Solar Hunters are a challenging build to put together due to how versatile they can be. But once all the pieces come together, their combo of throwing knives and Tripmine Grenades make for a deadly mix. Here is a solid PvE and PvP build for a Solar Hunter in Destiny 2 right now.
Best PvE Solar Hunter build in Destiny 2
The PvE build for a Solar Hunter in Destiny 2 centers on the Throwing Knife ability and the Assassin’s Cowl Exotic Helm. Basically, you’ll be using your knives to sustain your invisibility and keep the adds from shooting you too much. This allows you to set yourself up with the perfect vantage point to take out enemies from afar, or to get in close with your favorite shotgun.
This build requires a lot of practice and skill; there’s no doubt about that. Missing a Throwing Knife means the entire loop will be ruined and you’ll have to manage on your own for a bit. But once you get used to how everything chains together you’ll see that this build can wreak some precise havoc.
Related: Best Destiny 2 Void Hunter build: PvP and PvE
Best PvE Solar Hunter Aspects and Fragments
Aspects:
- Knock ’em Down – While radiant, final blows with your equipped Throwing Knife fully refund your melee energy
- On Your Mark – Precision final blows grant you and nearby allies increased weapon handling and reload speed for a short duration. Stacks 3 times.
Fragments:
- Ember of Torches – Powered melee attacks against combatants make you and nearby allies radiant. -10 Discipline.
- Ember of Solace – Radiant and restoration effects applied to you have increased duration.
- Ember of Empyrean – Solar weapon or ability final blows extend the duration of restoration and radiant effects applied to you. -10 Resilience.
- Ember of Resolve – Solar grenade final blows cure you.
- Ember of Searing – Defeating scorched targets grants melee energy and created a Firesprite. +10 Recovery.
The first thing you’ll likely notice here is that five fragments are listed. That’s because On Your Mark grants an extra slot and that’s a pretty big deal. But the important Aspect to focus on is Knock ’em Down. This makes your Throwing Knives operate similarly to the Titan’s Solar hammer throw attack since they’re able to pick the hammer back up and instantly refill their melee energy. With Knock ’em Down, Hunters just need to defeat their target with the knife to refill this bar immediately.
As for Fragments, I’ve gone for a spread that increases your survivability. Ultimately, you won’t have invisibility all the time, so we need to make the most of Solar’s other supportive mechanics. Ember of Torches works with your Throwing Knife to make you and your allies radiant. Then Ember of Solace will increase the duration of radiant for yourself. And if you’ve got a Solar weapon, you can further increase the duration by defeating enemies. These Fragments end up working together very well and can keep you alive and boost your damage output.
Best PvE Solar Hunter abilities
- Super – Blade Barrage
- Class Ability – Acrobat’s Dodge or Gambler’s Dodge
- Movement Ability – Any jump you’d like
- Melee – Knife Trick
- Grenade – Solar Grenade
Blade Barrage is a better choice over the other supers since it’s an excellent clearer of adds. Plus it’s very quick to pop and can get you out of a really bad situation. Acrobat’s Dodge instantly gives you radiant, which feeds into the loop with the Fragments. Alternatively, you can pick Gambler’s Dodge if you’d rather instantly have your Throwing Knife back. And that’s useful if you use the other Throwing Knives. But with Knife Trick, you shouldn’t miss your targets often. Finally, the Firebolt Grenade is a solid choice since it deals plenty of damage against enemies, applies scorch, and has a low cooldown.
Best PvE Solar Hunter weapons and armor
Exotic Armor:
- Assassin’s Cowl – Powered melee kills and finishers grant invisibility and healing.
Weapons:
- Any Solar weapon you want. Felwinter’s Lie is a fantastic shotgun and Annual Skate is a good Hand Cannon.
- Bring a Sniper Rifle for long-range or a Shotgun for close encounters. And then bring something that can easily control midrange like a Hand Cannon or an Auto Rifle.
- Any Power weapon you want, preferably a Solar one.
Mods:
- Helmet – Hands-on, Solar Siphon, and Solar Targeting
- Arms – Impact Induction, Momentum Transfer
- Chest – Solar Reserves, Unflinching Solar Aim
- Legs – Invigoration, Solar Scavenger
- Class Item – Outreach, Proximity Ward, Reaper
- Stats – Discipline, Resilience, and Strength
As mentioned earlier, the Assassin’s Cowl is a must for this build due to the invisibility perk. Plus the extra healing means you should have a much easier time surviving encounters.
For weapons, it’s mostly down to your personal preference but you need to bring a solar weapon with you. Ember of Empyrean won’t be as effective if you don’t have a Solar weapon in your loadout. There are a ton of great Solar weapons to choose from in Destiny 2 for this build though so it shouldn’t stifle your options too much.
The mods chosen here are going to boost the recovery rate of your melee and class ability cooldowns. They’re also going to buff your Solar weapons in small but meaningful ways. Solar Siphon is a must since it lets you generate more Orbs of Power on Solar weapon kills. Impact Induction and Momentum Transfer work together to reduce your grenade and melee cooldowns. And then I like to have Proximity Ward to give me a little breathing room with finishers. And since finishers work with Assassin’s Cowl, it’s a good one to have.
