A “build” is the selection of talents you choose from your character. It’s the process of carefully selecting your perks and weapons to suit your playstyle.
You’ll want to play around with different combinations to suit different circumstances, it all depends on how you prefer to play.
Training focused on battle Recovery and toughness. +2 Armor, +2 Recovery
Training focused on speed and toughness. +2 Armor, +2 Agility
Training focused on battle Recovery and speed. +2 Agility, +2 Recovery
Training focused on all attributes. +2 Armor, +1 Agility, +2 Recovery
Training focused on maximum Recovery. +5 Recovery
Training focused on raw speed. +1 Armor, +4 Agility
Subclass: Defender
Playstyle: Defensive/Passive
Engagements: Close Quarters
Strengths: Dominant against offensive encounters
Excellent for passive guardians. This class is great for PvP, especially in Control. It offers everything you need to hold down a control point or area. The weapons are fully suited for close to mid-range encounters.
There is a good balance is desirability between Fusion Rifles and Shotguns, although, this will depend on what map you are playing on.
Looking at the details for PvE, this is a build orientated around Nightfall and Weekly Strikes. It’s optimized for encounters with overwhelming amounts of enemies, in which case Ward of Dawn combined with the Helm of Saint-14 is simply perfect.
With this subclass you are looking to stay alive as much as possible, and so the perks in the upgrade tree are all focused on health and duration boosts. Everything that doesn’t offer those boosts is focused on making you even more powerful and better performing is close encounters.
War Machine will speed your reload times, so you can take on enemy after enemy and Catapult is for quick escapes from overwhelming assaults.
When you have your Ward of Dawn active, you are basically invincible to your enemies. You can hold off an entire team independently, which may be crucial in a strategic game of Control, as it may give you the extra time you need to capture a point. The Ward of Dawn bubble is an excellent team support super.
Blessing of Light gives a shield on entry and exit, so popping in and out of the Ward keeps your shields high. It’s great for zone control when defending a point or offense while trying to gain ground.
With the Magnetic grenade, you can use it to trade with supers. It will often detonate after the damage reduction activation period ends. Using the Magnetic grenade intelligently and stacking discipline to support it can land you many kills on opponents; a Magnetic grenade can easily attach to someone for an instant kill.
Subclass: Striker
Playstyle: Methodical/Tactical
Engagements: Close Quarters
Strengths: Dynamic
This is a build designed for slower paced, methodical playstyles. Strategic and objective-crazed players will benefit most from this setup.
One of the tasks this build is designed for is breaching. Flashbang grenades and shotguns make a great combination for clearing out a confined space of enemies, especially around control points.
The Armamentarium Exotic armor piece strongly compliments this build. The strategy of using Flashbang’s is very well supported by having an additional grenade in your arsenal!
Use an auto rifle, or scout rifle if you’ve got good aim, so you won’t be forced to divert from engagement since they compliment any field of battle.
If the battle is lost, the Codexs’ ability to boost your speed and recovery mean you can dive in and out of battles effectively. The added Juggernaut sprint shield only adds to this, making it less likely for enemies to down you while you are relocating or retreating.
With this build you are looking to control engagements as much as you can, Rocket Launchers are very suitable for this method, taking out enemies behind cover or preventing those from entering engagements. As your ideal area of battle is confined spaces and hallways, having many surfaces to aim for with rockets is putting them in their ideal environment by leaving opponents always near a surface to aim for.
Additionally, the various AoE perks in this build make it harder for enemies to intrude certain areas, such as Control points, doorways and tight paths.
Subclass: Striker
Playstyle: Aggressive/Offensive
Engagements: Close Quarters – Mid-range
Strengths: Diverse and Controlling
While this class may be generally slow-moving, its power is undeniably great in combat. Lightning grenades offer the ultimate control stance. They are incredibly dangerous to players that ignore them, and those that understand their power, will avoid them at all costs and forfeit the control on an area to you.
Lightning grenades also have the unique ability (when used correctly) to take out an entire room of guardians without even needing to expose yourself. A skilled hand with these grenades grants ultimate dominance in combat.
We have a complete guide to Destiny’s grenades which you can read here.
This build is focused on being durable and offensive in combat. Similar to the “Stalker” build, but with more sustainability. It is designed to push enemies back with force and little need for consideration to strategy.
While defending with this build you are putting yourself in a tight spot. It’s not designed for holding positions, but for pushing forward on the frontier.
In PvP it might be all you need to break every stalemate. Any one of these abilities are designed to break up the fights and move you forward.
Subclass: Striker
Playstyle: Scout Unit/Lone Wolf
Engagements: Mid-Long Range
Strengths: Survival
Designed for large scale PvP environments, this build is perfect for snipers. Designed for patient and determined players, this class offers strategic and methodical players the ability to control vast stretched of land.
The build is focused on raw speed and adaptability. Titans are much more orientated around raw combat abilities, and so this class is much more prepared to being stalked and attacked outside their arranged long range combat scenarios.
Heavy machine guns and Death From Above give these “Crusader” Titans more of an edge in these combat circumstances. All of this can be augmented with the Flashbang grenade. Throw one into a room, and the enemy is blinded, confused, and afraid when you show up to unleash your deadly attack.