Destiny Weapons of Light in Crucible Guide

Destiny Weapons of Light in Crucible Guide by TOCADAE

I’m surprised that I never see WoL used to it’s real potential in pvp, so I thought I’d make a post outlining some of the concepts and tradeoffs along with some gameplay.

Whereas the other two ward perks tend to make people just avoid you (unless you’re on a control point), you can make a huge advantage out of the 25% damage increase that will last you many times the length of any other super.

First of all you’ll want to consider taking Glasshouse as your exotic armor piece which increases the amount of time the WoL buff lasts by 50% (from 10 to 15 seconds). This will allow you to travel a considerable distance to either pick someone off or get into position without having to worry about WoL falling off. Not to mention it’ll net you a lot of ‘support’ points as anyone who picks up the buff will be running around with WoL for 15 sec (that usually being a decent percent of their average lifespan in clash lol).

Secondly, the traits. The most important decision here is Untouchable (bubble CD reduction) vs Illuminated (25% to 35% wep dmg increase). Personally I’d say Untouchable is always better, as it drastically decreases the time it takes to supercharge, and crosses the damage thresholds needed for ‘particular strats’. On some occasions you may actually end up supercharged while your previous bubble is still around. Be sure to pick up Bastion for increased bubble duration! Aside from that it seems to me like going for a recovery based build is best given the use of cover and focus on mid to long range.

Finally and most importantly, the weapons. Most of the ‘strategy’ in a WoL build is finding the weapons which synergize best with it. This means for instance a 4 shot kill weapon which breaks a damage threshold with the 25% boost to become a 3 shot. However the niche here is really defined by the biggest asset, that being med-high (ldr/longbow) and higher impact snipers will become a 1 bodyshot kill. Yes, like the infamous Gozen-C and The Spear of Tears, except there is some shred of legitimacy here as it’s based on your super. So clearly you’ll want an LDR/longbow, or anything of the stat model as your secondary. This is fitting because you are much more vulnerable using WoL than blessing anyways, and people CAN just walk in and shotgun you dead immediately. Now for your primary, there are many good choices. Red Death is almost always a 2 shot, Mida is a 3 shot, Vex will kill faster than a machine gun, and TLW is TLW. I’ll go out on a limb and say Red Death is the best choice for this, but mida is probably the most fun killing people with 3x 69 damage staples.

Now how to fully utilize this settup. Bubble placement is key. You’re going to want it just out of the way of the best sightlines on the map, allowing you to step out and ‘snipe’ over and over through high traffic areas. What you specifically want to avoid is placing the bubble too close to corners or cover that some enterprising guardian could make a short sprint around leading into your bubble with a shotgun, potentially killing or zoning you out. Keeping a reserved and distanced bubble is almost always the better choice with WoL, and as such the Glasshouse helps increase your movement range should you not find any targets. Despite it seeming unwise (considering the loadouts of most defender titans), many people will rush you into the bubble till the ends of the earth. This can be a problem without any extra defense, typically you’ll want to do one of two things depending on how confident you are. Either stick to your guns in the bubble and win the shotgun duel with your sniper hipfire (this puts you at a large disadvantage given that shotgun fights are just timing, but now you will have to aim without crosshairs), or immediately jump backwards and cede the bubble, while looking to pick them off as they come out. Note that you CAN easily be counter sniped if you become too predictable with ‘bubble peeking’. I’d just as soon leave it off to the side of the sight line and strafe as usual. Map knowledge is perhaps more important for this spec than any other, but you can take greater advantage of it. In clash, it isn’t rare to get a 10 kill streak with one bubble, and when you do it’ll lead directly into another one.

Predominantly what you’ll be doing with WoL is bodyshot sniping, and using your primary to counter when you are out of position. In the downtime you can go about business as usual racking up kills for another spree.

Some maps are much more amenable to this style than others, particularly those with med-long sight lines (Shores of Time, Rusted Lands etc). However even those where it’s more difficult to pull off have their spots. In a similar vein this strategy isn’t as good in organized skirmish matches, where the enemy is coordinated enough to avoid your comfort zones and pull you away from the longer sight lines and the security of your bubble.

In closing, this is a unique type of playstyle which I’ve almost never specifically seen in pvp, despite how abusive it can be. You may find it fun (especially with mida) if only for the relative difference to other builds.

TLDR: High impact snipers + 25% weapon damage = bodyshots + bodies.

Gameplay: https://youtu.be/IGYXqG896AA?t=1m50s ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrwWQmcW5FE