The Heart of Inmost Light has been a fantastic Exotic option for Titans in Destiny 2 for quite some time. Despite the armor piece itself catching some nerfs, and changes to other build elements that many people felt weakened it overall, this chest armor offers Arc Titans a fantastic option right now.
The important thing to think about when building around The Heart of Inmost Light is that it allows players to become an ability and Super generating machine while keeping their weapon choices open enough to deal with anything that comes their way. Need to take something that can deal with lots of minor enemies? Not a problem. Forced into a dedicated Champion killing loadout? That’s fine. Either way, your overall gameplay loop will stay the same.
Best Arc Titan with Heart of Inmost Light Build in Destiny 2
As I said, the best thing about this Arc Titan Heart of Inmost Light build is just how malleable it is. You will be able to switch the melee or Super options if you wish, and you could potentially even explore different grenade options, although I do recommend my choice specifically for the damage and control potential.
If you don’t need to run through the reasons and mechanics behind any of my options, you can just jump to the end for a quick summary of everything I have chosen.
Build Breakdown
Up first, a build breakdown for newer players. If you see some phrases that confuse you, don’t worry, I’ll explain them later. Veterans can just click on the Take Me To The Summary section in the list below to get a bare-bones list of everything they need for the build.
A simple rotation of powered melee, grenade, then class ability will keep you nicely ticking over. You will also be able to become Amplified easily, make plenty of Ionic Traces to get even more ability energy, and produce large amounts of Orbs of Power to give both you and your teammates a bump in potency and survivability. Finally, plenty of ways to proc Jolt means nice area of effect damage against enemies and a built-in way to deal with Overload Champions.
- 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 – Heart of Inmost Light
The Heart of Inmost Light comes with the Overflowing Light Perk. This means that using an ability (grenade, melee, or Barricade) empowers the other two abilities for five seconds. Empowered means abilities have faster regen, melees and grenades do more damage, and Barricades have more hit points. You can also double up, using two abilities to really amp up the empowerment on the other.
Exotic Weapon – Anything You Like, Almost
The best thing about this build is that you can run any weapons you like. You don’t need to lean into one specific Exotic. If you want more Super energy, run Bad Juju. Need even more powered melee attacks? Try the Monte Carlo. I have been loving this build as I can use whatever I need in the moment, which is great as I get used to the new anti-Champion meta and find my prized picks for dealing with those powerful enemies.
You can also experiment with Coldheart, Thunderlord, Delicate Tomb, and Riskrunner if you would like an Exotic that does Arc damage and adds to your Ionic Trace generation. Witherhoard is very good with this build, as it is with all builds, especially if you have the Witherhoard Catalyst for automatic reloads. Finally, I’ve been using Forerunner to absolutely melt enemies, as it is pretty cracked right now.
Legendary Weapons
It is quite important that you run some Arc weapons to generate Ionic Traces to keep your abilities up. I like the Ikelos SMG with Voltshot, as it will also cause Jolt very easily. Which weapons you use will rely heavily on your Exotic choice, but don’t be afraid to lean in the Double Special meta, which is still strong right now. Running two Special weapons means you’ll be taking advantage of lots of heavy ammo drops.
My heavy slot has been taken up with either Hothead with Auto-Loading, a Heretic with Cluster Bomb, or the Blowout, all Arc rockets that are providing a lot of value right now. If you have filled your other slots with weapons and still have room for an Exotic, the Grand Overture is going to win a lot of Guardians over this season as soon as people realize what a monster it is.
Super and Abilities
Super – Thundercrash
Thundercrash is one of the most fun Supers in the game, sending you hurtling through the air and delivering a massive Arc explosion wherever you land. You can run the Thunderous Retort mod from your Seasonal Artifact to get a huge damage bonus when you cast it while critically wounded or Amplified. This is great for single-target damage, but if you need to deal with large numbers of lesser enemies, switch to Fists of Havoc. This allows you to run around punching enemies and slamming the floor to leave thunderous pools of Arc energy everywhere.
Abilities
- Class Ability – Thruster: I love the maneuverability of Thruster, but if you need extra protection, then feel free to switch to Rally Barricade, which has a similar cool-down. The barricade will definitely prove useful in later game content, but Thruster just feels so right, especially if you include a sword in your loadout and use Thruster to rapidly close the distance on enemies or dodge boss slams.
- Jump – Strafe Jump: Nothing to really explain here. The Strafe Jump gives strong directional control and is the best Titan jump in the game, in my opinion.
