While it can be very difficult to get past the sheer powerhouse that Hunters can be on other subclasses, a solid Arc build can really get work done in Destiny 2 if you know how to put it together. This Shinobu’s Vow build is actually something I have been experimenting with for a while, and it can really pump out the damage right now in Destiny 2.
The reality is that the description of Shinobu’s Vow in the game is not doing it justice, and there are multiple benefits to using this Exotic, especially in combination with certain mods from the Season of the Deep artifact.
Best Arc Hunter with Shinobu’s Vow Build in Destiny 2
I have found it best to stay very specific with this build and to understand what this build is for. Arc Hunters are in an odd spot right now, as Void and Solar builds are capable of reaching ridiculous levels. This build is really designed to provide almost constant uptime on grenades, regular supers, and a decent loop in the class ability and melee. It is not designed to survive in extreme tiers of difficulty but will absolutely dominate regular content.
Build Breakdown
The build takes advantage of the multiple benefits from Shinobu’s Vow to turn your Skip Grenades into a core damage-dealing mechanic. Combined with the mod choices, Exotic weapon, and Artifact mods, you will be hurling a grenade every two to three seconds. Successfully killing enemies with a powered melee will fully charge your class ability, and using your class ability near enemies will fully recharge your melee. It’s a good synergy that allows you to make mistakes and mistime melees but not suffer too hard for it, as your melee will also proc a large healing burst.
We will be taking advantage of Jolt, Ionic Traces, Orbs of Power, and non-decaying Armor Charges to really power up this build. I would also argue that the Trinity Ghoul Exotic Bow is a very important part of this build, so if you haven’t gotten lucky yet, you can try to focus the weapon from Rahool in the Tower.
One very important thing to know is how the Lightning Strikes Twice mod works on this build. The mod gives you an increased grenade recharge after you throw a grenade. This starts instantly when you throw the grenade. The mod will also extend the duration of the increased recharge rate with every Arc kill. So, you throw the grenade, and the timer starts at just a few seconds. It ticks down while the Skip Grenades traces are traveling, then gets a bump when they kill something. If you kill something with Trinity Ghoul’s Arc attack, that will also extend it. You can extend it all the way up to 20 seconds and hold it there as long as you keep killing with Arc.
- Exotic Weapons and Armor
- Legendary Weapons
- Super and Abilities
- Aspects
- Fragments
- Artifact Mods
- Armor Mods
- Take Me To The Summary
Exotic Weapons and Armor, Legendary Weapons
Exotic Armor – Shinobu’s Vow
The in-game description dramatically undersells Shinobu’s Vow, describing it as merely “improving skip grenades.” What it actually does is give you an extra grenade charge, damaging enemies returns grenade energy, and they track further and more aggressively. This is a massive buff to the grenade and makes it practically impossible to miss. When we combine it with our mod set-up, the right attack can return huge volumes of grenade energy thanks to the aforementioned Lightning Strikes Twice mod. You will also have Ionic Traces coming your way, constantly feeding you both additional grenade energy and Armor Charges.
Exotic Weapon – Trinity Ghoul
Trinity Ghoul is a monster at clearing out mobs when you get the Catalyst. It fires arrows that split apart, but you can aim down sights and fully draw the bow to decrease the spread and land easy precision hits. Those precision shots will cause the next shot to deal Arc damage that can chain between targets. When you get the Catalyst, ANY Arc damage final blow will cause chain lighting, as long as the weapon has previously scored a precision hit. Best of all, once you start getting those chain lighting blows, they just feed into each other over and over.
This thing will melt down groups of enemies, providing lots of Orbs from the Siphon we will be running and plenty of Ionic Traces. Best of all, we can combine it with a Heavy Ammo Finder mod in our helmet to ensure we never run out of beautiful purple bricks.
While this build really sings with Trinity Ghoul, you can opt into something like Coldheart or Riskrunner if you prefer. The new Exotic Auto Rifle Centrifuse is also a decent option.
Legendary Weapons
Legendary Weapons are really about filling in gaps, and I would suggest a special like a Shotgun or Fusion to deal with tougher enemies. Personally, I went for my trusty Waylander. In the Power slot, you can run either a machine gun of your choice or a Rocket Launcher like the Hothead to take care of bosses. You can also fall back on your trusty Ikelos SMG if you don’t have any Exotics that would fit into the build.
Super and Abilities
Super – Gathering Storm
Gathering Storm allows you to hurl a staff of pure Arc energy toward enemies. It does damage upon impact, then sticks and continues to damage enemies over time. It caught a slight nerf (from what we can tell) coming into the Season of the Deep, but it is still a fire-and-forget Super that allows you to instantly switch to your weapons for boss damage phases. It also just looks cool as hell, and style matters.
Abilities
- Class Ability – Gambler’s Dodge: This allows you to dodge near an enemy and instantly recharge your melee ability.
- Jump – Triple Jump: needs no explanation.
- Melee – Combination Blow: A quick strike, killing an enemy causes additional damage to your next melee, and this can stack three times. Killing an enemy with it also refills your class ability energy and will heal you a little bit.
- Grenade – Skip Grenades: a core component of the build.
