protection while Gliding to hover in midair.
• Guiding Flame — Strike an enemy with this melee ability to inflict burn damage and empower yourself and nearby allies.
• Benevolent Dawn — Healing or empowering your allies regenerates your grenade, melee and Rift energy.
• Well of Radiance — Thrusts your Daybreak sword into the ground. The sword continuously projects a powerful aura that heals and empowers nearby allies. Replaces Daybreak as subclass Super.

The main benefit we’re going to be using here if the Well of Radiance, and by using this in combination with our exotic armour and a handy rapid-fire weapon, we’re going to be getting back that well of radiance very quickly.

In combination with this Divine Protection goes really well with this as you can turn your grenade into a Blessing, which you can throw like a grenade and heal teammates. You melee also empowers those around you. You may be sacrificing your damage output on this subclass, but by empowering and supporting others it’s really going to help you tear through PVE, especially if your teammates are kitted out for max damage.

Next up, lets have a look at the weapons.

Weapons

I am going to be using a combination of weapons that with further support the healing motif of the build, as well as help us get rapid kills while in the well of radiance to make sure we’re getting back our super as quickly as possible.

Lumina is an Exotic / Kinetic / Hand Cannon.

• Noble Rounds – Kills with this weapon leave behind Remnants. Absorbing a Remnant converts your next hip fired shot into an ally-seeking Noble Round and partially refills the magazine.
• Blessing of the Sky – Using a Noble Round on an ally heals them and grants both you and them a weapon damage bonus for a short duration.

Lumina is a pretty good hand cannon, and you have to run through an exotic quest to get it. You can check out a guide for that quest here. Again, this goes great with the support these as once you collect remnants you then fire a healing shot as your teammates.

IKELOS_SR_V1.0.2 is a Legendary / Energy / Sniper Rifle.

• Rapid-Fire Frame – Deeper ammo reserves. Slightly faster reload when the magazine is empty.
• Box Breathing – Aiming this weapon for a short period without firing grants bonus range and precision damage that resets after firing or exiting zoom.

Having a sniper with the well of radiance works nicely as you can place the well at a strategic angle, where you can pick off enemies from range, and if you place it in the right place, you could be picking off two or more sets of enemies. This also works great with a mod we’re going to be using called Guardian Angel, where you can generate healing orbs on sniper precision kills.

Temporal Cause is a Legendary / Power / Machine Gun

• Rapid-Fire Frame – Deeper ammo reserves. Slightly faster reload when magazine is empty.
• Surrounded – This weapon gains bonus damage when three or more enemies are in close proximity.

A machine gun is good for this build as you can open up once you are sitting in the well of radiance and get rapid kills to regenerate that super energy. I chose Temporal Clause because this one is available from Umbral Engrams this season and it’s not going to be sunset immediately in Beyond Light. However, if you are watching this in the future then swapping this out for any relevant machine gun will do.

Finally, let’s check out the mods for the build.

Mods

• Guardian Angel – Grants a chance to generate healing orbs for you on Scout Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Bow, and Linear Fusion Rifle precision final blows.
• Light of the Fire – Rapidly defeating targets with the detonation of a Warmind Cell generates an Orb of Light.
• Powerful Friends – When you become Charged with Light, nearby allies also become Charged with Light, if they are not already. Increased Mobility +20 Mobility
• Taking Charge – Become charged with light when picking up orbs.
• Fireteam Medic – Destroying a Warmind Cell creates a burst of healing for you and allies near you.

Guardian Angel is currently available via the seasonal artefact and works well with a sniper, scout, bow or linear fusion. I’m using a sniper here for my range damage, plus the Ikelos Sniper is one of the best in the game right now that isn’t going to be sunset. Light of the fire is a warmind cell focused mod, so when you defeat enemies by detonating warmind cells, you’re going to be creating orbs that help your fireteam. Powerful friends have to be one of the best mods in the game, and I don’t think I realised how powerful this thing is. You can pick this one up from Banshee when he’s selling it, although I do think that is quite rare. Do keep an eye on him as his stock rotates daily.

Powerful Friends is great because when you become charged with light, then so do the people around you PLUS you get a +20 on mobility stats. I’m using Taking Charge, as always, to get charged with light so all I need to do is pick up orbs. Finally, I am using Fireteam medic for a burst of healing when I destroy Warmind Cells.

All of this adds to a one man healing machine and you are really going to be helping out those around you.

Let’s have a look at some gameplay:

• Get some kills with Lumina and help out your fireteam with noble rounds
• Generate some orbs with precision sniper kills
• Build up that super energy
• Drop a well of radiance for your fireteam
• Get as many kills as you can with your machine gun, building back up that super
• Build back up about 80% of the super, pick up a few orbs and then go again
• Help your fireteam get charged with light with powerful friends
• Heal, fire, heal repeat

Let me know what you think of this build down in the comments. If you have any suggestions on how to make it better, let me know and if you want to see any specific builds focused on some armour, let me know!

That’s it for this Phoenix Protocol Warlock PVE build in Destiny 2. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out the Shadowkeep Guide or check out the YouTube Channel.