- Melee – Thunderclap: Thunderclap allows you to hold your melee to charge up a powerful blast of energy that will extend out in front of you, frying enemies. The longer you hold, the more damage it will do, and this thing packs a hell of a punch. The way this build is set up, we can also use it to generate some healing.
- Grenade – Pulse Grenade: The Pulse Grenade will sit on the spot you throw it, sending out pulses of damaging energy. It hits hard, especially when empowered by Heart of Inmost Light. It is great for dealing with groups of enemies, dropping on powerful enemies while you add damage from other sources, and zone control.
Related: How to get the Aquanaut Title in Destiny 2
Aspects
For aspects, we will be running Touch of Thunder and Knockout. Not only will they give us very specific benefits, but they will also allow us to pick four Arc Fragments to really perfect our build.
- Touch of Thunder – this Aspect adds additional functionality to your Pulse Grenade, allowing it to generate Ionic Traces while damaging enemies and also causing the damage to scale up over the life of the grenade. Ionic Traces are incredibly useful, tracking toward you across the ground and giving you extra ability energy. Combine this with an Arc weapon, and you’ll have incredible up-time on your abilities.
- Knockout – When you critically wound or break the shields of a target, you infuse your melee attacks with Arc energy. This increases range and damage for a short time. Defeating targets with a melee attack will regen your health and cause you to become Amplified. You can also become Amplified by rapidly defeating targets with Arc damage. Being Amplified increases your movement speed and weapon handling. Remember, if you use the Thunderous Retort mod, you will also get extra damage to your Super while you are amplified.
Fragments
Now, the Fragments. These can be purchased from Ikora in the Tower if you do not have access to all of them yet. Some of them will be optional, meaning you can pick whichever one suits your needs.
- 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. This increases the Pulse grenade’s already impressive wave clear potential.
- Spark of Magnitude – Your Pulse grenade will have an extended duration. This means the damage will continue to ramp up, and even more chance of Ionic Traces.
- Spark of Discharge – Arc weapon kills have a chance to create an Ionic Trace that will seek out the player and give them ability energy.
- Spark of Ions – Defeating a Jolted target creates an Ionic Trace. This can really amp up your ability feedback loop against trash mobs. (optional)
- 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. (optional)
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. Remember to run both Arc and Melee Authorized Mods to support this build.
- Helmet
- Harmonic Siphon – Rapid weapon final blows that match your subclass type create Orbs of Power.
- Hands-On – Melee kills provide Super Energy.
- Ashes to Assets – Grenade kills provide Super Energy.
- Arms
- Firepower – Grenade final blows create an Orb of Power.
- Heavy Handed – Powered melee final blows create an Orb of Power.
- 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
- Charged Up – Increases the max number of Armor Charges you can have by one.
- 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.
- Invigoration – Picking up an Orb of Power reduces melee cooldown.
- Stacks on Stacks – Picking up an Orb of Power gives you one additional stack of Armor Charge.
- Class Item
- Bomber – reduces your grenade cooldown when using your class ability (Thruster).
- Distribution – reduces all ability cooldowns when using your class ability.
- Empowered Finish – using Finishers give you one temporary Armor Charge when you have none.
As you can see, kills with our abilities give us Super energy and Orbs of power, and usually, just using an ability will feed energy to something else in our kit. We also take advantage of Armor Charges to ensure we are getting back our grenades as quickly as possible. Finally, we have some built-in survivability with the Recuperation mod. We will be generating large volumes of Orbs of Power, so finding a means of healing when needed should be pretty easy.
Feel free to select any additional Stat mods 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 – Heart of Inmost Light
- Exotic Weapon – Guardian’s Choice
- Legendary Weapons – Arc weapon of choice
- Super – Thundercrash
- Abilities – Thruster, Strafe Jump, Thunderclap, Pulse Grenade
- Aspects – Touch of Thunder, Knockout
- Fragments – Spark of Shock, Spark of Magnitude Spark of Discharge, 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, Hands-On, Ashes to Assets
- Arms – Firepower, Heavy Handed, Grenade Kickstart
- Chest – Charged Up, Resistance Mods
- Legs – Recuperation, Invigoration, Stacks on Stacks
- Class Item – Bomber, Distribution, Empowered Finish
And there you have it, a Heart of Inmost Light Build for your Arc Titan that will constantly recharge your abilities and also empower them for more damage. I’m sure this build will evolve over the seasons, so I will revisit it for further changes when I make refinements to the build over time.