Related: The Best Warlock Arc Fallen Sunstar Build in Destiny 2
Aspects
For aspects, we will be running Flow State and Lethal Current. They will play very nicely into our choices so far and will also allow us to pick four Arc Fragments to really perfect our build.
- Flow State – This Aspect allows you to become Amplified when you defeat a Jolted target. This will play nicely into our Fragments, as one of them will allow our grenades to cause enemies to become Jolted.
- Lethal Current – This will cause your next melee after a dodge to have increased lunge range, Jolt targets, and create a damaging aftershock. You can also melee any Jolted target to blind them. Hitting tougher enemies with a grenade, then a melee to blind them, can really save your bacon in tough fights.
Fragments
Now, the Fragments. These can be purchased from Ikora in the Tower if you do not have access to all of them yet.
- Spark of Shock – causes your Arc grenades to Jolt targets. Remember, Jolt will stun Overload Champions. Regular enemies take more damage when Jolted, and they will chain lightning to nearby enemies.
- Spark of Ions – Defeating a Jolted target creates an Ionic Trace. This can really amp up your ability feedback loop against trash mobs.
- Spark of Discharge – Arc Weapon final blows have a chance to create an Ionic Trace. This is tremendously important for our build, and works wonderfully with Trinity Ghoul, which can cause so many traces at once because of this Fragment.
- Spark of Resistance – You will take less damage when surrounded by enemies. This is a great option if you are struggling with staying alive in content.
Artifact Mods
Our Artifact Mod choices will be pretty self-explanatory, leaning hard into the Arc mods. Other than that, make sure you have any Champion Mods that you need.
- Authorized Mods: Arc – The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Arc weapons are significantly discounted.
- Authorized Mods: Melee – The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your melee are significantly discounted.
- Electric Armor – Stay amplified longer while your Arc subclass is equipped.
- Thunderous Retort – Grants bonus Arc Super damage if cast while critically wounded or while amplified. Lasts until the end of the Super activation.
- Amped Up – Gain damage resistance while amplified.
- Shock and Awe – Arc final blows, while you are amplified, summon a burst of lightning that damages and jolts targets.
- Lightning Strikes Twice – After throwing an Arc grenade, gain increased grenade recharge for a short time. Arc final blows extend the duration of this benefit.
Armor Mods
The armor mods are what really tie the build together, so newer players should be prepared to put some time into upgrading and even Masterworking their armor.
- Helmet
- Harmonic Siphon – Rapid Arc weapon (because they match the subclass) final blows create Orbs of Power.
- Heavy Ammo Finder – This is essentially buffed when killing an Exotic Primary, and that means Trinity Ghoul will be spilling Heavy all over the place.
- Ashes to Assets – Grenade kills provide Super Energy.
- Arms
- Firepower – Grenade final blows create an Orb of Power.
- Bolstering Detonation – Causing damage with a grenade gives you class ability energy.
- Grenade Kickstart – Fully using your grenade energy causes some of that energy to be refunded. Pick up an Orb of Power will give you a temporary Armor Charge, and Armor Changes will be spent to refund even more grenade energy.
- Chest
- Resistance Mods – pick the Resistance Mods that suit the activity you plan on playing.
- Legs
- Recuperation – Picking up an Orb of Power gives back health.
- Innervation – Picking up an Orb of Power reduces grenade cooldown.
- Elemental Charge – Collecting an Ionic Trace (or Firesprite, Void Breach, etc.) will have the chance of giving you an Armor Charge. There will be a LOT of Ionic Traces generated with this build.
- Class Item
- Bomber – reduces your grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
- Proximity Ward – gives you an Overshield when you perform a Finisher. This just gives you extra survivability if things are going very wrong.
- Reaper – the first weapon kill after using your class ability generates an Orb of Power.
You can place any Stat mods you like for your first column. Ideally, you’d get as close to 100 in Resilience and 100 in Discipline as you can. Resilience allows you a degree of damage reduction, while Discipline cuts down your Grenade cooldown.
Build Summary
- Exotic Armor – Shinobu’s Vow
- Exotic Weapon – Trinity Ghoul
- Legendary Weapons – Waylander or any other Special + Hothead
- Super – Gathering Storm
- Abilities – Gambler’s Dodge, Triple Jump, Thunderclap, Pulse Grenade
- Aspects – Touch of Thunder, Knockout
- Fragments – Spark of Shock, Spark of Magnitude, and either Spark of Ions or Spark of Resistance
- Artifact Mods – Authorized Mods: Arc, Authorized Mods: Melee, Electric Armor, Thunderous Retort, Amped Up, Shock and Awe, Lightning Strikes Twice
- Armor Mods
- Helmet – Harmonic Siphon, Heavy Ammo Finder, Ashes to Assets
- Arms – Firepower, Bolstering Detonation, Grenade Kickstart
- Chest – Resistance Mods
- Legs – Recuperation, Innervation, Elemental Charge
- Class Item – Bomber, Proximity Ward, Reaper
As I said, this is not a Grand Master build. I need to experiment a lot more with Arc to find something that is going to stand up to the current Void meta that seems to be in place for that class. Still, it is a lot of fun and can really get some work done when you get it firing on all cylinders.
