Best Destiny 2 Warlock Stasis Build For PvE and PvP (Season 23)

The dust has settled a bit following the release of Lightfall, Destiny 2's latest expansion. Now that it's been out for some time, we can finally take a look at the revamped mod system and put together what we consider to be top-tier Meta builds. 

What makes a build good? It all depends on what you want to do. If you're a PVE fanatic, you might find more value in builds that are better for burst damage and survivability. PVP players might need faster recovery and snappier movement options. Things that don't necessarily hit hard, but certainly hit fast. Let's get down to brass tacks and take a look at the best PVE and PVP builds for Stasis Warlocks in Destiny 2.

Best Stasis Warlock PVE Build: Oh Snap, Coldsnap

Welcome to Stasis. The first Darkness power we ever wielded and one that is in a great place right now for Warlocks. While the exotic armor piece that we're taking advantage of today has been around for just over a year now, its time to shine has finally come. Osmiomancy Gloves grants you an additional Grenade charge and makes your Coldsnap Grenades significantly more deadly. Our build is going to be about taking advantage of this year's changes to Champion stuns and status effects. Let's dive into some colder waters with our Stasis Warlock PVE build, Oh Snap, Coldsnap. 

Required Gear

• Exotic Armor: Osmiomancy Gloves (Guantlets)

These gloves make it so that you gain both a bonus grenade charge, as well as making the Coldsnap Seekers more aggressive. This is the core of the build as hitting targets with these seekers will regen up to 75% of our Grenade energy, meaning that we can spam those Coldsnap Grenades constantly. 

Class Setup

• Super: Winter's Wrath
• Grenade: Coldsnap Grenade
• Class Ability: Healing Rift
• Melee: Penumbral Blast
• Jump: Burst Glide

Aspects

• Glacial Harvest which causes Stasis Shards to spawn when freezing targets. 
• Bleak Watcher makes it so that you can hold your grenade and turn it into a freezing turret, slowing enemies.

The reason we're going with Bleak Watcher is that we want both slow and freezing status effects which will allow us to deal with Overload and Unstoppable Champions, respectively, without even beginning to worry about what weapons we're running. This frees us up to running basically whatever weapons we want to without worrying about the weapon type. 

Fragments

• Whisper of Fissures which increases the damage and size of the burst of Stasis when you destroy frozen objects and enemies.
• Whisper of Chains grants increased damage resistance when you're near frozen enemies and/or a friendly Stasis crystal.  
• Whisper of Rime makes it so that the Stasis Shards we pick up grant a small amount of an Overshield that lasts 10 seconds. 
• Whisper of Impetus reloads your stowed weapons and grants a boost to weapon readiness when damaging a target with a Stasis Melee.  

Armor Mods

Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for ability uptime to further lean into the grenade, melee, and some defense and damage output. 

• Head Mods: I recommend Harmonic Syphon x2 and Heavy Ammo Finder for more orbs and heavy ammo
• Arm Mods: I recommend Momentum Transfer, Impact Induction, and Bolstering Detonation for some class ability, melee, and grenade uptime. 
• Chest Mods: I recommend any damage reduction mods of your choice. We can just focus on leaning into some additional survivability here.  
• Leg Mods: I recommend weapon surge mods that lean into whatever weapons you're running. More on that in a bit, but Stasis Surge mods are the way to go.  
• Bond Mods: I recommend Time Dilation and Outreach x2 for more class ability and extensions on Armor Charges. 

I know this doesn't inherently generate a ton of Grenade energy for the build, but remember that we're going to be regenerating so much grenade energy just from using the Grenades as well as Melee charges that we don't need to waste mod slots on grenade uptime at all. 

Weapons

• Kinetic Slot: I cannot recommend Conditional Finality enough. It's an amazing gun in general, as well as being straight-up fun to use. However, if you're in the same boat as I am and just don't have one yet, you can also get away with a Chill Clip Fusion Rifle. I use Burden of Guilt since I don't have a crafted Deliverance yet, but you really can't go wrong here as long as you're rocking something that can freeze enemies. 
• Energy Slot: The choice here is yours, but I recommend using something that can take care of Barrier Champions in Master-level content. If you're doing something a little bit more laidback, then have your pick! Something that balances range a bit more against your Fusion Rifle or Conditional Finality shotgun is a good choice. I love the Insidious Pulse Rifle from Vow of the Disciple but go crazy here. 
• Heavy Slot: Again, this is completely up to you. I do recommend at least a Stand heavy weapon again. Something like Bump In The Night that has Chill Clip is going to lean into the build synergy really well, but I would also challenge you to use a Heavy Machine Gun like Chain of Command with Demolitionist and Adrenaline Junkie. These two perks together work extremely well with a Grenade-oriented build like this one. 

