This Starfire Protocol Solar Warlock Build is a work-horse build in Edge of Fate. This is going to be great for getting through the Legendary Campaigh, plus Pinnacle Ops found via the Portal, so it’s going to be great for levelling up, plus it’s going to get you through endgame activities too. Today I’m going to tell you why this build is good, the gameplay loop and we’ll put the build together in Destiny 2.
Why this build is good
This build excels because it creates a self-sustaining ability loop that turns the Warlock into a Solar-powered engine of destruction. At its heart is the exotic chest armor Starfire Protocol, which gives you two Fusion Grenade charges and regenerates grenade energy whenever you deal damage with empowered weapons — a condition you’ll meet constantly thanks to the build’s Radiant buffs. What makes this exceptional is that each grenade kill not only deals massive damage (enhanced by mods and Aspects) but also regenerates Rift energy, ensuring you’re cycling between grenades, Rifts, and weapon damage non-stop.
The Solar subclass setup complements Starfire perfectly. Your super, Song of Flame, keeps you and your weapons Radiant, boosting damage and ensuring you’re always dealing empowered weapon damage — directly fueling grenade regeneration. Your Phoenix Dive heals you and nearby allies while also applying scorch when Heat Rises is active, adding crowd control and survivability to your toolkit. And your Incinerator Snap melee ability quickly applies stacks of scorch, priming enemies for ignitions and further ability damage.
What takes this build from strong to dominant are the Aspects and Fragments. Touch of Flame makes your Fusion Grenades explode twice, essentially doubling their damage output — ideal for both bosses and tightly packed enemies. Hellion adds an autonomous Solar mortar that contributes to sustained area denial and extra scorch application. Fragments like Ember of Empyrean, Solace, and Torches extend Radiant and Restoration buffs, while Ember of Ashes ramps up scorch stacks, accelerating ignitions. This all leads to a near-permanent uptime of Radiant (for weapon damage) and Restoration (for healing), keeping you in the fight longer and stronger.
The weapon choices support and extend the build’s strengths. A Pulse Rifle like Last Thursday with Demolitionist directly feeds your grenade loop by granting grenade energy on kills. Aberrant Action, a rocket sidearm, delivers high burst damage with added splash effects from its origin trait, enhancing your ad-clear potential. Gjallarhorn is the cherry on top — its Wolfpack Rounds devastate groups and bosses, while Pack Hunter shares that power with your fireteam, making it a staple for team synergy and high-end DPS phases.
Finally, the armor mods are carefully selected to reinforce the ability loop. Harmonic Siphon, Firepower, and Reaper ensure constant Orb of Power generation, which feeds into mods like Innervation, Grenade Font, and Solar Weapon Surge, reducing cooldowns and increasing weapon damage. Bomber further lowers grenade cooldown when using your class ability, while Time Dilation extends Armor Charge duration, letting you maintain bonuses longer. The entire system feeds into itself — grenades give orbs, orbs fuel damage, damage fuels abilities — creating an incredibly efficient and deadly cycle.
In short, this build is good because it’s tight, efficient, and explosive. Every element — exotic, subclass, weapons, and mods — reinforces the others, letting you rain down empowered Fusion Grenades with minimal downtime, stay Radiant and healed through Restoration, and pump out damage with Solar weapons. Whether you’re melting bosses or clearing waves of enemies, it keeps you powerful, mobile, and endlessly dangerous.
Gameplay loop
- Become Radiant
Use a powered melee (with Ember of Torches) or pop your Song of Flame super to become Radiant and empower weapon damage. - Deal Empowered Weapon Damage
While Radiant, land weapon hits to rapidly regenerate Fusion Grenade energy via Starfire Protocol. - Throw Fusion Grenades
Use your double-charged, Touch of Flame-enhanced Fusion Grenades to deal heavy damage and scorch enemies. - Get Grenade Kills to Recharge Rift
Fusion Grenade kills give Rift energy, enabling frequent use of Phoenix Dive for healing and AoE scorch. - Use Phoenix Dive
Dive to heal yourself and allies (and scorch enemies if Heat Rises is active), triggering mod and fragment effects. - Generate Orbs of Power
Grenade kills (via Firepower), weapon kills (via Reaper), and Solar rapid kills (via Harmonic Siphon) all create Orbs. - Pick Up Orbs
Collect Orbs to reduce grenade cooldown (Innervation), gain Armor Charge (Grenade Font), and boost Solar weapon damage (Solar Weapon Surge). - Maintain Radiant and Restoration
Solar weapon and ability kills (with Ember of Empyrean and Solace) refresh and extend your buffs. - Use Super Strategically
Activate Song of Flame in tough moments to max out Radiant uptime, amplify abilities, and dominate enemies. - Repeat the Loop
Stay in the flow of empowered weapon hits → grenades → Orbs → buffs → and back again, with nearly zero downtime.