Best PvP Solar Hunter build in Destiny 2
The game plan for this Solar Hunter build in Destiny 2 PvP is completely different to its approach in PvE content. Like other PvP builds for Hunters, the goal is to use the class’ trickier abilities to throw off other players and score some easy kills.
Some major focuses in this build are going to be the Tripmine Grenade and a higher emphasis on stats like Mobility and Recovery. We’re still also going to be making full use of the Proximity Explosive Knife to deal some heavy damage. Plus there’s a much higher emphasis on using this class’ ability to scorch and ignite targets.
Best PvP Solar Hunter Aspects and Fragments
Aspects:
- Knock ’em Down – While radiant, final blows with your equipped Throwing Knife fully refund your melee energy
- On Your Mark – Precision final blows grant you and nearby allies increased weapon handling and reload speed for a short duration. Stacks 3 times.
Fragments:
- Ember of Searing – Defeating scorched targets grants melee energy and creates a Firesprite. +10 Recovery.
- Ember of Ashes – You apply more scorch stacks to targets.
- Ember of Empyrean – Solar weapon or ability final blows extend the duration of restoration and radiant effects applied to you. -10 Resilience.
- Ember of Blistering – Defeating targets with Solar ignitions grants grenade energy.
- Ember of Combustion – Final blows with a Solar Super causes targets to ignite and creates a Firesprite. +10 Strength.
The Aspects remain mostly unchanged since Gunpowder Gamble just isn’t that useful unfortunately. And since On Your Mark gives us another Fragment slot it’s easily the best one to choose.
Fragments on the other hand are almost entirely different in comparison to the PvE build. The focus now is on buffing your ability to scorch targets. And by causing enemies to ignite, you’ll be rewarded with grenade energy. And since Tripmine Grenades are so good at controlling areas in the Crucible, this is the best setup to go with.
Best PvE Solar Hunter abilities
- Super – Blade Barrage
- Class Ability – Acrobat’s Dodge or Gambler’s Dodge
- Movement Ability – Any jump you’d like
- Melee – Proximity Explosive Knife or Knife Trick
- Grenade – Tripmine Grenade
The big differences here are with the melee and grenade abilities. I’ve gone with Proximity and Explosive Knife to give you two ways of surprising enemy Guardians. Alternatively, you can choose Knife Trick if you prefer the versatility that it offers. And since this whole build revolves around using the Tripmine Grenade it’s no surprise that you should pick that too.
Best PvP Solar Hunter weapons and armor
Exotic Armor:
- Young Ahamkara’s Spine – Increases Tripmine Grenade duration and blast radius. Gain Tripmine Grenade energy from ability final blows.
Weapons:
- Any Solar weapon you want.
- Felwinter’s Lie, BXR-55 Battler, CALUS Mini-Tool, Sunshot, Beloved, Epochal Integration, and Trustee to name a few excellent Solar weapons.
Mods:
- Helmet – Power Preservation, Solar Siphon, and Solar Targeting
- Arms – Impact Induction, Momentum Transfer
- Chest – Solar Reserves, Unflinching Solar Aim
- Legs – Invigoration, Solar Scavenger
- Class Item – Outreach, Distribution, Reaper
- Stats – Mobility, Resilience, and Discipline
So the biggest deviation here is the choice of Exotic. But since Tripmine Grenades are so vital to this Solar Hunter build Young Ahamkara’s Spine is the only real choice. This Exotic makes these grenades so much deadlier. And if you’re lucky you’ll routinely get one or two guardians killed in the blast. An honorable mention can go to Frost-EE5 since it reduces all of your cooldowns while sprinting. And while I don’t recommend it wholly, if you want to have an exotic with a more general buff it’s a good one to go for.
Your choice of weapons is still mostly down to personal preference. I highly recommend packing a shotgun since this is still the Crucible we’re talking about and they’ll never not be useful. But remember to pack a Solar gun to make the most of the Ember of Empyrean Fragment. My personal recommendation is the Epochal Integration since I’ve been having a lot of fun with it recently. Check out how to get the Epochal Integration for yourself if you haven’t done so yet.
Most of the mods are also unchanged from the PvE build except for a few exceptions. Power Preservation is a must-have since it lets you create extra Orbs of Power. And being able to help out your teammates like that is key to winning Crucible matches. Proximity Ward gets swapped out for Distribution to further buff your cooldown speed.
The stats we’re focusing on for this Solar Hunter Build are a little different. I value mobility since a Hunter should be fast and able to escape a bad situation with ease. But Resilience is also extremely important to keep you alive. And if you want even better grenade cooldowns, invest in Discipline.
Each Solar Hunter build can decimate foes in Destiny 2. But they’re equally challenging to use effectively. Put in plenty of practice with them to understand what they’re capable of.