Stat Distribution 

For these, you'll want to focus on 100 Resilience and at least 90 Recovery for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. You'd think because of the build's Grenade focus that you'd want a high Discipline, but honestly, as long as you can squeeze out a 50, you're good. I'd almost recommend Strength over Discipline here just because you will be surprised at how often you have a Grenade ready to go. 

Conclusion

This is a silly fun build to take into things like Master Lost Sectors. You virtually never have to worry about Champions at all because the enemy density is so great that you'll constantly be throwing a Grenade, hitting 3 targets, shooting them with weapons that either freeze or grant more grenade energy, and then immediately throwing a grenade again. While Stasis might not be on everyone's priority list, I have certainly enjoyed running this build. 

Best Strand Warlock PVP Build: Stagnant Glacier

The goal of this PVP build is not only to freeze everything you see but also to survive virtually anything that gets thrown at you. With this build, you'll be able to take a shotgun blast at point-blank range and survive it, at least in certain situations. Let's take a look at how we're going to infuriate our opponents in everything from Control to Trials of Osiris. 

Required Gear

• Exotic Armor: The Stag (helmet)

Instead of leaning into something like Transversive Steps for extra mobility, we're going to use the Stag. This build is going to provide so much damage resistance that you can sit in a Healing Rift and eat shotgun pellets like they're Cheerios. 

Class Setup

• Super: Winter's Wrath
• Grenade: Glacial Grenade
• Class Ability: Healing Rift
• Melee: Penumbral Blast
• Jump: Burst Glide

Aspects

• Glacial Harvest which causes Stasis Shards to spawn when freezing targets.
• Frostpulse which sends out a freezing shockwave on Rift casts. 

Using the Stag, which is all about casting Rifts along with Frostpulse, which will freeze people who are foolish enough to get close by, will make for a chilling combo and will keep Shotgunning Apes away from you. 

Fragments

Unlike in most Warlock PVP builds the Fragments we're going to use are actually fairly useful! These will provide some additional support when moving toward your enemies in any Crucible setting. 

• Whisper of Chains grants increased damage resistance when you're near frozen enemies and/or a friendly Stasis crystal.  
• Whisper of Rendering makes Primary ammo weapons deal increased damage to Stasis crystals and frozen targets.
• Whisper of Rime makes it so that the Stasis Shards we pick up grant a small amount of an Overshield that lasts 10 seconds.
• Whisper of Conduction makes nearby Stasis Shards track to you.

Armor Mods

Outside of Stat Mods, you'll want to min/max for weapon steadiness and handling. These are all pretty straightforward and grant bonus weapon stats and ability recovery. 

• Head Mods: I recommend Kinetic OR Energy Targeting (and a siphon mod for fun!) 
• Arm Mods: I recommend any Reloaders of your choice.
• Chest Mods: I recommend Unflinching mods of your choice.
• Leg Mods: I recommend Innervation x3 for grenade regeneration.
• Bond Mods: I recommend Bomber x3 again, for grenade regeneration. 

Weapons

• Kinetic Slot: mixing it up a bit here and going with either a Stasis, Chill Clip, Fusion Rife like Burden of Guilt or Deliverance, or if you have it, the Root of NightmaresConditional Finality. Either option is a great fit!
• Energy Slot: Here, we're going to rock something like the  BXR-55 Battler or another weapon that fits the map. Hand Cannons, Pulse rifles, or even the Dead Man's Tale if you can get away with all of that range!
• Heavy Slot: This is completely up to you. Personally, Rockets are always a go-to in PVP due to their wide blast radius, making it tough to miss an opponent, but if you want to rock a Heavy Machine Gun, that would work, too. 

With no exotic requirements to help to keep the build together, you can really sub out anything and replace it with your favorite exotic!

Stat Distribution 

For these, you'll want to focus on high Resilience and Recovery for both survivability, but also Rift uptime. Next would be Discipline for maintaining your Grenade refresh time.  

Conclusion

This build is something that I've had a great time with both in Comp and Trials of Osiris. Most players may mix it up a bit, too, once they see what the playstyle of this whole thing is. If that happens, try switching to Coldsnap Grenades. At the end of the day, make them regret getting too close to you. 

These are the best Stasis Warlock builds for PVE and PVP right now. Make sure you save them in your new Loadout slots before you start moving on to your next build!