Exotic Armor
Starfire Protocol
Starfire Protocol is exotic Warlock chest armor.
Fusion Harness – Fusion Grenades have an additional charge and recharge from empowered weapon damage, with empowered weapon final blows granting more energy. Defeating targets with Fusion Grenades grant Rift energy.
Mobility Enhancement Mod – Increased mobility.
Get this from Master Rahool in the Tower.
Solar Subclass Setup
Super – Song of Flame, Unleash your inner fire, making your equipped weapons radiant and enhancing your abilities. Melee, Release a supercharged melee attack that launches additional projectiles. Grenade, Create a sentient flame wisp that seeks out targets and detonates in a scorching explosion, then seeks out other nearby targets.
Class ability – Phoenix Dive, Dive to the ground and create a burst of Solar Light that cures nearby allies. While Heat Rises is active, you gain restoration while diving and scorch targets upon landing.
Melee – Incinerator Snap, Snap your fingers to create a fan of burning sparks that explode and scorch targets.
Grenade – Fusion Grenade, An explosive grenade that attaches to targets, damaging and moderately scorching them on detonation.
Aspects
Touch of Flame – Your Healing, Solar, Firebolt, and Fusion Grenades have enhanced functionality. Fusion Grenade Explodes twice.
Hellion – Activate your class ability to summon a Solar mortar that lobs flaming projectiles at distant targets. Targets damaged by the mortar are scorched.
Fragments
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.
Ember of Solace – Radiant and restoration effects applied to you have increased duration.
Ember of Torches – Powered melee attacks against combatants make you and nearby allies radiant.
Weapons
Last Thursday (Pulse Rifle)
This is a Strand Pulse Rifle, and it’s a good one with an adaptive frame. I would go for Demolitionist and Dragonfly when looking for perk combinations. You can get this one from the Edge of Fate Campaign or from Kepler.
Aberrant Action (Rocket Sidearm)
Aberrant Action is a Legendary Energy Sidearm with a rocket-assisted frame meaning sidearm fires self-propelled rocket ammunition. Projectiles explode on impact for high damage. The Origin Trait here is Radiolara Transposer. Rapid final blows cause targets to explode into a pool of radiolarian fluid. While the Episodes activity to get this has gone away, keep an eye on Banshee-44 and Xur who will sell the weapon in Edge of Fate.
Gjallarhorn (Exotic Rocket Launcher)
Gjallarhorn is an Exotic Power Rocket Launcher that fires solar damage and it comes with some pretty special perks
Wolfpack Rounds – Rounds fired split into tracking cluster missiles upon detonation.
Pack Hunter – Gain increased handling and reload speed when standing near allies. Firing this weapon also grants Wolfpack Rounds to nearby allies wielding non-Exotic Rocket Launchers.
You can get this one from the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon on the Cosmodrome.
Mods
Head
Harmonic Siphon – Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power.
Ashes to assets – Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills.
Special Ammo Finder – Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Special ammo meter.
Arms
Fastball – Increases grenade throw distance.
Firepower – Your grenade final blows create Orbs of Power.
Grenade Font – Collecting an Orb of Power causes you to gain 1 temporary Armor Charge.
Chest
Arc resistance – Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants.
Solar resistance – Reduces incoming Solar damage from combatants.
Void resistance – Reduces incoming Void damage from combatants.
Legs
Innervation – Reduces grenade cooldown each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
Solar Weapon Surge – Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
Class
Bomber – Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
Reaper – Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.
Time Dilation – Your decaying Armor Charge has a longer duration.
Let me know what you think in the comments.